#hire wp developer

[sabelacarsonsblog]

Hire WordPress Developer | Expert Freelance WordPress Services

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[codesandprogramms]

How to Hire WordPress Professionals from India in 2024?

As businesses increasingly realize the significance of a well-established website in the digital age, the use of WordPress for website development is maturing. For attaining a robust online presence an increasing number of global businesses are hiring WordPress experts. 

Choosing to hire these experts from the extensive Indian talent network can offer numerous advantages from cost-effectiveness to many more. In this article, let’s understand how you can hire the right WordPress talent from India effectively for your project.

Why Hire WordPress Professionals from India?

The blend of highly skilled talent at competitive rates has made India a leading destination for hiring tech experts. When you choose to hire WordPress developers from India you can have a website that is not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly.

To answer the ‘how to hire’ dilemma in your mind, here’s a comprehensive guide:

State requirements clearly

Before proceeding with the hiring process, have clarity of your hiring requirements. For this, have a detailed job description in place stating the project scope, nature, deadline, expectations, experience and skills needed, roles and responsibilities, and other such specifics. When you and the developer are on the same page and aligned with the goal, hiring can be streamlined. 

Use reputed hiring platforms

Where to find a WordPress professional is often the biggest question for global hiring managers. This is why you must source candidates from reputed hiring platforms such as Uplers. With a 1M+ talent network and a 4-step AI-vetting process, Uplers can connect you with the top 3.5% of WordPress developers from India. Partner with Uplers to experience effortless remote recruitment at up to 40% cost savings. 

Conduct thorough interview

Once you have shortlisted the prospective candidate matches for the job, it’s time to evaluate their technical proficiency, soft skills, and overall suitability. This is where you must conduct thorough interviews with technical and behavioral questions, real-time assessments, and coding tests. This will give you insight into their skill set in real-world scenarios. 

Evaluate portfolio and references

You should not blindly trust the resume claims rather verify them by evaluating your work portfolio and conducting reference checks. This will give you an overview of the candidate’s professional track record with regard to their work quality, professionalism, reliability, work ethic, and performance. You can verify the developer's credibility and authenticity of skills and experience in this phase.

Consider comparative salary analysis

To attract and retain top talent in the competitive industry, you must also be updated with the existing salary trends. This is where the Uplers salary analysis tool can prove to be a valuable asset offering comparative salary analysis. You can compare the WordPress developer's salary in real-time between your location and India based on distinct experience levels. This will help you adjust your compensation strategy to align with the industry benchmarks so that you don’t underpay or overpay the WordPress developers. 

Closing Remarks

Therefore, choosing to hire WordPress experts from India can significantly boost your website performance and appeal. Whether you need WordPress developers for a new website development project or for maintenance of an existing one, India can offer a rich talent pool to choose talent that is well-suited to your project needs.

[brandngraves]

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[tinystepsforward]

autocrattic (more matt shenanigans, not tumblr this time)

I am almost definitely not the right person for this writeup, but I'm closer than most people on here, so here goes! This is all open-source tech drama, and I take my time laying out the context, but the short version is: Matt tried to extort another company, who immediately posted receipts, and now he's refusing to log off again. The long version is... long.

If you don't need software context, scroll down/find the "ok tony that's enough. tell me what's actually happening" heading, or just go read the pink sections. Or look at this PDF.

the background

So. Matt's original Good Idea was starting WordPress with fellow developer Mike Little in 2003, which is free and open-source software (FOSS) that was originally just for blogging, but now powers lots of websites that do other things. In particular, Automattic acquired WooCommerce a long time ago, which is free online store software you can run on WordPress.

FOSS is... interesting. It's a world that ultimately is powered by people who believe deeply that information and resources should be free, but often have massive blind spots (for example, Wikipedia's consistently had issues with bias, since no amount of "anyone can edit" will overcome systemic bias in terms of who has time to edit or is not going to be driven away by the existing contributor culture). As with anything else that people spend thousands of hours doing online, there's drama. As with anything else that's technically free but can be monetized, there are:

Heaps of companies and solo developers who profit off WordPress themes, plugins, hosting, and other services;

Conflicts between volunteer contributors and for-profit contributors;

Annoying founders who get way too much credit for everything the project has become.

the WordPress ecosystem

A project as heavily used as WordPress (some double-digit percentage of the Internet uses WP. I refuse to believe it's the 43% that Matt claims it is, but it's a pretty large chunk) can't survive just on the spare hours of volunteers, especially in an increasingly monetised world where its users demand functional software, are less and less tech or FOSS literate, and its contributors have no fucking time to build things for that userbase.

Matt runs Automattic, which is a privately-traded, for-profit company. The free software is run by the WordPress Foundation, which is technically completely separate (wordpress.org). The main products Automattic offers are WordPress-related: WordPress.com, a host which was designed to be beginner-friendly; Jetpack, a suite of plugins which extend WordPress in a whole bunch of ways that may or may not make sense as one big product; WooCommerce, which I've already mentioned. There's also WordPress VIP, which is the fancy bespoke five-digit-plus option for enterprise customers. And there's Tumblr, if Matt ever succeeds in putting it on WordPress. (Every Tumblr or WordPress dev I know thinks that's fucking ridiculous and impossible. Automattic's hiring for it anyway.)

Automattic devotes a chunk of its employees toward developing Core, which is what people in the WordPress space call WordPress.org, the free software. This is part of an initiative called Five for the Future — 5% of your company's profits off WordPress should go back into making the project better. Many other companies don't do this.

There are lots of other companies in the space. GoDaddy, for example, barely gives back in any way (and also sucks). WP Engine is the company this drama is about. They don't really contribute to Core. They offer relatively expensive WordPress hosting, as well as providing a series of other WordPress-related products like LocalWP (local site development software), Advanced Custom Fields (the easiest way to set up advanced taxonomies and other fields when making new types of posts. If you don't know what this means don't worry about it), etc.

Anyway. Lots of strong personalities. Lots of for-profit companies. Lots of them getting invested in, or bought by, private equity firms.

Matt being Matt, tech being tech

As was said repeatedly when Matt was flipping out about Tumblr, all of the stuff happening at Automattic is pretty normal tech company behaviour. Shit gets worse. People get less for their money. WordPress.com used to be a really good place for people starting out with a website who didn't need "real" WordPress — for $48 a year on the Personal plan, you had really limited features (no plugins or other customisable extensions), but you had a simple website with good SEO that was pretty secure, relatively easy to use, and 24-hour access to Happiness Engineers (HEs for short. Bad job title. This was my job) who could walk you through everything no matter how bad at tech you were. Then Personal plan users got moved from chat to emails only. Emails started being responded to by contractors who didn't know as much as HEs did and certainly didn't get paid half as well. Then came AI, and the mandate for HEs to try to upsell everyone things they didn't necessarily need. (This is the point at which I quit.)

But as was said then as well, most tech CEOs don't publicly get into this kind of shitfight with their users. They're horrid tyrants, but they don't do it this publicly.

ok tony that's enough. tell me what's actually happening

WordCamp US, one of the biggest WordPress industry events of the year, is the backdrop for all this. It just finished.

There are.... a lot of posts by Matt across multiple platforms because, as always, he can't log off. But here's the broad strokes.

Sep 17

Matt publishes a wanky blog post about companies that profit off open source without giving back. It targets a specific company, WP Engine.

Compare the Five For the Future pages from Automattic and WP Engine, two companies that are roughly the same size with revenue in the ballpark of half a billion. These pledges are just a proxy and aren’t perfectly accurate, but as I write this, Automattic has 3,786 hours per week (not even counting me!), and WP Engine has 47 hours. WP Engine has good people, some of whom are listed on that page, but the company is controlled by Silver Lake, a private equity firm with $102 billion in assets under management. Silver Lake doesn’t give a dang about your Open Source ideals. It just wants a return on capital. So it’s at this point that I ask everyone in the WordPress community to vote with your wallet. Who are you giving your money to? Someone who’s going to nourish the ecosystem, or someone who’s going to frack every bit of value out of it until it withers?

(It's worth noting here that Automattic is funded in part by BlackRock, who Wikipedia calls "the world's largest asset manager".)

Sep 20 (WCUS final day)

WP Engine puts out a blog post detailing their contributions to WordPress.

Matt devotes his keynote/closing speech to slamming WP Engine.

He also implies people inside WP Engine are sending him information.

