Opinion – Fuel Your Blog

October 18, 2022

Full Post vs Summary (Excerpt) in WordPress Archive Pages?

Are you wondering whether you should use an excerpt instead of full posts in your archive pages?

A summary helps provide a quick glimpse to your visitors about your content. Users can read through the short excerpt and decide if they’d like to view the entire blog. However, using the full post may get more eyes on the content because it doesn’t require extra action on the user’s part. But which is better?

In this article, we will compare full post vs summary (excerpt) in your WordPress archive pages.

What is an Excerpt and How to Add It in WordPress?

An excerpt is a short summary of an article that you can display on the archive pages in WordPress. The excerpt also has a link that users can click to read the whole article.

If you have limited space on your WordPress site, then excerpts are great for showing descriptions of your content.

By default, WordPress will use the starting 55 words of a blog post and show it as an excerpt. However, you can also manually add an excerpt.

Adding Excerpts in WordPress Posts

First, you’ll need to add a new post or edit an existing one. Once you’re in the WordPress content editor, you can click the ‘gear’ icon at the top right corner to open the settings panel.

Next, scroll down to the ‘Excerpt’ section and add your text in the ‘Write an excerpt (optional)’ field.

When you’re done, simply publish or update your blog post.

Adding Excerpts in WordPress Pages

If you need to add a summary to a WordPress page, then you’ll notice that there’s no option to add an excerpt. However, you can simply add the following code to your website:

add_post_type_support( 'page', 'excerpt' );

To add the code, you’ll need to install and activate the WPCode plugin. For more details please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head to Code Snippets » Add Snippet from your WordPress dashboard, and then select the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option.

Next, you can enter a name for your code snippet.

After that, simply paste the snippet in the ‘Code Preview’ area and select the ‘PHP Snippet’ from the Code Type dropdown menu.

From here, you can scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section and select where you’d like to add the snippet on your site.

Next, click on the ‘Location’ dropdown menu and choose the ‘Run Everywhere’ option under ‘PHP Snippets Only.’

After entering the code, you can click the toggle at the top to activate the snippet and then click the ‘Save Snippet’ button.

This will add an ‘Excerpt’ meta box in the settings panel in your WordPress editor, where you can easily provide a short summary for your page.

Please see our tutorial on how to add excerpts to your pages in WordPress for more information.

That said, let’s see the advantages of using a summary vs a full post in archive pages.

Benefits of Using Summary vs Full Post in Archives

When optimizing your site for a better user experience, choosing between excerpts and full posts in archive pages can play a huge role. You want users to easily browse the website, find what they are looking for, and improve search engine ranking.

With summaries, you can provide an improved user experience. It helps users find the content they want to read. Plus, it keeps your page organized and allows you to display multiple posts on a page. This would be very difficult if you show full posts in archives.

That said, here’s a closer look at why we recommend using summary (excerpts) vs full posts on your WordPress site’s archive pages.

1. Improves Page Load Time

Did you know Google now uses your site speed as a ranking factor? The search engine will rank fast-loading websites higher than the ones that take a lot of time to load fully.

By using excerpts on your archive pages, you significantly improve the page load time.

Imagine an archive page that shows 10 posts per page. If each of those 10 pages is 500+ words long with 5 images each, then your user has a lot to scroll through. The page will also load slower than normal.

By using excerpts, you can significantly improve the user experience.

Here’s a preview of how a short summary appears on WPBeginner when you view the archive pages.

Users can load and browse through our category, tags, date, and other archive pages quickly and easily. As for search engines, you will see a boost in rankings for archive pages and improvement in WordPress SEO with faster page load times.

2. Prevents Duplicate Content

By showing excerpts on your archive pages, you can prevent being flagged for duplicate content in search engines.

For example, WordPress by default has category, tags, date, and author archives. Publishing full posts in archives will make each article appear at full length on several different pages on your site.

Even though search engines are quite smart in finding canonical URLs for each post, they can still flag the site for duplicate content which will affect your search engine rankings.

3. Increases Pageviews and Reduces Bounce rate

Using summaries or excerpts can reduce the bounce rate and increase pageviews. Users can click through to the full post in order to read the entire article.

If you just have full posts displayed in the archive pages, then people will not see any other elements that are on the blog page itself, such as a popular posts widget inside the post or page content.

By displaying the full post, users might just leave your site after looking at a single page instead of clicking around.

A summary makes your archive page more engaging and allows your readers to see find more content easily.

Disadvantages of Using Summary vs Full Post in Archives

1. Short Excerpts Provide Poor User Experience

If you don’t set an excerpt for blog posts, then WordPress will automatically create a summary using the first 55 words in the article. This is too short, and sometimes your sentences will be cut in half, resulting in a poor user experience.

You can always change the excerpt length in a WordPress theme, but that doesn’t fix the problem entirely.

One solution is to write a custom excerpt in the content editor before publication. Another solution is to write short, catchy introductions that will most likely make the user interested and can easily work as excerpts.

2. Hidden Content

Some users prefer to read everything on one page rather than having to go to a different page to read the entire article. This is useful if you have short blog posts that don’t contain many images.

These users are likely to stay on your site longer, even if they don’t click on any other pages, which is also a metric that Google uses to determine search engine rankings.

Should You Use Full Post or Summary in Archive Pages?

If your articles are short and do not contain a lot of images, then you can get away with displaying full posts on your archive pages.

However, in most cases, we always recommend using a summary or excerpts for your archive pages. Most WordPress themes come with a built-in option that allows you to choose between full posts vs excerpts from the settings.

Excerpts provide a better user experience and make your site look clean and organized. You can boost user engagement, increase pageviews, and show multiple articles on your archive pages.

We hope that this article answered the question of whether you should use a full post or summary in your WordPress archive pages. You may also want to see our guide on how to move a WordPress from HTTP to HTTPS and WooCommerce made simple.

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The post Full Post vs Summary (Excerpt) in WordPress Archive Pages? first appeared on WPBeginner.

January 31, 2022

Nesting and Grids: Super List Block Supercharges Lists in WordPress

Freelance WordPress developer Aurooba Ahmed released the Super List Block plugin earlier today. Essentially, it is like the core WordPress List block — just supercharged. It is her first publicly-released extension on WordPress.org.

The primary use case for the plugin is adding other blocks within the list items. However, its options allow users to take it further by supporting grid-based layouts.

WordPress does not currently allow end-users to nest other blocks into list items via the editor. It is rich text or nothing, and it can be an irritating part of the editing experience when you need this seemingly run-of-the-mill feature. It is an issue that makes you wonder why we moved on to FSE before smoothing out the content experience. HTML list item elements are, after all, containers for other content.

For me, at least, it is not something I often need. When I do, I code it via the Custom HTML block. That works if the list’s content is simple but not when you want to nest more complex elements like other blocks.

The Super List block turns its nested Super List Item blocks into containers for pretty much anything. One typical use case would be to add multiple paragraphs or other text-based blocks like headings as single list items.

Ordered list in the WordPress editor with three items. Each has a heading and faux demo content in paragraphs. — Headings and multiple paragraphs under single list items.

However, the plugin does not limit users to text. They can stick whatever they want in, even nesting a Super List within a Super List Item block. Unfortunately, its indentation is zeroed out in that scenario, so its items do not appear nested.

