[ad_1] Elementor is a powerful page builder, but it requires a compatible and customizable theme. While there are dozens of ‘highly compatible’ themes for Elementor out there, you need to do a thorough check before you can say for sure that the theme is a good fit for you. In this article, I’ll be reviewing the Everse theme by DeoThemes. If you are looking for a compatible theme for your WordPress website running Elementor, this article is perfect for you. Everse Theme: Quick Overview Everse is a lightweight and customizable multi-niche WordPress theme which comes with in-built seamless compatibility with popular products like Elementor and WooCommerce. The pro version of the theme comes with 20+ professionally pre-built starter sites. Almost every starter site has more than five well-designed pages or sections that you can import with just a single click and can customize further. Here are some highlights of the Everse theme: Everse comes with full compatibility with the WooCommerce theme allowing you to create an eCommerce store and start selling products and services online. Since the theme follows strict high-quality code standards, the theme is blazing fast and lightweight. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about SEO as it is fully optimized to rank well on Google search results. The theme also features a powerful mega menu builder to create unlimited mega menus for your website. With this feature, you can create and present large catalogs of products/ menu items while simplifying the website’s navigation. The header and footer builder of Everse allows you to take control over their design. Even if you do not have Elementor Pro, you can pretty much customize every aspect of the header/footer with ease. With Everse, you get access to the Eversor plugin, which extends elementor and adds unique and valuable widgets in your library. Regarding pricing, you can get Everse for $49/year for a single site license. If you want an unlimited websites license, you can get it for $99/year, and for the lifetime license, you can get it for a single payment of $249. Now to explore the theme features in detail, let’s look under the hood and see what Everse can achieve on a standard WordPress installation. On Hands with Everse In this section, I will give Everse Pro a test spin and explore its features. So let’s jump right into it! Installation Once you have Everse Pro, you can install it on your website like any other plugin. Go to the WP Admin dashboard > Appearance > Themes > Add New. Now upload the theme and click on the install button. Once you have installed the pro plugin, you need to enter the license key on the Freemius activation page. Simply enter the license key to activate the plugin. Setting Up After installation, you’d be redirected to the plugin’s setup page. However, before you can start using the theme to its full potential, you need to install a few more plugins. Here are the plugins: Everse Core: The main supporting plugin for the theme with functions like social media, CPTs, and WordPress widgets. Elementor(If you don’t have it already): Customize parts of the theme and pre-built starter sites. If you do not have Elementor pro, you can work with Elementor’s free version as well. Eversor: Elementor’s extension that adds a library of 15+ custom widgets[1] and 20+ WooCommerce widgets. Kirki Framework: A robust framework for adding options in the WordPress native customizer. The plugins mentioned above come pre-packaged. So you just have to click on the ‘begin installing plugins’ link on the notice, and they will be installed automatically. Article Continues Below Everse Starter Sites In the WP Admin dashboard > Appearance > Everse Starter Sites, you can access and view all the designs. In addition, you can import as many templates as you want and can customize them further. To import a starter site, just go to the design you wish to import and click on the import button. If a theme uses any required elements to function correctly, it will be displayed in a prompt. Then, you just need to click on ‘Install and activate plugins’ to grab the required plugins with a single click. After the import was completed, the theme was live on the website. Customizing Everse Starter Sites Customizing the pages is pretty much the same as customizing any page built with Elementor. Go to pages > the page you want to edit and click on the ‘Edit with Elementor’ button. In the Elementor editor, you can quickly make changes to the design, content, or styling of the elements. On the elements sidebar, you get a section for Eversor widgets. You can use these widgets while designing. Here are some of the widgets: Services Contact form 7 Pricing tables Image before and after Navigation menu Off-canvas Breadcrumbs Advanced Google maps Menu Search Projects Everse WooCommerce Builder Everse comes equipped with a powerful WooCommerce builder. You can create a new product template from scratch or you can import a demo from the Everse Starter Sites plugin and start customizing it. With 20+ custom-built WooCommerce widgets like product title, product price, or related products, you can create every WooCommerce parts or page that is required to run a successful eCommerce store. WordPress Native Customizer Options While the theme is pretty much editable with Elementor, DeoThemes added more options in the WordPress customizer. Kirki powers the options in the customizer, so make sure you have that installed and activated on your website before you visit the native customizer. You get all the standard options like colors, font styling, website logo, and site identity. On top of these options, you get some unique features: Header and footer customization options such as layout styles, logo, etc. Social options can add links to social profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and they will be applied on the page automatically. Option to make the website GDPR compliant by showing a cookie consent notification bar with the opportunity to customize
Continue readingMonthly Archives: July 2021
How To Make It A Career
