Joseph Dickson

I’m a Web Developer.

I have over ten years of experience designing WordPress themes and plugins for multisite deployments in higher education.

KEEP IN TOUCH

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Recent Posts

  • Disable Lazy Loading Images Using the_post_thumbnail() in WordPress

    The introduction of lazy-loading of images as of WordPress 5.5 improves site performance by delaying them until the user scrolls into view making our pages feel faster by only loading images as we need to see them. The Problem However, I needed a way to disable lazy loading for specific features like this image carousel […]

  • If post hasn’t been modified recently in WordPress

    Today an issue came up where a reader of one of a site I manage was referring to content that was out of date. Normally that’s not a problem but in this case it is a timely pandemic documentation page where the content is very likely to be out of date within a couple months […]

  • WP_Query, Going Beyond The Loop

    As presented at WordCamp Santa Clarita on April 18, 2020.

Web Development Projects

  • Block Child Theme

    The Challenge WordPress 6.1 included the new Twenty Twenty Three theme which features new Full Site Editor Block Theme methodology. However, it doesn’t include Open Graph support, Post Types and remove taxonomy labels from archive pages. The Solution Added practical features to a Child Theme improving user experience.

  • Open Graph Protocol

    A simple function running conditional checks delivering relevant information to social media platforms using the Open Graph Protocol.

  • Homepage Redesign

    The Challenge The College wanted to use the full-width capabilities of the WordPress Block Editor. The Solution I created a custom Child Theme breaking the rigid grid of the college’s other landing pages.

  • Pathway Forward

    The Challenge As the COVID-19 pandemic began to normalize the community updates section needed to be replaced with an evergreen landing page leading to news updates and policies in advance of return to campus. The Solution Using the WordPress Block Editor a simple landing page was created featuring call to action cards and buttons for […]

  • COVID-19 Community Updates

    The Challenge With the move to remote learning the campus community needed an at a glance archive to contain all public messages posted during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Solution Using WP_Query I created an accordion system organized by date. This simplified email notifications by providing a common URL for all updates where […]

  • Staff Directory

    The Challenge Human Resources required a simple workflow for adding and removing staff from a public directory. Previously this was accomplished by pasting a shared document into a WordPress page. The Solution I created a no code solution for human resources by creating a Staff Directory Plugin using Custom Post Types and Custom Fields. Each […]