For the people sending me stuff from inside companies, please do not do it on your work device. Use a personal phone, Signal with disappearing messages, etc. I have a bunch of journalists happy to connect you with as well. #wcus — Twitter I know private equity and investors can be brutal (read the book Barbarians at the Gate). Please let me know if any employee faces firing or retaliation for speaking up about their company's participation (or lack thereof) in WordPress. We'll make sure it's a big public deal and that you get support. — Tumblr

Matt also puts out an offer live at WordCamp US:

“If anyone of you gets in trouble for speaking up in favor of WordPress and/or open source, reach out to me. I’ll do my best to help you find a new job.” — source tweet, RTed by Matt

He also puts up a poll asking the community if WP Engine should be allowed back at WordCamps.

Sep 21

Matt writes a blog post on the WordPress.org blog (the official project blog!): WP Engine is not WordPress.

He opens this blog post by claiming his mom was confused and thought WP Engine was official.

The blog post goes on about how WP Engine disabled post revisions (which is a pretty normal thing to do when you need to free up some resources), therefore being not "real" WordPress. (As I said earlier, WordPress.com disables most features for Personal and Premium plans. Or whatever those plans are called, they've been renamed like 12 times in the last few years. But that's a different complaint.)

Sep 22: More bullshit on Twitter. Matt makes a Reddit post on r/Wordpress about WP Engine that promptly gets deleted. Writeups start to come out:

Search Engine Journal: WordPress Co-Founder Mullenweg Sparks Backlash

TechCrunch: Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a ‘cancer to WordPress’ and urges community to switch providers

Sep 23 onward

Okay, time zones mean I can't effectively sequence the rest of this.

Matt defends himself on Reddit, casually mentioning that WP Engine is now suing him.

Also here's a decent writeup from someone involved with the community that may be of interest.

WP Engine drops the full PDF of their cease and desist, which includes screenshots of Matt apparently threatening them via text.

Twitter link | Direct PDF link

This PDF includes some truly fucked texts where Matt appears to be trying to get WP Engine to pay him money unless they want him to tell his audience at WCUS that they're evil.

Matt, after saying he's been sued and can't talk about it, hosts a Twitter Space and talks about it for a couple hours.

He also continues to post on Reddit, Twitter, and on the Core contributor Slack.

Here's a comment where he says WP Engine could have avoided this by paying Automattic 8% of their revenue.

Another, 20 hours ago, where he says he's being downvoted by "trolls, probably WPE employees"

At some point, Matt updates the WordPress Foundation trademark policy. I am 90% sure this was him — it's not legalese and makes no fucking sense to single out WP Engine.

Old text: The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks and you are free to use it in any way you see fit. New text: The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don’t use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is “WordPress Engine” and officially associated with WordPress, which it’s not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress.

Sep 25: Automattic puts up their own legal response.

anyway this fucking sucks

This is bigger than anything Matt's done before. I'm so worried about my friends who're still there. The internal ramifications have... been not great so far, including that Matt's naturally being extra gung-ho about "you're either for me or against me and if you're against me then don't bother working your two weeks".

Despite everything, I like WordPress. (If you dig into this, you'll see plenty of people commenting about blocks or Gutenberg or React other things they hate. Unlike many of the old FOSSheads, I actually also think Gutenberg/the block editor was a good idea, even if it was poorly implemented.)

I think that the original mission — to make it so anyone can spin up a website that's easy enough to use and blog with — is a good thing. I think, despite all the ways being part of FOSS communities since my early teens has led to all kinds of racist, homophobic and sexual harm for me and for many other people, that free and open-source software is important.

So many people were already burning out of the project. Matt has been doing this for so long that those with long memories can recite all the ways he's wrecked shit back a decade or more. Most of us are exhausted and need to make money to live. The world is worse than it ever was.

Social media sucks worse and worse, and this was a world in which people missed old webrings, old blogs, RSS readers, the world where you curated your own whimsical, unpaid corner of the Internet. I started actually actively using my own WordPress blog this year, and I've really enjoyed it.

And people don't want to deal with any of this.

The thing is, Matt's right about one thing: capital is ruining free open-source software. What he's wrong about is everything else: the idea that WordPress.com isn't enshittifying (or confusing) at a much higher rate than WP Engine, the idea that WP Engine or Silver Lake are the only big players in the field, the notion that he's part of the solution and not part of the problem.

But he's started a battle where there are no winners but the lawyers who get paid to duke it out, and all the volunteers who've survived this long in an ecosystem increasingly dominated by big money are giving up and leaving.

Anyway if you got this far, consider donating to someone on gazafunds.com. It'll take much less time than reading this did.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

It's pretty easy to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, actually

Picks and Shovels is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. THIS IS THE LAST DAY to pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.

If Elon Musk wants to cut $2t from the US federal budget, there's a pretty straightforward way to get there – just eliminate all the beltway bandits who overcharge Uncle Sucker for everything from pharmaceuticals to roadworks to (of course) rockets, and then make the rich pay their taxes.

There is a ton of federal bloat, but it's not coming from useless programs or overpaid federal employees. As David Dayen writes in a long, fact-filled feature in The American Prospect, the bloat comes from the private sector's greedy suckling at the government teat:

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-01-27-we-found-the-2-trillion-elon-musk-doge/

The federal workforce used to be huge. In 1960, federal employees were 4.3% of all US workers; today, it's 1.4%. Zeroing out the entire federal payroll would save $271b/year (while beaching the US economy!), a mere 4% of the federal budget.

On the other hand, zeroing out the budget for federal contractors would save over a trillion dollars – the US spends 4 times more on private sector contractors than it does on its own workers, and while some of those contractors are honest folks giving good value for money, the norm is for federal contractors to pick the public's pocket and then use the proceeds to lobby for more fat contracts.

One key job we ask our federal employees to do is root out private sector fraud in federal contracting. We should hire more of these people! Private contractors steal $274b/year from the public purse – nearly enough to pay for all the employees in the federal government:

https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-106285.pdf

Musk doesn't know any of these, and he doesn't care to know. As Dayen writes, he's doing "policy by anecdote." Take Ashley Thomas, the director of climate diversification for the US International Development Finance Corporation. Musk sicced a mob on her, decrying her for doing a "fake job" that was somehow related to "DEI." But Thomas's job isn't employment diversification – it's crop diversification.

If Musk wanted to run DOGE as a force for waste-elimination, he wouldn't be attacking the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS (whose budget accounts for 0.012% of federal spending). He wouldn't be attacking federal fiber subsidies (he's mad that he can't get more subsidies for his dead-end satellite service that caps out at one ten-millionth of the speed of fiber). He wouldn't be attacking high-speed rail (which competes with his Tesla swasticars). He wouldn't be fighting with the SEC (which defends the public from costly stock swindles, which is why they've been investigating Musk for seven years).

He could, instead, go after private sector Medicare waste. 33 million seniors have been suckered into switching from federally provided Medicare to privately provided Medicare Advantage. Overbilling from Medicare Advantage (whose doctors are ordered to "upcode" patients to generate additional bills) costs the public $83b/year:

https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Mar24_ExecutiveSummary_MedPAC_Report_To_Congress_SEC.pdf

Medicare Advantage patients are, on average, healthier than Medicare patients (Medicare Advantage giants like Unitedhealtcare cream off the cheapest-to-service patients). Yet, this healthy cohort costs more to treat than their sicker cousins on the public plan – the fraud costs us about 11-14% of the total Medicare bill, and we could save $140b/year by zeroing that out:

https://pnhp.org/system/assets/uploads/2023/09/MAOverpaymentReport_Final.pdf

Zeroing out Medicare Advantage overbilling would pay for "an out-of-pocket spending cap, a public drug benefit, and dental, hearing, and vision benefits" for every Medicare patient with tens of billions to spare.

Of course, as Dayen points out, the guy in charge of Medicare is Dr Oz, who has spent years shilling for Medicare Advantage, while holding massive amounts of stock in Unitedhealthcare, the nation's largest Medicare Advantage provider, and the worst offender for Medicare Advantage overbilling.