[ad_1] This article explains what I’ve needed to know to work as a freelance WordPress developer. People often tell me that they don’t know how to become a WordPress developer—even if they have many of the technical skills to do so. Most often, their hope is to start working as a full-time WordPress freelancer, and they’re stuck not knowing how to actually take the plunge into doing it. Making that transition isn’t all about your technical abilities: there’s a lot else to think about. In this article, I list and describe the most important things I’ve needed to learn to work as a successful freelance WordPress developer. They break down into three categories: Strategic: What you have to know about the industry, and consider about your personal situation, to make your work as a freelance WordPress developer a success. Practical: The nuts-and-bolts in terms of equipment and services you’ll need to actually open up shop as a WordPress freelancer. Technical: The technology topics you need to understand to become a WordPress developer. Below, I’ve listed out as much as I could to get you started in each category. These are the questions that you really need answers for—or at least need to have thought deeply about—to know how to become a WordPress freelancer the right way. (Editors note: this article is regularly updated, but was originally published in 2018–as you might notice from the comments. We think it’s still as accurate and up-to-date as ever 😊) Serious About Learning WordPress Development? Up and Running is our complete “learn WordPress development” course. Now in its updated and expanded Third Edition, it’s helped hundreds of happy buyers learn WordPress development the fast, smart, and thorough way. “I think anyone interested in learning WordPress development NEEDS this course. Before I purchased Up and Running, I had taught myself some WordPress code, but lacked direction. Watching the course’s videos was like a bunch of lights being turned on. I went from being vaguely familiar with how themes, functions and WordPress itself worked to mastering these. Everything became much clearer. I very happily recommend this course to anyone willing to listen.” –Jason Robie, WordPress developer Take the next step in your WordPress development journey! One thing is worth clarifying: the “Strategic” section is written with WordPress freelancers in mind. By “WordPress freelancers,” I’m thinking primarily of developers like myself who focus on client work, and who are either self-employed or are part of very small agencies. In my experience, this is the most numerous category of professional WordPress developers. Of course, freelancing isn’t the only answer for how to become a WordPress developer. You could work for a large agency, you could sell premium plugins, you could work in tech support for a hosting company, and so on. Knowing very little about those jobs, I’d say the “Technical” section of this article will definitely be relevant to you no matter what route in professional WordPress development you choose, and the “Practical” section will be somewhat relevant, but the “Strategic” section may not be. Becoming A Freelance WordPress Developer: Core Strategic Considerations Establishing Clear Motivations and Expectations Your motivations for and expectations about working as a freelance WordPress developer need to be clear and realistic. Like anything else, working in WordPress has its advantages and disadvantages, ups and downs. Your motivations for and expectations about becoming a WordPress developer need to be crystal-clear and realistic. I’ll start by telling you how the job has been for me. What I’ve Loved about WordPress freelancing: Location- and Schedule-flexibility. My entire business fits into a backpack, with plenty of room for clothes. Because of this, I was able to follow my now-wife to New Orleans when she wanted to move here, and I’m able to visit my parents in Hawaii for long periods four or five times a year, without putting any sort of dent in my business. And since I’m my own boss, I can take as much vacation and travel time as my own income can tolerate. The feeling of mastery. I’ve been doing WordPress development professionally since 2012, and I now feel very, very good at my job. When people need help with any technical topic touching WordPress, I can usually either do it much faster than they were expecting, or give them outstanding advice for moving forward. That’s very gratifying—especially when you’re rehabilitating a $100K WooCommerce business that an incompetent previous developer totally messed up, or helping massively update and improve the web presence of an organization you really care about. WordPress development is a real trade, and being good at it is a great feeling. It can be fun. Freelance WordPress development is a lot of managing people, a lot of light-to-moderate problem-solving, a lot of Googling, and a lot of getting to use your creativity. Once you’re experienced, the technical side of the work is a lot like spending your day doing Sudokus and building model planes. Not a bad gig. General usefulness. Almost everybody has, needs, or wants a website for something or other, and most of the time WordPress is the right choice (see below). So your abilities in WordPress development fit in very nicely with any other project you might get involved in. Downsides of WordPress freelancing: Trading time for money. The initial experience of billing work at a decent hourly rate feels awesome: I can’t believe I just made $500 for an afternoon’s work. It is awesome, but over time you realize the flip side: if you don’t get up the next day and do the same thing, the money stops. In fact, the money stops anytime you close your laptop. It’s a bit like flying a kite in no wind: if you stop running, the kite stops flying. This can get to be a huge drag over time if you happen to be susceptible to any of the following conditions: boredom, burnout, loneliness, overwhelm, illness, life events, hobbies, vacations. No safety net. When I get paid at the end
Continue readingHow to Create a Food Blog With WordPress: Our Step-by-Step Guide
