// The Dev Log

Notes from the workbench.

Practical WordPress walk-throughs, snippets and quick fixes, all written from real client work.

A half-finished website next to an hourglass, with passing suns and moons arcing overhead

How long does a WordPress website take to build?

A realistic timeline for a WordPress website: what happens at each of the five stages, how long each one takes, and what stretches a project.

Read article 9 Oct 2026 · 9 min read

A balance scale weighing an office desk and clock against a stack of delivered websites

How-to Agencies

White label vs hiring an in-house developer

Hiring a developer against using a white label partner: the real cost of each, the crossover point, and the hybrid most agencies end up running.

Read article 6 Oct 2026 · 9 min read

A hacked WordPress site with a cracked padlock, a first-hour clock and a calm checklist being ticked off

How-to WordPress Intermediate

My WordPress site has been hacked: what to do in the first hour

WordPress hacked? A calm first-hour checklist: lock the logins, take a copy, find the way in, and know when to hand it to a developer.

Read article 5 Oct 2026 · 15 min read

Chesterfield's crooked spire at dusk over a street of shopfronts, one lit by a glowing website

How-to WordPress

Web design in Chesterfield: agency, freelancer or DIY?

An honest look at the web design options open to Chesterfield businesses: local agencies, freelancers, DIY builders, and what each really costs.

Read article 30 Sept 2026 · 6 min read

Two miniature storefronts side by side: one open-framed and hand-built, one a sealed kiosk with a coin slot

How-to WordPress

WooCommerce or Shopify for a UK small business?

A fair comparison of WooCommerce and Shopify for UK businesses: ownership, running costs, VAT and payments, and who each platform suits.

Read article 25 Sept 2026 · 9 min read

An agency owner presenting a boxed website to a delighted customer while the developer builds the next one in the workshop behind

How-to Agencies

Selling websites without building them

How SEO and marketing agencies can sell websites without hiring a developer: the referral trap, the margin maths, and what you still have to own.

Read article 22 Sept 2026 · 9 min read

A developer inspecting a glowing website raised on a workbench, with a shield, backup reel and toolbox nearby

How-to WordPress Beginner

WordPress maintenance: what actually needs doing every month

The real monthly WordPress maintenance list: updates, tested backups, uptime, security, database housekeeping and licences, in plain terms.

Read article 16 Sept 2026 · 9 min read

A production line: an agency owner delivers a brief, a developer builds the site, the finished work is boxed for handover

How-to Agencies

How white label development actually works

The mechanics of a white label build: how a brief arrives, who talks to whom, how staging and revisions run under your brand, and how handover works.

Read article 11 Sept 2026 · 10 min read

A cracked, patched browser window next to a fresh one being rebuilt inside scaffolding

How-to WordPress

Repair or rebuild? What to do with an ageing WordPress site

How to decide whether an old WordPress site is worth fixing or worth replacing, what a rebuild really costs you, and what to carry across either way.

Read article 8 Sept 2026 · 10 min read

AI security research illustrated: a mechanical eye examining a stylised WordPress login form for the flaw human reviewers missed

News WordPress

An AI found a security hole in WordPress core. It took four days

CVE-2026-64638 sat on the WordPress login screen for years until an AI found it in four days. What happened, why it is patched, and what it changes.

Read article 2 Sept 2026 · 4 min read

An agency owner holding up a checklist card across a table from a relaxed developer

How-to Agencies

Nine questions to ask before you trust a developer with your client

The questions that separate a reliable white label developer from an expensive mistake, and the answers an agency should expect to hear.

Read article 2 Sept 2026 · 6 min read

A browser window being assembled from parts on a workbench, with a price tag and stacks of coins

How-to WordPress

How much does a WordPress website cost in the UK?

What a WordPress website actually costs in the UK, what moves the price, what cheap buys you, and the numbers I publish for my own work.

Read article 28 Aug 2026 · 7 min read

A developer calmly balancing a queue of glowing browser windows stacking up around him

How-to Agencies

The overflow problem: when the work outgrows the agency

More work than hands. What turning it away, hiring and using a white label partner each really cost, and how to tell which one your agency needs.

Read article 25 Aug 2026 · 9 min read

A developer passing a glowing finished website across a workbench to an agency owner

How-to Agencies

What is white label web development?

What white label web development actually means, how the arrangement works between an agency and a developer, what it costs, and where it goes wrong.

Read article 21 Aug 2026 · 8 min read

An empty component bay beside a machine running happily, the expected upgrade not installed

News WordPress

React 19 is not in WordPress 7.1. Here is why

WordPress 7.1 shipped on 19 August without the React 19 upgrade everyone was warned about. What is still coming, who is at risk, and how to prepare.

Read article 12 Aug 2026 · 9 min read

Elementor 4 Design system panel with a Variables table, one colour value feeding a heading and buttons on a page

How-to Elementor Beginner

Setting up global colours and fonts in Elementor

Set up Elementor global colours and fonts so a rebrand takes minutes, not days: Site Settings, Theme Style defaults and naming colours by role.