Then there's Medicare itself. Rates for Medicare doctor reimbursement are set by committees of specialists, who award themselves sky-high rates while paying rock-bottom wages to the frontline general practitioners who do the heavy lifting. Lowering specialists rates to match the rates paid in Canada and Germany would save the federal government $100b/year:

https://cepr.net/rfk-jr-physicians-pay-schedules-and-the-elites-big-lie/

Then there's Big Pharma. For years, Congress legally forbade Medicare and Medicaid from negotiating drug prices, which is why the US government pays the highest rates in the world for drugs developed in the US, with US federal subsidies. US drug prices are 178% more than other wealthy countries, and many drugs are sold at 20-30x the cost of production:

https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/comparing-prescription-drugs

A few of these drug prices are going to come down in the coming years, thanks to timid, but long overdue action from the Biden administration. To really tackle a source of government waste, the US government could use its "march in rights" to federalize production of the most expensive drugs:

https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda/force-drug-companies-to-lower-prices/

One possibility floated by economist Dean Baker is for the US government to invest $100b/year in clinical trials, keeping the patents for itself and licensing multiple manufacturers to compete to produce these publicly owned drugs, which would save an estimated $500b/year:

https://cepr.net/financing-drug-development-what-the-pandemic-has-taught-us/

Then there's price-gouging, useless middlemen like Group Purchasing Organizations who soak the public purse for $20b/year – a "moderate" enforcement action could cut that to $10b. Speaking of eliminating middlemen, community health centers are a way cheaper source of care than big hospitals – $2371/year cheaper per patient, per year. By subsidizing these, the US government could save another $20b/year:

https://www.ohiochc.org/news/310956/Landmark-Study-Confirms-Medicaid-Cost-Savings-at-Health-Centers.htm

Next, Dayen moves onto the Pentagon, which pulled in $841b last year but has failed seven consecutive audits:

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4992913-pentagon-fails-7th-audit-in-a-row-but-says-progress-made/

The DoD firehoses money over private sector contractors, like the $3.6b it hands over to Musk's Spacex every year – a number Musk hopes to grow through Spacex's participation in a new consortium:

https://www.ft.com/content/6cfdfe2b-6872-4963-bde8-dc6c43be5093

Military contractor wastage is the stuff of legend, like the $2t F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a lemon that has over 800 outstanding defects and was just greenlit for another year's worth of full funding:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-13/lockheed-f-35-s-tally-of-flaws-tops-800-as-new-issues-surface

This kind of wasteage isn't merely shameful, it's illegal. The Nunn-McCurdy Act requires that these large-scale boondoggles be reviewed with an eye to shutting them down. But when beltway bandits like Northrop Grumman’s produce expensive lemons like Sentinel, the DoD continues to hand public money to them, citing "national security":

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3829985/department-of-defense-announces-results-of-sentinel-nunn-mccurdy-review/

The DoD contracts out so much of its essential functions that it literally doesn't know what it has. It pays contractors and subcontractors to produce parts for its systems, but has no way to know if those parts have actually been produced. Meanwhile, private equity rollups like Transdigm have merged every single-source aerospace supplier and jacked up the price of spare parts for existing military systems, pulling down 4,500%+ markups:

https://theintercept.com/2019/05/28/ro-khanna-transdigm-refund-pentagon/

To estimate the easy military savings – the ones that won't require shutting down jobs programs scattered in every key Congressional district – Dayen takes the CBO's estimate and cuts it in half, to get an annual savings of $150b/year.

Then there's general prodcurement, where the GAO estimates the US loses $150b/year to bid-rigging and another $521b/year to fraud (the USG also spends $70b/year on management consultants who do no discernible useful work). Dayen estimates the annual savings from "stringently enforcing fraud and abuse, insourcing operations, and no longer paying for bad advice" at $150b/year.

Then there's tax cheating. The IRS estimates that it undercollects about $606b/year in taxes. The top 1% account for $163b/year of that (Elon Musk's own effective tax rate is just 3.27% as of the five years preceding 2021, the year for which we have his leaked tax return; he paid no taxes in 2018). Every dollar the IRS spends on auditing brings in $2.17 in tax, and every dollar the IRS spends auditing the wealthy generates $6.29 in tax. A dollar spent auditing the top 10% brings in $10:

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2024/dec/01/opinion-the-irs-shows-what-government-efficiency/

Audits are durable sources of tax. People who've been burned by an audit are far more honest in the decade after that audit.

The GOP has zeroed out Biden's IRS increases. The CBO estimates that a fully funded IRS could easily increase the taxes it collected by a net figure of $200b/year.

There's also new sources of tax. Dayen likes Dean Baker's proposal for taxes on stock returns: just add dividends and stock appreciation at the end of the year, then multiply by the tax rate. Baker says this is a loophole-free way to bring the effective corporate tax rate up from 20% to 25%, generating $65b/year:

https://cepr.net/winning-the-tax-game-tax-stock-returns/

This would be especially hard on heavily financialized companies with "impossibly high stock price/earnings ratios" – e.g. Tesla.

Dayen also proposes rejigging the tax rate on retirement and health insurance plans, where nearly all the tax breaks are scooped by the highest earners. The Tax Policy Center has $1.12-$1.38t/year worth of other tax reforms that would shift the tax burden from working people to the idle rich:

https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-largest-tax-expenditures

Dayen says, "let's ask for about 20% of that" and ballparks the tax income at $200b/year.

How about subsidy cuts? $10b/year in fossil fuel subsidies. Eliminating the notorious sources of fraud in crop insurance would save $5b/year:

https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-06-878t.pdf

There's $7b/year in subsidies to the Home Bank Loan system and $5b/year lost to pass-through entity loopholes.

Add it all up and you're saving $1.4215t/year without even breaking a sweat, just by tacking (some of) the country's worst looting and tax evasion. Dayen points out US expenditures will fall even more than this, because it won't be paying as much T-bill interest if it doesn't spend this money. We could also just make the Fed stop using the blunt, expensive tool of interest rate hikes to manage inflation. There's plenty of scenarios where interest payments result in the remaining $580b/year in savings, bringing the total up to $2t.

Now, sucking $2t/year out of the US economy all at once – even $2t in waste and fraud – would not be good for America! That kind of economic shock would bring the US economy to its knees, for years to come. All that money still fuels the demand side of the economy. But a slow rampup, and more public spending on useful programs (say, climate resiliency and retrofitting), would strengthen the economy while still bankrupting the fraud sector.

DOGE is wildly unpopular with the American electorate – even large pluralities of Republicans think its stupid. Campaigning on cutting fraud and profiteering would be a wildly popular way for Democrats to separate themselves from Republicans. Few Democrats are rising to the occasion, though.

Check out my Kickstarter to pre-order copies of my next novel, Picks and Shovels!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/27/beltway-bandits/#henhouse-foxes

Image: Steve Jurvetson (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/52005460639/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[digitdigitech]

10 Best WordPress Form Plugins (2025): From Developer’s Desk to Your Dashboard

Ever tried building a WordPress form that just works—the kind that looks great, loads fast, doesn’t break your site, and doesn’t flood your inbox with spam? It’s not always as easy as it should be. Similarly, when moving to Shopify, creating seamless, high-performing user interactions like forms, filters, or custom checkout experiences often requires expert support. That’s where a hire shopify development services becomes invaluable—ensuring everything functions smoothly without compromising speed, security, or design.

Yeah, same here.

If you’re right here, you’re likely:

Frustrated with your modern touch form plugin

Confused by using the ocean of options within the plugin repo

Or just bored with forms that wreck each time WordPress updates

Cease to stress, amigos, we were for your footwear, constructing hundreds of consumer websites, testing nearly each shape plugin in the marketplace, from the robust Gravity Forms to the humble Contact Form 7. In this weblog, we’re breaking down the best WordPress form plugins in 2025, with out a dead wood, no bias, and no paid shoutouts.

What you’ll get right here:

The 10 great shape plugins (free and paid)

Which plugin is exceptional for whom

Honest execs, cons, and pricing

Real person scores & opinions

How to pick the right form builder on your web page

If you’re jogging a WordPress website online and paperwork count for your business (spoiler: they do), stick around. This is the only guide you’ll want this year.

How we picked those form plugins (and why you ought to care)

Well, for starters, this isn’t a “Top 10 for search engine marketing” listing pulled from plugin directories. We have examined those plugins on actual-international websites for companies, e-trade manufacturers, SaaS startups, and non-income. We have blanketed simplest what’s:

Reliable (doesn’t randomly wreck or conflict with different plugins)

Fast-loading (nobody likes bloated code)

Flexible (multi-step, conditional good judgment, payments, CRM integrations)

Spam-covered (because bot traffic is a real factor in 2025)

Accessible & cell-pleasant

Actively maintained with good aid

Rated four.0+ on WordPress.Org or G2

Alright, permit’s soar in.

Quick evaluation before the deep dive!

Before we explore every form plugin at the list in detail, allow’s take a chook’s-eye view of the value they bring about to the table!

1. WPForms ~ Built for the relaxation of us

If you’re not a developer and simply need to build a form without studying documentation, WPForms is your new best friend. Built by the oldsters behind WPBeginner, it’s intuitive, fast, and newbie-pleasant with out skimping on serious features.

Best for: Beginners, bloggers, entrepreneurs

Free model: Yes (WPForms Lite)

Premium starts at: $forty nine.50/12 months

WP rating: 4.9/5

 Pros:

Super smooth drag-and-drop interface

Prebuilt templates for almost any use case

Smart conditional common sense

Solid junk mail safety (reCAPTCHA + hCaptcha)

Cons:

Some key capabilities (like Stripe/PayPal) are most effective in Pro

Custom styling needs a chunk of CSS

Best use case: Lead gen bureaucracy, surveys, easy payment forms.

