As a very non-expert CSS author, I really appreciated this talk from Josh Comeau where he covers a few of the more confusing and surprising parts of the language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1Cw4qM3Ec I learned a lot about z-index, Flexbox, and more. Whether… [Keep reading]

This little article from Kim Coleman is a great little summary of some of the biggest reasons NOT to use WordPress for a project. I think a lot of WordPressers---myself very much included---can sometimes forget about the things that aren't… [Keep reading]

I really appreciated this article from Brian Coords over at MasterWP. He does a great job of situating some recent core-team discussions about styling thinking within a context that me (as an average WordPress developer not really paying attention) can… [Keep reading]

The free and great WordSesh conference has released the schedule and opened signups. Which means---as you probably guessed---that you register with a simple form and then can watch all the sessions live. WordSesh has been around for years and is… [Keep reading]

A lot of WordPress PHP is still written in a PHP 5(.6) style for compatibility reasons. This is the best/worst thing about WordPress. But increasingly hosts are pushing even the most laggardly PHP versions into the 7-series and some are… [Keep reading]

I really appreciated this little summary about how to make BASH scripts from Lara Schenck. People will be all over the map in terms of where they come to the concept of "shell scripting" or "run a command on the… [Keep reading]

I really appreciated this little video from Wes Theron over at Learn.WordPress.org about the Query Loop block. Mostly because while I'd fiddled with it a bit, I hadn't really explored its richness in the new Site Editor. If you and… [Keep reading]

This is a little esoteric relative to the world of quick-changes that most of our code in WordPress is. But if you're writing PHP or JavaScript in much depth, you've probably heard of the SOLID principles. These are rules of… [Keep reading]

Over at CSS-Tricks, Ganesh Dahal offers this great summary of the state of block theming. As one of the large majority who hasn't had the time to follow all the developments in this area of WordPress closely, I found his… [Keep reading]

I really appreciated this article from Misha Rudrastyh where he breaks down the basics of a block theme by studying Kubrick2. Kubrick2 is a playful block theme made by longtime Gutenberg contributor Riad Benguella. For those who've not been around… [Keep reading]

Over at The WP Minute Eric Karkovack asks a question that's started to drift across my mind as I think (and study) more about the coming of Full-Site Editing themes and what they mean for the future of WordPress. I… [Keep reading]

This isn't really about WordPress at all. But I enjoyed this little article about a particular corner of the public internet, so you might too. Over at Input, Annie Rauwerda published a fun little love story from a place you… [Keep reading]

There was a splash around the web a few weeks back when fabled software opiner and creator Joel Spolsky (Trello, Stack Overflow) announced the Block Protocol effort. I have to admit I noticed it but didn't really dig into what… [Keep reading]

This post by Salma Alam-Naylor is pretty short, but it does teach something that I certainly didn't know. That these days you can really count on HTML to some cool things. I, for one, had no idea that an expanding/collapsible… [Keep reading]

I really enjoyed this essay/podcast from Joe Casabona about the kind of awkward question of what the 5.9-included full-site editing feature of WordPress is for. On one level, he argues this is very clearly a tool that'll be really useful… [Keep reading]

I'm still very much in learning-more mode when it comes to Block Themes in WordPress. While I've been comfortable with "classic" themes for almost my whole time in WordPress I was waiting for WordPress 5.9 to understand block themes and… [Keep reading]

Especially or those with a more political or philosophical bent, this article from Lesley Sim on the idea of a "commons" over at Post Status is sure to be interesting. WordPress, she correctly names, has a complicated and complex story… [Keep reading]

Smashing Magazine is always a good place to stumble across links from. And as someone who last did CSS in earnest almost seven years ago, I really appreciated this complete rundown of how to use the CSS clamp function to… [Keep reading]

I really enjoyed this little essay over at Post Status about the WordPress community. As someone whose been involved with WordPress for over 15 years (perhaps I say that in a bid to merit Chris's "elder" label 😉), I've felt… [Keep reading]

Perhaps the first surprise when I started fiddling with WordPress 5.9 and a block theme on an old site was that I didn't see the Customizer at all. For those who've not done that, under "Appearance" you might end up… [Keep reading]

For those who've never heard of it, the State of the Word is the annual talk from WordPress's BDFL Matt Mullenweg. I'm just finally finding myself with enough time and energy to really appreciate all the polish in the talk,… [Keep reading]

I'm a sucker for a pretty chart. And this post over on the Make.WordPress.org for WordPress Core really offers lots of pretty circles. I think there's a lot of interesting things the charts highlight, most of all the diversity of… [Keep reading]

I really appreciated this column from Justin Tadlock over at the Tavern about how to make a block-compatible theme. I've not been following super closely the 5.9 release process, so this paragraph was the first that really stuck out to… [Keep reading]

As an AMP hater, I was gratified to see this headline from Sarah Gooding over on the Tavern. Here's the core his very frank and pretty interesting resignation post: I can’t in good faith continue to advise on the AMP… [Keep reading]

This is an interesting little tidbit for "the web industry" generally, and where it interfaces with real people with non-internet-focused lives and careers. The Wirecutter---the de facto site for time-starved yuppies to quickly find an acceptable-to-great version of a product… [Keep reading]