Websites that feature eCommerce or memberships are prime examples. Each plugin may store data in a different spot. Some create separate database tables. Others use the default WordPress locales.

Export plugins exist that help in some – but not all – circumstances. For example, you might be able to export customer orders. However, grabbing additional data not directly related to those orders may not be possible.

Writing a custom query is another option. But you’ll need to know your way around PHP and MySQL. Not everyone has the expertise to do so.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help. As I discovered, tools like ChatGPT can do the dirty work. It simplified the process and saved me loads of time. Perhaps it saved my sanity as well.

Here’s how to use AI to get what you need from the WordPress database.

Before We Get Started

There are a few items we should mention before starting:

• Back up Your Site’s Database or Create a Local Copy of Your Site
  None of what we’re doing here should hurt your database. However, create a fresh backup – just in case.
• You can also create a local copy of your site for experimenting. That enables you to work without the risk of harming your production website.
• Have Access to a ChatGPT Account
  We’re using ChatGPT for this demo. Therefore, you’ll want to have access to a free account. You can follow along and experiment.

Other AI tools, such as Google Gemini, may also work. The point is to use an AI tool that will generate code.

Also, a warning: Use caution when generating code. AI tools can make mistakes! Review the code before using it.

What Are You Doing with the Data?
There are a couple of things you can do with the data you retrieve:

• Display the data on the front end of your site;
• Download a CSV file that contains the data;

You’ll want to determine this beforehand. The process is a bit different depending on your choice.

Oh, and you’ll also need access to your site’s database. Access to your theme is required for displaying data on the front end.

Retrieving User Data from Different Plugins

Now, onto our experiment. Let’s take a common sticking point and try to make sense of it.

Our fictional website has two purposes. We sell various products with WooCommerce. Customers come to our site, create accounts, and order from us.

On the other side of the coin, we also sell memberships. Our members pay for access to exclusive content. We use the Restrict Content Pro plugin to power this feature.

Both WooCommerce and Restrict Content Pro have reporting features. For example, we can find out how many members we have. Or the number of WooCommerce customers.

But what if we want to combine this data? There’s no straightforward way to do this. So, let’s see if AI can help.

Step 1: Find the Data You Want

The first step is to determine what data you want to retrieve. Then, you’ll need to find the data inside the WordPress database.

Our goal is to create a CSV export file that includes users who are:

• A customer in our WooCommerce shop AND…
• Have an active membership via Restrict Content Pro;

Data isn’t always easy to locate. In some cases, you may need to reference plugin documentation. Or contact their technical support. A thorough database search can help if all else fails.

In our case, WooCommerce and Restrict Content Pro create custom database tables. That will make our job a bit easier.

• WooCommerce table names use the ‘wp_wc‘ prefix.
• Restrict Content Pro table names use the ‘wp_rcp‘ prefix.

We’ll also want to bring in data from the ‘wp_users‘ and ‘wp_usermeta‘ tables. That allows us to tie customer and membership data to specific users.

With that in mind, we’ll look for the following information:

Step 2: Ask ChatGPT to Create a Database Query

Next, we’ll ask ChatGPT for some help. We’ll want to provide a clear explanation of the task.

Here’s the prompt I used:

I'd like to create a MySQL database query for a WordPress website. I only want to retrieve users who have both a WooCommerce Customer ID and a membership via Restrict Content Pro.

Here is the data I'd like to retrieve:

From the wp_users database table:
ID

From the wp_usermeta database table:
Meta Key: first_name
Meta Key: last_name

From the wp_wc_customer_lookup database table:
customer_id

From the wp_rcp_memberships database table:
status
object_id

Step 3: Get the Response

ChatGPT’s response included a code snippet and a detailed explanation of it (view the full response). The snippet joins multiple database tables together to produce a single report.

So, how do we see if it works? We can run the query in a tool that connects to the site’s database. I’m using a local website that includes AdminerEvo.

You could also use phpMyAdmin, MySQL Workbench, or similar apps. ChatGPT can even provide instructions for whatever app you’re using.

I’ve pasted the query into the SQL Command screen inside AdminerEvo.

Step 4: Study the Results

The results are in! Our fictional website has 198 users. 15 of them have a paid membership. There are also 200 product orders.

So, how many are WooCommerce customers and Restrict Content Pro members? A grand total of seven.

The query results returned the columns we requested. From here, we can tweak things further or export the data.

Going Further with AI

Our example query may seem simple. However, bringing together data from multiple plugins is challenging. A custom solution is often the only solution.

I’m no coding expert. Thus, figuring out how to get data became frustrating. Thankfully, AI has proven to be a terrific tool for the job.

It’s one of the areas where this technology shines. Many of us struggle to write this sort of code on our own. Writing a prompt describing what we want isn’t so bad, however.

There are also opportunities to take things further. We could change our prompt to display data on a WordPress page. Or return data relevant to the currently logged-in user.

A working knowledge of PHP and MySQL can take you a long way. So, experiment and see what you can accomplish. And be sure to add up all the time you save in the process!

The post How to Use ChatGPT to Export Data from a WordPress Database appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

But with that flexibility also is the reality that it’s easy to do things the “wrong” way. Now, in this case, “wrong” means that something is either inefficient or a bit of a pain to maintain down the road. While it may work in the sense of being functional, there are usually better ways to get things done.

Let’s have a look at five of the more common mistakes found in theme development, along with alternatives that will save you future headaches.