[ad_1] Whether you realize it or not, food is central to our lives. Some use it for fuel, while others present recipes as an art form. If you’re in the latter group, and you want to create a food blog to share your passion, WordPress is a top platform. With the number one Content Management System (CMS) at your side, you’re able to work on your site and publish it in no time. What’s more, it’s extendable using themes and plugins. In this article, we’ll show you how to create a food blog with WordPress. Before this, we’re going to give you all the context you need to get started. What a Food Blog Is On paper, the concept seems simple. A food blog does what it says on the tin. You’ll post regular content about food, although there are a few different ways you could go here: The blog could be all about cooking. Recipes are going to be a big part of your content. You could review restaurants and other establishments. This isn’t going to feature recipes so much, and it will be heavy on text and media. The blog could review kitchen gadgets. This will use affiliate links to monetize your blog in most cases. There are lots of other types of food blog too, but we’ll focus on cooking-based blogs for this post. Though, once you have the fundamentals down, you’ll be able to apply them to any type of site you wish. Why You’d Want to Start a Food Blog In short, you’ll want to start a food blog because it interests you. This seems obvious, but you should have a passion for food-related subjects first and foremost. If you’re looking to make some money from your blog, or otherwise share your knowledge with the public, there are a few good reasons for doing so: Spinning up a WordPress site is straightforward, and quick. Expanding on this, it’s simple to add monetizing functionality if needed. You can build a massive following, because food blogging is popular. By extension, you can influence the industry if you have a lot of followers. If you like the sound of these points, using WordPress to create a food blog is going to suit you. In fact, let’s dig into this further next. What Makes Up a Stellar Food Blog If you look at some of the top blogs in the space, they all have a number of elements in common. Of course, there are different niches when it comes to food blogs, but for recipe-based sites, there are a few consistent elements: Readable text and good typography choices. Gorgeous images, often taken by a professional (or even a passionate hobbyist). Dedicated recipe formats, often as part of a theme or plugin (more on this later). This is a bare-bones tick-list, but if you have these in place, it’s enough to get started. Depending on your exact requirements, you might want to add aspects such as related posts sections, and social media feeds. Though, a food blog is a simple concept, with the complexities covered in your content and media. When it comes to some of these core elements, WordPress is ideal. Why WordPress Should Be Your Platform Of Choice Before we get onto how to create a food blog, we should chat about your choice of website builder. We’ve covered lots of other platforms on the WPKube blog, such as Wix and Squarespace. Though, WordPress is by far our preferred choice. Here’s why: It’s the most popular CMS on the market. WordPress is open-source and free (as in both speech and beer). You can extend the platform in whatever way you choose given the right skills, themes, and plugins. WordPress is secure and stable. The community of developers, users, and volunteers is rich. We could wax lyrical on why WordPress is amazing for the next 10,000 words. Instead, you should check out our article looking at the ins and outs of WordPress itself. What You’ll Need in Place to Create a Food Blog At this point, we’re beginning to get into the ‘nitty-gritty’. Now you’re aware of the scope of a food blog, you can begin to gather the necessary tools and services. Consider this mise en place for your site. Most of the following will be essential, but we’ll give you a heads-up if one element is optional. Of course, if you need something specific for your vision, feel free to add it onto the list. Still, to create a food blog with WordPress, you’ll need the following: A domain name. Suitable web hosting. WordPress. A theme that’s right for your goals. Some almost essential plugins to cover security and contacting you. Further plugins to help you build your site and add functionality based on your needs. For this last one, there could be any number of aspects you’d like to add to your blog. For example, you might want to enhance comments, or add social media feeds. You’re even able to connect email marketing services to your blog. Though food-related functionality should be a prime concern. Recipe post formats and sections are going to be a big deal on your site, so you could argue that something like this is also essential, if it’s not covered by your theme. During the next few sections, we’ll outline some of the more popular and worthy choices when it comes to each of these, although our blog has lots of articles on each of these aspects. How to Create a Food Blog With WordPress (In 5 Steps) Once you have an idea of what type of food blog you want to create, it’s time to get up and running. We’ll cover the following steps next: Select a suitable hosting platform and register a domain name. Install and set up WordPress on your host. Find and install a suitable theme for your site. Choose and install plugins to help you add essential functionality. Launch your site. Though, without a host
Continue readingUK State of Open Report Finds 97% of UK Businesses Surveyed Use Open Source Software – WP Tavern