The plugin’s claim to fame may be its grid feature. The closest things in WordPress are the Columns and Gallery blocks. However, Columns are limited to a single row, and Gallery only allows images.

This is also where the Super List block needs a little refinement. When selecting the horizontal (“grid”) orientation, a new box appears to allow users to set the maximum width of all sub-list items.

A four-by-four grid of squares in the WordPress editor. The first and last squares have a demo image. The second and third squares have demo quote text. — Four-by-four grid of quotes and images.

Wanting to create a four-by-four grid (two rows of two columns), I immediately selected 50%. It made the most sense. However, I did not get any columns. The value was too large and did not account for the gutter space between the items. I then lowered it until I hit a number that worked: 47%. I could have looked at the page’s source code and simply did the math, but it would be a guessing game for the average end-user.

A more intuitive interface would be to switch the max-width option to a column-number setting. Technically, this would limit the flexibility of the block in a few scenarios. However, it would cover the vast majority of cases where users just want a grid of equal-width columns that span the width of their container.

This assumes that the plugin does not eventually allow users to micro-manage each list item in grid mode. There is an open ticket in the plugin’s repository to add the option to individual Super List Item blocks.

Whatever future direction the plugin goes, an easy-to-use block for quickly setting up a grid of items will likely land in many developer and site-owner toolboxes.

Three features make this plugin simpler to use than many core WordPress or third-party blocks. The first is when the user has the Super List selected in the editor. Instead of only the “+” icon to nest another block, it appends the text label “Add Super List Item.”

An unordered list in the WordPress editor. In the bottom right, it has a button that reads, "+ Add Super List Item." — Add new Super List Item button.

It is easy to get confused about where new blocks will be inserted after clicking the “+” editor icon. Super List Block’s text label makes it dead simple to understand. I would love to see WordPress and other third-party plugins take the same or a similar approach.

The other two nice-to-have features appear in the toolbar for the Super List Item block. The first is a “Settings” button for jumping back to the parent block. The second is a circular “+” icon for appending another item to the list.

Unordered list in the WordPress editor with one of the items highlighted. In the toolbar, there is a link to the parent list's settings and a button for appending another item to the list. — Settings and append buttons in the toolbar.

Both options seemed to reduce misclicks when selecting blocks or buttons in the editor. However, I prefer WordPress’s approach to making some parent block settings available in the child block’s toolbar. Social Links is a prime example of this, allowing users to change justification and alignment without jumping back and forth.

Overall, I am impressed with Super List Block as a first release. I will be keeping my eye on it to see how it matures. It is well worth deploying on any site that requires its features now.

Super List Block

January 13, 2022

Creating Speech Balloons With the WordPress Block Editor

I do not know how I overlooked LIQUID SPEECH BALLOON. The plugin is less than a month shy of being three years old, and I follow block-related projects religiously. This one slipped through the cracks, at least until I haphazardly stumbled upon it when searching for something else entirely.

It is also relatively popular for a single-block plugin. There are not that many with more than 10,000 active installs. I had to know what it was doing to draw such a crowd.

In the comments on yesterday’s post about Automattic’s Livro theme, Nick Hamze wanted to know where all the fun theme designs were. Perhaps it was fortuitous timing that I also happened to be playing around with a plugin that might fit the bill. Sure, it is not a theme, but it can definitely be used to spruce up an otherwise boring or plain design.

So, I spun up a few Speech Balloon blocks and just had fun creating a chat with a some cartoon animals:

Four rows of speech balloons with cartoon animals making sounds. Includes a cat, lion, chimp, and panda. — Inserting and customizing multiple Speech Balloon blocks.

I tend to gravitate toward clean, open-canvas themes because they allow me to add all the fun elements via the post content. That is why I love finding plugins like LIQUID SPEECH BALLOON. They add that visual flair to pages that can sometimes be boring.

Using the plugin’s Speech Balloon block is straightforward. It presents users with a single section for inserting rich text content.

Default Speech Balloon block.

In the block options sidebar, users can choose an avatar. They can also make several design adjustments, including background and text colors.

The block is falling slightly behind the times, though. Since the plugin’s release nearly three years ago, WordPress has added several new design components that could be used to make its block even better, such as padding, border, and typography controls.

The plugin can also be used for testimonials or other types of reviews. It works well enough for more business-friendly layouts if that is the sort of thing you are after.

Creating testimonials with the Speech Balloon block.

The plugin’s biggest failure is in how it handles avatars. It is also why it does not make for the best option for testimonials. Users cannot add avatars directly via the block. Instead, they must register them via an entirely separate admin screen. Then, they can select from their saved avatars list within the block.

Under the Settings > LIQUID SPEECH BALLOON page, the plugin presents users with several rows of fields. They can add a name and image URL for each avatar.

10 rows of input fields in a settings form. Each row has a Name field and an Image URL field. — Plugin’s avatar settings.

This is where the user experience falls apart a bit. There is no way to upload avatars on this screen. Instead, users must upload them via their media library, copy the URL, and paste it into the image URL field.

The plugin provides the necessary documentation and links to work through this process. The overall experience is simply lackluster.

However, if users only need a limited number of avatars, the system works well enough once everything is uploaded. The images are always available whenever inserting the Speech Bubble block — no need to search through the media library or upload a new one.

I am not sure if this will go in my plugin toolbox. Outside of a few stylistic elements, such as the speech bubble’s tail, users could readily recreate something similar with a few blocks, as shown in the following screenshot:

Two speech bubbles. The first has a Panda next to it. The text reads, "Hello, how are you doing?" The second has a zebra and the same text. — Custom speech bubbles pattern.

Within a few minutes, I created this with what is already available in core WordPress, and I actually had several more design choices by doing so. I could see keeping a block pattern on hand for such a layout in the future.

For those who want a quick and easy solution without all the fuss of mixing and matching blocks, LIQUID SPEECH BALLOON would be the better option.

January 4, 2022

Anariel Design Releases Bricksy, Its Third WordPress Block Theme

Yesterday, Anariel Design’s third block theme, Bricksy, went live in the WordPress.org directory. Ana Segota, the co-founder and self-proclaimed “creative motor” of the company, has almost become a master at block-based theme design at this point, and this project is just her showing off her skills.

I actually took the theme for a spin over the weekend when I saw it was waiting in the review queue, so I have had a few days to play around with it. Despite a few trivial issues, it has quickly become one of my favorite block themes.

Bricksy blog page design.

While I have generally liked Anariel Design’s two previous block themes, Naledi and Clove, I could not see myself installing them on a real-world project. They were simply not my personal style. However, Bricksy is a theme I would definitely use if I had a project for it at the moment.

One of my favorite design elements is the cursive handwriting for the site logo, which is also used across various patterns.

Offset three columns of team member sections with images, names, roles, and social links. In the center, there is a cursive header that reads "freedom," followed by "Our Team". — Team Alternative pattern with cursive header image.

The downside is that these are images, so they are not easily recreated by end-users without Photoshop chops. I would like to see the team reconsider using a handwriting-style font — maybe one from Google Fonts — that allows users to add custom text directly from the editor.

Bricksy has, hands down, some of the most beautifully-designed patterns I have seen in a block theme yet. In total, there are 32.

