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How to Add Search to a Static WordPress Site for Free Using Lunr

How to Add Search to a Static WordPress Site

If you have a static WordPress site or you're strongly considering launching one, then you're probably already aware of its default limitations. One of the big ones is the inability to add a search function to your site. But with a little bit of creative thinking, you can use a free, open-source JavaScript library called Lunr (along with a few other tools) to get around that problem and build one anyway. Here's how...

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How to Launch and Maintain a WordPress Site for Only $10.44 a Year (Domain + Hosting Included)

launch WordPress for $10 a year

I know what you're probably thinking - there's a catch. Well, there IS. But it's not some special promo rate or a first-year deal. The catch is that this solution requires more effort to pull off compared to signing up for a shared hosting plan with pre-installed WordPress. What I'm going to teach you is how to build a WordPress site on your computer using Local by Flywheel. Then you're going to convert that site to a static version, deploy it Cloudflare Pages, and maintain it using GitHub and some code. It's ambitious, but worth it.

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How to Remove Unwanted Elements From Screenshots in 20 Seconds Without AI or Image Editing Tools

Remove Unwanted Elements From Screenshots

If you work in content or social media and you often have to take screenshots of other websites then you know how annoying it is when you come across a page with random obstructions. Whether its a giant banner announcing a seasonal sale, a popup window, a sidebar widget, or some awkwardly inserted Google ad - it doesn't matter. The point is that you don't want it there. You want a nice, clean image. Fortunately, there is a very quick and very easy way to do it. Here's how.

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Almost Pwned: How a Sophisticated Google Scam Nearly Fooled a Seasoned Programmer

Almost Pwned

Sometimes the difference between security and compromise comes down to a single click - and a healthy dose of suspicion. And it's because scammers are getting increasingly sophisticated with their phishing attempts. It's to the point where even following standard security best practices isn't enough to protect you. Case in point: last week's near-successful phishing attack on Zach Latta.

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Everyone Is Talking About DeepSeek AI, but Is It Really THAT Good? I Tested It Against GPT-o1 and Claude

DeepSeek R1

The new DeepSeek R1 model from China launched last week. If you're into AI or even into technology more broadly, it was hard to miss the news. Everyone was talking about it. But it's not just that. It's the way everyone was talking about it. I was left with the impression that DeepSeek is going to drive a stake through the heart of OpenAI and Anthropic.

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The Real AI Threat Isn’t Coming – It’s Already Here: 3 Cases of Algorithms Destroying Lives

The Real AI Threat

While the web buzzes with anxiety about AI taking our jobs or achieving consciousness, real artificial intelligence systems have already been making life-altering decisions about healthcare, housing, and basic human rights – often with devastating consequences.In this article I'm going to examine three real-life cases where AI systems destroyed thousands of lives. Then I'll share my opinion on what we can do about it.

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The Rise of “GEO” – or How AI is Transforming Search Engine Optimization

the rise of GEO

If you've used Google lately, you've probably noticed a change: instead of just getting a mix of links and snippets, you're now seeing AI-generated responses that synthesize information from multiple sources right there in your results. This is what's known as generative search and it's changing how we optimize content for search engines. In this post, I'll explain how traditional SEO differs from GEO and where the concept of GEO originated from. Then I'll go over some best practices so you can improve your odds of getting featured in generative search results.

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I Tried OpenAI’s Sora Video Generator…It’s Mostly Unusable

I Tried OpenAI's Sora Video Generator

If you haven't tried Sora yet (or are in a region where it's not currently available) and you're curious about it, then keep reading. I will begin with an overview of Sora's usage limits, its UI / UX, and the different ways you can make a video with it. Then I'll share samples of the videos I made - both good and bad - and I'll review some of Sora's additional features that you can use to edit your videos.

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What’s Next for Gutenberg? A Community Chat With WordPress Developer Riad Benguella

What's Next for Gutenberg

Last week, Riad Benguella, a key WordPress developer, asked the community about their "quick win" wishlist for the block editor / Gutenberg. He posed it as simple question on the social media platform Bluesky. In this article, I'm going to recap of all the suggestions that were made, starting with the those that have GitHub issues attached to them.