[ad_1] OpenUK, a WordPress-powered not-for-profit company, has released its State of the Open report with data from the UK in 2021. The company advocates for open source software, open source hardware, and open data, while providing a central point of collaboration for people working in the open sectors. The State of the Open report offers a broad overview of the UK’s open source ecosystem. This collection of research includes surveys of UK companies, interviews, industry reports, and analysis from different publications. It was sponsored by GitHub, SUSE, and the Open Invention Network, and conducted by Smoothmedia consulting firm under the direction of ethnographer and social researcher Dr. Jennifer Barth. Key findings in Phase 1 of the report include research demonstrating that open source software contributes an estimated £43.1 billion to the UK economy, with the UK ringing in as Europe’s largest contributor. Phase 2 covers open source adoption in the UK. Researchers found a staggering 97% of the 273 UK businesses surveyed use some form of open source software: We found that 97% of businesses of different sizes in all sectors of the UK economy use open source software technology. Although resources became a more pressing concern during the pandemic, 64% of businesses in our sample experienced business growth which translated into a high recruitment drive for roles relating to open source software in the past 12 months (see recruitment findings). Further, we find that almost half of businesses surveyed (48%) are using open source software more as digital adoption becomes embedded in organisational culture and business. Other key findings from Phase 2 include the following: 53% of non-tech organizations contribute to open source software projects 77% of UK public sector looks to open source for skills developmen Over half (54%) have written policies and processes for open source contributions 89% run open source software internally in their business Approximately two thirds (65%) contribute to open source software projects One interesting observation from the contribution data is that smaller companies are more likely to contribute back to open source than larger companies. Smaller companies are also more likely to use open source software in their businesses. From the #StateOfOpen report from @openuk_uk, it’s clear that businesses of all sizes make key use of open source. The report correlates company size and open source involvement, showing smaller companies more active in contributing to open source. https://t.co/A7dz3pjqFm pic.twitter.com/L5qeRrs9Xc — Aiven (@aiven_io) July 12, 2021 Survey respondents cited “saving on costs” as the main reason for adopting open source (75%), followed by more collaboration (72%), skill development (64%), the quality of code (61%), and security (52%). Phase 3 is planned to be published in September 2021. This report will focus on UK data with a methodology tailored to reveal the value of open source software to the digital economy. It will also include case studies that demonstrate the non-economic, intangible benefits of open source software, such as skills development and collaboration. The published reports are lengthy but will be of particular interest to companies working in the UK and Europe, especially consultancies that may need to justify using open source technologies in engineering decisions. OpenUK plans to conduct a further survey in 2022 as part of this effort to estimate the impact of open source on the UK economy. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingContributing to Open Source Is Better Than Any College Degree – WP Tavern
[ad_1] A week ago, I published my thoughts on the block system from a developer’s perspective. Taking a weekend-afternoon deep dive into creating custom block types meant learning some tough lessons and familiarizing myself with a programming language I had little experience using. Programming has always been a trial-and-error affair for me: write code, refresh the browser, read the error message, and attempt to fix the problem. Then, simply rinse and repeat the process until the program is not broken. Those mistakes are woven into the art of coding, the layers underneath that poetry on the visible canvas. I have absolutely made the same mistake twice. And, thrice. Probably a lot more than that if I am being honest with myself and you. Eventually, I stop making those same mistakes, and some method or procedure is permanently seared into my brain. I have written a few hundred WordPress tutorials in the past decade and a half. I am a twice-published author of development books and served as a tech editor on another. However, I am not much of a reader of tech books and documentation. For one, programmers are not necessarily the most engaging writers. Plus, book smarts can only get you so far. You need the street smarts of programming to become good at it, which means learning from experience. While I firmly believe that reading is a central part of that, there is no replacement for getting your hands dirty. Building things, making mistakes, and learning to fix them is what makes programming fun. Working on open-source software like WordPress is one of the best ways to do that. There is no upfront cost, assuming you have access to a computer, a prerequisite to programming of any kind. There are usually people willing to lend a hand or answer questions, and there are always problems to solve for those ready to dive into them. As WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy chatted with Matt Mullenweg on the Openverse project a couple of months ago, there was a moment that I found myself nodding my head in agreement. Because, of course, you know, contributing and being involved with open source is probably the best way to learn a technology, better than any college degree. Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Project Lead I have learned more about WordPress, PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript by contributing to open-source software than I ever learned in a college course. I grew up in a generation that was told that we must get a college degree. It was an integral part of the American dream that would result in suburban life in a neighborhood with perfectly aligned rows of houses, ending in a cul-de-sac. It was the first step toward a two-car garage, white-picket-fence, 2.5 kids, and a dog. College was the promise that my peers and I hinged everything on. It was expected of us, and so many of us did our duty. Here is the thing that our parents did not know. The internet would change everything. I graduated high school in 2002. This was during that stretch where the online world was exploding. All of the world’s knowledge would soon be at our fingertips. Today that is truer than ever. Anything you will ever need to learn about writing code is available through an internet connection. My experience with college-level courses in programming was mixed, but I learned a necessary life lesson from them: I was not cut out for a degree in software engineering. I