WordPress block pattern explorer, which displays a categories panel on the left and a three-column grid of patterns on the right. — Bricksy’s general block patterns.

It is making an early bid for my favorite theme of 2022, but I will not get ahead of myself. We still have almost an entire 12 months to go before I make that call.

It even includes a custom social links layout. More and more themes are bundling their own takes on this pattern, but Bricksy’s color scheme and default Cover block image stand out.

Cover block with a background of a pier over a lake. Content contains image, title, subtitle, link buttons, and a social links menu. — Social Links block pattern.

With 32 patterns, I could dedicate an entire post to them all, but I am limited on time. For the most part, they are layout-focused rather than industry-focused patterns. This means they can be used on a vast range of sites. However, the pricing tables and team sections make sense for small businesses. Bricksy also supports WooCommerce.

The most striking thing about each pattern is that they all seem to fit within the theme’s overall design. Often, when themes include dozens of block patterns, some of them can feel like an additional option simply for the sake of adding one more thing in. And, that never feels like the case with Bricksy.

For long-form content, the theme is decent. However, it could be better. Its 720px content width and 18px font size can quickly grow hard to read. Cutting the width anywhere from 80px to 120px makes it much more comfortable. Bumping the font size up a couple of extra pixels works too.

When I first activated the theme, I thought it was utterly broken. I had wondered how it managed to slip through the review system. The theme’s header was outputting seemingly random demo content. But, it was also familiar. I was positive it was a test post from my install.

Header of a website is erroneously displaying the content of a post, which is a table, image, and list. — Nav menu showing a blog post’s content.

The issue was tough to hunt down. After everything from deactivating plugins to scrubbing templates from the database, I finally found it. The ref key for the Navigation block in the theme’s header.html template part was the culprit. Bricksy pointed to a specific post ID in the code:

<!-- wp:navigation {"ref":4790,"layout":{"type":"flex","setCascadingProperties":true,"justifyContent":"right"}} /-->

4790 is the ID of a literal post on my test install, so the Navigation block showed its content instead of a menu. Most likely, this was directly copied or exported from the site editor. Theme authors need to watch out for specific ID references in their code when building from the editor, making sure to remove them before shipping.

Aside from a couple of trivial issues and a single OMGBBQ one after activation, I enjoyed using the theme. It has found its place in my recommended-themes list.

December 10, 2021

10up Releases the Publisher Media Kit WordPress Plugin

Earlier today, version 1.0 of 10up’s Publisher Media Kit went live in the WordPress plugin directory. It is a preconfigured set of blocks and patterns for jump-starting a media kit page for small and medium-sized publications.

When I first noticed the plugin, my mind immediately jumped to press kits and branding pages for businesses. Not enough companies within the WordPress space have such pages, and it can often be hard for journalists and other writers to find information. While this plugin is geared toward publications, small businesses can still get some use out of the plugin with a few changes.

Given that WP Tavern just launched its new design yesterday, this might be an opportunity for us to lead the way. The plugin does give me a few ideas on what we could do with a similar page here on the site.

Publisher Media Kit has been tested with Twenty Twenty-One, Newspack, and several Newspack child themes. I did run it through most of those to check for compatibility, and the plugin worked admirably. However, I primarily tested it with Twenty Twenty-Two, the upcoming default WordPress theme. Aside from a few layout alignment quirks, it worked well.

The plugin automatically creates a new “Media Kit” draft page on the website once it is activated. The content is a set of pre-defined sections built from eight patterns and an accompanying Tabs block.

Media kit page that opens with a hero/intro section, followed by audience profiles and statistics. — Partial screenshot of Media Kit page.

This allows users to quickly fill in their own content and make customizations. Once done, it is just a matter of hitting the publish button.

However, end-users can take things into their own hands by using the various patterns on any post or page of their site. The cover, stats, and questions/contact patterns work well as general-use patterns.

Three column grid of block patterns for the Publisher Media Kit plugin in the WordPress pattern explorer. — The plugin’s custom block patterns.

Note: I deleted a couple of the patterns from the screenshot above. For some reason, they were rendered invalid in the patterns explorer but worked fine when inserted into the content canvas.

I would love to see a standalone version of the Tabs block included with the plugin. It is showcased in the rates and digital ad specs patterns, but it is so easy to create new tabbed content that I cannot help but want to use it with other projects.

In the WordPress block editor, the Publisher Media Kit plugin's tabs block shows an ad rate table. — Tabs block in the editor.

It could become a popular tabs solution with a few design options like colors, borders, and typography. It is minimal at the moment, but its user experience would make for an ideal foundation for a single-block plugin.

One of my favorite things about the block system is that it makes plugins like Publisher Media Kit feasible. In the past, it was virtually impossible to ship a content-focused plugin and expect it to work with most themes, at least not without a lot of custom design work. That meant that solid solutions would often stay in-house with agencies with no ideal way of shipping them.

The standardization of blocks has bridged much of that gap. As the system continues evolving, especially with more design options, I expect to see similar plugins in the future.

November 22, 2021

How Do Post Formats Fit Into a Block Theme World?

Over the weekend, Nick Bohle asked Ellen Bauer of Elma Studio how post formats fit into the block-theming world. The question was a proposal for her a WordPress theme and FSE chat she held yesterday via Twitter Spaces. I could not attend and see if Bauer touched on the subject, but the question is something I have given a lot of thought to not that long ago.

Over the summer, I tweeted out a screenshot of an experiment around post formats. A part of me was trying to figure out if we could revive a dying feature, one I continue to use today.

Archive page in WordPress showing aside posts, each with a different-colored background. — Aside post format archive.

I have been using post formats since before they were a thing. “Asides” were one of the precursors to the feature landing in WordPress. I wrote my first on my personal blog back in 2006. I had borrowed some code that WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg had posted two years earlier. It was a concept he had borrowed from others.

For me, it was a way to give a unique layout to quick posts and links without all the beefiness of a long-form article.

In 2011, WordPress 3.1 launched with a new taxonomy. Users could choose between nine different formats for their posts, assuming their theme supported one or more of them. The goal was to allow theme authors to design custom layouts around each one.

For much of the community, it felt like WordPress was chasing Tumblr’s post content feature. The allure quickly wore off after it seemed to have hit a standstill beyond its initial release. Besides a few fixes and trivial enhancements under the hood, post formats never amounted to much.

They have remained a niche feature over the years. A few theme authors still add in support. Some of us old-school bloggers who have been using them in some form or fashion are still hanging on. But, post formats have been dead for a long time.

Therefore, I decided to try to make them work for block themes.

One of the most frustrating things I encountered with post formats in this block-based theme project was how powerless I felt over making them work “the old way.” The dynamic nature of classic theming meant that I could switch post content templates out on pages that listed multiple posts. Query Loop and its inner Post Template block do not allow me to show a different template for a quote or gallery-formatted post, for example.

This was frustrating because that part of the design process was out of my hands. If I wanted to do something as simple as show an entirely different design for an aside post within a mix of normal posts, I could not do so as the theme designer, at least not without doing some hacky workarounds.

My “light bulb” moment was when I realized that it was OK to not have that control. I needed to get outside of the mindset that the design was mine and mine alone. That is viewing creation through a classic theming lens. My approach was wrong. Instead, I had to start thinking about how to hand over these design tools to the user.