1. Using Absolute URLs in Templates

If you’ve ever looked at the HTML code a WordPress page or post produces, you’ll notice that both images and internal links use absolute (full) URLs. But this isn’t the best way to get things done when adding code to your theme templates.

As an example, let’s say you are developing a website that is using a temporary URL. A hardcoded absolute URL in a template means that you’ll have to manually make code changes when you are ready to launch the site on its permanent domain. While this can be done, it’s too easy to forget all of the spots where this type of code could be lurking.

WordPress has built-in ways to determine the correct URL – pulled right from the Settings > General area of the Dashboard.

For a link, echoing esc_url( home_url() ) will provide a full path to the home page. So, instead of explicitly placing the URL in your code, you could add a simple link back to your home page like so:

<a href="<?php echo esc_url( home_url() ); ?>" />Home</a>

What’s more, you can also use this to point to secondary pages. For example, if we wanted to link to our site’s About Us page, we could use the following code:

<a href="<?php echo esc_url( home_url() ); ?>/about-us/" />About Us</a>

A similar snippet also works for images. This example pulls an image from our active theme’s /images/ subfolder:

<img src="<?php echo esc_url( get_stylesheet_directory_uri() ) ; ?>/images/hello.png" />

2. Adding Scripts and Styles Directly to a Template

Using third-party scripts and styles with WordPress is a world of its own. When you first start out in building themes, you may be tempted to simply place <script> or <style> tags, or even a Google Font embed code directly into your theme’s header. This is generally how things are done with static HTML sites, so it makes sense to do the same here.

But, like just about everything else in WordPress, there is a better way to go about it. Instead, take advantage of wp_enqueue_script() and wp_enqueue_style() – which add scripts and stylesheets to the correct spots for you. It also makes managing assets that much easier, as everything is called from your theme’s functions.php file.

Rather than reinvent the wheel here, the WordPress Theme Handbook has a fantastic guide on how properly add scripts and styles to your theme.

3. Calling Outside Instances of jQuery

In a related note, one of the hidden secrets of WordPress is that it already includes a copy of jQuery, along with several popular UI features. So, you don’t need to install jQuery or call it remotely. This makes it easy to take advantage of the popular JavaScript library and implement elements such as tabs, datepickers, dialogs and a whole lot more.

The only catch is that you have to specifically enable the items you want to use through your theme’s functions.php file. While that creates a bit of a learning curve, it also cuts down on bloat.

And, truth be told, it’s not overly difficult to implement a desired jQuery UI element. For example, to enable the use of jQuery UI Tabs, just add the following snippet to your functions.php:

function my_jquery_elements() {
   wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery-ui-tabs', array('jquery'));
add_action( 'template_redirect', my_jquery_elements ', 10 );

This tells WordPress to load in the element from its already-existing library. From there, design your tabs and define them as specified in the jQuery UI documentation.

4. Taking Customization Too Far

The ability to add custom fields and custom post types can make life for both developers and site content editors much easier. They offer convenience, better content organization and a more intuitive UX. But sometimes we take it too far.

I’m a huge fan of custom fields, for example. But even I admit that there have been times when I’ve customized a theme to the point of inflexibility. Fields are great for setups where we know exactly what content will need to be input – like the fields of a staff member profile.

However, it can get messy when there are inconsistencies in the types of content someone wants to add. Clients are notorious for having “minor” exceptions in content that can make using customizations more difficult. Conditional logic can account for some of this, but you can only take it so far before the UI gets out of hand.

There are no hard and fast rules for this type of customization. The only thing we can really do is use our best judgment about what should be customized and what can be better left to either the WordPress content editor or even a niche plugin. When we do add fields or post types, just know that things could change down the road and try to build with that in mind.

5. Failing to Comment Code

I’m going to make another admission here: Commenting code is not one of my strong points. It’s not that I don’t use comments at all, but it’s more that they aren’t very articulate. Usually, I’ll point out the start and end of particular items with not a ton of insight in-between. Should I be doing more? Probably so.

Commenting is important because it at least provides some reference points within the code. When digging through PHP or JS files that contain more than one thing, you’ll want to know where to find a particular item.

Even if you’re the only one who will ever edit that code, comments are highly recommended. If, for instance, you need to change something six months from now, it’s unlikely that you’re going to remember the exact spot you placed a snippet of code.

So, I’m not going to be a huge hypocrite and implore you to comment everything with great depth. But I will say that even a minimal effort here makes future maintenance easier for you or another developer that has to comb through your work.

Better Techniques Over Time

Building your own WordPress theme can be a great experience. But it does take a good bit of practice to pick up on the finer details of creating a well-coded theme and easy to maintain. The more experience you gain, the more your techniques will evolve.

I can honestly say that the first few themes I put together were nowhere near as efficient as they are now. And I’m also certain that they still might not be up-to-snuff when viewed by a truly expert developer. In that sense, our evolution is a constant one.

Finally, I’d like to note that I have personally made every one of the mistakes mentioned above. It’s only through trial and error, along with several visits to the Codex, that I found out how to start doing things the “WordPress Way.”

The lesson is that we’re all going to make mistakes. But each one provides us with a chance to learn and improve.

The post How to Avoid Common WordPress Theme Development Mistakes appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Even so, we’re not out of the woods. To paraphrase the old saying: a website is only as secure as its weakest link. Beyond potential exploits due to code, the weakest link tends to be an uninformed user. Someone who, through no fault of their own, makes a bad choice that leaves their website vulnerable.