am glad I wised up early on and pursued a different degree, saving myself some time and money. I rocked my half-summer C programming class, my introduction to writing code. I also had a passionate professor who once worked on U.S. missile projects as a bug-tester. It was probably not the most glamorous job, but he always made it sound exciting because he loved what he was doing. Our class was tasked with building various programs throughout the course, but we usually had a choice in what we were building. For my group’s final project, we created vending machine software. I was on the fast track to becoming a software engineer after that first class. I had built a way for merchants to get paid for delivering sugary treats and soft drinks to customers. It was capitalism meeting programming, and I had a taste for it. The fall semester rolled around, and I was motivated to move beyond the realm of procedural programming in C. Java, an object-oriented programming (OOP) language, would be my next challenge. The most advanced thing our class built for an entire semester was a basic calculator. I skipped nearly every lecture because I could not stay awake watching the professor chicken-peck his way through programs for three hours every week. I attended the mandatory “labs” — basically a fancy way of saying an extra class where the professor’s assistants would teach the actual coursework. Needless to say, my fire died down. While calculator programs are handy tools, I wanted to branch out and build things that mattered. You know what reignited my flame for programming? At first, it was general web development. But, WordPress was what I really became passionate about. And, I have not looked back since I started using it in 2005. WordPress was my gateway into a world where I could create things that interested me. I could jump ahead into a project far more advanced than my skill level, trial-and-error my way ahead, and eventually build something that others found value in. Unless universities have changed, most teach step-by-step foundational lessons to their pupils. Some students may luck out and land in that unique professor’s class who gives them leeway to explore various ideas. However, there is no substitute for creating something of your own, solving a problem that you see. And, that is what programming is all about — solving problems. In 2007, I released my first WordPress plugin into the wild. It automatically listed all
Continue readingIs This WordPress Host Worth the Investment?
[ad_1] Kinsta is a recognizable brand in the WordPress hosting space. The main thing that sets them apart is that they only offer WordPress hosting setups. This means that you cannot run any other website script on their servers. This WordPress-only nature comes with its pros and cons, which we’ll discuss in this Kinsta hosting review. In the following sections, we’ll go over the server parameters of Kinsta hosting, list the features you get and for what price, and, at the end, we’ll tell you who should use Kinsta hosting and when. Kinsta hosting review: What is Kinsta? 🤔 Established in 2013, Kinsta is what most people call a managed WordPress host. A couple of things to unpack about this: “WordPress host” means exactly what we mentioned briefly in the intro – Kinsta only accepts WordPress websites on their servers. Therefore, you cannot run any additional standalone scripts on your server (scripts that would run outside of WordPress). “Managed” means that the hosting company itself handles everything that’s usually involved in managing/maintaining a server. This means that you don’t have to, sort of, get your hands dirty and, instead, can focus on creating content for your site and marketing it. That being said, the term “managed” is often overused by many a hosting company. It’s not like there’s any legislation regarding what can and cannot be called a managed hosting setup, so companies tend to get rather liberal with the term and slap it onto anything. Not Kinsta though! In the following sections of our Kinsta hosting review, we’ll go over all the features and traits that make Kinsta a true “managed WordPress” setup. Features and pricing ⚙️💵 Let’s start this Kinsta hosting review by discussing the pricing, since this is probably what you want to know most of all. Right out the gate, we have to be honest and admit that Kinsta hosting is not the cheapest way out there to host a WordPress website. But it does come with its perks! Here’s the current pricing: What you see here are Kinsta’s prices when paid annually. If you want to pay month to month, the prices rise by 20%. First off, Kinsta’s pricing plans are very clear and don’t complicate the choice for users more than necessary. Basically, Kinsta has decided not to limit any specific server features from one pricing tier to another but rather put a cap on the easily measurable parameters, like allowed websites, allowed traffic, and disk space. Some of Kinsta’s competition in the hosting industry tends to exclude certain features (like automatic backups) or customer support options based on the pricing plan. This is an understandable marketing tactic, but it makes picking the right plan difficult for the user. Not with Kinsta. The only thing you have to think about with them is how many websites you want to run on your account. Kinsta is also one of the very few hosting companies in the entire industry that doesn’t increase their prices on renewal. Just to give you an example. SiteGround – a popular budget WordPress host – offers their plans at an attractive entry-level price of $4.99/mo. However, when the initial contract period is up, the price rises to $14.99/mo. This is unavoidable. If you want to continue hosting your site with SiteGround, you will have to pay those higher prices. Overall, Kinsta’s entire pricing model is very refreshing in how clear and surprise-free it is, albeit not that budget-friendly for new websites. There’s one surprise when it comes to Kinsta’s server infrastructure, though. In fact, Kinsta doesn’t run their own server machines. Instead, they rent out server space from Google Cloud and put their own software on top of it to make it optimized to handle WordPress sites. As a result, you also