The question became: Can I create something that utilizes that original post format concept while giving users the freedom to do what they want?

Then, it dawned on me. The following is the response I tweeted to Jeff Chandler, who had asked if I thought post formats would work as patterns:

I think of blocks themselves as an evolution of post formats. Video, audio, embeds (basically cool links), quotes, etc. Most of the elements are already there. Patterns just give users an easy way to insert various designs, which could build off those blocks.

Maybe post formats as they currently exist are dead. However, the idea of designing a layout around specific types of posts is very much alive.

If users want to embed a single video into a post, it is just a matter of copying and pasting a link. To share a quote they found from their favorite author, they merely need to drop it into a Quote block. Other than chat posts (let’s just gloss over those entirely), the concept of post formats has simply been replaced with blocks.

However, theme authors still have a role to play. If all the elements for post formats have been essentially replaced by blocks themselves, that means designers can have a field day building patterns around them.

The WordPress patterns explorer with the Post Formats category open. On the right, it shows three aside designs and one quote design. — Patterns built for post formats.

That led me to build off my original idea for asides, my favorite post format. Instead of offering a single design, I built three different patterns for users to choose from. End-users could mix and match how they appeared on the front end.

I also built a custom taxonomy-post_format-aside.html template to showcase them on their archive page. It merely displayed the published date and the post content, which the user controls.

I went back to the drawing board and built a quote pattern that I liked. Again, it would be up to the user whether they wanted that particular design. They could always go in a different direction.

A quote block within the WordPress editor. It is wrapped in a Group block with a light blue background. — Quote block pattern and custom style.

In some ways, post formats were always limiting. The feature was never fleshed out, and there were only nine allowed formats. At the end of the day, each was merely a term within a taxonomy. There were never any rules about how it all was supposed to work. Maybe that is not such a bad thing. Now, posts can be anything users want them to be.

October 19, 2021

Tidying the Media Library With WP Ninjas’ Remove Unused Media Plugin

A few weeks ago, WP Ninjas announced it was stepping into the media optimization plugin market. The team released its Remove Unused Media plugin as a commercial project for tidying storage space. I received a full copy of it and put it through the ropes.

With so many commercial plugins, I am accustomed to the developers creating an entirely new menu item, taking up precious admin real estate. This happens even with those that just have a single screen too. However, I was happy to see the WP Ninjas team tucked everything neatly under “Media” as a sub-menu. We were off to a good start, and things only got better.

When I review plugins, there is one thing that I consistently preach: simplicity. That begins with following the core WordPress UI and sticking as closely to it as the plugin’s features will allow. In essence, don’t make me think about how to use your plugin.

For the most part, Remove Unused Media got the user experience right.

I could nitpick a few design choices with the interface, such as modifying the list table with rounded corners and extra padding. The “filter” sub-navigation also deviates from the standard. And, the “last analysis” message should receive the WordPress admin notice treatment so that it stands out.

These are all core UI elements with unnecessary customizations. However, they did not diminish the experience on the whole. The plugin mostly stuck with the WordPress standard.

The real question is whether the plugin does what it says on the tin. What is the experience of removing unused media like?

It was easy. Users merely need to click the “Start Analysis” button and wait a few seconds. The plugin then has three tabs:

Unused Media
Used Media
Ignored

The Unused Media tab presents an overview of all media that the plugin could not find used on the site. There is a possibility that it missed something. However, I only found one old-school scenario where this happened, which I will dive into later.

Screen that shows media that the plugin detects as unused. Attachments presented in a list table. — Unused media screen.

From this point, end-users can manually delete individual media attachments or use the bulk-delete option. Before doing so, the plugin recommends making a backup of the site — solid advice for any such plugin.

My favorite feature of the plugin was not its primary feature of deleting media. It was actually the “Used Media” screen. Its “Where?” and “How?” columns break down where images, videos, and other files are used and in what context.

Screen from the Remove Unused Media plugin that shows media where and how it is used across the site. — Used media screen.

It reminded me of the “instances” screen for the WordPress admin block directory proposal from 2019. The concept showed where specific blocks were used across the site. Remove Unused Media does the same thing for media files.

The “Ignore” tab for the plugin keeps track of media files that should not be deleted, even if they are unused. Users can click a link from the other screens to add them to the list. This persists after running a new analysis too.

The plugin scans several third-party plugins like Elementor, Beaver Builder, ACF, and Yoast SEO. Some store media instances outside of the post content, such as in custom post meta, and Remove Unused Media searches those specific fields.

Pricing starts at 39€ ($45.38 at today’s exchange rate) for one year of support and updates for a single site. It also has a five-site option at 149€ and a 100-site tier at 299€.

For the first version, the user experience felt solid. However, it does not have much in the way of customizability. That could be a sticking point for users who are looking for a more flexible premium option.

Exploring Alternatives

The plugin is not the first of its kind. The Media Cleaner plugin by Meow Apps is free, routinely updated, and has over 40,000 active installations. It also has a commercial version with more features, such as third-party plugin integration, WP-CLI support, filesystem scan, and live-site analysis.

The issues list from the Media Cleaner plugin in the WordPress admin, showing a list of unused media items. — Media Cleaner plugin results.

The UI for Remove Unused Media feels more like WordPress. Its “Used” tab also shows where (i.e., what posts) and how (e.g., content, featured image) specific media files are used across the site. This feature alone makes it worthwhile for me.

One area where Media Cleaner shines is its option for ignoring (not deleting) attached media. This is a vital feature if users have ever added the old gallery shortcode. At one point, WordPress simply displayed all attached images as a gallery. Eventually, it specified the IDs in the shortcode. However, for those older instances, this was not the case. Without enabling this option, those media items might get queued up for deletion.

The Remove Unused Media plugin does not have such an option. Attached images that are not explicitly used are considered unused. This may not be an issue for most users, but those with old gallery shortcodes should be aware of potential problems.

The baseline features for both are similar. Remove Unused Media gets the edge in its default user interface and experience. However, Media Cleaner has many more options for customizing how the plugin works. Plus, users who cannot afford an upgrade can always run the free version.

This is not to say either is better or worse than the other. Both were solid options in my tests. I just want to merge the best features from each, snagging the interface from Remove Unused Media and the configurability of Media Cleaner.

August 26, 2021August 31, 2024

Adding Custom HTML Attributes With the Block Attributes Plugin

Earlier this week, websevendev released its fourth WordPress plugin to the official directory named Block Attributes. The extension allows end-users to add any HTML attribute to nearly any block.

One of the problems with the WordPress editor is that it can be a bit fussy about customizing HTML. Blocks are built on a set of standards, and the markup is supposed to meet those expectations. If something does not fit, users see an invalid markup warning.

However, there are times when users need to drop in a custom HTML attribute for various reasons. For example, I sometimes need to add a custom data- attribute for working with a bit of JavaScript. Since I know my way around code well enough, I typically write out the HTML in those situations via the Custom HTML block. But, that does not make sense when minor attribute additions are called for.

WordPress currently allows users to add classes and IDs (called an “HTML anchor” in the admin) to almost every block. It does not allow for direct input of the dozens of other possible attributes that HTML supports. The use cases for the average user are few and far between.