To use another cliché: the best defense is a good offense. In this case, it means being proactive when it comes to teaching clients about security best practices. Some things (like strong passwords) are universal, while others are more specific to WordPress itself. And that’s our focus for today.

With that, let’s review five things your clients need to know about WordPress security.

Don’t Install a WordPress Plugin Without Consulting a Professional

We get it: the temptation to install plugins is real. They are, after all, just a few clicks away.

But the risk is also real. WordPress plugins vary greatly in terms of quality and, thus, security. It’s not uncommon to find a plugin in the official repository that hasn’t been updated in a year or more. Maybe it’s harmless; maybe it’s not.

Because of this, web designers should encourage clients to perform a quick consultation before installing a plugin. Offer to take a look and review the particulars. This single step could prevent a nightmare scenario with regards to security and site stability.

There are several benefits. First, this keeps you in the loop as to what’s going on with the site. In addition, it allows you to point clients in the direction of good, reputable plugins. Not to mention that this trains clients to think before they click. That benefits everyone.

Create New User Accounts, Rather Than Sharing a Single One

Many organizations have more than one person who needs access to the WordPress dashboard. Too often, those users share a single account.

On the surface, this may seem like a simple matter of trust. And there certainly is an element of that. If a team member leaves the organization, there is the possibility of them still having access if the password hasn’t been changed. And a malicious person could do some damage.

The other real concern here is about device security. If you have, say, five people sharing a WordPress administrator account, all it takes is one of their devices to be exploited. For example, a keylogger on one user’s PC could compromise the account.

Therefore, it’s recommended that each user have their own account. This is easy to do within WordPress, and we can even create custom user roles that limit what someone can and can’t do.

Keep WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes Up-To-Date

Ideally, your clients will contract with you to handle software updates. But if they’re the ones taking responsibility, it’s important that they treat the issue very seriously.

As a developer, there are few things more irritating than troubleshooting a compromised website, only to log into WordPress and see that things are several versions out-of-date. It’s akin to leaving the front door of your house wide open, 24/7. You shouldn’t be too surprised when someone comes in and takes your fancy new TV.

The importance of keeping WordPress core, plugins, and themes updated cannot be overstated. Knowing that it still may be beyond the comfort level of some clients. That’s OK. Either they can hire you to deal with it or, at the very least, enable auto updates where possible.

Regardless of how updates are implemented, they must be taken care of. While it won’t guarantee security, it’s much better than the alternative.

Two-Factor Authentication Can Make a Big Difference

Adding two-factor authentication to WordPress is fairly simple. But it’s only worthwhile if stakeholders actually use it.

True, it’s not very convenient. Having to verify an email, a text message, or check a mobile app to login can be a major pain. But this extra step is vital. It puts up a huge barrier between a malicious actor and access to your website’s back end.

And the user experience is actually getting better. Some implementations are now combining device recognition with 2FA. This means that, so long as a user’s device is recognized, there won’t be a need to verify a login for a specified amount of time.

Plus, 2FA has become standard in so many places. Some online banking apps won’t let you login without it. There’s no reason why your website shouldn’t take advantage of this technology as well.

What’s Secure Today May Not Be Tomorrow

Regardless of the platform it runs on, a website is not a one-and-done affair. It requires frequent (if not constant) attention – with security playing a major role.

The web is constantly evolving. New technology gets old very quickly. And what was once thought to be a security best practice can sometimes be proven otherwise.

Because of that, website security is a challenge that really has no end. It’s a daily battle for small and large organizations alike.

The result is that websites need to change along with the times. When it comes to WordPress, that may mean replacing older security plugins with something better. Or doing away with abandoned themes and plugins to tighten things up. It could also require a change in hosts or server environments.

It’s important to understand that just because you’ve invested in security today doesn’t mean you won’t have to do so again tomorrow.

Educate Clients Today for a More Secure WordPress Website

Our clients often rely on us to provide some knowledge along with a killer website. And security may just be the most important subject we can educate them on.

Making an effort to do so from the beginning can pay long-term dividends. A client who understands how to keep their WordPress website secure is less likely to make one of those crucial mistakes. That alone may be the difference between cleaning up a hacked site and smooth sailing.

The post How to Educate Clients on WordPress Security Best Practices appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

In the grander scheme of things, running WordPress locally offers a virtually limitless playground. It’s a completely free and private way to learn and use the content management system (CMS). You don’t need to worry about web hosting policies or restrictions, nor the potential for breaking a live site. This might just be the most stress-free way to experiment.

With that in mind, here are five great ways to use your local install.

1. Create a Staging Site

One of the most common reasons to run WordPress locally is to test a copy of an existing website. This provides a safe environment for troubleshooting, testing software updates or playing with some custom code you’ve written.

Pulling down a site and running it on your own machine is often preferable to simply making another copy online. For one, your web hosting account’s resources for storage and bandwidth aren’t affected – which is important for larger sites. Plus, you can more easily avoid accidental file or database overwrites that can leave you in a bind.

As a bonus, if you’re familiar with (or looking to learn) Git, this can be a great opportunity to test updates and the push them to your production site.

2. Learn to Code

When it comes to mastering the art of code, everyone needs to start somewhere. And WordPress provides a terrific gateway to learning PHP, CSS and JavaScript. These languages are all crucial components to themes, plugins and WordPress core itself (see the Codex for more).