get to choose from 25+ data center locations for each of your WordPress installs. Google being Google, those data centers are literally all over the world, so you will easily find a location that’s near your target market. Now, let’s look at the features you get for the price. For starters, Kinsta seems to realize that most users who choose a $25+ hosting setup usually move from another host. The story is simple, really; people get annoyed with some shortcomings of their current host so they decide to switch to a more optimized one. This is where Kinsta hosting comes into play with their website migration services. First, each hosting plan gets a set number of premium website migrations included in the price. It’s 1-5 depending on your tier. As part of this premium migration, Kinsta will ask you to fill out a form in your dashboard, and then Kinsta engineers will migrate the website for you – making sure that everything is safe and that your site gets transferred with no downtime. Then, you also get unlimited basic migrations – on all plans. Those basic migrations will still be enough to handle standard WordPress websites. However, some restrictions apply. Here’s what else you get: Automatic self-healing technology. WordPress runs on PHP, and PHP sometimes experiences some glitches. Kinsta monitors the status of their servers every minute and applies fixes when needed. Hack and malware removal. As awesome as WordPress is, it’s also one of the most commonly attacked website platforms of them all. If your site is ever compromised when hosted at Kinsta, they will fix it for free. Automatic daily backups with 14-30 day backup retention. Additionally, optional hourly backups are also available. And, most importantly of all, you can restore from any backup with a single click. Automatic database optimization. This is not its finest trait, but WordPress is known for having a tendency to clutter the database after a while. Kinsta fine-tunes the database automatically every week. WordPress Multisite support on all plans except the cheapest one. Multi-user environment. This is a great feature if there are more people than just you taking care of the site. You can create additional user accounts for
Continue readingThe Ins and Outs of One of WordPress 5.8’s Most Powerful Features – WP Tavern
[ad_1] WordPress 5.8 is on deck for July 20, just a mere 10 days from now. The release is geared up to be the most feature-packed update the community has seen in a while. Block-based widgets, the pattern directory, WebP image support, template-editing mode, and many more tools are nearly ready to ship to the masses. However, one of the most powerful features is the Query Loop block. If you are unfamiliar with the terms “Query” and “Loop,” they are vital concepts within WordPress. Traditionally, they were only necessary for theme and plugin development. However, through the Query Loop block, users will gain exposure to what is, for all intents and purposes, the backbone of how WordPress displays posts on a site’s front end. Queries? Loops? Not everyone will be immediately familiar with these developer terms that WordPress is plopping down in the user interface. For theme and plugin authors, these are everyday concepts. However, even some users who have been using the platform for a decade have never been exposed to them. So, we should get some basic definitions in place. The term “Query” is simpler than you might think. It merely means to “query” or “ask” for posts from the database according to a defined set of options. For example, one might attempt to get the last 10 blog posts. “Loop” is an even easier concept to grasp. It means to “loop” or “cycle” through each queried post and output it. Technically, a developer could do things other than displaying the posts during this process, but we are only concerned with what gets printed on the screen. The two things combined become the Query Loop block. It allows users to ask for a set of posts and display each one. There is also a Post Template block, which throws a wrinkle in all of this. Aside from the word “template” being overused in WordPress for various features, this is a new method for an old concept. Traditionally, WordPress theme authors would write out all the HTML and call specific template tags within the queried posts loop to show things like the post title, author, content, and more. This is easy to do within a PHP file. However, in the block editor, there needed to be a new way to group these things together. The Post Template block acts as this group, housing the things users want to display in the Query Loop. WordPress also has a variation on the Query Loop block called Posts List. They do the same thing, but the latter has a more user-friendly title than the former. The only problem with this variation is that, when it is inserted, the user still sees the same “Query Loop” block title. There is a ticket to fix this, but it is unlikely to make it into WordPress 5.8. Query Loop Pattern Inserter When first inserting a Query Loop into the editor, WordPress will introduce users to another version 5.8 feature: the pattern inserter. Instead of having immediate access to interact with the block, users can select from a list of predefined patterns. By default, the inserter is a carousel that lets users can scroll through patterns individually: Query Loop pattern inserter: carousel view. However, they can switch to a grid-based layout and view all of the patterns at once: Query Loop pattern inserter: grid view. WordPress 5.8 is set to ship with six Query Loop patterns by default, unless more are added in the coming days: Standard Image at left Small image and title Grid Large title Offset I am not particularly fond of any of the default patterns other than the “Large title” one (shown in the screenshots above with the black background and white text). For this block to shine, users will need to build out their own designs or wait for theme authors to begin bundling custom Query Loop patterns. And, that is how it should be. Core WordPress should ship some basics while letting our community of theme designers showcase their craft. A custom simple blog posts listing. This is also an opportunity for theme authors to offer