web design | Mike Matera Dot Com!

Divi Theme: You Can Do Better

Mike Matera — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 19:23:24 +0000

I’ve been a Divi owner for so long that it feels like we’re practically related. I bought my Elegant Themes subscription nearly a decade ago, which means I’ve had plenty of time to almost use Divi for serious projects—and then decide against it. Repeatedly. And with conviction. Owning Divi has felt less like using a […]

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Black Friday? Cyber Monday? No Thanks, I’m Good.

Mike Matera — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:50:00 +0000

Full-Site Editing, especially with the latest default WordPress theme, may be the best-kept secret in WordPress. This post hits as I mark 16 years working with WordPress. Before that, I had been making web sites for almost nine years. I’ve seen plenty of changes in web publishing in general – and with WordPress in particular. […]

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How to Crop an Image in Photopea

Mike Matera — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 19:03:46 +0000

The crop tool doesn’t work properly in Photopea, at least in Chrome on Windows 11. To get around that, just choose the Crop tool, drag the handles to get your desired image size, then triple-click anywhere on the image. You’ll get the crop you want. To get rid of the subsequent dimness of the image […]

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Questions to Ask Before Buying a WordPress Theme

Mike Matera — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 16:15:00 +0000

You spy a great-looking WordPress site and want yours to be similar. Or a Google search for WordPress themes yields one that seems perfect. Before investing your money and / or time, answer these questions: Is the Theme Fully Responsive? Sure, it’s 2020 and most theme developers have made their products mobile-ready. But you can’t be sure […]

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A WordPress Child Theme Alternative

Mike Matera — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 02:11:16 +0000

You find a knockout WordPress theme. With minor font, color, and layout tweaks, it’ll look great. Add in some custom functions, such as support for certain post types or control over social media thumbnails, and it’ll be almost perfect. Normally, you’d make a child theme for that. A child theme piggybacks off the theme you’re considering, letting you […]

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WordPress Twenty Sixteen Theme: Move Content to the Left

Mike Matera — Mon, 02 May 2016 23:22:06 +0000

The Twenty Sixteen theme provides a great starting point for a clean, modernly-designed, responsive site. Among the things I find limiting about it, however, is the way page content sits in the center on pages that don’t show sidebars. There’s too much white space, especially to the left of the content: But here’s a quick way to fix that. […]

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Brilliant CSS Plugin for WordPress

Mike Matera — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 22:16:18 +0000

Here’s a quick overview of what may well be the best CSS plugin available for WordPress. SiteOrigin CSS SiteOrigin, creator of the popular and very customizable Vantage theme, also authors a comprehensive set of plugins that not only enhance every theme it releases, but can also be used to enhance almost any other WordPress theme. […]

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Vantage WordPress Theme: Customizing the Site Title and Tagline

Mike Matera — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 05:54:51 +0000

Here’s a quick solution to problem with an otherwise stellar WordPress theme. No matter whether you use either the free or premium version of Vantage, you’ll notice that there’s no way to customize the site title in the theme’s header. It’s set to a gray default that you can’t change, neither via the WordPress Customizer nor […]

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New Child Theme | Minor Site Redesign

Mike Matera — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 23:13:24 +0000

Note: this post reflects a previous site design. This site is no longer using the theme or plugins cited in the article. Yes, I finally did it. I finally updated this site’s theme from a Twenty Ten child theme to one based on Twenty Twelve. And it didn’t hurt at all. Well, only a little. […]

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Is Your WordPress Site Ready for Google’s Mobile Algorithm?

Mike Matera — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 02:41:17 +0000

April 21, 2015 has come and gone – and with it Google’s deadline to ensure that your Web site is mobile-ready. That is, your Web site should display clearly on multiple devices, particularly smartphones and tablets. If it doesn’t, then Google may rank it lower in mobile search results. How to Tell if Your WP Site […]

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