Read article 11 Aug 2026 · 14 min read

A web developer steering a robotic AI assistant arm while building a website

News Tools

AI tools are for professionals, not instead of them

AI tools are professional tools, not a shortcut past the profession. Where they save time, where they cost it, and what that means for your project.

Read article 8 Aug 2026 · 11 min read

Interface elements orbiting a page canvas like electrons, illustrating the Elementor 4 Atomic Editor

News Elementor

Elementor 4 and the Atomic Editor, explained

What the Atomic Editor changes, what happens to your existing pages when you update, and whether it is worth switching yet. A plain, calm explanation.

Read article 4 Aug 2026 · 12 min read

A hand-cranked roller peeling stacked stale copies off a page to reveal the fresh version

How-to WordPress Intermediate

When a WordPress cache will not clear

Cleared the cache and the old page is still there? Here is how to find which layer is serving the stale copy, from browser to CDN to server, and clear it.

Read article 28 Jul 2026 · 16 min read

A slow page weighed down by a net of plugins while a freed page floats up fast

How-to Elementor Intermediate

Why Elementor is slow, and what actually fixes it

Elementor slow to edit, or slow for visitors? They are different problems with different fixes. Here is how to tell them apart and what genuinely helps.

Read article 21 Jul 2026 · 12 min read

Layers of caching stacked above a WordPress site with a speed dial reading full

How-to WordPress Beginner

Setting up the ABCode StackCache add-on on 20i

How to install and use the ABCode StackCache add-on on 20i hosting, so publishing a post clears your homepage, archives and feed as well as the post.

Read article 15 Jul 2026 · 9 min read

Paper planes from an Elementor form falling short of a distant lit letterbox

How-to Elementor Beginner

Elementor form not sending emails? Here is why

Your Elementor form says it sent, but nothing arrives. Why WordPress email fails silently, the form settings to check first, and the SMTP fix that ends it.

Read article 8 Jul 2026 · 13 min read

A WordPress site opened up to show clockwork with new neural threads woven through the gears

News WordPress

AI is in WordPress core now. What that actually means

WordPress 7.0 put an AI Client, a Connectors hub and the Abilities API into core. What those actually do, what they do not, and whether you need to care.

Read article 2 Jul 2026 · 9 min read

Rigid stacked crates beside a flexible glass container, comparing Elementor sections and containers

How-to Elementor Intermediate

Elementor containers vs sections, and when to switch

How Elementor's flexbox containers differ from the old section and column model, what the converter does to your styling, and when not to switch a page.

Read article 25 Jun 2026 · 12 min read

A new engine lowered into a website while smaller sites look on

News WordPress

WordPress 7.0 landed. What it means for your site

WordPress 7.0 Armstrong shipped in May with an AI client in core, a redesigned admin and one big feature cut days before launch. What you need to do.

Read article 11 Jun 2026 · 9 min read

A custom Elementor widget being assembled from tiny precise parts on a workbench

How-to Elementor Advanced

Building a custom Elementor widget

Build a custom Elementor widget properly: the plugin scaffold, Widget_Base, controls, a style tab, safe rendering, and when a widget beats a dynamic tag.

Read article 10 Jun 2026 · 14 min read

The Elementor editor stuck on a frozen loading spinner while a torch inspects jammed cogs

How-to Elementor Intermediate

Elementor editor not loading? Work through this

Elementor editor stuck on the grey loading screen? Work through the browser, PHP limits, Safe Mode, plugin conflicts and firewall rules, fastest first.

Read article 9 Jun 2026 · 13 min read

Cold pages passing through a warming tunnel and coming out ready to serve, illustrating cache warming

How-to WordPress Beginner

How to set up ABCode Cache Warmer

A setup walkthrough for ABCode Cache Warmer: checking you have a page cache, choosing what to warm, reading the per-URL results, and scheduling it safely.

Read article 27 May 2026 · 10 min read

A lamplighter machine lighting a street of website shopfronts before visitors arrive

How-to WordPress Beginner

Cache preloading in WordPress, and when it helps

What cache preloading actually does in WordPress, how to warm a site by hand from your sitemap, and the sites where preloading is a waste of resources.

Read article 19 May 2026 · 16 min read

The same WordPress site seen through three lenses, each showing a different user role view

How-to WordPress Beginner

How to use ABCode View As Role Switcher

A step by step guide to ABCode View As Role Switcher: install it, pick which roles appear in the toolbar, and view your front end as any role sees it.

Read article 29 Apr 2026 · 10 min read

Theatre masks for different user roles standing in front of a WordPress site

How-to WordPress Beginner

Checking what your users actually see

How to test a WordPress site as a different user: why private windows mislead you, how to use test accounts safely, and how to spot hidden versus blocked.

Read article 22 Apr 2026 · 15 min read

A WordPress site armoured with steel corners, a padlock, shield and ticked checklist

How-to WordPress Intermediate

A WordPress security hardening checklist

A WordPress security checklist ordered by what actually stops attacks: updates, 2FA, file permissions, wp-config, backups, and the theatre worth skipping.

