David Artiss

David Artiss

The best WordPress plugins to improve performance

I see this getting asked a lot, and I’ve just answered this exact question on Reddit.

The thing is, the best plugins are not plugins.

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Added a plugin to the WordPress directory? Here’s what to do next

Once you’ve had your plugin accepted into the WordPress.org directory, there are a few steps that I’d highly recommend any developer doing before moving on.

Continue reading Added a plugin to the WordPress directory? Here’s what to do next


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The definitive guide to the WordPress.org plugin assets folder

If you’ve ever added a plugin to the WordPress.org directory, you’ll find there’s a folder named assets waiting for you in SVN. In this article, I’m going to explore what you can add to this, and the various limitations and formats available to you.

Continue reading The definitive guide to the WordPress.org plugin assets folder


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Restoring the Side Panel button in Google Chrome

A recent update to Google Chrome has got rid of the side panel button and added a new “pinning” feature instead.

The side panel button opened up the bookmarks sidebar and, from there, you could switch it to one of the other sidebars. In particular, I use the Reading List feature, so this was how I accessed it.

The idea now is that you open whichever sidebar you want and then you can pin it into…


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extract() usage is highly discouraged

In 2012, the much loved and much missed WordPress developer Alex Mills raised a WordPress Trac ticket…

extract() is a terrible function that makes code harder to debug and harder to understand. We should discourage it’s use and remove all of our uses of it.

As a result, use of the PHP functions was removed from WordPress and was added to the coding standards (which, in turn, made it into the…


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Create a live preview of your WordPress plugin using Playground

WordPress Playground, if you’ve not tried it already, is a browser based instance of WordPress, operated by WordPress.org. Essentially, you can create a temporary version of WordPress for use in trying things out.

And developer, with plugins in the official directory, can now add a button to their plugin page, with a direct link to Playground, allowing an instance installation and demonstration…


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ShareOpenly: Now for WordPress

Ben Werdmuller, a developer and startup founder, has recently launched ShareOpenly, a method of adding sharing links to your website content but for the modern, open, social web.

You know all those “share to Facebook” / “share to Twitter” links you see all over peoples’ websites? They’re all out of date.

Social media has evolved over the last year, yet nobody has “share to” links for Mastodon,…


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My contribution to WordPress 6.5

I was on vacation last week so wasn’t around for the release of WordPress 6.5.

Look closely at the long list of contributors and you’ll find my name. And, once, once more, my change was related to inclusionary language.

Continue reading My contribution to WordPress 6.5


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Please don’t buy any Google Nest products

I have a house full of Google Nest products, adding a video doorbell to my collection only last year. And, yet, I would no longer recommend them and will be looking to find alternatives as my existing products need replacing.

Why? Well, it’s the usual thing of not being able to trust Google to just stop supporting your pricey bit of kit.

Continue reading Please don’t buy any Google Nest products


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Why is changing your email address so tricky for some websites? Part 2

A few years ago, I wrote about my issues updating my email address with some website.

Now, a secondary problem has come to light, and all within a few weeks – despite some website allowing me to change my email, they’re retaining my old one in their system and using that for important emails. Let me explain.

Continue reading Why is changing your email address so tricky for some websites? Part 2


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