Wp Builds

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 29th April 2024. You can find the post here: https://wpbuilds.com/2024/05/07/this-week-in-wordpress-296

Back in the day, all the browsers were enemies. They all went off and decided how they would do things with no regard for what their 'rivals' were doing. This was fun and gave us website developers the joy of having to make sure that what you'd built looked decent in most of the popular browsers. If you're as old as me and have been in this game for a while, you'll remember shouting at your monitor when things did not work out as planned - which was all the time. I even had a soft rubber mallet, called "The Hardware Hammer" with which I could beat my computer without the costly repair bill! Fast forward to today and things are much better. Browser vendors all seem to be working towards a common goal, a common spec. But, and there had to be a but... they don't ship all of the feature at the same time. Some browsers support this thing, others don't (yet). In this episode we explore where we can go to find out what new features are available in which browsers, so that you can be sure that the site that you'

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 22nd April 2024. You can find the episode here: https://wpbuilds.com/2024/04/27/this-week-in-wordpress-295

On the podcast today we have Stéphane Menet, a seasoned expert with a 20-year background in web strategy and business. He's not only the founder of WP Connect, but also heads a web agency that collaborates with freelancers to build dynamic project teams. His experience runs across a multitude of frameworks and CMS's, it's not all WordPress. We get into the evolving realm of no-code tools, and their impact on content management and web development. Stéphane has crafted a plugin, the Airtable to WordPress plugin, that demonstrates this shift, catering especially to non-technical WordPress users who require an intuitive way to manage their website data. You'll learn about the specific process of setting up the Airtable to WordPress plugin, from generating a token for secure connectivity, to mapping your data with pretty granular control. Episode here: https://wpbuilds.com/2024/04/25/370-airtable-meets-wordpress-uniting-airtables-power-with-wordpress

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 15th April 2024. You can find the episode here: https://wpbuilds.com/2024/04/23/this-week-in-wordpress-294

So we’re back with another ‘podcast hijack’, in which the WP Builds podcast is temporarily taken over by a new podcast that I’m doing with David Waumsley. It’s called “The No Script Show”, and we’re getting back to the basics which we feel we’ve lost touch with, namely HTML and CSS. This week, it’s all about something called ‘component based web design’, but before that, a few words about what this show is about… Over the years our reliance on tools like Page Builders mean that we’ve not kept up with the new technologies which are becoming available to us via the browser, HTML and CSS… and that made us sad! Sad because there’s real power in what can now be achieved, and it’s an exciting time, where CSS can do much of the heavy lifting which used to be the domain of Javascript. Does this mean that WordPress is not in view, not for me, but WordPress uses all-the-things we discuss, so they’re tied together in so many ways! The hope is that you’ll enjoy the podcast enough to subscribe to it and enjoy the pod

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 8th April 2024.

Today we're joined by Chris Badgett, who is a WordPresser with a rich background in e-learning and WordPress development. Starting in 2008 with a leadership blog, he transitioned to freelance work and eventually ran his own agency focused on learning management systems, memberships, and coaching. Identifying a lack of integrated tools in the market, Chris founded LifterLMS, a learning management plugin for WordPress that blends e-commerce, gamification, and membership functions. Now, nine years after launch, LifterLMS is a testament to his dedication to providing WordPress solutions for educators and learners within the WordPress ecosystem. In this episode, we talk about Chris's journey from humble blogging beginnings to crafting a comprehensive, integrated LMS platform that democratises online education for experts and novices alike. Chris, a non-developer by trade, has leveraged the capabilities of full site editing to empower his customers to design online education experiences without the need to write

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 1st April 2023.

So we’re back with another ‘podcast hijack’, in which the WP Builds podcast is temporarily taken over by a new podcast that I’m doing with David Waumsley. It’s called “The No Script Show”, and we’re getting back to the basics which we feel we’ve lost touch with, namely HTML and CSS. This week, it's all about something called 'component based web design', but before that, a few words about what this show is about... Over the years our reliance on tools like Page Builders mean that we’ve not kept up with the new technologies which are becoming available to us via the browser, HTML and CSS… and that made us sad! Sad because there’s real power in what can now be achieved, and it’s an exciting time, where CSS can do much of the heavy lifting which used to be the domain of Javascript. Does this mean that WordPress is not in view, not for me, but WordPress uses all-the-things we discuss, so they’re tied together in so many ways! The hope is that you’ll enjoy the podcast enough to subscribe to it and enjoy the p

