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Every Lab topic in one place.
We write about four things, because those are the four that keep coming up in client work. Each topic collects the field notes we have published on it so far.
The decisions behind running WordPress at agency scale.
Running one WordPress site well is a technical problem. Running thirty across a client estate is an operational one, and most of the published advice does not distinguish between the two.
1 article → DeveloperWriting WordPress code that survives the next developer.
WordPress core is written for maximum compatibility, which means loose typing, string-keyed arrays, and mixed-type parameters are normal throughout the ecosystem. That was a reasonable choice for a CMS built to run anywhere. It is not a reasonable default for a plugin you intend to maintain.
2 articles → FormsThe enquiry form is where most WordPress sites quietly lose money.
Every other topic here is written for the person building the site. This one is written for the person whose phone stops ringing when the form goes wrong — and the form goes wrong in two directions at once.
2 articles → PerformanceWordPress performance, measured on real production traffic.
Most WordPress performance advice is a checklist with no numbers attached. Install a caching plugin, enable compression, minify something, and hope the score moves. That is not how we work on client sites, and it is not what we write about here.
2 articles → SecurityHardening WordPress without breaking the things that matter.
Security writing for WordPress tends to swing between two useless extremes: a list of plugins to install, or advice so cautious it would stop the site working. Neither helps the person who has to keep a client site online and uncompromised.
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