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Webdancers clients who spend time in their WordPress admin area may have noticed a new type of widget appearing under Appearance > Widgets, called the "Classic Text Widget". The addition of this widget was necessitated by a change in the behavior of the native "Text Widget" in WordPress 4.8. If you want to stop reading here, just use the Classic Text Widget in the same way as you used the old Text Widget and all will be well. For the full story, read on. Since the very early days of … [Read more...] about What’s a “Classic Text Widget”?

With the release of Chrome 53, Google made a small but important change in the information it makes available to users about the websites that they visit. It’s all part of Google’s push to encourage website owners to secure their websites using HTTPS. In the near future, secure websites will also be faster than insecure sites, a key metric for Google. Prior to Chrome 53, secure sites displayed the familiar padlock icon next to the URL in the address bar. Insecure sites showed no icon. Now, … [Read more...] about Google is pushing for a more secure web

All WordPress sites under Webdancers management have been updated to the latest and greatest version, 4.6 "Pepper". Here are some of the new features to enjoy: Streamlined updates. Don’t lose your place: stay on the same page while you update, install, and delete your plugins and themes. Native fonts. The WordPress dashboard now takes advantage of the fonts you already have, making it load faster and letting you feel more at home on whatever device you use. Inline link checker. Ever … [Read more...] about WordPress Update to 4.6

Images are an extremely important component of website design. They communicate ideas in ways that text can’t. They also provide places for the eyes to rest and focus. Without them, most people have a hard time maintaining their interest in all of the information being presented. So, given their importance, what do you need to know about the mechanics of website images? Vector vs. raster Vector images are not commonly used directly in web pages. These images are comprised of lines, curves and … [Read more...] about Website Images Explained

Caching your browser in the act I cringe every time I tell someone to clear their browser cache, for a couple of reasons: 1) They usually don’t know how to do it and 2) it’s another frustrating example of technology not “just working”. So why suggest it? First, a definition: The browser cache is a space on your computer’s hard drive where files downloaded from web pages are stored. When the web page is revisited, these files are retrieved from the cache, which is much faster than downloading … [Read more...] about Cache Clearing: When, Why and How