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Our blog deals with page speed optimization, page loading, web performance, WordPress tutorials, PHP code wrangling, JavaScript tutorials and code snippets. Our web insights series allow designers and developers to discover the latest and most significant stories on the web, while sipping a hot coffee.
Repeater for Gravity Forms – Release Story
The release story behind Repeater for Gravity Forms — a WordPress plugin that adds native repeatable field groups to Gravity…
How to Migrate Contact Form 7 Forms to Gravity Forms – Plugin Included!
If you’ve been building WordPress sites for a while, you probably have at least one site — maybe several —…
How I Built a Lightweight Google Photos Slideshow Plugin
If you’ve ever tried to embed a public Google Photos album into WordPress, you’ve probably landed on the same solution…
Showcase Your WordPress Plugins in the Browser: A Complete Guide to Blueprint Exporter
I wanted to turn my WordPress sites into shareable demos without the pain of writing Blueprint JSON by hand. So…
ImagePress 9.0: Faster, Smoother Settings Management
We’re excited to announce ImagePress 9.0, a major release that improves how the plugin stores and manages your settings. If…
Building an Advanced Separator Block with PHP-Only Block Registration
This article is part of a series on PHP-only Gutenberg block registration. For an introduction to the feature and its…
Building a Marquee Block with PHP-Only Block Registration
This article is part of a series on PHP-only Gutenberg block registration. For an introduction to the feature and its…
Building an Advanced Heading Block with PHP-Only Block Registration
This article is part of a series on PHP-only Gutenberg block registration. For an introduction to the feature and its…
Building an Author Box Block with PHP-Only Block Registration
This article is part of a series on PHP-only Gutenberg block registration. For an introduction to the feature and its…
Building a Call to Action Block with PHP-Only Block Registration
This article is part of a series on PHP-only Gutenberg block registration. For an introduction to the feature and its…
PHP-Only Block Registration in WordPress 7.0: The Feature I’ve Been Waiting for Since Gutenberg Launched
This article covers PHP-only block registration, a new feature introduced in WordPress 7.0. The feature allows WordPress developers to register…
How to Track WordPress Visitors Without a Cookie Banner (GDPR Compliant)
Cookie banners are everywhere. They slow sites down, frustrate visitors, and — according to a growing body of research —…
How to Read Your Active Analytics Dashboard: A Plain-English Guide
Installing Active Analytics takes about two minutes. Understanding what you’re looking at afterwards is what this guide is for. Each…
Cookieless Analytics for WooCommerce: Track Sales Without Third-Party Data
Most analytics guides for WooCommerce start from the same assumption: that you need Google Analytics 4, a GA4 connector plugin,…
GDPR-Compliant WordPress Analytics: What You Can (and Can’t) Collect
If you run a WordPress site and collect any data about your visitors, GDPR applies to you — regardless of…
How Active Analytics Compares to Plausible, Fathom, and Simple Analytics
The privacy analytics space has grown significantly since GDPR created demand for GA4 alternatives. Four tools dominate the conversation: Plausible…
Active Analytics vs Matomo: Which Privacy-First Analytics Is Right for WordPress?
If you’ve decided to move away from Google Analytics 4, you’ve already made the right call. The harder question is…
ImagePress: The Multi-User Gallery Alternative to NextGEN and Modula
When you think of a WordPress gallery plugin, you likely think of tools like NextGEN Gallery or Modula. These are…
Active Analytics vs Google Analytics 4: Which Is Right for Your WordPress Site?
