Development workflow Practical
Turning taste arguments into rule checks
"It feels a bit cramped" can be neither argued with nor fixed. Spacing off the scale, colour off the palette, contrast below threshold, missing states — four rules…
Technote
Development workflow
Git, .gitignore, CI/CD, WP-CLI and staging — treating a WordPress site like code rather than like a live server you edit.
45 articles· Development workflow
Development workflow Practical
Do not swap everything at once
A full swap makes every problem appear at the same moment — which means none of them can be attributed. So you switch one template at a time.
Development workflow Practical
Adding an SCSS build, and whether to commit the output
WordPress themes are expected to deploy without a build step, which leads to the opposite conclusion from ordinary application code — and to its own costs.
Development workflow Practical
Running scripts with eval-file, and the argument trap
It runs your own PHP file inside a fully loaded WordPress. Flags starting with -- never reach your script, though, because WP-CLI consumes them first.
Development workflow Practical
pre_get_posts: miss two guard lines and the admin changes too
This hook fires for every WP_Query — menus, widgets and admin list tables included. Without guards, screens you never meant to touch change quietly.
Development workflow Practical
Database sync: why a raw SQL replace corrupts serialised data
WordPress stores serialised PHP arrays in options and meta, with string lengths written inside them. A SQL REPLACE changes the value and leaves the length behind.
Development workflow Practical
Auto-reply copy: your first impression is written here
Most auto-replies go out with the default wording. Yet it is the first message a customer ever receives from you — brand copy, not a receipt.
Development workflow Practical
Design with real content, not filler
Filler text of uniform length hides every layout problem you have. Real sentences vary wildly, and that variance is exactly where a layout falls apart.
Development workflow Practical
Review on staging, not in screenshots
A screenshot is one moment under ideal conditions. States, edge cases and real content only surface on staging — and staging has conditions of its own.
Development workflow Practical
Your own endpoint: namespace, permission callback, schema
permission_callback is not optional. Omit it and the route is public, with a core warning to match. An args schema then keeps validation out of your handler entirely.
Development workflow Practical
Safe search-replace: serialisation, guid and dry runs
Replace a domain with raw SQL and widget and theme settings quietly go blank. Serialised data stores string lengths — and switching tools removes the problem entirely.
Development workflow Practical
Priority wars: whoever speaks last wins
Priority is a queue position, not authority. Raising your number is a move the other side can also make, and jumping behind a translation filter sends the untranslated…