Read article 4 Mar 2026 · 19 min read

A WordPress database pouring ordered rows of data into an export archive box

How-to WordPress Beginner

How to use ABCode Database Exporter

A walkthrough of ABCode Database Exporter: installing it, picking tables, choosing SQL, CSV or schema, gzip, and importing with phpMyAdmin or WP-CLI.

Read article 25 Feb 2026 · 10 min read

A single drawer of data lifted from a database cabinet, exporting one WordPress table

How-to WordPress Intermediate

Exporting single WordPress database tables

Need one WordPress table, not the whole database? Exporting wp_posts, postmeta or a plugin table with phpMyAdmin, mysqldump or WP-CLI, without breaking it.

Read article 11 Feb 2026 · 14 min read

A terminal as a Swiss Army knife with fold-out tools working on site elements

How-to WordPress Advanced

WP-CLI commands worth knowing

The WP-CLI commands I actually use every day: updates, user passwords, safe search-replace, database exports, cron and cache flushing over SSH.

Read article 15 Jan 2026 · 15 min read

A keyring of five keys lighting different rooms of a website, one for each user role

How-to WordPress Intermediate

WordPress user roles and capabilities, explained

What each WordPress user role can genuinely do, how capabilities are checked in code, and how to add a custom role properly without breaking your admin.

Read article 3 Dec 2025 · 15 min read

A developer tuning a WordPress site on a garage lift with Core Web Vitals gauges in the green

How-to WordPress Intermediate

Speeding up WordPress and fixing Core Web Vitals

How to measure Core Web Vitals properly on WordPress, what LCP, CLS and INP actually mean, and which speed fixes are worth doing, in the right order.

Read article 11 Nov 2025 · 14 min read

A stale cached front page peeling back to reveal the fresh post beneath

How-to WordPress Beginner

New post not showing on your homepage? It's the cache

Published a post but the homepage still shows the old list? Here is how to confirm it is your cache, rule out the other causes, and purge the right layer.

Read article 8 Oct 2025 · 15 min read

A custom WordPress login page styled as a welcoming, secure glowing doorway

How-to WordPress Intermediate

Building a custom WordPress login page

Brand the WordPress login page with hooks, or build a fully custom one with wp_login_form. Redirects, safe error messages and login security done right.

Read article 23 Sept 2025 · 15 min read

A frozen cold page slowly warming while cached pages glow bright, the first load after a cache clear

How-to WordPress Intermediate

Why the first visitor after a cache clear waits

Your WordPress site feels fast until someone reports it being slow and you cannot reproduce it. Here is how to prove it is a cold cache, and how to fix it.

Read article 5 Aug 2025 · 16 min read

A new drawer fitted into a card catalogue, a custom post type registered without a plugin

How-to WordPress Advanced

Registering a custom post type without a plugin

Register a custom post type in WordPress with code, not a plugin generator. Labels, REST support, taxonomies and the rewrite flush that stops 404s.

Read article 2 Jul 2025 · 14 min read

Speech bubbles dissolving behind a WordPress site as a toggle switches comments off

How-to WordPress Beginner

Turning off WordPress comments for good

Comments off everywhere: future posts, existing posts, pages, media attachments, the admin menu and pingbacks, with a plugin-free code route in full.

Read article 19 Jun 2025 · 16 min read

Glowing signposts redirecting footprints from a boarded-up old door to a bright new one

How-to WordPress Intermediate

301 redirects in WordPress: every method that works

301 redirects done properly: which status code to use, how to do it in a plugin, .htaccess or nginx, and how to test it without trusting your browser.

Read article 6 May 2025 · 17 min read

A WordPress database duplicated into a bank vault and archive shelf for safe backups

How-to WordPress Intermediate

Backing up a WordPress database properly

How to back up a WordPress database you can actually restore: phpMyAdmin export settings, the mysqldump flags that matter, wp db export, and testing it.

Read article 14 Apr 2025 · 17 min read

An unplugged cable sparking between a dark website and its glowing database

How-to WordPress Intermediate

Fixing error establishing a database connection

WordPress cannot reach its database. How to check the credentials, the DB_HOST value and the server itself, and why repairing tables comes last, not first.

Read article 11 Mar 2025 · 14 min read

A large file parcel waiting while machinery widens the upload doorway

How-to WordPress Beginner

How to increase the WordPress maximum upload size

Your WordPress upload limit is set by PHP, not WordPress. Here is every route to raise the maximum upload file size, and the one I try first.

Read article 27 Feb 2025 · 15 min read

A blank white screen being revived with jump leads and a heart monitor blipping back

How-to WordPress Intermediate

WordPress white screen of death: causes and fixes

A blank white WordPress page means a PHP fatal error. How to see the real error, disable the guilty plugin without admin access, and get the site back.

Read article 9 Jan 2025 · 16 min read