alternatives to their custom page template designs. It is not time to throw them out entirely. However, it is a way to begin recreating old ideas in the block era, such as building out eCommerce plugin integrations, portfolio grids, and much more. Some of the tools are still limited (we are getting to those next), but there is enough initial groundwork for exploration, helping users experience WordPress in new ways. Block Options The Query Loop block has several options for users to customize which posts to query the database for: Query Loop block and its options. In the block toolbar, there is a “Display settings” button. When clicked, it creates a popover with options for how many posts to show: Items per Page: Number of posts to display per page Offset: Number of posts to skip over Max page to show: Limit pages (this requires using one of the Query Pagination blocks) The “Settings” panel in the Query Loop’s block sidebar has several secondary options. Users can enable “Inherit query from template” to use WordPress’s global query, but this is mostly useless for WordPress 5.8 users without the Gutenberg plugin enabled and a block-based theme. For now, you will almost always want to disable this option. This will grant access to a slew of new choices, such as: Post type Ordering Filters panel for categories, tags, author, and keyword The Settings and Filters panels are the most fine-tuned pieces of the Query Loop block. The development team struck a sensible balance between ease-of-use and the dozens of query-related parameters available through code. It provides users with a ton of power right of the gate but should be flexible enough in the future for plugin authors to extend. The Post Template When inserting a Query Loop, the editor automatically adds its inner Post Template block. This is where most of the magic happens. Users
Continue readingWordPress.org Meta Team Fixes Search Snippet Issue with Download Page Promoting WordPress.com – WP Tavern
[ad_1] Yesterday evening Chris Klosowski, Sandhills Development Partner and Director of Technology, tweeted out a problem with the way WordPress.org’s Download page was appearing in Google’s Search results snippets when searching for “WordPress.” Underneath the link, the preview text referenced WordPress.com’s hosting: WordPress.com is the easiest way to create a free website or blog. It’s a powerful hosting platform that grows with you. We offer expert support for your WordPress site. Others reported seeing the intended description when Googling, which is designated in the Schema.org tag in the head tag but not printed on the page: “Download WordPress today, and get started on creating your website with one of the most powerful, popular, and customizable platforms in the world.” The reference to WordPress.com came from the hosting providers listed at the top of the page, where it randomly displays two upon each page refresh. The Download button used to be at the top of the Download page but ever since mid-January 2021, it has been pushed further down below recommended hosts. This is presumably to help people who want to set up a self-hosted site but don’t know where to get started. “Google was skipping our defined page descriptions in favor of some in-page content,” WordPress lead developer Dion Hulse said, regarding the issue with the search results snippet. The WordPress Meta team was alerted to the problem and quickly put a solution in place to encourage Google to look somewhere else on the page for the main content. “The Download page has info about the mobile apps and hosting for WordPress,” core contributor Corey McKrill wrote in the commit message. “These are in section container elements, which might be the reason that Google is using the content of the hosting container for its search result snippet, instead of the meta description tag. By changing these containers to aside elements, hopefully Google will get the message that they don’t contain the most pertinent information for that page.” The meta team also marked the hosting recommendations on the download page as exempt from being included in the Google search result snippet, so that it doesn’t pull text from these aside elements. Here is what the updated search result snippet looks like after the changes were put in place: Klosowski’s tweet highlighted the perennial tension that arises from the confusion between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The recommended hosting page has always been a contentious bit of real estate on WordPress.org but especially now that hosting companies are also prominently promoted on the Download page. https://twitter.com/cklosowski/status/1413264854643736577 In this situation, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, WordPress’ Executive Director, quickly acknowledged that the search snippet promoting WordPress.com was in fact a problem, heading off those who might promote the notion that it was intentional. The Meta team acted swiftly to resolve the issue and return the snippet to its former meta description. It is not known how long Google has been pulling from the text in the recommended hosts sections to populate the snippet, but the code is now more explicit about the fact that those companies are not the most important content on the Download page. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingResources, Week of 4 July 2021
[ad_1] This past weekend, we celebrated the Fourth of July here in the States. If you celebrated anything over the past weekend, I hope it was great. If not, perhaps the next holiday will be 🙂. Week of 4 July 2021 Resources WordPress PHP CSS Resources Articles I also published a couple of articles of my own: Building Backcast, Part 6 How To Downgrade Composer, PHP, and NPM Until next week. 👋🏻 [ad_2] Source link
Continue reading50+ Best Elementor Templates in 2021