Today we have a conversation with Jonathan Jernigan, the co-creator of the Pie Calendar plugin for WordPress. Jonathan has been working with WordPress for many years. For 5 years he worked with Oxygen, and within the last year has made the switch to full-time GenerateBlocks and GeneratePress as his tools of choice. As if that were not enough, he's also the co-founder of Pie Calendar, which is the reason that he's on the podcast today. This episode gets into the philosophy and strategy behind creating a WordPress plugin that champions a less-is-more approach. Jonathan, alongside his colleague Elijah Mills, took the decision that they wanted Pie Calendar be minimal and adapt to the needs of its users, be affordable, and concentrate upon a feature set which they could maintain. If you're interested in a lightweight calendar plugin for your WordPress website, this episode is for you.

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 18th March 2024.

Today we are talking about CSS container queries. These mark a serious advancement in what browsers will allow us to do, but we are asking what does that mean for us right now? CSS container queries off the potential for granular styling based on container size. We discuss the challenges overcome to make container queries possible, highlight real-world usage examples, and share our personal perspectives on their significance. We also hint at a potential shift in the show's focus for future episodes. Go listen...

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 11th March 2024.

Today we welcome Nenad Conic of Maksimer, to discuss some of the challenges and solutions in WooCommerce e-commerce projects. Maksimer, which has been at the forefront of WordPress and WooCommerce-based e-commerce solutions since its founding in 2009, has been creating large-scale and complex online stores. Nenad gets into the work required to operate a WooCommerce store with over 1.2 million products, and talks about how they developed a specialised platform for online medication management, utilising WooCommerce for subscription services within the constraints of healthcare regulations. The episode also gets into an ambitious endeavour where Maksimer used WooCommerce Bookings to craft a booking system for a camping site website, integrating a React application with Google Maps API to enhance the user experience. It's a really great implementation and shows how, with the right knowledge, Woo can be used for unconventional e-commerce scenarios. It's a fascinating discussion, showing what Woo is capable of if

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 26th February 2024.

So we’re back with another ‘podcast hijack’, in which the WP Builds podcast is temporarily taken over by a new podcast that I’m doing with David Waumsley. It’s called “The No Script Show”, and we’re getting back to the basics which we feel we’ve lost touch with, namely HTML and CSS. This week, it's all about something called 'component based web design', but before that, a few words about what this show is about... Over the years our reliance on tools like Page Builders mean that we’ve not kept up with the new technologies which are becoming available to us via the browser, HTML and CSS… and that made us sad! Does this mean that WordPress is not in view, not for me, but WordPress uses all-the-things we discuss, so they’re tied together in so many ways! The hope is that you’ll enjoy the podcast enough to subscribe to it and enjoy the podcast as we get into this new subject. This episode looks at 'component based web design', what it is, and do we even need it?

The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 19th February 2023.

Today, I'm chatting with with Raitis Sevelis on several topics in the WordPress landscape. Sevelis has an extensive background in UI/UX design and product management for prominent WordPress tools like WPBakery and Visual Composer, and he shares his insights into the inner workings of the platform and the community. We discuss the founding principles and unique features of IndyStack, Raitis' latest venture, which bridges the gap between developer needs and client usability in managed WordPress hosting. IndyStack introduces the capability for developers to work on a site for free and transfer ownership to their clients while maintaining developer access, a novel concept that I find quite intriguing for some agency workflows. Raitis also takes us behind the scenes of WP Racoon, his side project, which serves as a forum for discussing plugins, themes, and the business of WordPress, away from the constraints of corporate affiliations. The role of communities, the use of Facebook for engaging with users, and the st

So we’re back with another ‘podcast hijack’, in which the WP Builds podcast is temporarily taken over by a new podcast that I’m doing with David Waumsley. It’s called “The No Script Show”, and we’re getting back to the basics which we feel we’ve lost touch with, namely HTML and CSS. This week, it's all about something called 'Intrinsic design', but before that, a few words about what this show is about... Over the years our reliance on tools like Page Builders mean that we’ve not kept up with the new technologies which are becoming available to us via the browser, HTML and CSS… and that made us sad! Sad because there’s real power in what can now be achieved, and it’s an exciting time, where CSS can do much of the heavy lifting which used to be the domain of Javascript. Does this mean that WordPress is not in view, not for me, but WordPress uses all-the-things we discuss, so they’re tied together in so many ways! The hope is that you’ll enjoy the podcast enough to subscribe to it and enjoy the podcast as we ge