For those scenarios where some users could use the extra feature, the Block Attributes plugin is handy.

The plugin is straightforward to use. It adds a new field named “Additional attributes” under the Advanced tab of every block. Users can add the attribute name and click the “Add” button. From there, it creates a new field for adding the attribute value.

Adding a custom attribute for JavaScript handling to a Button block in the WordPress editor via the Block Attributes plugin panel. — Adding an `onclick` attribute to a Button block.

The plugin also supports multiple attributes. Once you add one, you simply use the same input field to create more.

For my first test drive, I added a simple onclick attribute with a value of myFunction(). Then, I hopped over to my theme and created that function via JavaScript to output a simple message in the console. Everything looked good under the hood, and it worked.

HTML view and console with custom JS for a Button block.

Most of the use cases I have in mind are for integrating with JavaScript, and this was a simple example of what is possible. There are far more complex things a developer could do with such a feature. That is reason enough to keep this plugin in the toolbox — sometimes you need a wrench instead of a hammer.

I could also see Block Attributes being used for adding ARIA attributes in other situations where it might aid accessibility.

Users could add custom styles to a specific block via a style attribute with the plugin. However, unless this is a simple one-off, I would recommend against it. For more advanced use cases, Blocks CSS is a far more suitable plugin. It has a built-in syntax highlighter. Plus, a textarea is friendlier than a one-line text input box.

The only downside to Block Attributes I have seen is upon deactivation. You will see the dreaded “this block contains unexpected or invalid content” message in the editor if you have added any custom attributes. The editor has managed to resolve any issues I have run into with the core blocks.

Deactivating the plugin should not affect the front-end output. Because the custom attributes are a part of the HTML markup, they will still be there. The error message should only show in the editor.

July 10, 2021

Lead Generation Strategies for SaaS

Introduction

Think of your SaaS business as an orchard. If you don’t tend the trees, they won’t bear fruit. Similarly, if you don’t maintain your services, you won’t make a profit. Generating leads for your business is an essential step in maintaining your business’s health and growth. We’re here to show you why and how lead generation can work for you!

What Is Lead Generation?

A lead is someone who has shown an interest in your product, to the point where they’ve given you their information. You’ll need to nurture this interest to turn it into customer action, as well as generating more leads for your business.

June 29, 2021August 31, 2024

Add Editor-Only Notes via the Markdown Comment Block WordPress Plugin

Rich Tabor, the Senior Product Manager of WordPress Experience at GoDaddy, tweeted that he had an idea for a new block at the end of last week. Shortly after, the Markdown Comment Block plugin appeared on WordPress.org.

The plugin is a one-off block. It allows users to enter notes directly into the post editor that will not appear on the front end of the site. Tabor said he came up with the idea when working on an article for building single-block plugins.

There are few things I love more than simple plugins with a tight focus, performing a single function. Markdown Comment Block lands in this category.

The plugin creates a new block that works nearly the same as a typical Paragraph block:

Adding inline comments to the WordPress post editor via the Markdown Comments Block plugin. — Adding inline comments to a post.

Users can change the text color, but they will not have access to the typical Rich Text controls. Those should be unnecessary anyway.

As someone who does long-form writing almost exclusively in Markdown, the block’s use of the double percent-sign syntax for comments intrigued me. Technically, the Markdown spec does not support any sort of special characters for them. It handles HTML comments. However, those appear in the source code on the front end when the document is rendered. I have only seen the %% mark to denote comments in the Inspire Writer app for Windows. Tabor said he had seen the same in Ulysses. The feature also exists in the Iceberg editor for WordPress, which Tabor created alongside Jeffrey Carandang.

The plugin also introduces the %% keyboard shortcut. Typing it directly in the editor will create a new Markdown Comment block.

My primary use case for the plugin would be leaving notes for my later self. However, it could also be handy in users’ publishing flows. The block adds a “Resolve” button to the toolbar. Clicking it deletes the comment.

Clicking the Resolve button for the Markdown Comment block to delete a comment. — Clicking the “Resolve” button will delete the block.

The block itself will not likely offer a robust enough feature set for complex workflows. However, pairing it with a plugin like Post Descriptions could round out the experience for larger teams of writers and copyeditors.

The Post Descriptions plugin allows users to add notes on the post level. These notes appear on the post-management screen, letting other team members know when to check an article. However, it may be hard to provide the full context of what issues need to be resolved before publishing. Markdown Comment Block adds an inline comments system, letting team members pass in-text notes.

Theme developers should appreciate that the block uses CSS custom properties too, which makes it easy to overwrite its default style rules. In moments, I was able to make it match my theme:

Customized output of the Markdown Comment Block. — Custom color, font, and line-height styles.

The --markdown-comment-font-size, --markdown-comment-line-height, and --markdown-comment-color variables are available for theme developers who want to add in support.

The one complaint I had about the block is its title: “Comment.” It is easy to confuse it with the six other comment-related blocks already in the WordPress block list. And, there will only be more in upcoming versions. Giving it a title of “Markdown Comment” would better distinguish it from others.

June 10, 2021

A Progress Bar Block Plugin Done Right by the Tiles Team

I have been on the hunt for a decent progress bar solution for a while now. Most of them are bundled in large block libraries, requiring me to install another 20 or 30 blocks in which I have no need. Others seem to miss the mark entirely with odd configurations and block options. Some of the remaining plugins still use shortcodes and widgets, but it is 2021. I am looking for a block.

A couple of days ago, the Tiles Progress Block landed in the directory. It seems to be a smaller piece of a larger project named Tiles. I have been keeping an eye on the team’s work since its initial design and patterns framework plugin launched last week. That project is still in beta, and only time will tell if it becomes a competitive project in the block space.

However, the team’s new progress bar block was just what I was looking for. Other than one bug, which I reported to the developer, I found no serious issues.

The plugin does what it says on the tin. It registers a Progress Bar block:

Inserting both a Small and Large progress bar into the block editor. — Small and Large progress bars with default colors.

Out of the box, it includes Small and Large styles, allowing the user to adjust the size of the bar.

Its strength is that — I cannot stress this enough — the block’s content is editable within the editor canvas area. This includes the label and percentage. This is a refreshing change from the many others that require users to jump back into the block options sidebar to change simple text. Because the block uses Rich Text fields for its label and percentage, end-users can use inline formatting tools like bold, italic, and more.

The block also uses the standard typography and color palette controls from core WordPress. This provides access to the theme’s font sizes and colors.

Customizing the output of the Progress Bar Block in the WordPress editor with custom colors. — Adding custom labels, percentages, and colors.

Plus, users can choose wide and full-width layouts, an often overlooked feature in block plugins.

Overall, I am digging this block plugin. If I had one feature request, it would be to add a border-radius option. By default, the progress bar is rounded, but some users might prefer squared corners.

Extending the Block

In theme previews, I almost always see progress bars showcased alongside how much PHP, HTML, and JavaScript the demo’s faux developer has learned. It is rarely a real-world representation of progress bars. How do you quantify how much of a coding language you have mastered? I have been doing this for nearly two decades and cannot answer that.

Progress bars should be of measurable things. For example, steps someone has taken in an online learning course, percentage of total donations received, and any number of things that can be counted are far more realistic.