Utilizing a local install lets you practice and refine your skills in a safe environment. Create a WordPress site and try building some custom post queries or even dig into how custom blocks work for the Gutenberg editor. This is a great way to expand your horizons.

3. Accelerate Theme/Plugin Development

Once you have a good grasp of coding fundamentals, a local copy of WordPress can help you level up your workflow.

The process of tweaking themes or plugins via a remote server can be a huge pain. You make changes, FTP them up to the server, then test. And the process needs to be repeated over and over again. There can be a whole lot of navigating through various folders and clearing cache as well. Tired yet?

A local environment is the perfect place to develop your next theme or plugin. Write your code, save it and refresh your browser. It saves time and also serves as a handy environment for debugging.

4. Build an Internal Productivity App

Sure, there are a ton of third-party productivity apps out there. But where’s the fun in that? With a local installation of WordPress, you can build one of your own and personalize it to fit your needs.

You might, for example, want to build an internal task management site to keep track of your to-do list. Or, if you share an office with team members, even a simple install of BuddyPress can help you stay on the same page. If you really want to go for something big, use an LMS to offer employee training.

The project can be as serious (or not) as you want. In some cases, the build process itself can be the main point. At the very least, it can serve as a great learning experience for future client projects.

5. Teach Someone to Use WordPress

While the other items on our list are about self-improvement and efficiency, our last project is solely focused on others. It’s about taking some time to help someone else learn the ins and outs of WordPress.

A local copy of the CMS can be an easy way for a friend, relative or a youngster to get a close up look at how WordPress works. They won’t have to worry about breaking anything or making a mistake online. Instead, they’ll get to click around, install plugins and practice all manner of mayhem in private. This is especially nice for parents who don’t want their little ones potentially exposed to the online world just yet.

Plus, an aspiring developer can also get a behind-the-scenes tour of how a server is set up. This can give them a solid foundational understanding that will benefit them for years to come.

Going Local

If you’re looking to learn, teach, troubleshoot or just play around, a local WordPress installation could be exactly what you need. And like WordPress itself, the barriers to entry are extremely low.

With minimal hardware and software requirements, just about any old machine you have lying around can be turned into a real, working server that runs the world’s most popular CMS. With a little elbow grease, you can be up and running in under an hour.

From there, an unending amount of possibilities await. So, what will you create?

The post 5 Cool Things You Can Do with a Local Install of WordPress appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Among the most challenging are large, content-heavy WordPress websites. Why? For starters, they often come with several different types of content to account for. Plus, their existing setup may not be as ideal today as it was when the site was originally built. And, if content is regularly added or changed, this throws yet another monkey wrench into the works.

All told, there is a lot to consider. That’s why it’s so important to plan ahead. While there will always be pain points, being prepared will make the process that much smoother.

So, before you tackle that next redesign project, let’s review some ways to get into the best position for success.

Review the Content Structure

First up, you’ll want to take a close look at how content is structured. Even if you were the one who originally built the website, it’s still a good idea to refresh your memory.

Things to look for include:

• Parent and child pages
• Taxonomies such as categories and tags
• Custom post types
• Navigation menus

Once you have a better picture of how the existing content is set up, you can then determine whether any changes should be made. For instance, if all the site’s pages are currently at the top level, does it make sense to reconfigure some of them as a “child” page under a more generalized “parent”?

It’s also important to ensure that the site’s navigation accurately reflects the hierarchy of content. This not only looks better on the front end, but will help to avoid unnecessary confusion on the back end.

The main idea is to make sure that the site’s content is structured efficiently and in a way that makes sense for both users and content creators. Of course, there’s just about always room for improvement. But that must also be weighed against the potentially time-consuming task of making changes.

Dig into the Code

Now that you know the various content considerations, it’s time to take a look at the existing WordPress theme. This will provide you with a clearer picture of any custom functionality that may or may not need to be replicated on the redesigned version.

Among the items to look for:

• Whether the active theme is a child theme or standalone
• Any custom code or scripts being loaded within the functions.php file
• Customized page templates that use the WordPress template hierarchy

Because a WordPress website can be put together in any number of ways, it’s vital to know the exact piece of code that is powering a specific function. While plugins may be responsible for some features, others could be the result of custom code within the theme.

For example, you might find that the site’s slider is being run by a custom jQuery script, rather than a WordPress plugin. Or perhaps there are custom fields being called in a page template – something that you would have to account for within the redesign.

Just as with the content structure mentioned above, the goal is to learn more about what you have to work with. Not every bit of custom code from the existing theme may need to be moved over. But it’s better to know this from the beginning, rather than find out it’s missing after the site has launched.

Make Note of Active Plugins

We love WordPress plugins because they help us add maximum functionality with very little effort. But just because a plugin has served us well in the past doesn’t mean it should be part of our future.

A redesign is a perfect time to perform an audit of any plugins that are currently active. Some will undoubtedly move on with you to the redesigned website. However, you may find that others are no longer necessary.

It could be that their functionality is no longer needed or perhaps they weren’t really being utilized in the first place. Then there is also the chance that there is another option out there that can do the job better.

But the most important reason to review plugins is to potentially rid yourself of security risks and dead weight. Plugins that haven’t been updated in awhile could both hurt performance and be an open invitation for hackers or bots. It’s all part of that fresh start we’re looking for.

Create an “In-Development” Plan

Most likely, you’re not going to do all of your redesign work on a production site. Therefore, the bulk of the process will take place on a staging site. That’s ideal, as you’ll have the freedom to work without fear of an inadvertent mistake causing downtime.