2. Gravity Forms ~ The developer’s dream

Gravity Forms is like a sturdy backend engine. It’s now not flashy, but it may energy multi-step workflows, consumer-generated content, automation, and all forms of integrations (CRMs, Help Desks, Webhooks, and so forth.).

Best for: Agencies, developers, energy users

Free model: Nope

Premium starts at: $fifty nine/yr

Rating: 4.7/5 on G2

Pros:

Incredibly effective conditional common sense

User registration, publish introduction, and superior calculations

Integrates with 50+ equipment (Zapier, HubSpot, and so forth.)

Cons:

No unfastened model

UI should use a refresh

Best use case: Client portals, utility bureaucracy, CRM-included paperwork.

Three. Formidable Forms ~ A “formidable” conflation of math and bureaucracy!

Do you want a shape to calculate loan estimates, BMI, mortgage hobby, or quote requests? Then Formidable Forms is your pal. 

Guess what? You can even flip submissions into charts and graphs. It’s loved by way of developers, entrepreneurs, and health & finance websites alike.

Best for: Complex bureaucracy, calculators, quizzes

Free model: Yes

Premium starts offevolved at: $39.50/year

WP rating: 4.8/five

Pros:

Form-to-visual reporting (charts!)

Dynamic fields and repeaters

Calculations that simply work

 Cons:

Slightly better getting to know curve

Premium ranges add up

Best use case: Loan calculators, pricing estimators, interactive quizzes, coverage quote forms, health trackers—essentially any form that needs math or dynamic logic baked in. While these features can be complex to implement, especially on Shopify, a skilled shopify website development company can help you build and integrate these interactive tools seamlessly, enhancing user engagement without compromising performance or design integrity.

4. Contact Form 7 ~ The OG that’s still relevant

If you’ve used WordPress lengthy sufficient, you’ve seen Contact Form 7. It’s still one of the most downloaded free WordPress shape plugins, and with the proper accessories, it’s rather extensible.

Best for: Devs who need general manage

Free model: 100% free

WP rating: ⅘

Pros:

Minimal, no bloat

Works properly with Akismet unsolicited mail filter

Supports hidden fields, file uploads

Cons:

No visual form builder

Not amateur-friendly out of the field

Best use case: Great for simple contact paperwork, e-newsletter signups, guide request bureaucracy, especially when you want a no-frills solution with full manage and light-weight performance.

5. Fluent Forms ~ The speed demon

Fluent Forms is one of the fastest-developing WordPress shape builder plugins for a motive: it’s mild, present day, and full of considerate capabilities even inside the free tier.

Best for: Performance-centered site owners

Free version: Generous

Premium starts at: $forty seven/yr

WP score: 4.Eight/five

Pros:

Ridiculously fast

Pre-constructed bureaucracy for lead gen, quizzes, polls

Payment support in top rate

Integrates with Slack, Trello, MailerLite, and so forth.

Cons:

Free model lacks some logic manipulate

Best use case: High-overall performance sites (like WooCommerce stores or blogs with lots of visitors), multi-step bureaucracy, real-time quizzes, light-weight survey bureaucracy, and electronic mail decide-in bureaucracy.

6. Elementor Forms ~ If you already love Elementor!

If you’re the usage of Elementor Pro, the built-in shape builder is a no brainer. It lets you construct and design bureaucracy proper within the Elementor canvas.

Best for: Elementor website proprietors

Free version: No (comes with Elementor Pro)

Pro starts at: $59/year

WP rating: four.5/five

Pros:

Instant visible feedback

Full layout manage

Multi-step forms possible

Cons:

Limited in integrations until you use webhooks

Locked to the Elementor environment

Best use case: Landing pages, opt-in paperwork, surveys, contact forms, particularly for customers who need pixel-perfect design and don’t want to apply outside shape plugins.

7. JetFormBuilder ~ Gutenberg’s first-class pal!

JetFormBuilder is a powerful choice in case you’re constructing a block-based web page with Gutenberg. It supports dynamic records, AJAX submission, and even CPT shape advent.

Best for: Gutenberg users, JetEngine users

Free version: Yes

Pro starts offevolved at: $49/year

WP score: 4/five

Pros:

Tight Gutenberg integration

Dynamic values, hidden fields, repeater blocks

Works amazing with the Crocoblock ecosystem

Cons:

Not perfect outside Gutenberg

Pro accessories are needed for superior moves

Best use case: User-generated content material paperwork, job listings, publish-submission forms, product filters, in particular for WordPress websites built on Gutenberg with dynamic facts desires.

8. Forminator ~ Best freebie with Stripe & PayPal

Forminator is shockingly generous for a free plugin. Most unfastened plugins don’t assist you to upload Stripe or PayPal bills, however wait this one does!

Best for: Polls, quizzes, interactive forms

Free model: Yes

Pro thru: WPMU Dev

WP score: 4.Eight/5

Pros:

Supports quizzes, polls, calculators

Payments in free version!

Good UI

Cons:

Slower on heavy sites

Styling options are a bit limited

Best use case: Donation bureaucracy, trivialities quizzes, persona tests, surveys, access-degree e-commerce checkout forms, mainly for nonprofits and startups needing free payment help.

9. Ninja Forms ~ Pay-as-you-go flexibility

Ninja Forms is good if you just need a simple form now, but would possibly need extra electricity later. You most effective pay for the functions you want.

Best for: Freelancers and growing websites

Free model: Yes

Add-ons from: $59.40/yr

WP rating: four.Four/five

Pros:

Clean builder UI

Conditional common sense, bills, and document uploads via add-ons

Great documentation

Cons:

Can get expensive if you need a couple of add-ons

Lacks local analytics

Best use case: Client onboarding forms, custom quote forms, process applications, event registrations, perfect when you want modular pricing and flexibility as you grow.

10. HappyForms ~ Simple, friendly, and free

HappyForms is easy, captivating, and properly enough for maximum fundamental use cases. If you simply want a solid touch form, it’s a sturdy contender.

Best for: Personal blogs, portfolios

Free version: Yes

Pro begins at: $89/year

WP score: four.Four/five

Pros:

Easy drag-and-drop builder

No commercials inside the backend

Built-in honeypots

Cons:

Not ideal for complicated bureaucracy

Limited integrations

Best use case: Freelancer portfolio websites, small biz touch pages, nearby provider bureaucracy, or any web site wanting a easy, mobile-pleasant touch form plugin for WordPress that is rapid and fuss-free.

Also Read : How Shop Pay Works and Why It Matters for Your Shopify Store

5 Business Growing Pains That Point to White Label Services

[smartcitysystem]

5 Signs It's Time to Switch to a Payroll Managed Service Provider

Managing payroll in-house may seem like a straightforward task—process hours worked, calculate salaries, handle deductions, and issue payslips. But as your business grows, you may quickly realize that payroll is more than just a monthly activity. It's a complex process involving compliance, tax regulations, reporting, and employee expectations.

So, how do you know when it's time to outsource your payroll function to a professional payroll managed service provider?

If you're juggling spreadsheets, struggling with compliance, or constantly answering payroll queries from frustrated employees, you're not alone. Many businesses, from startups to large enterprises, eventually face challenges that make in-house payroll unsustainable. That’s where payroll managed services come in—offering expertise, automation, and peace of mind.

Here are 5 clear signs it’s time to make the switch.

1. Payroll Errors Are Becoming Too Frequent (and Costly)

One of the most obvious signs that it’s time to consider payroll outsourcing is the occurrence of recurring errors in salary calculations, tax deductions, or payroll processing.

Whether it’s overpaying an employee, missing a tax deadline, or misclassifying a contractor, even a small error can lead to:

Unhappy employees

Loss of trust in your HR team

Penalties from tax authorities

Time-consuming corrections and re-runs

These errors often stem from outdated systems, manual data entry, or lack of internal expertise. In contrast, payroll managed service providers use modern, automated systems with built-in validation checks and compliance updates—drastically reducing the chance of human error.

👉 If fixing payroll mistakes is taking more time than doing it right the first time, it's time to bring in the experts.

2. You’re Struggling to Stay Compliant with Changing Laws

Payroll compliance is a moving target. Tax regulations, labor laws, end-of-service benefits, and employee entitlements change frequently—especially in regions like the UAE, Australia, or India, where statutory obligations can differ by emirate, state, or industry.

For example:

Are you deducting and remitting taxes correctly?

Are you following wage protection systems (WPS) or superannuation rules?

Are leave accruals and overtime aligned with local labor laws?

Are you prepared for payroll audits?

