Author: Linnea Huxford
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How to Surface Archive Pages in WordPress Search with ElasticPress
Using Elasticsearch for your WordPress site search is a powerful feature. It allows for advanced faceting options and generating highly relevant search results. It’s possible to increase the weight of keywords in specific fields like titles and bylines, add a date decay algorithm, and much more. There are several powerful plugins like SearchPress and ElasticPress…
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Why Remote Work Matters More Than You Think
This post was first published on LinkedIn. I often hear people say that remote work is dead now that the pandemic is over. And while “no commute” is frequently cited as the main perk, I believe the real benefits run much deeper. I started working remotely nearly a decade ago—not because I disliked commuting, but…
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Protect Your Lungs: The Hidden Dangers We Need to Address
Overview The incidence of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IDF) is increasing rapidly worldwide, and it claimed the life of my father. The cause is unknown but the increased prevalence of this incurable lung condition is concerning and worth some thought. In this personal reflection, I explore the hidden dangers to our lungs—from asbestos exposure to modern-day…
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From Pixels to Words… Testing AI’s ALT Text Skills
The rise of AI has sparked countless debates about its potential for good and its risks for misuse. While the future remains unwritten, one application stands out today as undeniably impactful: AI generated ALT text. ALT text serves a dual purpose: it ensures screen readers can describe images to those who can’t see them and…
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Scaling WordPress: Key Strategies for Handling High-Traffic and Large Databases
Scaling WordPress to handle massive amounts of content and traffic is a challenge that many organizations face, especially as their site grows in size and popularity. Every site is unique, but there are common obstacles encountered when building a WordPress site that can efficiently serve millions of users and manage vast amounts of content. Over…
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How WordPress Empowers Content Teams: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
In Portland, Oregon, at WordCamp US 2024, I had the pleasure of presenting not just once, but twice. The energy at WordCamp was amazing—everyone was so friendly, and the exchange of ideas was inspiring. I received positive feedback from both of my talks, which covered different aspects of how WordPress can power large-scale, content-driven sites.…
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From Block Editor to Business Rules: Customizing WordPress for Large-Scale Sites
One of WordPress’s most powerful tools is the Gutenberg Block Editor. Out of the box, it provides a modern and flexible content creation experience. With custom blocks and workflows, it can be transformed into a tool tailored to an organization’s editorial needs—whether for SEO, acquisition, or revenue generation. The block editor is a true module…
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Enhancing WordPress Stability: Addressing Gutenberg Block Editor Preloading Issues
As a Principal Software Architect at Alley, I’m constantly working to ensure the stability and performance of one of the largest WordPress installations in the world. Our team recently tackled a significant issue in the Gutenberg block editor, which prompted a valuable contribution to our open-source plugin, Alleyvate. In this post, I’ll share how I…
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My First Contribution to WordPress Core: Fixing the Metabox Data Saving Issue
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve become a WordPress core contributor! This has been a long-time goal of mine, and I’m proud to finally achieve it. My career in software development has largely focused on creating enterprise-level WordPress websites, and contributing to the core felt like a natural next step to give back to the…
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Code Review is Feedback
We have an open code review process at Alley. There is a review queue in Slack. We submit our Pull Requests (PRs) into the slack channel when ready for review and anyone can claim them. We also have a culture of feedback and have discussed in length the importance of feedback for adult growth. One…