My favorite use of progress bars also happens to be on my favorite novelist’s website. I like to keep an eye on Brandon Sanderson’s work, looking forward to getting my next literary fix (yes, I am a fanboy).

Screenshot of the progress bars from Brandon Sanderson's website. — Brandon Sanderson’s writing progress.

Currently, Tiles Progress Block does not handle that exact layout. However, because it is built on the block system and does not do anything out of the ordinary, theme authors can change that with custom styles.

And that is just what I did. My Sanderson-esque book progress bars (rough, unpolished code available as a Gist):

Progress bars that move the percentage next to the bar. — Progress bars with custom block style.

The thing I love about the block system is that themers can extend blocks in this way. There is no needless checking for active plugins, loading additional per-plugin stylesheets, or figuring out each plugin’s unique system.

If a block is coded to the current standards, theme authors merely need to hook in with their own styles. Users can then select those styles via the editor and even make them the default.

I want to see more of this from the block plugin ecosystem.

May 20, 2021

Upgrade Your Publishing Flow with the Post Descriptions WordPress Plugin

Tom de Visser, a developer from Amsterdam, released the Post Descriptions plugin last week. It was his first submission to the WordPress.org plugin repository. It allows users to write short descriptions on a per-post basis, which are then displayed on the post-management screen.

For an initial outing, it already seems to be a hit with its small user base. It has already racked up several five-star reviews and over 100 active installs. Granted, one of those reviews is from his employer, Mediaversa. While that might not seem like much from the outside looking in, anyone who has created plugins knows that it is a successful launch for an individual developer’s first plugin submission.

The plugin’s goal is simple: leave small notes, reminders, to-dos, or longer descriptions for posts. It could be an ideal solution for a small team, but lone bloggers might need it too.

Post Descriptions works with both the regular WordPress post editor or the classic editor by adding a meta box to the side of the editing screen. Currently, it only allows descriptions for posts or pages. Maybe the developer will add a post-type-support flag or filter hook for custom post types in the future.

Meta box on the post-editing screen for adding a post description. — Posts Descriptions plugin meta box.

Aside from the description input box, users can tick the “Make your description important” checkbox to highlight a particular note. This option gives the text’s display a red color and turns it bold when viewed.

Descriptions are viewable via the post or page management screens. By default, they appear as a “state,” similar to how pending or draft states next to the title. The plugin also displays them under a “Description” column. Users can turn off the state display via the plugin’s settings screen and toggle the extra column via WordPress’s built-in Screen Options tab.

Post states via the Post Descriptions plugin on the post management screen. — Descriptions as post “states.”

One of my favorite features of this plugin is the flexibility of selecting where the notes appear on the post-management screen. Those who prefer one or two words can choose to display them as states. Those who prefer lengthier descriptions can show them in a separate column. Or, do both.

Description column on the post management screen for displaying notes. — Column for displaying post descriptions.

Users can also add descriptions via the Quick Edit link on the post-management screen.

From a user-experience standpoint, it hits some of those sweet spots of usability and simplicity. Under the hood, the code is solid. The developer does not seem to be overthinking things and making the plugin more complicated than necessary.

For small teams, I envision building a labeling system around this plugin that could address workflow issues. Adding short notes like Editor Review, SEO Review, and similar would alert the right team members to sign off on a post.

While the flexibility of displaying notes as either states or descriptions is welcome, it does not account for a third type of user. My ideal workflow would be to have separate inputs for both states and descriptions. I could create a shorter state that gets my team’s attention. Then, if more information is needed, I could add a longer description.

Post management screen displaying short notes as post states and longer ones under a description column. — Idea: Separate state and description text.

The downside in such a system is that it puts yet another input field in front of the end-user. Sometimes the route with the least effort is best. And, for a quick post note plugin, it is tough to beat the plugin’s current solution.

May 7, 2021

A Laptop and a Dream: Your Home Office Should Meet Your Needs

A laptop sitting on top of a glass table on a patio. Garden, swing, and trees in the background.

I began my journey into remote work while teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in South Korea. I was 23 years old at the time. By day, I spent my time wrangling elementary and middle-school kids. At night, I was writing tutorials, building themes and plugins, and taking any work that landed on my [figurative] desk.

My home office was my entire home, a spartan, one-bedroom/living/kitchen apartment. My workstation was a bed with several pillows piled up for back support.

My first client contract was signed, developed, and completed on that bed. I made a mere $300 for creating a per-post thumbnail system for a popular blog (yes, I way undervalued my work). This was long before WordPress launched its featured image system.

I was living the dream. Young and hungry, I took whatever odd jobs I could in preparation for eventually running my own WordPress-related business. Some nights, I would put in eight hours or more. On the weekends, I rarely actually slept in that bed. It had become my office chair. My lap was my desk.

In the back of my mind, I suppose I always thought I would get a proper office. It would have all the bells and whistles like separate monitors for different tasks instead of tabs on a single screen. I would have the best mic and speaker setup — including the kitchen sink.

After nearly a decade and a half, I realized I never needed all of that stuff. My laptop and I got along just fine. Of course, like many people, I tend to get stuck in my ways, looking for any excuse to not change.

When I see articles like “It’s been a year. Here’s what your home office should look like,” written by Kathryn Vasel for CNN Business, I tend to cringe before diving into it. There are some good takes in the article, such as getting natural light, taking breaks, and adjusting your posture.

My idea of “what your home office should look like” is that it should be what makes you feel comfortable with the tools that allow you to do the job. For some folks, that is a laptop and a standing desk. For others, it includes specialized audio and video equipment.

If you can afford it, I would at least recommend getting a good office chair. If you sit at a desk much of the day, skimp on the desk and other tools first.

On the subject of affordability, it is also good to be mindful that a home office is a luxury, a privilege that few have. Like that small-town Alabama boy with his $400 Walmart computer in Korea, sometimes people just have to get by with what they have on hand.

Now, 14 years later, I do have a home office. Like the first, it is spartan. It has the tools I need, and that is what I love about it. I do not spend all day in it. I prefer to move around from spot to spot.

On days like today, those with mid-70s temps (Fahrenheit for all the non-Americans) and a slight breeze in the air, I like to sit on the back patio. I enjoy the birds singing. It is a good time of the year to watch the little ones learn to forage their own food. I keep an eye on the squirrels, making sure their mischievousness is limited to sneaking a few nuts from the bird feeders.

It is also another reason I have always preferred a laptop over a desktop. Its utility allows me to lug it from the couch or desk to a spot outside amid nature.

While much of the world’s workforce is still figuring this whole remote, work-from-home thing out, many in the WordPress community have this down to a science. Or, at least, they know what works for them. I would love to hear and see (share pics in the comments — embeds are enabled) what your home offices are like.

April 19, 2021August 31, 2024

Recreating the Classic Wedding WordPress Theme Homepage With the Block Editor

I simply do not understand it. For at least the better part of a decade, theme authors have asked for the tools to create more complex layouts with WordPress. They have asked for the ability to allow end-users to more easily recreate their demos. They have wanted methods to bypass the “restrictive” theme review guidelines.

Over the past couple of years, WordPress has consistently delivered features that theme authors have asked for. Yet, themes that use them are few and far between.