Keeping up with all of this in-house requires constant learning and updates—not to mention the risk of hefty fines for non-compliance.

A payroll managed service provider ensures you’re always on the right side of the law by:

Staying current with regional and national regulations

Automatically applying changes in tax or labor rules

Maintaining audit-ready documentation

👉 If compliance is giving you anxiety or your HR team lacks legal expertise, it’s time to let professionals handle it.

3. Your HR Team Is Stretched Too Thin

In many small and mid-sized companies, HR teams wear multiple hats—recruitment, employee engagement, onboarding, performance reviews, and yes, payroll.

When payroll processing takes up a significant portion of their time, it means:

Less focus on strategic HR functions

Slower response to employee concerns

Burnout and job dissatisfaction

Missed opportunities for growth initiatives

Outsourcing payroll frees up your HR staff to focus on what they do best: developing your workforce, improving company culture, and supporting business growth.

A managed payroll provider handles:

End-to-end salary processing

Payslip generation and distribution

Tax filings and contributions

Year-end statements and reporting

👉 If your HR team is spending more time on admin than strategy, it’s time to offload payroll to the pros.

4. You’re Expanding (or Already Have a Distributed Workforce)

Business expansion is exciting, but it comes with added complexity—especially when it involves:

Hiring employees in multiple cities or countries

Managing remote teams

Dealing with region-specific payroll rules

Handling multi-currency payments

Trying to manage this with spreadsheets or basic payroll tools can quickly spiral out of control.

Managed payroll providers are well-equipped to handle multi-region operations. They offer:

Support for multi-country tax and compliance

Currency conversion and global payment integration

Localized payroll rules (like gratuity in UAE or PAYG in Australia)

Centralized dashboards for payroll visibility across regions

This is especially important if you want to scale efficiently without worrying about setting up local payroll teams in every market.

👉 If your workforce is growing across borders or locations, it’s time for a scalable payroll partner.

5. Employees Are Complaining About Payroll Issues

Employees expect to be paid accurately and on time—it’s the most basic part of the employer-employee relationship. When things go wrong, it affects morale and trust.

Common complaints that signal deeper payroll problems include:

Delayed salaries

Incorrect deductions or reimbursements

Lack of payslip access

No transparency in salary calculations

Errors in leave and overtime tracking

These issues not only impact retention but can also damage your employer brand. If you're receiving frequent payroll-related queries, your system isn’t working as it should.

Managed payroll service providers offer:

Employee self-service portals for payslips and tax documents

Real-time updates on leave and attendance

Accurate, automated salary breakdowns

Fewer errors and faster resolution of issues

👉 If payroll complaints are becoming a regular part of your workweek, it’s time to switch to a provider who gets it right.

Bonus: You Want Better Reporting and Insights

Modern businesses rely on data—and payroll data is a goldmine for understanding labor costs, cash flow, and employee trends. But in-house systems often lack the advanced reporting capabilities you need to make strategic decisions.

With a payroll managed service provider, you get access to:

Real-time payroll dashboards

Department-wise salary cost reports

Compliance summaries

Historical payroll data

Customized analytics for forecasting

These insights help finance and HR leaders manage budgets better, prepare for audits, and support data-driven decision-making.

How Payroll Managed Services Work

Still unsure about what outsourcing payroll entails?

Here’s how a typical managed service model works:

You provide employee and attendance data (can be automated or uploaded)

The provider processes salaries, deductions, and taxes using their software

Employees receive their payslips (via email or self-service portal)

Taxes and contributions are filed with local authorities

You receive reports, summaries, and compliance documents

Some providers also handle leave management, end-of-service calculations, expense reimbursements, and bank file generation for salary disbursement.

Conclusion: Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

Running payroll shouldn’t feel like walking a tightrope. If you’re seeing even two or three of the signs mentioned above, chances are it’s already affecting your business performance, employee satisfaction, or compliance posture.

Switching to a payroll managed service provider is not just about saving time—it’s about reducing risk, increasing accuracy, and giving your team the freedom to focus on what matters.

Whether you’re a growing startup, an established enterprise, or a multi-location brand, payroll outsourcing can be a game-changer.

[lathiyasolutions-blog]

WordPress Development: A Career Kickstart

In the fast-evolving world of web development, WordPress remains one of the most in-demand platforms — powering over 40% of all websites on the internet. If you're looking to start a career in tech, WordPress development is a practical, accessible, and rewarding path.

This blog will give you a solid roadmap to kickstart your WordPress development career, covering essential skills, tools, career paths, and how to stand out in the job market.

🚀 Why Choose WordPress Development?

Before diving in, it’s worth understanding why WordPress is still such a powerful platform in 2025:

Huge market share — From personal blogs to enterprise sites, WordPress is everywhere.

Open-source — Free to use and customize.

Extensive job market — Freelance, agency, and in-house roles are widely available.

Massive ecosystem — Plugins, themes, APIs, and a vibrant developer community.

🧰 Skills You Need to Learn First

1. Core Web Technologies

To start building with WordPress, you need a good grasp of:

HTML/CSS – Structure and styling of pages

JavaScript (ES6+) – Dynamic content and interactivity

PHP – The primary language WordPress runs on

MySQL – Database queries and content management

✅ Tip: Practice by customizing a basic WordPress theme or building a small plugin.

2. WordPress Essentials

Once you know the basics of web development, dive into the WordPress-specific stack:

Themes – Learn how to create and customize them

Plugins – Build custom functionality

Template hierarchy – Understand how WordPress renders pages

The Loop – WordPress’s method for displaying posts

Hooks – Actions and filters for customizing behavior

Also Read: Frontend vs Backend Development : What’s New in 2025?

3. Development Tools

Modern WordPress development isn’t just about editing files in cPanel. Learn to use:

Local development environments like LocalWP, DevKinsta, or XAMPP

Version control with Git and GitHub

WP-CLI – A command-line tool for managing WordPress installations

VS Code – Preferred code editor with extensions for PHP, JS, and WordPress

🧑‍💼 Career Paths in WordPress Development

There’s more than one way to build a career with WordPress:

🔹 1. Freelancer

Build and maintain websites for small businesses or startups. Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr are good starting points.

🔹 2. Agency Developer

Work with a team to deliver larger-scale WordPress projects, often using custom themes and advanced plugins.

🔹 3. In-house WordPress Developer

Many companies hire developers to manage their WordPress-powered marketing or eCommerce sites.

🔹 4. Product Developer

Build plugins or themes and sell them on marketplaces like ThemeForest or CodeCanyon — or directly.

📈 How to Build a Portfolio

Experience matters. Start creating:

Custom themes and child themes

Plugins with real functionality

Contributions to open-source WordPress plugins

A personal developer blog built on WordPress

🔥 Pro Tip: Create a GitHub profile and showcase your WordPress projects there.

💡 Stay Updated and Grow

The WordPress ecosystem is always evolving. To keep growing:

Follow blogs like WPBeginner, WPTavern, or the WordPress Developer Blog

Join communities like Stack Overflow, WP Slack, or Reddit r/WordPress

Attend WordCamps and local meetups (online and offline)

🎯 Final Tips for Getting Hired

Tailor your resume to WordPress roles

Add WordPress-specific keywords to your LinkedIn and GitHub

Contribute to open-source — even documentation helps

Be ready to explain your thought process during code tests

🔎 SEO Keywords You Can Target

WordPress development career

How to become a WordPress developer

Learn WordPress development 2025

Beginner guide WordPress dev

WordPress developer roadmap

📝 Conclusion

Starting a career in WordPress development is one of the most practical ways to enter the tech industry. With just a laptop, some dedication, and consistent practice, you can build websites, apps, plugins, and themes that reach millions.

Whether you freelance, join a team, or build your own products, WordPress development offers real, scalable opportunities.

So what are you waiting for? Start building — and kickstart your WordPress journey today.

ALSO READ: 

  Understanding WordPress Themes vs Plugins: What’s the Difference?  How to Customize Odoo for Any Business  Migrating Your WooCommerce Store to Shopify Plus: Key Features You’ll Love

  Why Your Business Needs a Website Redesign in 2025

[bestwthemes]

Build a Professional Business Website Without Coding Using Elementor Themes

Think creating a stunning website requires hiring a developer or learning to code? Think again.

With Elementor Premium WordPress Themes, you can build a fully functional, responsive, and beautiful website in just a few hours—even with zero coding knowledge. In this guide, we’ll show you how these themes simplify web development and offer exceptional features tailored to different industries.

Why Elementor Premium Themes Stand Out

Elementor’s drag-and-drop page builder is a game-changer. When combined with premium WordPress themes from WPElemento, it becomes a full-suite tool that enables:

Effortless customization.

