Tag: WordPress (Page 6 of 220)

Articles, tips, and resources for WordPress-based development.

WordPress is a Foundation, Not a Framework

August 10, 2023 / Tom

In 2016, I wrote a post about why WordPress is a foundation, not a framework. Though I don’t participate much on social media any more (I certainly lurk, but don’t converse), I’ll see things I’ve not thought about, things I’ve thought about, and things worth reconsidering.

And in an effort to continue writing more regularly and to revisit things I’ve previously written (because that’s healthy, right?), I thought I’d address something I recently read:

We need to stop thinking of WordPress as a CMS and start thinking of it as a framework.

There’s a litmus test as to what defines a framework and what defines a foundation

A framework doesn’t function until someone builds something using the tools it offers.
A foundation is an application that can run on its own without any additional functionality but it offers APIs that allows developers to build things on top of it.

To that end, WordPress is a foundation. Not a framework.

Note: It’s not that I don’t want to attribute the quote to the specific person out of disrespect; on the contrary, I’ve seen enough subtweeting and general unpleasant discourse online that I don’t want to spur that. It’s not about talking about the person; it’s about talking about the idea.

Yes, They’re Still Exciting: Headless WordPress Applications in 2023

August 9, 2023 / Tom

In r/ProWordPress, OP asked a few questions around Headless WordPress in 2023. One question stood out the most:

Developers who develop headless WordPress sites, how are things going in 2023?

Given all that’s happened within the core WordPress application over the last few years – that is, with the Block Editor and Full Site Editing – it’s not only easy to lose sight this is functionality built into WordPress but there’s likely a portion of people onboarded into WordPress development who do almost nothing with this type of work.

Even with all of the excitement around the new editing tools and how much JavaScript has been introduced into WordPress core, building headless applications with WordPress is still something I find to be one of the most powerful aspects of working with the application.

How To Build Headless WordPress Applications with a REST API

June 28, 2023 / Tom

Since both the REST API and Headless WordPress applications are now mainstream within the WordPress development economy, it’s likely developers have a standard set of tools they like to use when working on these types of projects.

Yours truly not excepted.

And though I’m not making the case that my set of tools should be the standard, I have a set of tools that I’ve found and consistently use when building headless WordPress applications with a REST API.

MailHog
Insomnia
JWT Auth

Though this isn’t in any particular order, I’ll outline them here, how I use them, and explain how they help with login and authentication, testing custom API endpoints, and reviewing emails sent from the local development environments.

Quick Tip: Verify Minimum PHP Version

May 16, 2023 / Tom

Assume that your plugin requires a minimum version of PHP and you want to prevent activation if the minimum PHP version isn’t met.

Add the following code after you’ve declared your namespace, checked to make sure the plugin isn’t being directly accessed and so on:

if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '7.4', '<')) {
    exit(
        sprintf(
            'The plugin requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Your WordPress site is using PHP %s.',
            PHP_VERSION
        )
    );
}

If the comparison fails, then an error message will be displayed on the plugin activation screen along with the string you’ve passed to the sprintf function.

Manipulate Incoming WordPress REST API Requests

May 5, 2023 / Tom

As I’ve continued to work with integration mobile applications with the WordPress REST API, there have been a few instances in which I’ve wanted to inspect, manage, or manipulate incoming REST API Requests.

There’s a number of reasons you may want to manipulate incoming WordPress REST API requests before they actually begin interacting with the core application. In my case, I needed to determine:

which endpoint is being requested,
check whether or not a specific key is being bassed,
return an error if not or proceed with further processing.

But that’s one of many different possibilities available. What I’m more interested in, at least in this article, is showing how to manipulate a request before it’s actually sent to be processed.