WordPress Weekly News and Tips: July 21th – July 27th

Welcome to the seventh WordPress News Weekly post. In these weekly posts, we gather news articles from WordPress-related resources so that you can keep up-to-date on all of the news. If you have anything else to add, please leave a comment below. Enjoy!

How To: Increase Your WordPress Blog Traffic Without Irritating Your Readers

Important!

Author: Ariel Rule

URL: http://wplift.com/how-to-increase-blog-traffic

Want to increase your site’s traffic? WPLift’s Ariel Rule gives out some on tips on how to do just that. You will need to: write great content, build authority and master the arit of the bait and hook.

Simplify Your WordPress Theming with Twig And Timber

Author: Chris Knowles

URL: http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/simplify-your-wordpress-theming-with-twig-and-timber/

Twig is a templating engine and Timber is a plugin for WordPress that incorporates the Twig library into WordPress. With Timber, you can forget about the loop and write simpler, more maintainable code. Chris Knowles goes over some of the basics of how Timber can improve your workflow.

Heavy Analytics for WordPress Now Open Source and Available on GitHub

Author: Sarah Gooding

URL: http://wptavern.com/heavy-analytics-for-wordpress-now-open-source-and-available-on-github

Heavy Analytics set out with the goal of becoming the most powerful and detailed WordPress-specific analytic tool out there. Just last week, the project, which never left beta, has been closed and the source has been released on GitHub. The Heavy Analytics‘s source is now available.

WordPress Zero Spam Plugin Packages David Walsh’s Anti-Spam Method

Author: Sarah Gooding

URL: http://wptavern.com/wordpress-zero-spam-plugin-packages-david-walshs-anti-spam-method

David Walsh tried many plugins but still got hit with a lot of spam comments. Nothing seemed to work, that is, until he wrote his own Javascript function to fight back. The plugin’s name? WordPress Zero Spam.

Tips for Best Practices in WordPress Development

Author: Damian Logghe

URL: http://code.tutsplus.com/articles/tips-for-best-practices-in-wordpress-development–cms-20649

Tuts+ highlights some of the best practices to keep in mind when developing for WordPress. These include: security, naming functions, coding standards and commenting.

3 Things to Remember If You Start a Site About WordPress

Author: Jeff Chandler

URL: http://wptavern.com/3-things-to-remember-if-you-start-a-site-about-wordpress

Similar to the first article mentioned on this post, an article on WPLift recommended writing about a particular niche or interested if you are starting a WordPress site. Jeff Chandler gives his thoughts on the matter and how you can write about multiple interests as well as some ideas for niches.

Advanced WordPress Search + Filtering Taxonomy and Post Meta

Author: Oli

URL: http://wplift.com/advanced-wordpress-search

The default WordPress search function only allows you to search to search by post title and/or content. However, with this tutorial, Oli shows how taxonomies can be searched for as well. This is especially useful for bigger websites.

Hashcash.io Reveals Strategy for Capitalizing on Spammers

Author: Sarah Gooding

URL: http://wptavern.com/hashcash-io-reveals-strategy-for-capitalizing-on-spammers

Have a lot of spammers? How does making money on them sound? Hashcash.io has revealed plans to do just that. Instead of being a burden, you can use them to make a little money. The system will use dogecoin as the preferred cryptocurrency of choice.

How to Highlight New Posts for Returning Visitors in WordPress

Author: Editorial Staff

URL: http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-themes/how-to-highlight-new-posts-for-returning-visitors-in-wordpress/

Ever wanted to add a “NEW” tag for leads / returning visitors? This simple tutorial by the people at WP Beginner shows how you can do just that.

The Best Calendar, Booking & Appointment Plugins for WordPress

Author: Sourav

URL: http://wplift.com/calendar-booking-wordpress-plugins

Sourav takes a look at twenty-three different calendar and event-scheduling plugins available for WordPress, both free and premium. Some more suggestions can be found below.