Responsive design across all devices.

Fast loading and SEO optimization.

Each theme includes built-in tools to ensure a seamless experience, whether you’re launching a conference site or an eCommerce store.

Top Elementor Themes You Can Use Today

1. Elementor Premium Startup WP Theme Launching a new venture? This theme offers:

Clean layout.

User-friendly interface.

Pre-built demo content for easy setup.

At just $32, it’s a smart investment for new entrepreneurs.

2. Elementor Premium IT-Solution WP Theme This theme is tailored for IT businesses and agencies:

Contact forms and newsletter integration.

RTL and WPML compatibility.

Fully customizable layout.

Perfect for generating leads and reaching international clients.

3. Elementor Premium Marketing Agency WP Theme Ideal for digital marketers, SEO firms, and ad agencies:

Optimized for speed.

Built-in homepage, logo, and social menu sections.

Responsive and multi-purpose design.

Benefits of WPElemento Themes

Clean, well-documented code.

One-click demo import.

Compatibility with WooCommerce, Bootstrap, and all major browsers.

Free updates and support for one year.

Save More with the Elementor Theme Bundle

Why buy one when you can have all?

Get 15+ Elementor-optimized themes for just $79. Whether you're a freelancer, agency, or a business owner managing multiple sites, this bundle is your all-access pass to stunning WordPress design.

Conclusion

Don’t let tech overwhelm stop you from growing online. With WPElemento’s Elementor Premium WordPress Themes, you get everything you need to launch your site professionally with no coding headaches.

Ready to build your dream website? Visit WPElemento and get started today!

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

I’m feeling a bit spicy, like that Mexican Mocha icon. A little heat, a little spice. I’m tired. Just beat and that makes me a little on edge and grouchy. It’s always been a huge personality flaw I try to keep under control but today’s writing will most likely be a bit negative at times. It’s just where my brain is at the moment.

You may want to skip today’s post if you’re looking for positivity.

Apologies in advance to those who brave the waters.

Mike Barnes • The Hollywood Reporter

Michael Madsen, the rough-and-tumble actor best known for his work in the Quentin Tarantino films Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, died Thursday morning. He was 67.

I really enjoyed Michael Madsen as an actor, I especially liked him in Kill Bill. Budd was a real piece of work and his scenes with Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah were extremely memorable.

RIP 🪦

Ged Maheux • Iconfactory

Apple’s new Liquid Glass design that was announced at WWDC25 is more than just a fresh coat of paint—it’s a signal. One that points simultaneously to the future of digital interfaces and to the past. We’re calling it neo-retro.

Ged and The Iconfactory are some of my favorite designers and app builders in the Mac and iOS ecosystem. They absolutely live, eat, and breathe all things Apple and have their own unique style to enhance your app experiences.

There is currently a lot of hate being tossed around the Mac and iOS developer community around the new Liquid Glass design language and I can understand where folks are coming from, it’s very different. Personally, I don’t care to enter the fray of opinions. I’ll just make sure my apps are as ready as I can possibly make them.

I really need some design help with Stream’s icon set and plan to hire Iconfactory to do that work if I can make it work financially. They’re very reasonably priced and their work is incredible!

Jason Torchinsky • The Autopian

Ford has been using essentially the same logo for 116 years. That little fact reminded me about that one time that Ford at least considered changing their storied logo, and the creator of that unselected new logo was one of the greatest graphic designers of all time: Paul Rand.

Go check out this logo. It’s really interesting and I don’t hate it but the original, and still used, logo is iconic and worth keeping. I hope they never change it.

Some other logos I really love are GE’s classic logo type in a circle and the Coca Cola script used for over 100 years.

Nilay Patel • The Verge

Make no mistake, WordPress is one of the most dominant platforms on the web, if not _the_most dominant. Something like 43 percent of websites run on WordPress, in one of its many flavors. That includes The Verge — the backend of our website is hosted by WordPress VIP. So this might be the first reverse disclosure on the show. Technically, we’re Matt’s customer, and like any good customer, I made feature requests.

I’m a big fan of Nilay Patel’s Decoder podcast and Nilay in general. He’s smart and he asks great questions and will push on folks. This interview with Matt Mullenweg was quite good and makes Matt’s actions sound less wild.

I know a lot of folks disagree with what he’s done to WP Engine but we can’t always agree with everything someone does, nor fully understand their motivation.

Anyway, this Decoder episode is a good one.

Laura Pippig • PCWorld

Microsoft is paywalling these features in Notepad and Paint

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs at Microsoft these days. I have a soft spot in my heart for Microsoft having worked directly for them or on contract at least four different times. Seeing them nickel and dime folks in the software they chose to include in the OS release is pretty disgusting. Hey, just leave the AI stuff out if it’s too costly to the organization to give it away. Then again as long as folks can ignore it, it doesn’t really matter much.

There are also better choices available outside of Microsoft’s included app. Notepad++ is a really great choice for a text editor and Paint.net for photo editing or pixel painting.

Yeldar Kudaibergen

To be fair, RSS isn’t strictly required — the real goal is for any social network to be able to follow any other. No need for cross-posting, duplicate accounts, or “check out my Instagram here” links. You should just be able to read what you want, where you want. That said, right now, RSS is still the most practical and universal tool for this.

Yeldar is a bit hopeful RSS can play a key role in social networks and in many ways it already does. Mastodon, Bluesky, Pixel Fed, and I’d imagine many others already publish RSS feeds. I follow quite a few in Stream and many other feed readers can too. If you’d like to aggregate a bunch of different feeds, use a feed reader. It’s all read-only and one direction but it would certainly give you a launch point for interacting with social networks.

I’ve been watching Dave Winer’s projects and writing with great interest for years, 20+ to be exact.

He’s now off creating his new weblog editor — WordLand — on top of WordPress.

Dave’s also been talking about inbound and outbound RSS. I get that. Inbound can be used by a service like Mastodon to make a post there. I use Micro.blog as my blogging platform and it does that for me, but I think that’s a little backward for what Dave is after. I think Inbound means the service looks for an updated RSS feed and automagically updates its own timeline with your post. That makes a lot of sense to me.

Outbound is what we have today. When we write to our blog we render it in two different formats; HTML and RSS, among others.

The thing I don’t understand in this particular setup is, how do you reply in that world? Does that work like it normally would and just display on a single social network or is RSS generated somewhere that’s read back by the originating weblog and rebroadcast somehow to form the thread we’ve all become accustomed to on social networks?

I’d imagine it would just show up on the social network the person answered on. That’s fine. It’s not round-tripped but that’s fine. The RSS feed would serve as a read-only source.

Dennis Lee • The Takeout

We are in peak hot dog season; they’re perfect to pluck straight from the vine (okay, refrigerated grocery store shelf) and toss right on the grill. A lot of us will be doing just that, especially on the Fourth of July, which is not only America’s Independence Day but also a certified grilling holiday. So just how many hot dogs do we eat on the Fourth? The answer, in cheeky internet terms, will indeed shock you.

Well, I’m a true American. I had a hotdog yesterday to celebrate the Fourth. I like them. Well, I like brats. Thats what I had yesterday but I ate it like a hotdog. So it’s a hotdog. 🌭😃

Jeet Heer • The Nation

Peter Thiel and his friends feel they no longer belong to our species.

This guy is a psychopath with money. Just like Musk and Trump. They seem to have been hurt by someone early in life and just want to create some strange dystopian society that allows them to do whatever they want. Want to pollute our waters? Sure, Mr. Thiel. Right away Mr. Thiel. Musk, same damned thing.

Let’s get them the money to create their dystopia, on Mars. Then we can ship the whole lot there at once and get on living.

I’m sick of these rich asshole trying to run the world like they’re entitled to it and we’re all sheep here to serve. Without all that money y’all are nothing but weirdos.

Jess Weatherbed • The Verge

AMC Theatres is making it easier for moviegoers to know the actual start time of their film screening and avoid sitting through lengthy ads. A new notice has started appearing when people purchase tickets via the AMC website, warning that “movies start 25-30 minutes after showtime.”

I can certainly appreciate theaters giving us a warning about the ads before the move so we can skip them. The last few films I’ve been to have been super frustrating at the open because I don’t want to spend 30 minutes of my day watching ads before the film I just paid to see.

Zöe Schiffer • WIRED

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is hitting back at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent AI talent poaching spree. In a full-throated response sent to OpenAI researchers Monday evening and obtained by WIRED, Altman made his pitch for why staying at OpenAI is the only answer for those looking to build artificial general intelligence, hinting that the company is evaluating compensation for the entire research organization.