During my weekly perusal of the latest themes to land in the directory, a new wedding theme caught my attention last week. Of course, I downloaded, installed, and activated it only to find that I had no idea how to recreate the homepage design. There were no instructions. The theme options in the customizer seemed to make little sense. Nearly all of the decorative images were non-existent in the theme folder.

Did I need to upgrade to the pro version to get what was in the screenshot? There seems to be a plan for such a version, but it is not available yet.

Screenshot of the Classic Wedding WordPress theme. — Classic Wedding theme screenshot.

I am no rookie, but I was stuck. I liked the simplicity of the design. However, I could not imagine setting up a wedding site with this theme. From a user’s standpoint, it should not take more than a few mouse clicks. After that point, it should only be a matter of customizing the content.

I recognize that there is still a sort of love/hate divide for the block editor in the inner WordPress community. However, theme authors are not doing any favors for the overall WordPress user base by not taking advantage of the tools available.

So, I recreated the Classic Wedding theme homepage from scratch. Using the block editor. With a theme that supports it.

Creating a Wedding Homepage

My goal was simple. There was no demo to work from, and all I had to go on was an 800-pixel wide screenshot from the theme page on the author’s site. Like I recreated the Music Artist homepage several weeks ago, I wanted to do the same for Classic Wedding. With a couple of exceptions, which could have been handled by the theme, I was successful.

Because Classic Wedding does not support the block editor itself, I could not recreate its homepage via the block editor while using the theme. It was not happening — I tried. I knew that the Eksell WordPress theme had a “canvas” template that allowed users to edit the entire page, so it was an easy choice.

I also loaded the Kaushan Script and Lora fonts to more closely match the original theme. This was unnecessary for the experiment, but I wanted my recreation to at least look somewhat similar.

I immediately knew that I would have one hurdle to overcome. The theme used an image that overlapped both the section above and below it. This requires margin controls, particularly the ability to add negative margins. Unfortunately, this is a missing component of the block editor today. It does not mean that theme authors cannot do it with custom block styles or patterns. It simply means that end-users are unable to control it from the interface.

Because I did not want to spend my time writing the code for this, I leaned on my usual safety net, the Editor Plus plugin. While it can be a little clunky sometimes and feel like overkill, it does include those missing features like margin options.

Using the Editor Plus plugin, adding a negative margin to an image in the WordPress block editor. — Adding negative margin to an image.

I used px units there because it was easy. In a real-world project, % or rem would have been better. But I was just doing a quick proof-of-concept.

Everything else in the content area was straightforward. I needed a Cover block with an Image, Heading, Paragraph, and Button tucked inside. I needed a Group block as a container for Image, Heading, and Paragraphs in the bottom section.

Because the theme did not package its decorative images — again, how would users recreate the homepage without them? — I opted for a simple striped SVG background instead of the flowers in the original. Since I already had Editor Plus installed, I added an SVG from Hero Icons as the main background.

Content area of a wedding homepage design with a hero header, overlapping image, and text. — Wedding page content recreation.

My original idea was to recreate the “content” part of the homepage only. However, it was a bit boring on its own. Therefore, I transformed everything into a Columns block and added the sidebar. I recreated the primary elements using the Image, Heading, Paragraph, and Navigation blocks. Then, I added a Social Icons block for fun.

Full wedding page design with sidebar and wedding photos/content on the right. — Full wedding homepage design.

I did hit one snag with the Navigation block. WordPress does not currently offer a method of centering each link in the list when using the vertical block variation. I had to write a couple of lines of CSS to make this happen. This seems like an oversight and one area where the block editor failed to meet my expectations. Of course, this could be handled on the theme side of things.

Overall, this was a relatively simple project. However, this experiment added some complexities that were not present when I recreated the Music Artist homepage. Margin controls and vertical Navigation block alignments are must-haves. Using a third-party plugin and writing custom CSS is not ideal, and these were requirements to make this happen straight from the editor.

All of this is possible from the theme end. Each piece of this design could have been packaged as a block pattern. The overlapping image effect would have made for a neat block style. I just wish that theme authors would start utilizing the features that are being hand-fed to them.

April 8, 2021

What Autocomplete Can Do For Your Productivity

Back in the days when I was a junior dev, I used to marvel at my supervising senior dev’s ability to create code at insanely break-neck speed.

Within moments, he’d have a working piece of code with prototyped data almost ready and in a semi-working state. There were a lot of tabs pressed, his fingers never leaving the keyboard to touch the mouse for the duration of his demonstration.

February 10, 2021

GoDaddy Launches the Hub, a New Site, Project, and Client Management Experience for Web Professionals

Decorative image representing The Hub by GoDaddy Pro that displays the home screen.

On Monday, GoDaddy officially launched the Hub by GoDaddy Pro, a dashboard that brings together all of its products, pro-specific tools, and solutions. The experience is geared toward website developers and designers, creating a central location to manage their client work.

GoDaddy Pro is not a new service by GoDaddy. The hosting company launched its initial beta in 2015. However, GoDaddy Pro is now offering a fresh experience powered by the Hub. According to Adam Warner, the Global Field Marketing Sr. Manager at GoDaddy, the Hub is being built in collaboration with real-world web designers and developers from their Customer Advisory Board.

The Hub is at hub.godaddy.com. Existing GoDaddy Pro users can opt-in to the new Hub experience. However, they may continue using the legacy experience at pro.godaddy.com. They can also jump between both as needed. Eventually, the Hub will completely replace the legacy experience.

The Hub home screen from GoDaddy Pro. — The Hub home screen.

“You can manage all your client projects, sites, and GoDaddy products from within the Hub,” said Warner. “Your clients’ WordPress sites don’t have to be hosted at GoDaddy. The Hub works with all web hosts. You can run one-click WordPress updates, security checks, backups, and other bulk site maintenance work within the Hub. We’ve seen users save an average of three hours per month, per site.”

The Hub allows web developers to access their clients’ GoDaddy products without needing to pass around credentials. Developers can also send a pre-loaded shopping cart or purchase products on their clients’ behalf.

“This makes it easier, and faster, to get a new project up and running,” said Warner. “You don’t have to worry about your client buying the wrong hosting plan or domain. Project management is integrated into the Hub, so you can keep track of client communications and ensure you’re delivering projects on time.”

Part of this journey began when GoDaddy acquired ManageWP and brought its team over in 2016. The acquisition was anything but popular at the time.

“We built the first version of our GoDaddy Pro site management tools on top of ManageWP Orion,” said Warner. “We added new GoDaddy-specific features, like allowing clients to grant delegated access to manage their GoDaddy products. We also included some premium addons for free on GoDaddy-hosted websites. Just like with ManageWP, sites managed in the Hub can be hosted anywhere, not just at GoDaddy.”

The Hub has an interface that feels more Average Joe than tech savant. I half expected to see call-to-action buttons littering the screen, funneling users to every conceivable GoDaddy product, but none were found. Expectations from the GoDaddy of 10 years ago still linger and die hard. However, the company continues to move beyond its old reputation with its free tools and more recent willingness to give back to the open-source community, including its contribution to Five for the Future.

Site security check with the Hub by GoDaddy Pro. — Running a site security check.

