Stop playing with FTP: a real guide to WordPress deployments
I got a call on a Friday. 4:30 PM. A client’s critical checkout feature was bugging out, and they needed a hotfix deployed immediately. You…
Category: Bug Fixing
WordPress error logging beyond the standard debug log
Got a frantic call from a client a while back. Their WooCommerce site was throwing a 500 error on the checkout page, but only for…
Why your fast WordPress site still crashes under load
A client’s WooCommerce shop crashed every time they ran a sale. The caching plugin wasn’t the problem; the aging server stack was. Moving to Nginx, current PHP, and Redis object caching fixed it.
How a bad custom WP_Query can wreck your site
A WooCommerce shop was timing out because a pre_get_posts hook ran a tax query on every request site-wide. Scoping it to the main shop query with is_main_query, is_admin, and is_shop cut page loads from 20 seconds to under 2.
WordPress unit testing is a safety net for complex code
I got a call from a client running a decent-sized WooCommerce store. They needed a “quick change” to a custom coupon function. Seemed simple enough….
What is Software Complexity and Why Should You Care?
I got a call from a new client. Their WooCommerce store was bleeding money because one of their main payment gateways would randomly fail at…
A better way to build complicated WordPress queries
I got a call from a client with a big WooCommerce store. Their “You Might Also Like” section on product pages was a disaster. It…
Stop writing messy WP_Query arrays. Do this instead.
Got a call from a client running a huge WooCommerce store. They wanted a “related products” feature that was… ambitious. It needed to show products…
Stop hooking your WordPress classes in the constructor
I got a call from a client in a panic. Their custom inventory sync plugin was failing silently on the live site. No errors, no…
Stop scattering WP_Query: use a repository pattern instead
I got a call from a client with a major headache. They run a big events portal, built on a custom plugin we inherited. Over…