WordPress Monthly Dev Digest #015
Tags: wordpress, webdev, php, tutorial
Published: 2020-02-29 19:39:17

---
title: WordPress Monthly Dev Digest #015
published: true
description: A curated list of WordPress development related news articles, tutorials and other resources written or updated in February 2020.
canonical_url: https://since1979.dev/wordpress-monthly-dev-digest-015/
cover_image: https://since1979.dev/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/wordpress-monthly-dev-digest-015.jpg
tags: wordpress, webdev, php, tutorial
---
[Originally posted on my website on February 29th 2020](https://since1979.dev/wordpress-monthly-dev-digest-015/)

WordPress February in short.
----------------------------

With WordPress 5.4 around the corner (Planned for [release on March 31th](https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-4/)) there have been a lot of Dev Notes published on the [Make Core Blog](https://make.wordpress.org/core/) for us developers to read. I have listed them below for you to cherry pick.

-   [Formal deprecation of some unused Customizer classes in WordPress 5.4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/12/formal-deprecation-of-some-unused-customizer-classes-in-wordpress-5-4/).
-   [Changes related to Calendar Widget markup in WordPress 5.4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/12/changes-related-to-calendar-widget-markup-in-wordpress-5-4/).
-   [An updated Button component in WordPress 5.4.](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/12/changes-related-to-calendar-widget-markup-in-wordpress-5-4/)
-   [WordPress 5.4 introduces apply_shortcodes() as an alias for do_shortcode()](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/13/wordpress-5-4-introduces-apply-shortcodes-as-an-alias-for-do-shortcode/).
-   [Enhancements to favicon handling in WordPress 5.4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/19/enhancements-to-favicon-handling-in-wordpress-5-4/).
-   [Block editor keyboard shortcuts in WordPress 5.4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/19/block-editor-keyboard-shortcuts-in-wordpress-5-4/).
-   [New hooks let you add custom fields to menu items](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/25/wordpress-5-4-introduces-new-hooks-to-add-custom-fields-to-menu-items/).
-   [New Blocks in WordPress 5.4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/27/new-or-updated-blocks-in-wordpress-5-4/).
-   [Introduce Block variations API](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/27/introduce-block-variations-api/).
-   [Block collections](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/27/block-collections/).
-   [New @wordpress/create-block package for Block scaffolding](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/27/block-collections/).
-   [REST API Changes in 5.4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/29/rest-api-changes-in-5-4/).
-   And [Miscellaneous developer focused changes in WordPress 5.4.](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/26/miscellaneous-developer-focused-changes-in-wordpress-5-4/)

Besides all these Dev Notes there were the announcements that both [Navigation block](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/07/navigation-block-exclusion-from-wp-5-4/) and [Lazy Loading](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/25/lazy-loading-update/) will not be included in the 5.4 release. If you want you can still test out the [Lazy-Loading feature plugim](https://github.com/WordPress/wp-lazy-loading) and the [WordPress 5.4 Beta 3 release](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/02/wordpress-5-4-beta-3/).

### WordPress:

-   Video: [3 methods for Ajax in WordPress. Which method is the best?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwBBxwmG49w) by [Alex Young](https://twitter.com/_WPCasts_tv_).
-   [Enterprise headless WordPress](https://dev.to/ssinno28/enterprise-headless-wordpress-2kg3) by [Sammi Sinno](https://dev.to/ssinno28).
-   [Seo for headless WordPress themes](https://dev.to/frontity/seo-for-headless-wordpress-themes-1567) by [Reyes Martínez](https://twitter.com/r_martinezduque).
-   [5 Ways to create a WordPress plugin settings page](https://deliciousbrains.com/create-wordpress-plugin-settings-page/) by [Iain Poulson](https://twitter.com/polevaultweb).
-   [Bootstrapping WordPress projects with Composer and WP-CLI](https://www.designbombs.com/bootstrapping-wordpress-projects-with-composer-and-wp-cli/) by Leo.
-   [Close unclosed HTML tags in PHP/WordPress](https://btb.works/close-unclosed-html-tags-in-php/) by [Kuba Mikita](https://twitter.com/kubamikita).
-   [Working on Trac Tickets Using GitHub Pull Requests](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/02/21/working-on-trac-tickets-using-github-pull-requests/)
-   [WordPress Hook Autocompletion for VS Code](https://github.com/johnbillion/vscode-wordpress-hooks) by [John Blackbourn](https://twitter.com/johnbillion).
-   WordPress snippet [#004](https://since1979.dev/snippet-002-adding-option-pages-with-acf/), [#005](https://since1979.dev/snippet-005-simple-custom-rest-api-route/), [#006](https://since1979.dev/snippet-006-conditionally-loading-a-custom-template/) and [#007](https://since1979.dev/snippet-007-get-and-post-to-remote-api-with-php/) by [Stephan Nijman](https://twitter.com/Vanaf1979).