[ad_1] Creating a new website can be a difficult feat, particularly if you have no coding expertise. Elementor is a widely used WordPress page builder. It allows businesses to create attractive websites in the quickest and easiest possible way. With this in mind, let’s check out the best Elementor templates. Beauty Boogie Beauty Boogie is an easy-to-use template that comes with multiple useful sections like appointment, team, about, products, testimonials, contact, and more. In addition, it is perfect for beauty-related websites – products and services. Pros eCommerce ready User friendly Cons Get Beauty Boogie Mindful Mambo Mindful Mambo is an Elementor template that is perfect for meditation-related websites. It can be used for blogging or selling products. This template comes with sections like contact, testimonials, about, products, booking, etc. Pros User friendly Mobile friendly eCommerce ready Social icons integration Cons Get Mindful Mambo Bakery Ballad Bakery Ballad template has been designed for bakery-related websites. It comes with sections including about, products, testimonials. Team, and contact. In addition, it is eCommerce integrated. Pros eCommerce ready Easy to use Social icons integration Cons Get Bakery Ballad Alethea Alethea is one of the best Elementor templates. It’s a template that is eCommerce friendly and is a blog designed specifically. The great thing about this template is that it can be personalized. Users can sell their different products. In addition, it comes with an invitation and a section. Pros Personalization eCommerce friendly Easy to use Cons Get Alethea Wedding Wave Wedding Wave is an Elementor template best for wedding ceremonies. It has sections like when and where, memories, about us, and an in-built calendar. The look is very elegant and modern. Article Continues Below Pros User friendly Great colors Social icons integration Cons Get Wedding Wave Alec Alec is a simple WordPress Elementor template that allows you to create custom landing pages for music or brand-related websites. This template comes with a fullscreen background image that you can customize using the Elementor drag and drop page builder. Moreover, users can add content, image gallery, and upcoming events. Not only that but video with a custom background can also be embedded. Pros User friendly Customizable Great features High quality Cons Get Alec Button Interactive Button Interactive is a WordPress Elementor template. It comes with bold and bright colors with great typography. This template can be used to create landing pages and custom layouts. What’s more, this template includes sections below the header area to add image galleries, testimonials, team members, and a footer. Pros Customizable Easy This template can be extended using Elementor modules Cons Need more integrations with other services Get Button Interactive WPKit WPKit for Elementor plugin is a premium Elementor Addon that focuses on offering many advanced Elementor widgets, blog layout, parallax layer control, flexible panel, cart button, product search widget, and global block module. Pros WooCommerce ready User friendly Free Cons Customer support can be improved Get WPKit Groceries Store The Groceries Store template is a free Elementor template. It is to create a stunning groceries website. Any type of groceries online store can be created using this template. Organic stores can create their own organic grocery website using this template and promote agricultural products. Pros Free WooCommerce compatible User friendly Cons Advanced SEO feature can be included Get Groceries Store Education Elementor Template Zita Education Elementor WordPress template is suitable for creating the university, school, and college websites. It is a clean template with all the features that are required for the school, college, or university. In addition, it comes with sections like courses, event news, about, contact page, student library, and more. Article Continues Below Pros Modern User-friendly Feature rich Cons Get Education Elementor Template Zita Store Zita Store is a free Elementor template. It is a minimalist theme that comes with required features for the store. It enables the users to showcase the products and increase their sales. Using this template, one can create any type of eCommerce website. Pros Free eCommerce ready User friendly Modern Cons Get Zita Store Popular Popular is one of the best templates for Elementor. It has been designed to offer business consultancy to businesses and individuals. This template comes with multiple professional templates perfect for all types of business. In addition, users can create a detailed presentation or showcase the service that will benefit the client’s business. Pros Free Multiple templates included Good features Cons Header builder lacks schema Get Popular Photography Photography is one of the Elementor templates that are perfect for photography-related websites. This template has been designed for photographers who want to design their website for an excellent amazing photo portfolio. In addition, it also comes with a full-screen photography theme and minimalist design. Pros User friendly Responsive Mobile friendly Built-in portfolio Attractive Cons Features lack useful options Get Photography Cleaning Services Cleaning Services elementor template is perfect for cleaning services websites. It is a clean, attractive and professional WordPress theme that has been created to offer cleaning services business to potential clients. In addition, this template makes all types of screens and devices look attractive. Pros Modern Fully responsive Customizable User friendly Cons Get Cleaning Services Eleto Agency Electo Elememtor template is perfect for business firms. It can be used by all types of agency websites. It has been designed to provide users with a presentation of the website projects. It comes with a connect option, customizable portfolio, blog section, designs, and shop layouts. Article Continues Below Pros SEO Free Creative Customizable Cons Get Eleto Agency Zita Shop Zita Shop is one of the free Elementor templates. It has been created for shopping websites – online stores, retailers, ceramic stores, beauty products, artisans, and the like. Furthermore, it has an elegant and minimalist design that will more likely attract your customers. Some of its features are YITH WooCommerce wishlist, product categories option, quick view, product color, and variations plugins. Pros Modern High quality Free WooCommerce compatibility Cons Get Zita Shop Pet Pet is a pro Elementor template
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