Tracking down bugs in WordPress development often feels like looking for a needle in a haystack. Especially when you’re relying on var_dump() calls and manually scanning error logs.  WordPress Studio has two new debugging capabilities that make this process faster and more intuitive: Xdebug support and debug log access. Try WordPress Studio for free Step-through debugging with Xdebug Xdebug is the gold-standard PHP debugging extension. Instead of scattering debug output throughout your code, you can set breakpoints, step through execution line-by-line, and inspect variables in real time — all from your editor. This is now available for all Studio users and is powered by WordPress Playground’s WebAssembly version of PHP,…

Monikka Spruyt spent years in corporate. Then, the training organization she worked for was being merged into another. She’d also just had her third baby. She saw it as a sign. Starting over in another corporate role wasn’t what she wanted. This was her moment to build something of her own. So she backed herself instead. She trained as a life coach, an EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) practitioner, and a Reiki healer. She opened Connect Holistic Health — a business built around helping people untangle the noise in their minds and get more out of their lives. I get to do it on my own terms. My number one hat…

At its core, WordPress software is highly secure. The platform itself follows strong security practices and is regularly updated. Most WordPress security issues don’t come from WordPress itself — but from how a site is set up and maintained. In this guide, we’ll explain how secure WordPress is, where real risks come from, and what steps you can take to reduce your chances of being hacked. Is WordPress a safe option for websites?  Yes — WordPress is secure by design. Vulnerabilities in WordPress core are relatively rare and are usually patched quickly when discovered. Security issues occur within the WordPress ecosystem, not the core platform itself.  Most successful attacks exploit:…

Jason Stockill’s day job is in agriculture — operations manager at a local dealership in Canada, selling tractors, skid steers, the whole deal. But after hours, he’s been working on something else. His son Jäger races motorcycles. He is the 2025 FIM MiniGP Canada Champion — six wins, nine podiums in a single season — and has represented Team Canada at the FIM MiniGP World Final twice. None of it lived anywhere the public could find. Sponsors had nowhere to land. Fans who couldn’t make it to events had nothing to follow. “I’ve always had this vision in my head of creating a website for Jäger to showcase what he’s…

SEO in 2026 means optimizing for both traditional search engines and AI discovery tools — and WordPress gives you the plugin ecosystem to handle both.  The challenge? Figuring out which SEO plugins actually move the needle versus which ones just clutter your dashboard.  We looked at WordPress.com usage data and user ratings, then I tested the top contenders myself. Here are the 12 SEO plugins worth installing, what each one does best, and which ones to skip: Yoast SEO Premium — Best for step-by-step SEO guidance as you write All in One SEO (AIOSEO) — Best for broad coverage with AI-era features The SEO Framework — Best for fast sites…

On WordPress.com, you can manage the entire lifecycle of your website — setup, development, launch, day-to-day management, and potential adjustments — on a single platform that grows with you. When I first learned to build WordPress sites, I had to stitch them together from different tools and vendors. Think of connecting your domain registrar to a hosting provider, installing backup, security, and performance plugins — that sort of thing. When I switched to WordPress.com, the experience became entirely different. Here are 14 ways it makes site ownership easier. 1. Launch your site in a single, ready-to-run environment On WordPress.com, getting a domain, hosting, security, backups, and performance are already configured.…

When we launched Telex back in August, we invited everyone to experiment with AI-powered block creation. Since then, thousands of you have built blocks, shared feedback, and pushed the tool in directions we didn’t expect. That enthusiasm kept us going. Here’s what’s new. 1. Show Telex what you want to build You can now upload reference images when describing your block. A Figma mockup. A screenshot of a design you like. A napkin sketch.  Upload it alongside your prompt and let Telex see what you’re imagining. This helps most with complex layouts — or when you’re chasing a specific aesthetic. Instead of writing a detailed description of how every element…

Lily Burton spent years in the lab. PhD in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the University of Chicago. Deep research. Big questions. But something was missing. “I really enjoyed thinking about very deep questions,” she says. “But I kind of missed the human element. I would get frustrated — why should a normal, everyday person care about this?” That question led her toward science writing. And eventually, to a portfolio she built in an hour using our AI website builder. From lab to byline To pursue her science writing dream, Lily built up slowly. Volunteer projects. Small bylines. Then, in late 2023, she applied to the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship…

The WordPress AI Assistant is now available on WordPress.com. If you’ve used our AI website builder, you already know how easy it is to create a full site by having a conversation. Now, that same intelligence stays with you inside the editor and Media Library.  Unlike standalone AI tools, the WordPress AI Assistant works inside your site. It understands your content and layout and can take action where you’re already building — no copy-pasting, no prompt engineering, and no code to figure out what to do with. Sites on WordPress.com’s Business or Commerce plans can now opt into the WordPress AI Assistant at no extra cost. Build, write, design, and…

AI search tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode are changing how people find content. The good news? Your WordPress site can show up in both traditional Google results and AI-generated answers with a few practical tweaks. In fact, most of what AI systems need already exists in WordPress — if you structure and use it properly. This guide shows you how to optimize your WordPress site for AI search with nine simple steps. 1. Write answer-first content with a clear structure Start each section with the main point, then add supporting details when creating content for your website.  AI systems extract information by scanning for direct answers and…