On a website that doesn’t see much in the way of new or updated content, the process is fairly easy. You may have to account for a few changes before launch, but it shouldn’t become a major obstacle.

However, a site that is frequently changed is certainly more of a challenge. It’s important to devise a plan to account for this.

It could be a matter of syncing the databases every so often in order to ensure that your staging site always has the latest content. Then again, there may be differences in structure that make this process more complicated.

There isn’t really a one-size-fits all solution here. So much depends on how your existing website has been built. You may be fortunate and find a plugin that does the heavy lifting for you. Or, you could be relegated to a more bespoke approach. Regardless, it should be a major consideration when redesigning a busy site.

Leave No Stone Unturned

Beyond a great look and layout, so much of a redesign’s success relies on picking up on the details. The bigger the website, the more of those important little tidbits that you’re likely to uncover. And, while the items above will have you off to a running start, there are always more places to look.

Depending upon your install, you might also want to consider things like SEO plugin settings (particularly on-page customization), custom plugins, image sizing and analytics. If any of these items aren’t accounted for, you could be missing something important when the new site launches.

But no worries, because you’ve got this! Pay attention to the details, take notes and (if necessary) ask questions. Add your terrific design skills to the mix and prepare to receive a few pats on the back for a job well done.

The post The Best Practices for Redesigning a Large WordPress Website appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

It’s a powerful tool for large, multi-faceted organizations and those who want to build online communities. Everyone from universities and governments to niche bloggers can benefit.

At its core, a Multisite network is still WordPress. Each site features the same familiar styles and settings you’re accustomed to. A network settings area adds a way to create new sites and tweak specific settings that have a broader impact.

But running a stable and secure WordPress Multisite network is a whole different animal. There are plenty of unique considerations that depend upon your specific needs. Items such as user permissions and plugin and theme choices need to be thought about ahead of time. In addition, it’s important to determine whether Multisite is even the right choice for your project.

Today, we’ll share some tips for ensuring that your Multisite network is the best it can be.

Is WordPress Multisite the Best Fit?

The thought of being able to run multiple websites under a single WordPress installation can get your creative juices flowing. It might lead you to conjure up all sorts of potential use cases. However, there are some situations when utilizing Multisite isn’t the best option.

Freelancers, for example, may think about hosting all of their clients under a single network. Imagine the ability to hop from site to site and perform updates with ease. Sounds pretty tempting, right?

This is not a recommended use for WordPress Multisite. Why? If something goes wrong, it has the potential to negatively impact every single site in the network. Since all sites share a database, a crash or bad case of malware could be particularly disastrous. Not to mention the possibility of server downtime.

WordPress Multisite generally makes sense when the network of sites has something in common. Think of a retailer with multiple locations or a sports league where every team needs their own website.

There should be some solid logic as to why these sites are being combined into one installation. Short of that, it might be best to avoid using Multisite altogether.

Be Judicious with Themes and Plugins

The common thread between websites goes beyond organizational. While each site can run its own unique theme and choose from an installed pool of plugins, there could be some concern about what can or should be allowed.

Ideally, each website will have similar requirements when it comes to both looks and functionality. This makes it easier to install only the items that will be utilized throughout the network.

Of course, there may be times when a particular network site needs a theme or plugin that won’t be used by the others. An online store that requires a shopping cart is a prime example.

That’s OK, as the network’s Super Admin can limit the availability of those items to just the site that needs them. This lessens the possibility of a theme or plugin being misused or taking up precious server resources.

This doesn’t mean you should go wild with plugins, however. It’s still important to choose carefully. Installing a plugin with security flaws or lots of bugs can bring about network-wide problems.

Speaking of which, WordPress Multisite includes the ability to network activate plugins. Any plugin with this designation will automatically run on every website within the network. Therefore, you’ll want to reserve this for items that you know you’ll need on each site.

As with any website, themes and plugins can affect your network’s security and performance. Determining what gets installed and who has access to it should be at the top of your to-do list.

Provide Back-End Users with Access to What They Need

Just like a traditional WordPress website, Multisite networks support various user roles and capabilities. Likewise, you can also create custom roles if need be. This empowers Super Admins with fine-grain control over every site and the network as a whole.

But for large organizations with a lot of sites, managing users can be tricky. This is particularly so when a user needs access to multiple websites.

By default, all registered users are assigned to the lowest user level (subscriber). That won’t allow for any meaningful access in the back end.

Thus, there may be a temptation to assign them to the Super Admin role for the sake of convenience. That allows a user to access everything. It’s not the most solid policy in terms of security, though.

The more secure option is to assign users only to the sites they’ll need access to. This can be done by first creating the user account via the Network Admin Users Screen. From there, visit My Sites > Network Admin > Sites and assign each user to the appropriate sites via the Edit Site link.

If a user only needs access to a single site, it’s easiest to visit the site’s dashboard and navigate to Users > Add New.

As always, carefully consider which user role each person should have. Think about the permissions they’ll need to do their job and assign them to the appropriate level.

Ensure That Your Server Can Handle the Load

Multisite networks, particularly large ones, can eat up a lot of server resources. They can push storage capacity, memory, bandwidth, and processing power to their limits.

That’s why web hosting is one of the most important components of a healthy WordPress Multisite network. Without the right configuration, your sites can take a massive hit in terms of performance and reliability.

