I converted my Blackhole Spider Trap into a FREE WordPress plugin. It’s fun, easy, and a great way to protect your site against rogue bots. Grab it at the WordPress Plugin Directory.

New version of Digging Into WordPress now available! The update is current with WordPress version 4.4, and is a FREE download for everyone who owns the book.

Insightful roundup of WordPress experts sharing their insights on WordPress.com’s new open-source admin interface known as Calypso. Great post that explains what it is, what it does, how it works, and what developers (including myself) think about it.

Check out Torque Magazine’s recent interview roundup for some insightful and inspiring words from 10 world-class WordPress developers, including yours truly!

Get any of my books — Digging Into WordPress, WordPress Themes In Depth, The Tao of WordPress, or .htaccess made easy — for 30% off this weekend. Use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY at Perishable Press Books. Discount code also works for any Pro plugin at Plugin Planet!

Now available! Free download for everyone who owns the book. Log in and grab it in the Members Area :)

Also FYI, The Tao of WordPress and WordPress Themes In Depth are updated for WP 4.3. Get ’em at Perishable Press Books or log in and download for free!

Probably the most in-depth interview I’ve done so far, includes lots of discussion about Digging Into WordPress, my other WordPress books, plugins, themes, web development, and everything in between. Thanks to Bauke Roesink for the opportunity!

Attention proud owners of Digging Into WordPress! The book received a major update for WordPress 4.2, including a complete refresh of all resources and links. As with the previous 15 updates, version 4.2 is a free download for all members :)

Just switched DigWP.com over to https after implementing SSL for the entire domain. If you notice anything weird or not working, please let us know. Thanks!

WinningWP posted on the top 7 contact form plugins, including the best free and premium plugins for front-end forms, contact forms, and everything in between. Great round-up of all the latest and greatest form plugins :)

Today I am pleased to announce the three winners of the Digging Into WordPress Book Giveaway:

• Eileen Dooley
• James Martindale
• Judi Young

Thank you to all those who participated — the giveaway post received many great comments that are very insightful and inspiring. Happy holidays to everyone! :)

I’ve been checking out Mashshare lately as a good social-media/share plugin. Besides delivering great features and a nice set of vector share buttons, Mashshare is lightweight and focused on performance. You can check it out at WordPress.org :)

Bauke Roesink rounds up 126 top designers and asks them which software they use for web and graphic design. Super informative article with lots of insight :)

Awesome new gallery plugin that enables grouped animated galleries based on categories and more. Sorta hard to explain but you can see how it works via the demo. DigWP people can save a few bucks on the personal or developer version.

Editor’s note: 404 link removed.