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WordPress
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  • screenshot of the Digital Shopfront CMS GitLab repository
    Digital Shopfront, Web Development

    Looking at the Digital Shopfront CMS Repository

    Jacob Martella

    •

    May 1, 2025

    As work continues on creating Digital Shopfront CMS, I wanted to take a moment to explain the repository structure. So let’s dive into why I chose GitLab over GitHub and how the project is set up.

    Continue Reading: Looking at the Digital Shopfront CMS Repository
  • a laptop screen with Laravel code on it
    Laravel, Web Development

    What I’ve Learned with Laravel After a Few Months

    Jacob Martella

    •

    April 3, 2025

    Because of *gestures wildly* everything going on in the WordPress landscape, I’ve started taking a look at the web development world outside of WordPress. And I think I’ve fallen in love with Laravel. It’s reignited my passion for web development and reminded me of why I got into web dev in the first place.

    Continue Reading: What I’ve Learned with Laravel After a Few Months
  • Digital Shopfront wordmark
    Laravel, Web Development

    Introducing Digital Shopfront Content Management System

    Jacob Martella

    •

    March 20, 2025

    I’m building a new content management system. What started out as sort of a crazy idea I had while driving to the Great Smoky Mountains last fall is starting to turn into a real thing. Here’s what I’m planning with Digital Shopfront CMS.

    Continue Reading: Introducing Digital Shopfront Content Management System
  • a person taking a photo of a butterfly on a flower with a DSLR camera
    Accessibility, Web Development

    How to Add Alternative Text to Your Photos on Social Media

    Jacob Martella

    •

    March 13, 2025

    Social media is a great place to share your photos. But in our rush to share our cool photos, we very often miss one crucial step: adding alternative text. So here’s how to add alt text to your photos on social media.

    Continue Reading: How to Add Alternative Text to Your Photos on Social Media
  • a design for a hero section
    Web Development

    Redesigning My Personal Website

    Jacob Martella

    •

    March 6, 2025

    As a web designer and developer, there’s always a temptation to redesign your personal website. So, since it’s been over a year since I last redesigned this site, I think it’s time to redo this website again. Here’s the plan for the redesign.

    Continue Reading: Redesigning My Personal Website
  • an iMac displaying a screenshot of the install plugin screen of the Crosswinds Framework Onboarding Wizard
    Plugin Development, Web Development, WordPress

    My Experience with Creating an Onboarding Sequence for the Crosswinds Framework

    Jacob Martella

    •

    June 26, 2024

    In addition to creating a new settings screen, the latest release of the Crosswinds Framework also saw an onboarding sequence added for anyone who is using the Crosswinds Blocks plugin and one of the Crosswinds Framework themes. Here’s how I built the Crosswinds Framework Onboarding Wizard.

    Continue Reading: My Experience with Creating an Onboarding Sequence for the Crosswinds Framework
  • a MacBook sitting on a table showing the home screen for the Crosswinds Framework settings screen
    Plugin Development, Web Development, WordPress

    How I Created the New Crosswinds Framework Settings Screen

    Jacob Martella

    •

    June 19, 2024

    The start of May brought the version 1.2 release of the Crosswinds Blocks plugin and with it came a new settings screen. Here’s how I was able to build the new settings screen using React.

    Continue Reading: How I Created the New Crosswinds Framework Settings Screen
  • a white iMac showing a screenshot of the blog posts search results on jacobmartella.com while sitting on a white desk in a white room
    Block Editor, Web Development, WordPress

    How I Built It: Search Results Block

    Jacob Martella

    •

    June 12, 2024

    WordPress does a lot of great things. But handling search results based on post types out of the box is definitely not one of them. So here’s how I built two blocks in the Crosswinds Blocks plugin to make it better.

    Continue Reading: How I Built It: Search Results Block
  • the GitLab homepage on an iMac sitting on a white desk in a white room
    Web Development

    Why I Use GitLab over GitHub

    Jacob Martella

    •

    May 1, 2024

    Talking about the tools a web developer uses to create projects can sometimes lead to a bit of a flame war. So here’s why I’ve chosen to use GitLab over GitHub for version control.

    Continue Reading: Why I Use GitLab over GitHub
  • an imac showing a webpage with the Crosswinds Blocks search filters blocks sitting on a wooden table
    Block Editor, Web Development, WordPress

    How I Built It: Search Filters Block

    Jacob Martella

    •

    March 13, 2024

    The WordPress core search functionality is good, but it really could be better. So for the Crosswindds Framework 1.1 update, I added in a set of search filters blocks to make it better.

    Continue Reading: How I Built It: Search Filters Block
  • an iMac sitting on a desk showing a shot of the block editor with the Crosswinds Blocks related posts block
    Block Editor, Web Development, WordPress

    How I Built It: Related Posts Block

    Jacob Martella

    •

    March 6, 2024

    Related posts are a great way to make sure that people stay on your website longer. And they are something I wanted to include in the Crosswinds Blocks plugin. Here’s how I built that block.

    Continue Reading: How I Built It: Related Posts Block
  • a man working on a web design on two different computer screens
    Theme Development, Web Development, WordPress

    How I Create Block Themes

    Jacob Martella

    •

    February 28, 2024

    Block themes are still a relatively new thing in WordPress. And theme developers are still finding the sweet spot in how they create block themes for this new site editor world. So if you’re learning how to build block themes for WordPress, here’s the process I’ve been using to create themes for the Crosswinds Framework.

    Continue Reading: How I Create Block Themes
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