Category Top picks

Best of/top 10/must-have lists without the bs. These lists are carefully curated to actually be valuable or don’t get published. Here, you won’t see Chrome featured in a “Best web browsers of 2023” list.

Best Free WordPress Themes of 2023

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This post was originally created in 2019 though it has been updated throughout the years with fresh information. It’s very interesting to see the themes that were added to the list years ago that still remain the top dogs. If you’re looking for a fast and free WordPress theme, you’re in luck. There are plenty of options out there that can help you create a beautiful and responsive website without breaking the bank. Understanding that website speed is a critical factor for businesses that want to keep their customers engaged. Slow-loading websites can lead to high bounce rates and lower conversions. That’s why choosing a fast WordPress theme is so important. In this article, we’ll be discussing the fastest WordPress themes and how they can improve website speed. We’ll also provide recommendations and advice on choosing the right theme for your website. Astra 1,000,000 active installs Astra is a popular lightweight and customizable WordPress theme that is designed to load quickly. It has a responsive design, SEO optimization, and excellent compatibility with popular page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and of course the default block builder. Astra also offers pre-built templates that are suitable for different niches, making it easy to create a professional-looking website. GeneratePress 500,000+ active installs This speedy and user-friendly theme has been designed with performance in mind, adding less than 10kb (gzipped) to your page size on installation. Unleash Your Creativity with Gutenberg and Page Builders With GeneratePress, you’ll have complete control over your website’s look and feel. Thanks to its compatibility with the block editor (Gutenberg) and major page builders such as Beaver Builder and Elementor, you can easily create stunning, professional-looking content without any coding knowledge. Compatibility and Customization, All in One Package If you’re worried about compatibility issues, fear not. […]

Best Tools to Monitor Your Sites Uptime

Uptime refers to the amount of time that a website is available and accessible to users. In other words, it measures the percentage of time that a website is online and functioning properly. Website uptime is important because it directly…

Creating an Events Calendar with WordPress

Need to show events to your users quickly but elegantly? The Events Calendar is waiting to kick some ass for you. We’ll be discussing the setup and config of the free, base version of The Events Calendar by Modern Tribe as well as some beginner level customizations and other free addons to get you going. I’m going to follow this up with an advanced guide that talks about the truly awesome things that the plugin can do. As Modern Tribe says, the plugin is built by developers FOR developers and this stands true; there really aren’t any aspects of the plugin that can’t be customized from layouts to strings to styles. The Events Calendar is part of the WordPress respository. It can be downloaded here or installed using the WordPress auto installer. Just go to Plugins ► Add New and search for “the events”. Keep in mind that The Events Calendar has a minimum PHP version of 5.6 so if you’re running anything lower, you’ll need to upgrade PHP to be able to run this plugin. TEC utilizes custom post types, so the event experience should mesh nicely with your experience of adding WordPress posts and pages. I should note here that TEC does have a block editor option that is enabled by default. If you don’t want to use this, you’ll find the option under Events ► Settings. Let’s break down the different taxonomies that TEC uses (these are used to identify and sort certain data) Events – This will show your existing events. Add New – Should be pretty familiar as this is how posts and pages are added as well. Tags – Just like standard tags Event Categories – These are only used within TEC, and won’t be usable within your posts Venues – Think of these […]