Level Up

A collection of resources for WordPress Developers, written and curated by experts

Strategies for Handling Large WordPress Media Libraries in Dev and Staging Environments

Offloading your media files is a well-known tactic for speeding up your WordPress sites, but WP Offload Media can also greatly reduce the time it takes to replicate a new… Read more

Ian

Aug 11, 2023

Getting the Best Results From WordPress Code Reviews

Code review is an integral part of the development cycle, with a direct impact on quality. Whether you’re focused on web, plugin, or theme development, thorough code review can help… Read more

Mike Davey

Jul 21, 2023

How To Set Up Amazon SES for WordPress Emails

Running a site that sends a lot of emails, like an ecommerce or membership site, needs a reliable service to keep up with that volume. Using an existing email provider… Read more

Matt Shaw

Jul 20, 2023

JavaScript in the Shallow End: Browser-Based React Native With Expo Snack

“Learn JavaScript. Deeply,” is good advice, but jumping right into the deep end when you’re first learning to swim may not be the smartest move. In this article, we’re going… Read more

Mike Davey

Jun 8, 2023

WordPress Security Fundamentals: How to Not Get Hacked

WordPress has come a long way towards its stated goal of democratizing publishing, powering roughly 43% of the websites on the web. However, that status makes it a prime target… Read more

Mike Davey

Apr 20, 2023

Why Developers Should Use SVG Files

SVG images have advantages that should make them an essential part of any developer’s toolkit. While they share a few similarities with JPG, PNG, and WebP image types, SVGs have… Read more

Mike Davey

Apr 6, 2023

WP Offload Media 3.2 Released: New Status Indicators and Peace of Mind

WP Offload Media 3.2 raises the bar for monitoring and managing offloaded media from within WP Admin. Whether you’re trying to pinpoint exactly which media items still need to be… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Mar 16, 2023

Mastering Migrations: Faster, Easier, and Safer Ways to Move Your WordPress Sites

Every WordPress developer knows the feeling of despair when a migration fails, balanced by the immense feelings of relief when one succeeds. It’s a frustrating process for many devs, with… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Mar 9, 2023

DE{CODE} 2023: Developer Focused WordPress Education

You know code…but do you know DE{CODE}? Hosted by WP Engine, this 100% virtual event is dedicated to helping WordPress developers build smarter, maximize conversions, and modernize the user experience.… Read more

Mike Davey

Mar 3, 2023

WP Offload SES 1.6 Released: 40 MB Attachments Enabled

WP Offload SES 1.6 uses the latest Amazon SES API v2 in order to increase the maximum size limit of messages from 10 MB to 40 MB. 📩 Larger Attachments… Read more

Ian

Feb 15, 2023

Head-to-Head: WordPress Export/Import vs. WP Migrate

The internal import and export tools in WordPress work pretty well…if the site you’re migrating is relatively small, doesn’t use a custom theme, and wasn’t built with any tricky coding.… Read more

Mike Davey

Feb 10, 2023

Level Up

SQL Query Optimization for Faster WordPress Sites

A fast site means happier users, improved ranking from Google, and increased conversions. Maybe you even think your WordPress sites are as fast as they can be – you’ve looked… Read more

Iain Poulson

Jan 23, 2023

WP Migrate + Local

WP Migrate 2.6 Released: Full-Site Exports and Import to Local

Today we’re pleased to announce the release of WP Migrate 2.6, which introduces full-site exports and a new integration for seamlessly importing to Local. Together, WP Migrate and Local are… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Jan 19, 2023

Delicious Brains 2022 Year in Review: High-Speed Towards the Future

It’s been an exciting year for the teams behind the Delicious Brains plugins. Major new releases have brought some long-awaited features to our users, and we have exciting plans for… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Jan 6, 2023

WordPress Plugin Development Best Practices: Template Files

When we talk about templates in WordPress we are normally referring to page template files in the theme. However, there are plugins that use template files to display content, and… Read more

Iain Poulson

Dec 15, 2022

WP Offload Media 3.1 Released: Efficient Offloading and Performance Gains

WP Offload Media 3.1 improves performance for large sites and multisites while also setting the stage for new ways to monitor and manage offloaded media in the upcoming release of… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Dec 7, 2022

WordPress Plugin Development Best Practices: Plugin Templates

WordPress functionality is largely defined by the available plugins, and many clients want functionality that’s best served with a custom plugin. The initial setup is often a tedious affair, with… Read more

Mike Davey

Dec 6, 2022

WP Migrate 2.5 Released: High-Performance File Transfers for All

Today we’re pleased to announce the official release of WP Migrate 2.5, which brings High-Performance File Transfers out of beta and into its new role as the standard file transfer… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Nov 22, 2022

WordPress, Spam Filtering, and You: From SPF to DKIM to Blocklists

There is no one key to making sure WordPress site emails are sent reliably and stay out of the recipient’s spam folder. A common recommendation is to use a dedicated… Read more

Matt Shaw

Nov 1, 2022

Remotely Back Up Your WordPress Database and Media With WP Migrate CLI

Keeping regular backups of your WordPress installs is one of the most important things you should do after you launch a site. If you search for the term “backup” in… Read more

Mike Davey

Oct 25, 2022

Exploring Email Tracking With Amazon SES and CloudWatch

Every WordPress site has to send emails, but there’s no built-in tracking for them. This makes it impossible to know if your emails are being opened and clicked or just… Read more

Matt Shaw

Oct 5, 2022

WP Offload Media 3.0 Released: New User Interface, Media Library Enhancements, and More

Today we’re excited to announce the release of WP Offload Media 3.0. The introduction of a brand new user interface, powerful filters and columns in the Media Library, and revamped… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Sep 29, 2022

The Developer’s Advanced Guide to the wp-config File

How well do you really know wp-config? There’s a surprising amount of power in those few lines of PHP! This article is a tour of some bits of wp-config that… Read more

Ross Wintle

Sep 27, 2022

WP Migrate 2.4 Released: Faster Migrations, Must-Use Plugins, WP Engine Compatibility, and More

Today we’re pleased to announce the official release of WP Migrate 2.4. With new capabilities for migrating must-use plugins and other files in the wp-content directory, it’s now possible to… Read more

Kevin Hoffman

Sep 22, 2022