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The Dark Side of Reddit’s Search Dominance: Inside the Parasite SEO Game

Dark Side of Reddit's Search Dominance

Have you noticed in the past few months that Reddit seems to pop up in almost every single one of your Google search results? Whether you’re looking for product reviews, travel tips, or life advice, those distinctive Reddit threads are almost always there on either page one or two – though it’s usually the former. This isn’t just Google’s algorithm being extra friendly to Reddit – there’s actually a story behind it.

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How to Add a Background Image Cover in WordPress – in 1 Minute

Background Image Cover in WordPress

While overall opinions on the Gutenberg editor vary, even the naysayers can't deny that there are so many elements you can add now with just the core WordPress blocks that you couldn't before. One of those elements is a background cover image. Not only is there a dedicated "cover block" solely made for this purpose, but it only takes a minute to add it to your posts. In this guide I'll show you how to do it and also how to customize it.

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Add HTML to WordPress With the Custom HTML Block (and Claude?)

Add custom HTML to WordPress

The Gutenberg block editor has close to 100 default blocks available for use. However, there are still situations where you might want to add a feature to your post that's simply not available via the default blocks. That's where custom HTML comes to the rescue! In this quick guide, I'm going to show you how you can use the HTML block along with Claude (a freemium AI tool) to customize your own posts.

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WordPress Profile Picture Without Gravatar (And How to Add It to Posts)

WordPress Profile Picture Without Gravatar

As much as I love using WordPress, there are certain quirks about it that annoy me. One of those in particular is that the only default way to change your user profile photo is by linking it to a Gravatar profile. It’s not only annoying because it forces you to create an account with a service that you probably wouldn’t use otherwise, but then it also populates that same photo on any WordPress site you log into (if you use the same email address).

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I Spent 20 Hours Testing 60+ Niche WordPress Themes, and There Are Some Elephants in the Repo

I Spent 20 Hours Testing 60+ Niche WordPress Themes

Recently, I was working on a rewrite of one of our theme list posts and in the process I tested over 30 themes. By the end, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that the majority were junk. My gut feeling was that the "shiny cover, empty box" syndrome I encountered was more widespread than only the niche I worked on. So I decided to fire up a test instance of WordPress and went through 31 additional themes in a separate niche. These are the results of my research.

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8 Mistakes I Made When Building My First WordPress Plugin Using AI (With No Prior Development Experience)

ai WordPress plugin development mistakes

As the title of this article says, I have no formal development experience. For full transparency though, I also wasn't coming into this with a total lack of understanding about the underlying code that makes WordPress plugins function. That did make things somewhat easier, but nowhere near easy. I was damn enthusiastic about building a WordPress plugin though, so I decided to give it a shot.

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WooCommerce vs Magento: Which Is Better for Ecommerce?

WooCommerce vs Magento

If you're starting an ecommerce site, you'll need a platform that can help you run your online business efficiently. There are many options available, but WooCommerce and Magento consistently show up on short lists. To cut through the fog and simplify things for you, we've put together a detailed comparison of these two popular ecommerce platforms.

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12 Best Premium WordPress Themes for Serious Website Projects

best premium wordpress themes

One of the best things about WordPress is that there is no shortage of quality themes available for the platform - most of which are free. However, investing in a premium WordPress theme can be a smart move for certain types of users, as they can really elevate a website to the next level. In this article, we'll take a look at some of the best premium WordPress themes on the market today, and explore the key features that make them worth the investment.

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15 Absolute Best Elementor Themes to Create a Stunning Website

Best Elementor Themes Featured Image

If you're using Elementor to build your website, then you're probably someone who is highly motivated to create something that not only functions well, but is visually stunning. However, with so many "best Elementor themes" out there, it can be difficult to know which one to pair with this popular page builder. Well, you can rest assured that all of the Elementor themes featured on this list will not only look good, but will also provide you with the functionality you need to achieve your goals - whether that's to build a blog, an ecommerce store, or something else entirely.

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