WordPress 6.9 is fast, but is your theme?
A client’s PageSpeed score was stuck in the low 80s. WordPress 6.9 finally gives developers real control over script loading, but only if the theme uses it. Here is what changed and why the theme matters.
Category: Core Updates
How WordPress 6.9 fixes email reliability
A client’s WooCommerce order emails kept landing in spam, even with SMTP set up. WordPress 6.9 fixes the deeper causes: the sender address mismatch, garbled encoding, and a 17-year-old multipart bug.
The new WordPress Abilities API, explained
A client wanted the same URL list on an admin page, a homepage block, and an external API. The old way meant duplicating logic. The WordPress Abilities API lets you define the feature once and reuse it everywhere.
WordPress 6.9: what matters and what’s just noise
A rundown of what’s worth caring about in WordPress 6.9: the new Block Processor for faster block parsing, experimental PHP-only blocks, a theme.json fix for Gallery aspect ratios, and why it pays to wait for 6.9.1.
Automating WordPress updates with Bedrock and Dependabot
A client running Bedrock sites updated by hand and worried about missed patches. I set up Dependabot and CircleCI so Composer updates get opened, tested, and deployed automatically.
Why Your WordCamp Talk Got Rejected (And How to Fix It)
A junior dev on my team looked crushed. “They rejected my talk,” he said, staring at his laptop. He’d just gotten the canned ‘thanks but…
WordPress Blueprints: a real fix for dev environment headaches
Had to onboard a new junior dev last month for a big WooCommerce project. First task was simple: set up the local environment. He’s a…
How to add custom social icons in WordPress 6.9
A client needed niche social icons like Ko-fi and Letterboxd, which the default block doesn’t cover. WordPress 6.9 finally lets you register custom social icons cleanly with a JavaScript variation and a PHP filter, no bloated plugin required.
Why the new WooCommerce update schedule matters for BFCM
I remember getting a panicked call from a client a few years back. It was the week before Thanksgiving. Their site was locked up. A…
That Time a WooCommerce Race Condition Deleted Live Orders
I got a call from a client running a high-traffic shop. The panic in his voice was obvious. A customer had just emailed him, irate….