My opinion? OpenAI lead the charge for marketing what they, and the industry, refer to as “AI.” I suspect the company known as OpenAI will cease to exist, Altman and the VC’s will make a shit ton of money and move on to whatever is next. That’s why Altman wants to keep his people. He wants that hojillion dollar exit. If you believe he’s doing this for humanity’s sake I have a bridge to sell you in New York City.

While “AI” is changing things for the worse in the corporate world it doesn’t have its uses in software development if you know what you’re looking for and how to validate its correct. These companies have crawled the web and stolen all the code that exists today on the open web. That begs the question “Is this as good as it gets?”

In many ways I’m glad I’m approaching retirement age. That way I don’t have long to live in this “AI” based software engineering world. Overall, it’s not for me. I’m a dinosaur in many way. Old, not that talented, and tired of the grind.

I’m just waiting to be fired. It’s inevitable.

Starbucks is kind of my leading candidate for a new career. I like coffee and people. I feel like it’s a decent place to work.

Yes, I’m feeling more than a bit gloomy over my future, but it feels like a possibility to me. Best have a plan in mind if I can’t find another job.

[udaipurwebdesigner01]

How to Scale Your WordPress eCommerce Store in 2025

If your WordPress eCommerce store is growing fast, congratulations — but scaling effectively is about more than adding more products. In 2025, customers expect lightning-fast load times, seamless mobile experiences, and rock-solid security. Getting this right requires planning, the right tools, and expert execution.

In this guide, we’ll cover how to scale your WordPress eCommerce store the smart way, and how a WordPress Development Company in Udaipur can help you build a store that’s ready for long-term growth.

Why Scaling Matters for eCommerce Success

✅ High traffic without slowdown ✅ Ability to handle spikes during sales or promotions ✅ Better customer experience = higher conversions ✅ Future-proofing your store as your business expands

Top Strategies to Scale WordPress eCommerce in 2025

🚀 1️⃣ Choose Scalable Hosting

Your hosting is the foundation of your store’s performance.

✅ Look for:

Managed WooCommerce hosting (e.g., Kinsta, SiteGround, Hostinger WooCommerce plans)

Auto-scaling infrastructure

Built-in caching and security

👉 Shared hosting can limit growth — upgrade as your store scales.

🚀 2️⃣ Use a Lightweight, Fast Theme

✅ Astra, Kadence, GeneratePress — all optimized for WooCommerce ✅ Minimal, clean code for faster load times

👉 Avoid bloated themes that slow down the store.

🚀 3️⃣ Optimize for Speed

✅ Use caching plugins (LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket) ✅ Minify CSS, JS, and HTML ✅ Compress images with Smush or ShortPixel ✅ Use a CDN (Cloudflare, BunnyCDN)

👉 Every second counts — faster stores sell more.

🚀 4️⃣ Streamline Checkout

✅ Simplify forms, reduce steps ✅ Offer multiple payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, UPI) ✅ Support mobile wallet payments

👉 A smooth checkout reduces cart abandonment.

🚀 5️⃣ Manage Inventory & Orders Smartly

✅ Integrate with inventory management tools (Zoho Inventory, TradeGecko) ✅ Use order automation tools for shipping and tracking ✅ Sync across multiple sales channels if needed

🚀 6️⃣ Secure Your Store

✅ Install SSL and force HTTPS ✅ Use Wordfence or Sucuri for firewall and malware scans ✅ Keep WordPress, themes, and plugins updated

👉 Security is critical as your store scales.

🚀 7️⃣ Monitor and Analyze

✅ Use MonsterInsights or native Google Analytics ✅ Track conversions, cart abandonment, and traffic sources ✅ Use data to inform decisions

Best Plugins for Scaling WordPress eCommerce

🌟 WooCommerce — The base for your store 🌟 CartFlows — Build high-converting checkout funnels 🌟 LiteSpeed Cache — Speed optimization 🌟 Rank Math SEO — Improve visibility and organic traffic 🌟 UpdraftPlus — Automated backups for peace of mind 🌟 WP Rocket (optional) — Premium caching for top speed

When to Hire a WordPress Development Expert?

Scaling a store isn’t just about adding products — it’s about: ✅ Optimizing performance ✅ Securing data ✅ Integrating the right tools ✅ Ensuring your site handles growth without breaking

A trusted web design company in Udaipur can: ✅ Audit your current setup ✅ Implement advanced scaling strategies ✅ Build custom features as you grow ✅ Provide ongoing maintenance

Common Scaling Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Sticking with shared hosting too long → ✅ Upgrade before you hit limits ❌ Ignoring mobile UX → ✅ Design mobile-first ❌ Adding too many plugins → ✅ Use only what you need ❌ Overlooking security → ✅ Prioritize data protection

Final Thoughts: Build an eCommerce Store Ready for Growth

With the right strategy and tools, your WordPress eCommerce store can: ✅ Handle more customers ✅ Convert more visitors ✅ Scale smoothly as your business grows

[ibraen]

Baby will say goodbye to WP and hello other WP/ a bit of ranting.

After getting a taste of AO3's interface and editor while writing my fanfics, I am stunned about how STUPID Wattpad's editor is. I don't know if it's because I use it on PC, but come on! The alignment bugs! The glitch of self-censure of copy-paste! The limited personalization of the text itself! The shadowban! It's a headache.

Thus, after a year of thinking and getting a taste of freedom, I have finally decided to rehome my original story/passion project to another site. I'll be using that site from then on (Currently working on the move.)

"Aehlize - Track 1" will no longer be available on Wattpad by the end of the month.

Honestly? I had dreams of monetization, one day, in the future. Dreams of hiring an editor who loved what I do, one day, in the future, and who could help me organize my story better/proofread it without erasing my vision. That a few would get interested in my crazy weird passion project that includes music, images, and audio, and it would shoot me into stardom...

...but that's not why I started the craziness that is "Aehlize" and its numerous volumes, only part of it.

I am writing Aehlize as a way to push my writing limits. An excuse to write and compose music that pushes the limitations of my creativity and genres of music not favored by algorithms. An excuse about how far and dark I can go and how much I can explore a world that has never existed; a world I created only taking brushstrokes of the many sources of inspiration I have shelved in my mind. An excuse to attract a community of like-minded people - and if that wasn't even possible, at least build something I can be proud of.

So, to hell with those monetization dreams. Even if I have to work myself to the bone overnight after work, I will see it through, because even I want to know where the story is taking me.

Thank you, AO3 developers and mods, for shaking me up.

Let's do this!

[brandngraves]

Hire Expert WordPress Developers at HireWPGeeks

Need a skilled WordPress developer to bring your website vision to life? HireWPGeeks offers top-notch WordPress development services with a team of experienced professionals. Whether you require expertise in custom themes and plugins, site optimization, or ongoing maintenance, our developers deliver tailored solutions to meet your unique needs. Trust HireWPGeeks for reliable, efficient, and high-quality hire WordPress developer services.

[techstuff19]

Why Headless WordPress + Next.js is a Future-Proof Solution

As digital experiences become more dynamic and omnichannel, the need for a flexible, high-performance web architecture is more critical than ever. One powerful combination that has emerged is Headless WordPress with Next.js, a future-proof stack that bridges the ease of content management with the performance of modern frontend frameworks.

Whether you’re building a blog, corporate site, or complex eCommerce solution, this pairing gives you the scalability and control you need for the long run.

Why Go Headless?

Traditional CMS platforms like WordPress come with tight coupling between frontend and backend, which can be limiting in terms of performance, SEO, and flexibility. With a headless CMS setup, WordPress acts as a pure content backend, while Next.js handles the frontend rendering.

When it comes to online stores, combining WordPress with modern frontend solutions delivers the benefits of eCommerce CMS  better UI/UX, enhanced performance, and seamless integration across sales channels.

Sample Integration: Fetching WordPress Posts with Next.js

You can easily fetch content from your WordPress site using its REST API:

Js

// lib/api.js

export async function getPosts() {

  const res = await fetch('https://yourwordpressdomain.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts');

  const posts = await res.json();

  return posts;

}

Then render in a Next.js page:

js

// pages/index.js

import { getPosts } from '../lib/api';

export default function Home({ posts }) {

  return (

    <div>

      <h1>Latest Posts</h1>

      {posts.map(post => (

        <div key={post.id}>

          <h2 dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: post.title.rendered }} />

          <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: post.excerpt.rendered }} />

        </div>

      ))}

    </div>

  );

}

export async function getStaticProps() {

  const posts = await getPosts();

  return {

    props: { posts }

  };

}

This approach allows you to build static or server-rendered sites that are lightning fast and SEO-friendly.

DevOps Bonus: Automate with CI/CD

Maintaining performance and deployment consistency is key. Automating builds via GitHub Actions ensures smooth rollout. If you're new to it, here’s a handy guide on CI/CD Pipelines for Next.js Projects with GitHub Actions.

