Author: Fred Meyer
Signs of the Blogging Apocalypse: Automattic Buys Tumblr

The weirdest piece of email I’ve gotten all month was courtesy of Brian Krogsgard and the Post Status newsletter: Automattic (owner of WordPress.com, Jetpack, Akismet, WooCommerce…) has just bought blogging giant Tumblr.
SiteGround vs. Bluehost: Which Shared Host to Choose in 2019

If you’re trying to choose between SiteGround and Bluehost in 2019, this is going to be your easiest decision of the year.
How to Create and Use WordPress User Metadata (User Meta)

In this article, we explore WordPress user metadata, usually called simply WordPress user meta.
Three Tips for Writing Airtight PHP Conditions

In PHP, conditions are the core of conditional statements such as if-statements, and of certain other control structures like while() loops.
How to Prevent Browser Caching of a CSS Stylesheet in WordPress

This video and text Quick Guide explains how to prevent browser caching of CSS files in WordPress. The CSS cache busting tricks here will work outside WordPress, too: you’ll just need your own method of adding query strings.
How to Use FTP to Deactivate a Plugin That’s Breaking Your WordPress Site

In this text and video Quick Guide, we’ll explain how to deactivate a WordPress plugin via FTP.
The Trouble with WordPress Frameworks

This article explains what WordPress frameworks are, and why I generally recommend against relying on them.
GoDaddy vs. Bluehost in 2019: Why Neither is a Good Choice (and What to Choose Instead)

If you’re trying to choose between Bluehost vs. GoDaddy in 2019, there’s one very clear right answer:
get_queried_object(): How and Why to Use It

WordPress’s get_queried_object() function has the distinction of being, I think, the most useful core function in WordPress that I didn’t know about for the longest time.
Gutenberg Strengthening its Group and Columns Blocks

I’ll be honest: Since Gutenberg launched, I’ve used the Classic Editor plugin to disable it on every site I work on. I do this for a few reasons: