Development – True Wind Technology https://www.truewindtechnology.com Not Just Another WordPress Website Thu, 02 Dec 2021 13:47:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8 https://www.truewindtechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cropped-twtNiceLogo-1-32x32.png Development – True Wind Technology https://www.truewindtechnology.com 32 32 Local Development with Vagrant https://www.truewindtechnology.com/local-development-with-vagrant/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=local-development-with-vagrant Wed, 06 Jan 2021 21:18:24 +0000 https://www.truewindtechnology.com/?p=1596 Read More

]]> If you're getting into development, and are looking for a convenient way to set up a development environment on your machine without creating a lot of clutter that you can't easily uninstall later, one great solution is Vagrant, which allows users to script out the creation of virtual environments in programs like VirtualBox. Both are free software, and although there is somewhat of a learning curve to set it up yourself, if you'd like to just have a quick and easy setup, I've developed a set of setup scripts that will allow you quickly run a virtual machine setup, enter the virual machine's command line, and install things like MySQL (MariaDB), PHP, Python and Node.js so that you can develop using any or all of those languages.

Downloads and Instructions can be found here.

]]> Custom Field Templating https://www.truewindtechnology.com/custom-field-templating-plugin/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=custom-field-templating-plugin Wed, 06 Jan 2021 21:10:23 +0000 https://www.truewindtechnology.com/?p=1592 Read More

]]> There are two very useful plugins for WordPress that enable the development of custom post types with specialized fields. Custom Post Type UI (CPT UI) allows users to create custom post types like "Person" or "Article", and Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) allows users to include additional fields beyond just title and content: for example, first and last name, phone number, job titles, etc.

Unfortunately, the final part of what would otherwise be a beautiful trifecta is sorely lacking. Developers who don't want to have to dig into the wp-content/plugins directory to create new content types are left without good options to systematically display these post types in various areas of the site like staff listings or bibliographies. In response to this gap, I developed a (still kind of clunky) plugin that allows authors to include shortcode markup directly in the page editor to specify repetitive content layouts without having to code a special shortcode and include it as an additional plugin.

How to use it:

  • Download the zip file here.
  • Upload the Zip file in your Plugins manager on WordPress.
  • Activate the Plugin.
  • Create relevant Post Types and Custom Fields.
  • Edit your posts using the provided markup conventions (see sample when downloading).
]]> Easily Rename your Posts Page https://www.truewindtechnology.com/easily-rename-your-wordpress-websites-posts-page/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=easily-rename-your-wordpress-websites-posts-page Wed, 06 Jan 2021 20:56:00 +0000 https://www.truewindtechnology.com/?p=1587 Read More

]]> An incredibly frustrating issue with the WordPress platform is that it's difficult to rename your Blog page without digging around in the theme files. While other page titles can be modified using various hooks, I have yet to find an easy way to override the forced title "Blog" at the top of the posts page selected under the Appearance > Customize > Homepage without some JavaScript-y magic, so I've created this quick plugin that will - when activated - simply use the actual title of the page that you specify. Why this isn't always the default action is beyond me, but with this plugin, it can be.

Instructions:

  • Download the plugin here.
  • Upload the Zip file to your Plugins section in WordPress.
  • Activate the plugin.
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