### Php:

-   [Switching between multiple Php versions on macOS](https://dev.to/markhesketh/switching-between-multiple-php-versions-on-macos-566g) by [Mark Hesketh](https://twitter.com/markahesketh).
-   [PHP 7 can do that?](https://dev.to/jmau111/php-7-can-do-that-57ol) by [Julien Maury](https://dev.to/jmau111).
-   Video: [Tips for cleaner code: Cleaning up IF statements](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldqDpmMkXgw&feature=emb_logo) by [Codecourse](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpOIUW62tnJTtpWFABxWZ8g).
-   [The snobby demonization of Php](https://dev.to/bytebodger/the-snobby-demonization-of-php-4fae) by [Adam Nathaniel Davis](https://dev.to/bytebodger).
-   Video: [How to refactor complex if statements](https://freek.dev/1578-how-to-refactor-complex-if-statements) by [Freek Van der Herten](https://twitter.com/freekmurze).

### Javascript:

-   [ResizeObserver: A new powerful tool for the responsive web](https://medium.com/@barvysta/resizeobserver-a-new-powerful-tool-for-responsive-web-f9a53ed71952) by [Khrystyna Skvarok](https://twitter.com/Barvysta).
-   [Create a reading scroll progress bar for your blog in JavaScript and Css](https://dev.to/xtrp/create-a-reading-scroll-progress-bar-for-your-blog-in-javascript-and-css-1jmc) by [Fred Adams](https://dev.to/xtrp).
-   [How JavaScript Implements Object Oriented Programming](https://estevanmaito.github.io/sharect/) by [Dillion Megida](https://twitter.com/iamdillion).
-   [Sharect](https://estevanmaito.github.io/sharect/): Let users share their text selections to social networks by [Estevan Maito](https://github.com/estevanmaito).
-   [Popper](https://popper.js.org/): Tooltip & popover positioning engine.

### Css:

-   [How to create a more readable Css](https://medium.com/@elad/how-to-create-a-more-readable-css-3e67ea4812ee) by [Elad Shechter](https://twitter.com/eladsc).
-   [Animating Css width and height without the squish effect](https://pqina.nl/blog/animating-width-and-height-without-the-squish-effect/?ref=heydesigner) by [Rik Schennink](https://twitter.com/rikschennink).
-   [Flexing your Html footer to the screen bottom](https://dev.to/kriswep/flexing-your-html-footer-the-the-screen-bottom-3gp5) by [C.B.W](https://twitter.com/kriswep).
-   [Fixed headers and jump links? The solution is scroll-margin-top](https://css-tricks.com/fixed-headers-and-jump-links-the-solution-is-scroll-margin-top/) by [Chris Coyier](https://twitter.com/chriscoyier).
-   Video: [Full tutorial on how to use Sass to improve your Css](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEFprr8soo) by [Adrian Twarog](https://twitter.com/twarogadrian).
-   [Sass for Css: Advance your frontend skills with Css preprocessor](https://dev.to/educative/sass-for-css-advance-your-frontend-skills-with-css-preprocessor-5e3) by [Amanda Fawcett](https://dev.to/amandaeducative).
-   [Applying CSS :focus-within](https://dev.to/lauragift21/applying-css-focus-within-35ae) by [Gift Egwuenu](https://twitter.com/lauragift_).
-   [Firefox DevTools will show you which element is the one with scrollable overflow](https://twitter.com/sulco/status/1229393229398888448) by [Tomek Sułkowski](https://twitter.com/sulco).
-   [CSS object-fit and object-position properties: Crop images embedded in HTML](https://medium.com/css-mine/css-object-fit-and-object-position-properties-crop-images-embedded-in-html-a52aae7bf73a) by [Martin Michálek](https://twitter.com/machal).
-   [A complete guide to data attributes](https://css-tricks.com/a-complete-guide-to-data-attributes/) by [Chris Coyier](https://twitter.com/chriscoyier).
-   [When Css blocks](https://timkadlec.com/remembers/2020-02-13-when-css-blocks/?ref=dailydevlinks.com) by [Tim Kadlec](https://twitter.com/tkadlec).

### Misc:

-   GitHub needs your feedback on [their new (beta) Cli](https://github.com/cli/cli).
-   [MassCode](https://masscode.io/?ref=dailydevlinks.com): A free and open source code snippets manager.
-   [Ionicons](https://ionicons.com/): Beautifully crafted open source icons.
-   [Firefox add-on for Google Lighthouse](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-lighthouse/)!
-   [How to make your first pull request on GitHub](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-make-your-first-pull-request-on-github-3/) by [MV Thanoshan](https://twitter.com/ThanoshanMV).
-   [How to keep yourself motivated as a software developer](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-keep-yourself-motivated-as-a-software-developer/) by [Carol Pelu](https://twitter.com/pelu_carol).
-   [Accessibility dont's, Learn from basic mistakes in web design](https://pineco.de/accessibility-donts-learn-from-basic-mistakes-in-web-design/) by [Adam Laki](https://twitter.com/_iamadam).

### Suggestions?

**I**f you have any suggestions for good article please do let me know! Follow me on twitter [@Vanaf1979](https://twitter.com/Vanaf1979) or on Dev.to [@Vanaf1979](https://dev.to/vanaf1979) to be notified about the next article in this series, and other WordPress development related stuff.

Have a great March.