“My goal in joining GoDaddy in 2018 was, and still is, to continue my participation in the WordPress and wider web designer and developer (WD&D) communities in order to listen and return feedback internally on how we can best support freelancers in starting, growing, and streamlining their businesses,” said Warner. “GoDaddy Pro (the legacy tool) already existed when I joined GoDaddy, and my mission was to spread the word and offer suggested enhancements based on real-world conversations with freelancers and their specific needs.”

Creating clients, projects, and sites from within the interface is simple. Performance and security checks went well for the one site I have connected. The tests seemed to be spot on in comparison to other tools I have used.

Performance check output by the Hub from GoDaddy Pro. — Site performance check.

GoDaddy Pro membership is free. However, the Hub will have premium site maintenance tools in the future. Automated security checks, performance checks, backups, and uptime monitoring are currently free. There is no timetable on when they will be behind a paywall. Some of the premium features will have a downgraded free option when the switch is flipped.

“While some adjacent programs (e.g. GoDaddy Reseller program, Pro subscription) may have associated costs or fees, GoDaddy Pro’s integrated project management, site management, and client management tools are free,” said Warner.

The commitment to offering the management tools for free is undoubtedly a good thing. Thus far, I like what I am seeing with the new Hub experience.

February 9, 2021

Embed Any URL Into WordPress With the Bookmark Card Block

George Mamadashvili’s Bookmark Card block is the sort of simple plugin that is easy to overlook. It is one of those plugins that suffers from the lack of block discoverability in WordPress at the moment. Like many other one-off blocks, you don’t know you need it until you need it.

The plugin is essentially an embed block, but it is not specific to one website or service like Twitter and YouTube. Instead, it allows users to add a “card” for any URL in their content.

Mamadashvili has previously worked as a developer on several blocks for the Sorta Brilliant brand, which sported some of my favorite block-related plugins, such as Emoji Conbini. Unfortunately, those plugins are no longer in the WordPress directory at the request of the owner, Nick Hamze.

However, Mamadashvili has continued building separately. Yesterday, he launched Toggles, a block for creating FAQs, hiding spoilers, and adding simple accordion elements..

I have had his Bookmark Card block literally bookmarked for a few months, just now finally giving it the overdue trial run that it deserves.

The name of the plugin brings me back a few years. There was once a time when bookmarks were a common feature of the web. Entire sites were dedicated to managing them, and some people created their own bookmark pages on their WordPress sites. Some were mere blogrolls. Others were more advanced galleries with images. Even the “link” post format archive in WordPress has served as a bookmark system.

The idea of bookmarks is about preserving pieces of the web that interests us. So, I opened my dusty old recipe folder in Chrome and started putting together a recipes page for fun, hoping for some inspiration in my culinary pursuits.

Horizontal list of Bookmark Card blocks in the WordPress editor. — Horizontal-style Bookmark Card blocks.

I enjoy this recipe page a lot more than the plain links hidden away in my Google bookmarks. I suppose I could get even more creative and break everything down by category on different pages.

The Bookmark Card block currently ships with two styles. The horizontal style, shown above, places the image to the right of the card content. The default style, shown below, adds the image at the top. Users can also try combinations with other blocks for unique looks, such as adding cards to the Columns block.

Bookmark Card blocks in three columns within the WordPress editor. — Columns of Bookmark Card blocks.

The plugin can be useful in many contexts. Users can add URLs that are not supported via the regular embed blocks. They may also enjoy the shared card style for all of their embedded links.

Future Ideas for the Plugin

The simplicity of Bookmark Card is part of its allure. However, it is also overly simple in some respects. The only option it provides is the choice between a vertical and horizontal card style. This limits its potential, especially if the default design does not match the user’s theme.

The plugin does not need a plethora of options. However, it could use some basics. Text and background colors are a must. Base typography options, such as selecting the font size, would be nice-to-have features. Integration with the Gutenberg plugin’s newer border-radius component would work well with this type of block. Like all blocks I test or use, I also ask that plugin developers add support for wide and full-width alignments.

A few additional styles or layout options would help. For example, a horizontal style that moves the image to the left of the card content would be a good option.

The plugin, which is currently at version 1.0, is a good starting point. However, it could be much better with just a handful of extras in future updates.

August 26, 2020

WordPress Should Bump PHP Support on a Transparent and Predictable Schedule

Juliette Reinders Folmer released a proposal for WordPress to drop old PHP version support on a fixed schedule. She wrote the proposal after Matt Mullenweg, WordPress co-founder and project lead, reached out to discuss solutions. This was after he closed a Trac ticket last week that sought to drop support for PHP 5.6 and bump the minimum version to 7.1 for the next major WordPress release this year.

The proposal lays out a position that many in the WordPress community could get behind. It is a clear-cut, transparent path for the platform’s future PHP support.

Folmer essentially put forward two roadmaps in the proposal. The first roadmap decides at what stage WordPress would drop support for a particular PHP version. The platform would remove support for a PHP minor release that is more than five years old each December. This would coincide with whatever major release of WordPress is upcoming. The following schedule lays out the minimum-supported PHP version each year:

December 2020 – PHP 7.1
December 2021 – PHP 7.2
December 2022 – PHP 7.3
December 2023 – PHP 7.4
December 2024 – PHP 8.0

The second part of the proposal creates a rolling schedule for backporting security updates to WordPress. Currently, WordPress releases security updates all the way back to the version 3.7 branch. If adopted, Folmer’s recommendation would support only the previous four years of WordPress releases.

Such a change would mean that when WordPress 5.6 is released in December 2020, the WordPress project would be committed to backporting security fixes as far back as WordPress 4.7, released in December 2016.

Folmer also proposes backporting PHP upgrade notices from the site health project to the currently-supported older versions of WordPress. This measure would inform users of PHP version issues before they make the jump to a newer version of WordPress.

The overlap of bumping the minimum PHP support into the future and backporting security fixes gives users a potentially huge window of nine years in which they could stay on whatever version of PHP they are currently on. Nine years may seem like a lifetime on the web with its constantly-changing technology, and it was a point of contention from some people in the comments of the post. However, it is a plan of action, something the WordPress community has not had the pleasure of experiencing with regards to PHP support. Developers will undoubtedly argue over the dates and versions, but that is secondary to actually having a predictable timeline.

A fixed version bump schedule is welcome. It puts everyone from developers to end-users to web hosts on the same page. This level of transparency is necessary if we ever intend to move forward without rehashing the same arguments.

The system of waiting around to see when a specific PHP version’s usage stats drop below a certain percentage just muddies things. The result is typically a long-winded argument that does not move the needle. Each side picks its stats. Each side digs its heels in. And each side has plenty of good points to make. Ultimately, everyone wants the same thing — to move the entire project forward and use up-to-date tools. However, they always disagree on how we get there. Eventually, the minimum PHP version gets bumped and the community gears up for the next round. It leaves us in a constant state of tug of war between those who want quicker advancement and those who do not want to leave users behind.

The truth is that no one is ever completely right in these arguments. There is no roadmap to follow. We have no guiding principle other than “this has what’s been done before.”

WordPress needs to set clear expectations.

This is not just a problem with the minimum PHP version — many want a more-detailed roadmap for the entire project. However, minimum PHP support is one problematic area that we could have a solution for, and Folmer has carved out a path. We need only follow it.