Choosing a web hosting package can be challenging. Even if your initial choice appears to have enough resources, future growth also has to be considered. You don’t want to find out that you’ve outgrown your hosting a few months down the road.

Cost is also a major factor – but you tend to get what you pay for. Sure, some managed WordPress hosts charge a premium for Multisite installs. However, you may have access to a larger pool of resources.

Traditional shared hosting typically allows WordPress Multisite installations. That may work well enough in some instances. But don’t expect great performance for large, heavily-trafficked networks.

The bottom line is to know what you’re getting into before you sign up for hosting. Make sure that you’ll have the horsepower you need both now and in the future.

One WordPress Installation, Many Websites

There are plenty of similarities between administering a standard WordPress website and a Multisite network. But this special configuration does come with its own set of challenges.

First, the web hosting requirements are generally greater. Multiple sites mean a bigger database and more strain on server resources.

In addition, it can be difficult to keep track of plugins, themes, and users. Maintaining great performance and top-notch security requires constant vigilance. Administrators must take care to cut down on overhead and ensure that users have only the permissions they need.

That being said, the potential for a Multisite network is awesome. The added convenience and interoperability allow both developers and organizations to achieve some incredible things.

The post How to Successfully Run a WordPress Multisite Network appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

If your website has a lot of content, you’ll first want to give some thought to how it’s organized. Without proper care, pages and posts can become a jumbled mess in the dashboard. Not only does it make a particular item harder to find later on, but it’s also a pain to rearrange after the fact.

That’s why it pays to have a plan. By mapping out your needs at the start of a project, you’ll be able to store content logically. It looks professional, helps with SEO, and will likely reduce your stress levels. What’s not to like?

Today, we’ll share some tips to help you effectively organize content within WordPress. Let’s get started!

What’s a Page? What’s a Post?

A default WordPress installation supports both Pages and Posts. Each has specific use cases, and they aren’t easily interchangeable. This can trip up even experienced users. As such, it’s worth pointing out some key differences.

Pages are geared toward standalone content. For example, your website may have an About Us page that contains a biography or a Contact page that includes a form.

These items could have parent/child relationships with other pages. Thinking of our example, the Contact page might have child pages for each location of a business.

Posts are generally best for creating a collection of similar content. If your website has a blog or needs to publish news items, posts are a perfect fit.

They can also be sorted into categories and tags, which helps to organize content by a specific subject. A post can belong to multiples of each, making it easier to narrow down large volumes.

Use Custom Post Types for Niche Content

While Pages and Posts are powerful, they’re rather generic in terms of labeling. Consider having all of your eCommerce products live alongside press releases in the Posts area. While it’s technically possible, it could make managing content confusing – particularly if you’re handing the site off to a client.

That’s where custom post types and taxonomies come in handy. Functionally, they’re no different than Pages and Posts. But they allow for housing and organizing a site’s niche content in a highly-tailored way.

WooCommerce is a prime example of these features in action. Install the eCommerce plugin and you’ll see a post type for Products appear in the WordPress admin menu. In addition, they can be further organized through custom taxonomies (product categories and tags).

Using custom post types and taxonomies creates a more intuitive management experience. When every type of content has a unique name and place, it’s easier to find, edit, and add to. It’s a level of flexibility you can’t get by lumping everything into the standard content types.

Plus, optimizing for search engines becomes simpler. You can target certain content and implement structured data that accurately represent products, events, or anything else you need.

The benefits of “going custom” may lead you to eschew traditional Posts altogether.

Take Advantage of Parent/Child Relationships

As we mentioned, WordPress pages are capable of parent/child relationships. Custom post types can also do so – if configured to use them.

This creates a hierarchy that makes related content easier to locate and manage within WordPress. Likewise, it establishes consistency in your site’s URL structure – another feature to boost your SEO.

For sites with dozens (or hundreds) of pages, parent/child relationships are a lifesaver. This method organizes the Pages listing screen according to those relationships. Without them, you might be scrolling through several screens trying to find a proverbial needle in a haystack.

When should you use these relationships? A good rule of thumb is to group pages that have something in common.

One method involves mimicking your site’s menu structure. If you have multilevel menus, for instance, you can arrange parent/child relationships that reflect this setup.

In practice, it means that the About Us page could serve as the parent for each subpage in that navigation tab. With that, both the listing and URLs follow a pattern. For example:

• About Us (parent – /about-us/)
• -Mission Statement (child – /about-us/mission-statement/)
• -Leadership (child – /about-us/leadership/)
• -Staff (child – /about-us/staff/)

By organizing your content identically on both the front and back ends, you’re simplifying the experience and making future edits a breeze.

Keep Your WordPress Content Neat and Tidy

While it’s easy enough to create content with WordPress, keeping things organized isn’t so obvious. And a bit of carelessness here can lead to a lot of frustration down the line.

Thankfully, WordPress offers features that can help you keep things neat and tidy. Standard Pages and Posts, along with custom post types and parent/child relationships allow you to organize content in any way you choose.

The key is to plan ahead. That requires careful thought to determine what content your site will feature and how to best organize it.

Doing it right requires a bit of work. However, it’s well worth the effort. The reward is a website where everything has its place.

The post How to Organize Content within WordPress appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

But, if your client is responsible for managing content themselves, those pixels may no longer be so perfect after a while. You may find that your carefully crafted layouts and typography have been rendered a mess by a well-meaning user. Color contrasts designed for maximum accessibility become illegible.

For so long, this has been accepted as the natural order of things. We design pretty and functional things; clients make them slightly less pretty and functional.

