One of WordPress’s greatest strengths is its massive plugin ecosystem. As a team that builds bespoke solutions for clients, we often find ourselves working with plugins that either get us 90% of the way toward a feature request, or end up providing more features than we need, leaving us wanting to disable some. Or, perhaps,…
The latest from Alley’s team of experts.
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Once just a tool for bloggers and sole traders, WordPress has rapidly evolved into a leading CMS for enterprise brands, with big names such as The New York Post, Vogue, and the White House now counted among its regular users. To explore why and how large-scale organizations are making use of the publishing platform, we…
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Alley recently contributed, along with several other enterprise agencies, to a guide for prospective buyers looking at WordPress as the CMS for their enterprise publishing technology stack. We were happy to join this conversation and help people understand how WordPress has helped some of the biggest brands on the planet simplify their publishing workflow and…
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As developers, we’re often asked to implement features that would be slight variations on features that already exist in WordPress core. Since building things is our forte, it can be reflexive to start from scratch, but that isn’t always the best route, and it can cost you precious time and resources. In fact, there’s a…
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When creating your website, you want a long-term solution that will meet your needs for years to come. Most websites are not static entities and need regular attention — as the content grows and changes, your audience (hopefully) increases, and new and unexpected needs arise. Whether you’re building your site for the first time, relaunching,…
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Not Invented Here syndrome (NIH) is the guilty pleasure that tempts engineering teams into creating bespoke approaches to problems that have already been solved. Even having your eyes opened to the temptation doesn’t immunize you from it. So, how do you know whether a bespoke solution warrants the effort or if it’s just plain hubris?
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A lot has changed since the new block editor (codenamed Gutenberg) was launched with WordPress 5.0 in December of 2018. Building custom blocks is now easier than ever, thanks to three key enhancements that were introduced over the last two years: 1. block.json WordPress now lets you describe your custom block using a special JSON…
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Using Slack as a synchronous communication tool like Instant Messenger has plenty of downsides. Slack can be a source of constant interruption and context switching. How do you mitigate this?
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When it comes to your organization, what is the first thing you think of? It could be something straightforward — like your product or logo, but it’s probably more abstract than that. It’s likely tied to your culture, aesthetic, and mission as much as it is to any individual product or service. And those elements…
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At Alley, we take an evidence-based approach to all the work we do — including our community-driven initiatives. Educating ourselves on issues related to and surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) is key to cultivating a safe and thoughtful environment where our diversity is respected, valued, and embraced. We turn to and partner with…
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At Alley, we believe that diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds fuel our best work and are essential for our future. Our team members are based all over the world — and cultivating an environment of diverse, talented professionals starts with building a team that reflects the broader demographic makeup of the communities where we work.…
