Introduction…
If you’ve read the Code Snippets Introduction, you’ll already have a sense of what I’m planning with this feature category. This overview takes it a step further — a topic-by-topic guide of what I’ll be covering, with a brief description (my apologies if it is over-simplified), and where my own experience fits. I’m certainly not a developer and will never claim to be an expert. Anyhow, it should give you a clear sense of whether it’s relevant, or of interest, to you…
WordPress Customisation
WordPress customisation via code refers to modifying or extending the platform’s behaviour beyond what themes, plugins, and settings panels allow. This typically involves using hooks and filters to alter how WordPress behaves, adding custom functions to a child theme’s functions.php file, or dropping targeted code into a bespoke plugin to achieve specific results without touching core files. It’s the layer between “using WordPress” and “making WordPress do exactly what you want.”
This is probably where most of my practical coding experience lives. Over the years I’ve built up a working library of customisations — things I’ve needed once, solved, and filed away for the next time. Some are simple ‘must-have’ tweaks; others have been the result of considerable research and head-scratching before landing on something that works. I’m not writing custom code instinctively, but I know enough to find, adapt, and implement solutions reliably — and I’ve learned, the hard way, to test thoroughly before assuming I’m done.
Tagged: Customisation
CSS Fixes & Styling
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is the language that controls how HTML elements are visually presented on a page — everything from colours, fonts, and spacing to layout, responsiveness, and hover effects. In a WordPress context, CSS fixes are typically small, targeted additions or overrides that adjust how a theme or page builder renders elements, either because the default styling doesn’t match what you’re after or because something isn’t behaving the way it should across different screen sizes.
CSS is the area of code I’m most comfortable with day-to-day. Browser dev tools have been invaluable here — the ability to inspect an element, test a fix live, and then copy it across once it’s working has probably taught me more than any tutorial. I have a growing collection of CSS fixes I return to regularly, and they will be the reference for content on this topic. Some are one-liners; some took far longer than I’d care to admit to get right.
Tagged: CSS
PHP Snippets
PHP is the server-side scripting language that powers WordPress itself. While most users never need to touch it directly, PHP snippets allow you to extend or modify WordPress behaviour at a functional level — creating custom post type queries, modifying admin screens, adjusting how content is displayed, or adding logic that plugins and page builders simply can’t handle on their own. Snippets are typically added via a child theme’s functions.php file or a dedicated code snippet plugin to keep things manageable.
PHP is where I sit somewhere between competent and cautious. I understand enough to read it, adapt existing snippets, and problem-solve when something isn’t working — but I wouldn’t describe myself as a PHP developer by any stretch. What I can say is that I’ve learned to be methodical: test on staging, understand what a snippet is doing before adding it, and keep a record of what’s been added and why. The snippets I’ll be sharing here are ones I’ve used in real projects and know to work.
Tagged: PHP
JavaScript & jQuery
JavaScript is the language that handles interactivity and dynamic behaviour on the front end of a website — animations, form validation, content that updates without a page reload, and much more. jQuery is a widely used JavaScript library that simplifies many common tasks and has been a staple of WordPress development for years, though its use has been declining as modern JavaScript has matured. In a WordPress context, JS snippets tend to handle things like custom scroll behaviour, conditional display logic, or small UX enhancements.
I’ll be honest — JavaScript is the coding area where my confidence is lowest. I can follow the basics to understand what a snippet is doing, and I can adapt existing code to fit a specific situation, but I wouldn’t be writing complex JS from scratch without significant reference material (or, increasingly, AI assistance). The articles in this area will reflect that — practical solutions to specific problems rather than deep-dive tutorials, and always with an honest account of how I got there.
Tagged: Javascript, jQuery
HTML Fixes
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the foundational structure of every web page — the markup that defines headings, paragraphs, links, images, tables, and all the building blocks of a page’s content. In a WordPress and page builder context, HTML fixes typically involve correcting or adding markup within content areas, adjusting template structure, adding custom attributes, or addressing accessibility and validation issues that themes and builders sometimes introduce.
HTML is the most straightforward of the languages I use — it’s readable, logical, and when something isn’t working it’s usually fairly clear why. That said, the fixes that end up in this category tend to be the ones that aren’t immediately obvious: conflicts between a page builder’s output and expected markup, accessibility improvements that require a bit of digging, or structural tweaks that make a real difference to how a page renders. Less glamorous than CSS or PHP, but no less useful.
Tagged: HTML
WooCommerce Snippets
WooCommerce, being a substantial plugin in its own right, comes with its own extensive set of hooks, filters, and customisation options that go well beyond its settings panels. WooCommerce snippets allow you to modify the checkout flow, adjust product display, add custom fields, change email templates, tweak pricing logic, and much more — all without hacking the plugin itself. Given how regularly WooCommerce features in my projects, this is a well-visited corner of my code library.
WooCommerce snippets have become a category of their own in my working toolkit. Many of the customisations I require — amending the checkout page, adding conditional logic to products, modifying order emails — are either not possible through the settings alone or would require a paid extension to achieve what a well-placed snippet can do for free. I’ve accumulated a good number of these over the years, and they’re among the most practically useful things I can share. Expect live and operational use cases rather than textbook examples.
Tagged: WooCommerce
Performance & Optimisation
Performance and optimisation in a code context refers to the technical measures taken to make a website load faster and run more efficiently. This goes beyond plugin settings and into the actual code — deferring or removing unnecessary scripts, optimising how CSS is loaded, reducing render-blocking resources, implementing lazy loading, and cleaning up the markup that themes and page builders can sometimes over-generate. The goal is leaner, faster pages that perform well on both desktop and mobile.
This is an area I’ve grown into rather than one I started with any particular confidence in. Performance optimisation at the code level requires understanding what’s actually happening under the bonnet — which scripts are loading, in what order, and whether they need to be there at all. I’ve learned a lot through auditing my sites with tools like PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix,and Pingdom, and then working backwards to fix what’s causing the issue. The snippets and solutions I share here will be the ones that made a measurable difference.
Tagged: Website Performance, Website Optimisation
In Closing…
The feature articles for each of these topics are being published under Code Snippets. If any of the above has caught your interest, simply bookmark the link and revisit in your own time to check out the latest articles. Alternatively, if you’d prefer regular notification of when new articles are available, you can subscribe and I can send <title>Insert Subject Here…</title> emails to your inbox!
