When I started this site, I was totally confused about where to start from? What should I write about?
But, Now as we are a growing family. It is my responsibility to share some golden rules before using any tutorial, reference from this site.
Points to Remember:
1. Use a test Environment.
We all make mistakes, write/paste the wrong codes and snippets in a different file or location. It is your responsibility to test them before pushing it on a live site.
Always use a test site, or demo install to test any tutorial before adding this to your live production site.
If not, don’t blame me when your site throws Errors or give a white screen death.
2. Use sFTP, FTP or file manager.
Always edit files using the sFTP, FTP or file manager application so you can revert back as soon as it gives an error.
Applications like Cyberduck, Transmit, or FileZilla would help you to edit child themes using code editors like Coda 2, Visual Studio Code or other editors.
3. Don’t touch /genesis/ folder.
Remember, not to add, edit or rename anything in /genesis/ folder present in your wp-content/themes/ folder.
Any tutorial on this site uses child theme’s files i.e functions.php style.css and so everything you will do with your child theme and not with the framework.
4. Basic Understanding.
When you have a code or a snippet, you should go read the code at once before pasting it on any file.
Not all snippet includes <?php tag and so understand the basics by reading the code, format and then paste according to it.
5. is_front_page() v/s is_home()
The most common and confusing question all the time is_front_page() v/s is_home(). Take a look at these tutorials before jumping on others.
Take a break and think about how you can do something on a specific page on a specific location. You have WordPress conditional Tags, with return early method, Conditional CSS, Genesis Hooks, Action and filters hooks and more including me…
Install WordPress, Genesis Framework and Genesis Sample theme and start with Creating a Widgetized front page in Genesis.
6. Multiple Choices
Tutorials include Multiple Options, Types for a specific design like overlay, particles, background image. It is recommended to use only one of the option.
7. Changes not visible
Most of the time you will see no changes when you add some CSS and this is because of the browser cache or server side cache like WPEngine, or Cloudflare. There are different ways to clear cache and here are some of the important shortcut keys for each user that can be used if you think your changes are not visible.
Windows
Chrome → CTRL+ reload button or CTRL+F5
Firefox → CTRL+F5 or CTRL+SHIFT+R
Safari → option+CMD+R
Mac
Chrome → SHIFT+ Reload button or CMD+ Shift+R
Firefox → SHIFT+Reload button or CMD+SHIFT+R
Internet Explorer → ctrl+reload or ctrl+f5
WPEngine users can clear the cache from admin dashboard. Cloudflare users can clear cache from their cloudflare account and can also set the site in development mode for 4 hours.
8. Page not working
Sometimes, after working on Custom post types or a plugin adds an additional post, page types not open and gives an error. To fix this, we need to flush the permalinks. Go to Settings > Permalinks and hit the save button again. This will fix the issue (most of the time).
It is recommended to read the whole tutorial 1-2 times and then follow the steps. It is also recommended to keep the other resources open when another tutorial is mentioned while using any steps.
Also, Please use shortcode for sharing code in comment section and Favorite the tutorial you are commenting on. This will help you to track your comments and reply to your comments.
Thank you.