If you’re not using various types of web forms on your WordPress site, then you are missing out on many advantages: engagement, security, and higher conversion rates. Whether you are the owner of an e-commerce site, a blog or a business site, online forms are extremely important. They provide a two-way communication between you and […]
Excited to announce the launch of our new bookstore! It's got a minimalist design and loads super fast. Go there to get great books like Digging Into WordPress, The Tao of WordPress, and WordPress Themes In Depth. Check it out and learn more about how the site was built.
Video is increasingly becoming a pivotal part of digital marketing. That is mainly because over 90% of users say videos greatly help them make a purchase decision, a fact that’s not hidden from any smart marketer. Yet adding videos to WordPress sites continues to be a nasty experience for most site owners. Why? Here are […]
As you gain more work experience, it's only natural you will want to raise your rates. With a regular job, wage increases are usually part and parcel of employment. However, this takes on a different scope if you're a freelancer or self-employed. As such, you'll need to negotiate raises directly with clients, which sometimes might mean losing them.
As the saying goes behind every successful brand is a strong foundation. When it comes to websites, a strong foundation means partnering with a powerful WordPress hosting service company. With the increased number of hosting...
AutoQuotes, a provider of solutions for the foodservice equipment and supplies (FES) industry, announces the availability of the AQ Products API, giving manufacturers and dealers access to AQ's product data to power eCommerce, ERP systems, and online sales channels simplifying product data management and ensuring accuracy across multiple platforms through one API.
According to a 2019 LinkedIn survey, roughly half of employees work from home at least one day a week, while 82% want to have the option of doing so. There are plenty of companies that offer flexible work arrangements already, including Amazon, Lionbridge, Dell, Hilton, Working Solutions, Williams-Sonoma, Xerox, Salesforce, and American Express. Whether you’re […]
Sarah Higley has some CSS tricks up her sleeve for dealing with High Contrast Mode on Windows, which I learned is referred to as WHCM.
Here’s the first trick:
[…] if the default CSS outline property doesn’t give you the visual effect you want [in WHCM] for focus states, there’s a very simple fix. Instead of overriding default browser focus styles with outline: none, make it transparent instead: outline 3px solid transparent.
That will essentially do nothing outside of WHCM, but in WHCM, it will be a thick white border, which is a strong, good visual focus style.
Facebook has announced changes to the protocol for designating ads that relate to social issues, elections, or politics. These changes are intended to further bolster election integrity while also improving ad transparency. The updates will apply to the Marketing API v7.0.
Living in a digital era, one can not afford to lose data at the hands of natural disasters, human error, or cyber-attack, which makes it necessary to have backup and disaster recovery plans. In short, these plans keep the businesses safe whenever any trouble occurs. Losing data for every business is bad, but the small […]
Cybercrime has been on the rise in recent years. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center revealed that internet products clients lost over 1 billion USD to scammers. If you are an online consumer, you must learn tips on how to stay safe online by doing simple things. Read on to find out the simple things you […]
When should we reach for CSS grid and when should we use flexbox? Rachel Andrew wrote about this very conundrum way back in 2016:
Flexbox is essentially for laying out items in a single dimension – in a row OR a column. Grid is for layout of items in two dimensions – rows AND columns.
Remember that old layout method might be perfect for the job. Overusing flexbox or grid can increase the complexity of your CSS by time. I don’t mean they are complex, but using them correctly and in the right context as explained from the examples in this article is much better.
Speaking of which, there’s so many great layout examples in this post, too.
Matt Watson, through his Wholesome Code brand, released a plugin called Wholesome Publishing on the WordPress plugin directory on Tuesday. Version 1.0 of the plugin adds a couple of simple but useful editing features that should help teams of writers or content designers. The plugin allows users to add nested comments on a per-block basis and mark individual blocks as drafts.
At this point, the plugin is not a fully-fledged pro editing plugin. However, its basic features go a long way toward improving collaborative publishing. It is a good first showing for a version 1.0. I hope that it continues to grow and bring new editing features to the block editor.
The plugin works with both core WordPress and third-party blocks. Overall, it performed well in my tests, but I did find a few minor issues that could be easily addressed in a future update. If you are looking for such a plugin, it is well worth a test run to see if it fits into your publishing workflow. I am seriously considering it for use here on WP Tavern, if that provides an indication of its potential.
Nested Block Comments
The primary feature that drew me to this plugin was the ability to leave simple notes via the block editor. Even here on the Tavern, we have an old editorial notes system, but it is no longer a user-friendly option with the block editor. Notes are tucked away at the bottom of the editing screen along with other old-school meta boxes. A new system, particularly one that allowed comments on a per-block basis, was definitely worth exploring.
Block comments — not to be confused with post comments on the front end — are simple to add. On the post editing screen, users merely need to click the comment button in the toolbar, which will open a comments sidebar panel. The panel will show a text box to add a new comment for the currently-selected block.
Comments belong to individual blocks. However, it is not clear in the comments sidebar panel which block a comment is for when there are multiple comments. Clicking on a single comment selects the block in question, which helps, but the user experience would be better with two additions:
The selected block’s comments should be highlighted while unrelated comments fade out.
There should be an indicator in the comments sidebar that points out the block each comment is assigned to.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to see or leave a comment unless you are an administrator. I am unsure if this is intentional or a bug. It is at least a user experience issue because the comments sidebar panel still appears, regardless of whether the user can read the block comments.
Despite the need for a bit of polishing to improve the experience, this feature was reasonably easy to pick up and use right away.
The plugin does clean up after itself. If a user deletes a block, its comments are also deleted.
I do have one big feature request for the plugin author. An opt-in setting for enabling an email system would be a nice touch. The post author and anyone who leaves a comment on the post should be notified when a new comment is made.
Create Draft Blocks
The second plugin feature goes hand in hand with the first. Wholesome Publishing allows end-users to mark any block in the post as a draft, which means the block will not appear on the front end of the site. The reason it works well with the comments feature is that users can explain why the block was marked as a draft. This could be particularly useful on teams of multiple writers.
In the block options panel, users should see a new tab titled “Publishing.” The tab will have a single on/off switch for setting the given block as a draft. Unlike the block comments system, any user can put an individual user into draft mode as long as they have access to edit the post.
I did run into one issue with draft blocks. When clicking the on/off toggle, all of the block options tabs would reset to the default open or closed state. It is a trivial issue that might become irritating for some. Outside of that, the feature worked well.
SmartStream Technologies, a financial Transaction Lifecycle Management solutions provider, today extended its Reference Data Utility Securities Financing Transactions Regulation service to include an API for firms requiring fast access to the technology and data needed to manage their reference data challenges – critical for meeting the ESMA SFTR reporting deadline of July 13th.