When to Hire Experts

Implementing a headless architecture can be technically demanding. If you want to streamline development, performance optimization, and integration, it’s smart to hire Next.js developers who are experienced with CMS and modern web standards.

Final Thoughts

Combining Headless WordPress with Next.js is more than a tech trend it’s a strategic move toward speed, security, and scalability. With a modern CMS on the backend and a performance-first frontend, your digital product is ready for the future.

[caretap-blog]

14 Tips to Set up a Successful Home Care Agency

Before we get started with how to set up a successful home care agency, you may be wondering why the field of home care is becoming more popular and what these services entail. 

Due to senior citizens living longer and the diminishing availability of family members to care for them, the home care industry has grown significantly.

Home care services involve caregivers being inside the client’s home and assisting the client with their daily needs, including helping them get dressed, handling household chores, cooking meals, driving them to appointments and more. 

Let’s now go over the 14 recommended steps on how to set up a successful home care agency.

1: Business Plan Layout

A successful home care business begins with a practical, well-thought-out road map. Start by documenting the goals of your home care business along with how you will achieve your objective. 

Set a realistic timeframe for accomplishing your goals to keep yourself on track and moving forward.

Write down the nature of your home care agency and how it will operate in accordance with state regulations. 

Determine what strategies will be utilized to maintain functional operations of your business. Develop a list of supplies and tools that will be needed.

2. Research the Market to Set up a Successful Home care Agency

Before entering the home care industry, it is critical to undertake extensive market research. Investigate the demographics of your local area and determine your potential clients’ individual healthcare needs. 

Examine your competition to identify service gaps and chances to satisfy unmet demands. This data will assist you in tailoring your services to match the needs of your target market.

2. Financial Management Plan

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Starting a home care agency will require initial startup costs along with available finances for supplies, maintenance, payroll, and more.

It’s also essential to have a solid idea of how much profit you’ll need to generate to sustain your home care agency.  This will help you layout service fees, and employee salaries, and budget expenses accordingly.

You definitely don’t want to start a home care agency hastily, thinking that all will fall in place with time.

Putting time and energy into researching the field of home care and developing a realistic financial plan will help avoid setbacks and unexpected turns.

3. State Registration & Insurance Certifications

Familiarizing yourself with your state’s registration process, licensing and certification procedure, regulations, and how to incorporate your home care agency is critical to avoid legal issues.

Also, be sure to follow the proper accreditation process for insurance companies that provide reimbursement for home care services. This will enable your agency to become a provider for major insurances like Medicaid or Medicare.

4. Hiring & Training Certified Staff

Selecting employees carefully is vital because staff can make or break your business. Verifying their credentials, requiring a background check and asking for references are all essential foundational steps before seriously considering them for the job. 

Clients want a trustworthy, compassionate caregiver who is patient and understanding of their needs.

Finding the right employees takes time, so do not hire in a rush. You don’t want to have a high employee turnover rate because it weakens the agency’s reputation, and also due to the fact that clients prefer an agency which can provide long-term stability. 

Properly train your staff so all expectations and assigned responsibilities are clearly understood.

5. Marketing Your Business

https://caretap.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Marketing-Your-Business.jpg

Attracting serious clients to your home care agency is the ultimate goal, but how is it done? A powerful marketing strategy is the key to building a solid client base. 

Here are 5 effective methods that will come in handy to start promoting your business:

Boost visibility via advertising on social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc)

Create a YouTube channel for your business and produce relevant videos that will attract your intended audience

Develop a professional-looking website for your home care agency that includes pertinent information and appealing features

Produce blogs related to the field and add them to your website

Strategically send marketing emails to your target audience

6. Policy and procedure development

Make a detailed policy document outlining the procedures, methods, and rules that your carers must follow. 

Client care, confidentiality, emergency protocols, and caregiver obligations are all covered. A well-defined policy document will promote consistency and professionalism in the services provided by your agency.

7. Recruiting and Training Caregivers

To provide exceptional care to your clients, hire caring and professional caregivers. Conduct thorough background checks and provide extensive training to ensure your caregivers are prepared to handle a wide range of scenarios with empathy and professionalism.

8. Utilize Technology to set up a home care agency

https://caretap.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/leveraging-technology-2048x1024.jpg

A home care agency can use technology by putting in place new options like home health care software and electronic visit verification (EVV). 

Software for home health care makes administrative jobs easier, manages caregiver schedules, keeps track of electronic health records, and makes it easier for people to talk to each other.

EVV makes sure that trips from caregivers are tracked accurately by using GPS technology, time and date stamps, and caregiver IDs. These technologies make homecare agencies more efficient, hold caregivers more accountable, and improve total care for clients.

9. Focus on personalized care plans

Every client is different, and care should take that into account. Make care plans for each person based on their needs and desires. Review and update these plans often to make sure they are still useful and current.

Personalized care plans are made by working closely with the client and their family to fully understand their goals and hopes. 

Care stays useful and successful over time because it is evaluated and changed on a regular basis. By putting an emphasis on personalized care plans, caregivers and clients can build a connection based on trust and compassion. This leads to better health outcomes and more satisfied clients.

10. Foster Community Partnerships

Collaborate with local healthcare providers, senior centers, and hospitals to build a strong network and get recommendations to set up your home care agency. Community partnerships can help your business grow and build a good name.

By taking part in neighborhood health fairs, workshops, and other events, your agency will have a stronger presence in the community. These partnerships not only make your agency more visible but also make it easier to share knowledge and best practices.

This leads to better care outcomes and a stronger, more connected healthcare ecosystem in your area.

11. Offer Multilingual Services

If you want to help a wide range of people, you might want to offer care in more than one language. Hiring caregivers who speak more than one language and giving them translated materials will help with conversation and cultural awareness.

Staff cultural competence can be improved by giving them language-specific training, which can also make clients happier. 

Also, making translated teaching materials and signs in multiple languages makes sure that all clients can get access to important information. 

Accepting diversity in your business creates an environment where everyone feels welcome. This makes it possible for clients from different linguistic backgrounds to get personalized care that is sensitive to their culture, which leads to better health outcomes and client trust.

12. Establish a 24/7 Helpline

Provide a service that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so that clients and their families can get help and advice even when your office is closed. 

This service will give you peace of mind because you’ll know that help is always there if you need it.

This easy-to-use service makes sure that clients and their families can get help right away in emergencies, even when the business is closed. 

Responding quickly to problems and concerns builds trust in your agency and reassures clients that their well-being is a top priority. This builds a strong relationship of trust between your agency and the people you serve.

13. Implement Innovative Payment Options

https://caretap.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/different-payment-options-2048x1366.jpg

Offer different ways to pay to help people in different financial positions. Work with insurance companies and think about subscription-based plans to help clients with their finances.

By giving people and families different ways to pay, your agency can make sure that quality care is still available to a bigger range of people and families.

14. Promote Ethical and Transparent Billing

Make sure that the way your business bills clients is honest, clear, and easy to understand. Tell your customers about all costs right away to avoid misunderstandings and build trust.

If asked, give thorough billing explanations. Take care of financial issues quickly and in a professional way. 

In client communications and marketing tools, talk about how committed you are to fair billing practices. By putting honesty and openness first, your agency can build a good image and keep good relationships with clients.

Conclusion

Knowing how to set up a home care agency requires well-thought-out planning in advance to ensure the best chances for success.

Laying out your business plan and financial management strategy is crucial before establishing your business. Following the proper registration, licensing and certification processes of your state will help avoid legal issues.

Take time to hire and train staff that will boost your home care agency’s image. Lastly, build a solid client base by utilizing effective marketing strategies. Following these steps will get your home care agency off to a great start.

[violentwyvernvandal]

Top WordPress Development Agencies in USA | Custom WP Solutions

Building a professional, responsive, and scalable website starts with choosing the right development partner. That’s why many businesses trust WordPress development agencies in USA to create tailored digital solutions. These agencies bring both technical expertise and a deep understanding of business needs to the table, helping you stand out in a crowded online market.

Whether you need a custom WordPress theme, plugin development, eCommerce integration, or a complete website overhaul, experienced WordPress development agencies in USA deliver high-quality work with precision and performance in mind. Their services often go beyond design and development—offering SEO optimization, security hardening, and speed enhancements to ensure your site performs at its best.

The benefit of hiring U.S.-based WordPress experts lies in their familiarity with both global trends and local business expectations. Trusted WordPress development agencies in USA offer reliable communication, clear project timelines, and post-launch support that makes your digital journey smoother and more successful.

Choosing the right agency means investing in a long-term solution that supports your brand’s growth, functionality, and user experience.