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is complex, intrusive, and often non-compliant with modern privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA. For site…
Tired of Just Caching? Meet the Lighthouse Alternative to WP Rocket and FlyingPress
For years, the WordPress performance conversation has been dominated by caching plugins. Tools like WP Rocket and FlyingPress are excellent…
Volt: A Developer-Focused WordPress Multi-Site Management Solution
Volt is Lighthouse’s powerful multi-site management module that transforms how developers and agencies manage WordPress installations. Built with performance, security,…
Lighthouse 4.7+: Enhanced Performance, Better Compatibility, and Smarter Monitoring
Lighthouse is a performance tuning plugin that removes default WordPress behaviours, optimizes your site’s speed, and provides comprehensive monitoring tools.…
Lighthouse 4.6.2: Smarter Performance Control and WordPress 6.9 Compatibility
I’m happy to announce Lighthouse 4.6.2, a significant update that brings smarter performance controls, better WordPress compatibility, and a cleaner,…
Saturn 2.9: A Leaner, Faster, More Secure Theme for WordPress 6.9
Compatibility: WordPress 6.9+, ClassicPress 2.5+, PHP 8.4+ Saturn 2.9 is a significant maintenance release that builds on the foundation laid…
Setting Up PHPCS + WPCS on Windows with VSCode for WordPress Plugins
As a WordPress developer managing multiple plugins, maintaining consistent coding standards is critical. Recently, I went through a complete overhaul…
Extracting Dominant Colours from Images with PHP
Have you ever wondered how design tools automatically pick the perfect background colour for an image? Or how e-commerce sites…
Easy Digital Downloads blocks that solve real customer frustrations
The opportunity is massive. Digital product sellers face a 70%+ cart abandonment rate, with mobile reaching 85%. Research across customer…
How to Hide Prices and Add to Cart Buttons for Specific WooCommerce Categories
Sometimes you may want to hide product prices and the Add to Cart button for certain product categories — for…
Why Changing the WordPress Login URL Is a Bad Idea
Over the years, I’ve seen a persistent myth in the WordPress ecosystem — that changing the login URL somehow makes…
Event Tracking, Email Reports, and Content Insights in Active Analytics
Three Powerful Features to Transform Your Website Analytics Active Analytics just got a major upgrade! We’re excited to introduce three…
How Do Enterprise Testing Tools Improve Cross-Functional Collaboration
Enterprise testing tools do more than manage test cases or automate tasks; they also facilitate collaboration and streamline workflows. They…
Retention Playbook for Our WordPress Plugins
1. Product & Market Fit D1 / D7 usage comes from the SaaS/product world: For our WordPress plugins, this translates…
Why retention is so hard for new WordPress plugins
Product & Market Fit Growth & Retention Strategy Churn Management Measurement & Iteration Differentiation & Longevity
Category Images for ImagePress
Easily Add and Manage Category Images ImagePress now has a new, powerful feature that allows you to enhance your image…
Complete Guide to Google OAuth 2.0 Authentication in PHP
Introduction Google OAuth 2.0 authentication is one of the most popular ways to add secure, user-friendly login functionality to web…
WP Lighthouse vs. WP Rocket: A Deep Dive into WordPress Performance and Security
In the competitive landscape of WordPress optimization plugins, two names frequently emerge: WP Rocket and WP Lighthouse. Both aim to…
How to Use the Active Analytics Content Report to Find Your Best WordPress Pages
How to identify and update your underperforming pages using the Content Report If you’ve ever wondered which pages on your site are…
How to Completely Delete or Reset WooCommerce Products and Data
If you’ve been working with WooCommerce and need to start over — for example, after importing thousands of products that…
Building a WordPress.com-Scale Nginx Configuration
How to architect an infrastructure to serve millions of blogs WordPress.com hosts over 522 million websites and serves more than…
Why Active Analytics is a Good Alternative to Its Competitors: A Comprehensive Guide
In today’s digital landscape, understanding how visitors interact with your website is crucial for making informed decisions about content, design,…
The Complete Guide to WordPress Analytics Without Google: Privacy, Compliance, and What Actually Matters
Introduction: Unlocking Your Website’s Story, Simply Understanding who visits a website, what content captures their attention, and where they originate…
The Art and Science of Two-Color Combinations: A Comprehensive Guide
Color is one of the most powerful tools in design, art, and visual communication. While many focus on complex color…
New in Lighthouse: UTF8MB4 Database Conversion Tool
Improving WordPress Database Performance and Emoji Support with UTF8MB4 WordPress has gradually moved to a 4‑byte UTF-8 encoding (called utf8mb4)…
A Comparative Analysis of WordPress Donation Plugins: WP Charity, WP Charitable, and GiveWP
1. Introduction For non-profit organizations, the selection of an effective WordPress donation plugin is a critical decision that directly influences…
Identifying the Most Challenging Keyword for ImagePress: A Search Trend Analysis
I’m not in the SEO industry any more, but I still need to promote and sell my WordPress plugins. In…
Vibe Coding
I got caught in this vibe coding movement and built a bunch of games using JavaScript, Node.js, PHP, SQLite, service…
WooCommerce Currency Switcher: A Comprehensive Guide
Introduction In today’s global e-commerce landscape, supporting multiple currencies is crucial for reaching international customers. The WooCommerce Currency Switcher plugin…
Why WooCommerce Currency Switcher Plugin Outshines the Competition
I built the WooCommerce Currency Switcher plugin using AI tools — Windsurf, Cursor, and Copilot — to ensure it’s efficient,…