It doesn’t have to be this way! With a little creative thinking, technical knowledge, and education, we can build WordPress websites that can withstand a bit more punishment – and even avoid such situations in the first place.

Assign the Right User Roles

One of the best ways to prevent a client from accidentally changing a key setting is to take away their means to do so. That’s what WordPress user roles and capabilities are for.

It’s fairly common to see clients provided with administrator-level accounts for their websites. But this enables them to do everything. They can activate themes, remove or install plugins and make any number of other changes. A curious user could do some real damage.

However, it’s usually not necessary for them to have this type of access for everyday tasks. For most content management duties, an Editor account provides enough access and keeps users away from anything dangerous.

For Editors, theme and plugin management are off the table. This can eliminate some of those potential issues. Going to even lower account levels limits users even further by cutting out content they didn’t create. That could, for example, save a home page from an unintended consequence.

If someone needs a bit more specialized capabilities, a custom user role can be created to accommodate them.

That said, a client should ideally have an administrator account on hand – just in case. But a lower-level account should be used for day-to-day site management.

Make Design Decisions for Content Managers

One common mistake in the design and development process is creating elements that rely too much on good faith. They are destined to cause problems down the road.

For instance, consider a card UI layout that displays the latest blog posts. There are a number of ways to build this type of feature.

We could configure things so that our clients need to write a post description through a custom field. That’s great, but what if they enter too much text? We could risk breaking or severely throwing-off the layout.

Sure, you can explain that the post description field should contain no more than x amount of characters. But that still leaves the possibility of something going wrong. And, even if one person heeds your advice, that doesn’t mean the next person will do the same. It’s just not sustainable.

The better solution is to build in safeguards – or, better yet, automatically generate that post description via a template.

A safeguard could include setting a character limit on the post description field. This allows a client to write their own copy while preventing too much text. Automatically generating an excerpt, however, will take the decision out of a user’s hands.

Either way, it’s important to consider what might go wrong when designing and building features.

Limit Choices

Some portions of a WordPress website are difficult (if not impossible) to fully make design decisions for clients. In general, this is because the CMS, theme, and plugins offer users several different choices.

A page builder plugin or even the Gutenberg block editor makes it possible for a user to drastically change a layout. This is one of the downsides of an increasingly visual design process.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much web designers can control here. Some page builders let you turn off features for specific user roles, which could be helpful. There is also the potential to lock down block editor templates, but it’s not always a realistic option.

One neat feature of Gutenberg is the ability to define custom color palettes, which can help users make brand-appropriate choices for blocks. The same goes for gradients and font sizes.

Combine these customizations with disabling the ability to choose beyond the options you’ve defined and users can’t go outside of these parameters. That means no crazy color combinations or tiny font sizes.

Not all WordPress software has these capabilities, however. If you don’t see any obvious settings for a theme or plugin, check out the documentation. Fail that, and it might be worth contacting the author to see if there are any undocumented hooks or filters to help you rein in users.

Think Before You Build

The most important part of keeping your design and functionality intact is thinking ahead. Plan for how that beautiful design element is going to withstand everything your client might throw at it. Consider the possibility of something breaking and ways to prevent it from happening.

You may not be able to stop a determined client at every turn. But you can build and manage a WordPress website in a way that rebuffs the most egregious issues. That should provide both you and your client with some extra peace of mind.

The post How to Build Client-Proof WordPress Websites appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Thus, there are no apples-to-apples site moves. It’s more like apples-to-oranges, with a few pears and peaches thrown in to make it interesting.

If you’re preparing to migrate your site to WordPress, there can be several obstacles to navigate. And the core software is just the beginning. The larger and more specialized your site is, the more involved the move will be. For example, a plugin such as WooCommerce requires plenty of attention when importing eCommerce data.

Because every website is unique, there’s no singular way to migrate to WordPress from another CMS. There are some best practices when it comes to preparation and execution, however. And that’s our focus for today.

Let’s explore some tips for making your migration to WordPress as smooth as possible.

Assess Your Data Export Options

The first step is to assess your options for exporting data from your current CMS. Some apps make it fairly simple to export content as a CSV or XML file. Others may require a third-party tool to do so.

Depending on the types of data and how much there is, there could be several methods available. In general, you might find more options with an open-source CMS than with a proprietary one. But it can vary greatly from one system to another.

It’s also important to find out what data is exportable. Blog posts or page content could be readily available. However, specialty items such as membership data, eCommerce products/sales, and events may require a separate tool – or may not be available to export at all.

In addition, don’t expect themes or other design elements to easily travel along to WordPress. While certain aspects such as CSS and images can be copied, the overall template structure will need to be rebuilt. This scenario isn’t so bad if you’re planning to do a full redesign – but it can be a pain otherwise.

Once you understand the available options, you can formulate a plan for the “big move.”

Match Up Your Exported Data with WordPress

Hopefully, you’ll now have some or all of your current website’s data on hand. Now it’s time to determine the best way for importing it into WordPress.

WordPress has some recommendations for importing content from other platforms. If there’s a tool available for your specific CMS, that makes the process quite a bit easier. You might not have to worry about details like the column headers of a CSV file. The tool does all (or most) of the dirty work for you.

Outside of that, there are several generalized import/export plugins for WordPress. They may require you to conduct some cleanup of your data. As such, importing can be a trial-and-error process. Sometimes it takes a few tries before you get things imported correctly.

