I have been running a blog of some kind since the Spring of 2003. In a few short months, it will be my 17th blog-aversary. The most important lesson I have learned over the years is to not do more work than is necessary to publish a blog post. There was a time when I…
I had the opportunity to test the Image SEO plugin over the past week. Image SEO is a plugin that connects to an accompanying online service that processes images uploaded to a WordPress installation. The plugin can automatically rename file names, create alt tags for screen readers, and optimize images for Pinterest. The plugin is…
WPHelpful is a plugin created by Zack Gilbert and Paul Jarvis that allows users to rate the helpfulness of a post. It can be a useful addition to sites that offer tutorials, lessons, documentation, or any content where user feedback is warranted. Version 1.0 is available for free in the official WordPress plugin directory, but…
With the WordPress theme directory dominated by business-oriented themes, it’s sometimes tough to find themes that cater to more specific user groups. If you dig deep enough, you’ll find something outside the norm. Bayleaf is a blog theme specifically designed for sharing food and recipes. The theme is designed and developed by Vedathemes. They currently…
As Gutenberg nears a merge with WordPress, Theme Authors are running out of time to ensure that their themes are compatible. The Gutenberg handbook has an excellent article on how to opt-in and add support for enhanced features. Most themes will present the default blocks without any issues as the blocks themselves provide their own…
Managing social media accounts across multiple networks can be a cumbersome task. Social Media Suite by Tina Todorovic and Dejan Markovic, based in Toronto, Canada, aims to make managing those accounts a breeze. At its core, Social Media Suite is a social media marketing management platform. To use it, you’ll first have to install the…
One of the most difficult things about writing online is expressing tone and emotion. Emoticons and Emoji help, but what if there was a tool that uses artificial intelligence to determine the emotional response readers are most likely to have after consuming your content? That’s the idea behind Watsonfinds, a free WordPress plugin created by…
Two weeks ago, I highlighted a WordPress plugin that displays upcoming WordCamps in the Dashboard. I’ve recently discovered that the WordPress Community team is working on an official plugin that does something similar called Nearby WordPress Events. The plugin attempts to detect a user’s location and displays upcoming events within the WordPress News dashboard widget.…
Over the course of a year, WordCamps take place nearly every weekend. Although you can view upcoming events on WordCamp Central, a relatively new plugin exist that enables you to see upcoming WordCamps on the WordPress Dashboard. It’s called WordCamp Dashboard Widget developed by Ajit Bohra. Once activated, a new widget appears on the dashboard…
WordPress strikes a good balance by offering users the ability to publish dynamic content via posts and static content via pages. However, if you’d like to use WordPress primarily as a static content management system without the features related to blogging, check out a new plugin developed by Fact Maven Corp. and Ethan Jinks O’Sullivan called Disable Blogging.…
If you find yourself wanting more control over the columns on the posts, post types, pages, media, comments, links, and users administration screens, take a look at the Admin Columns plugin. Admin Columns, developed by Codepress, is a free plugin that is actively installed on more than 60K sites that enables administrators to add, remove, and rearrange columns. Each…
One of the most common complaints I often hear from those who have a large number of attachments in the WordPress media library is the lack of Category and Tag support to organize media. When combined, tags and categories are a decent way to organize content. Three years ago, a ticket was created on WordPress Trac requesting that…
WPForms Lite is a new plugin developed by Syed Balkhi and Jared Atchison that aims to be the most beginner friendly form creation plugin in the market, “We made simple tasks EASY rather than letting the complex tasks define how hard simple will be,” Balkhi told the Tavern. I took the plugin for a test…
If you’re looking for an easy way to display highlights of a story inside of posts, check out a new plugin called Story Lines, developed by Jacob Martella. Story Lines adds a meta box to the Posts screen where users can name the highlights box, configure its width, how it’s displayed, and fields for three…
When WordPress 4.4 was released in late 2015, some users questioned how to add colors and icons to categories as illustrated at the 1:17 mark in the release video. The colors and icons are not something users can define by default. Instead, they’re exposed by plugins using the Taxonomy Term Meta feature in 4.4. To…