Part of the challenge involves getting data into the right tables and columns of the WordPress database. Some plugins provide a UI to visually map out where things go. Still, others may require you to use the correct naming conventions within a file.

Individual values may also have formatting requirements. Date formats are a prime example. But other spots could mean some reconfiguring of your export.

Getting Your Import Just Right

Depending on your existing site’s setup, multiple imports may be needed – and run in a specific order. For a typical eCommerce site, there could be imports for:

• General content (pages, blog posts, etc.);
• Products;
• Customer accounts;
• Past orders;

Logically speaking, the products and customer accounts should be imported before the store’s past orders. Experimentation is often required to figure out how to make everything work. WordPress data can be difficult to wrangle, and imports are no exception.

It’s a great learning opportunity. That is after you’ve pulled your hair out amid a data nightmare. But the knowledge you’ll gain can come in handy down the road.

Test Your Work

How will you know if your import works as expected? The answer is in performing relevant tests. That will fill you in on which data migrated perfectly, as well as any potential problems.

The types of tests you conduct will depend on the data. WordPress user profiles can be viewed in the back end, as can page and post content. It’s a good way to ensure that the basics are in order.

But it’s possible to go a step further. For instance, User Switching is a plugin that allows you to see your website from a specific user’s vantage point. It’s a great tool for testing eCommerce and membership sites.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of testing is that you’re more likely to catch errors before the site is made public. It will save you some embarrassment and user complaints.

Move Your Website to WordPress with Fewer Headaches

Migrating your website to WordPress may seem intimidating. And there is the potential for things to go poorly. But preparation is your best defense.

By studying both the export and import processes, you’ll have a better understanding of what needs to be done. You can then find tools to help you move data from point A to point B.

And if there are some hiccups along the way – not to worry. Website migrations may have multiple stages or require you to start over from scratch. It’s not always pretty.

But don’t let that scare you away. Do your best to plan and deal with any issues as they come along. It will be that much sweeter when your new WordPress website is up and running.

The post How to Successfully Migrate Your Website to WordPress appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

So, in this tutorial, I will show you how to use the built-in WordPress functions to create those links.

There is a function for both the previous link and the next link. Both of these functions should be used on a single post within the loop. Both functions will echo the links on the screen and allow you to change the format of the links on the page.

The Previous Post Link

WordPress has the function previous_post_link which should be used in the loop of the single posts. This function will create a link to the previous post by date. If there are no posts, then a link will not be displayed.

To use the previous post link just use the below snippet:

<?php previous_post_link($format, $link, $in_same_cat = false, $excluded_categories = ''); ?>

This function accepts four parameters:

• $format – This will allow you to change the format of the outputted link. To define just the link, use the token %link.
• $link – This defines the text that is used on the link. The default is %title of the post.
• $in_same_cat – This is a boolean which defines if the linked post is in the same category or not. The default is false.
• $excluded_categories – This allows you to define which categories are excluded from being linked to.

Examples of Using Previous Post Link

All of the parameters in the previous_post_link are optional, so the simplest use of this function is to use no parameters:

<?php previous_post_link(); ?>

Change Link Format

To change the format of the link, you can wrap it in an h1 tag by using the first parameter:

<?php previous_post_link('<h1>%link</h1>'); ?>

Change Link Text

To change the text of the link, you need to change the second parameter:

<?php previous_post_link('%link', 'Link To Previous Post'); ?>

Link to Posts in the Same Category

To only link to previous posts in the same category, use the following snippet:

<?php previous_post_link('&laquo; %link', '%title', TRUE); ?>

Exclude Links in Category

To exclude any categories from being linked to from this link, you need to use the 4th parameter. To exclude all posts with a category ID of 17, use the following snippet:

<?php previous_post_link('&laquo; %link', '%title', FALSE, '17'); ?>

Next Post Link

The next_post_link function works the same way as the previous link but will return the next post. This takes the same parameters as the previous post link function and will work the same way.

If there is no next post, then the link will not be displayed.

<?php next_post_link('format', 'link', 'in_same_cat', 'excluded_categories'); ?>

Examples of Using Previous Post Link

All of the parameters in the next_post_link are optional, so the simplest use of this function is to use no parameters.

<?php next_post_link(); ?>

This adds a link on the page to the next post using the default values.

Change Link Format

To change the format of the link, you can wrap it in an h1 tag by using the first parameter:

<?php next_post_link('<h1>%link</h1>'); ?>

Change Link Text

To change the text of the link, you need to change the second parameter:

<?php next_post_link('%link', 'Link To Next Post'); ?>

Link to Posts in Same Category

To only link to the next posts in the same category, use the following snippet:

<?php next_post_link('&laquo; %link', '%title', TRUE); ?>

Exclude Links In Category

To exclude any categories from being linked to from this link, you need to use the 4th parameter. To exclude all posts with a category ID of 17, use the following snippet:

<?php next_post_link('&laquo; %link', '%title', FALSE, '17'); ?>

Use in a Theme

When you use these in your WordPress theme, you would want the previous link to float to the left and the next post link to float to the right.

Here is a real-world example of using these functions.

<?php
    previous_post_link('<span class="left">&laquo; %link</span>');
    next_post_link('<span class="right">%link &raquo;</span>');
?>                           
<div class="clearfix"></div>

This adds a span around both of the links adding a CSS class of left or right, so you can float the link. We then use the clearfix example to clear the floats on the page.

The post How to Create Next & Previous Links in WordPress Posts appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.