After rocking our site’s previous design for nearly four years, it was time for a refresh. Actually complete overhaul is more like it, a top-to-bottom restructuring and streamlining of DigWP.com.

Going into the redesign, the goal was twofold: 1) visually keep things as focused and clean as possible, and 2) under the hood, unify everything and simplify down to an absolute minimum. As with any eight-year-old website with over 400 posts and integrated e-commerce system, there was an enormous amount of work required to get the job done.

Quick post to announce updates for all DigWP themes, free and exclusive. All of our themes are current with the latest version of WordPress, and include lots of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements. 100% ready for action :)

The free themes are all free and open-source for everyone, and the exclusive themes are included with purchase of Digging Into WordPress. If you own the book, you can log in and download the updated themes in the DigWP Members Area, at your convenience. Now let’s check ’em out..

BBQ Pro is the premium version of my free security plugin, Block Bad Queries. BBQ Pro helps keep your WordPress-powered site safe and secure by blocking bad URI requests. This helps to conserve precious server resources like memory and bandwidth. BBQ Pro runs silently in the background, checking all incoming traffic and blocking any URI requests that contain nasty stuff like eval(, base64_, and other malicious nonsense. It’s advanced firewall protection that’s fast, flexible, and fully customizable.

SES Pro is a premium email newsletter plugin for WordPress. It is 100% shortcode-based with Ajax-powered signup forms that can be displayed anywhere. There are no monthly fees or limits on the number of subscribers, how many emails you can send, or anything else. It’s just a lightweight yet full-featured email-signup plugin that’s super-easy to use — a great alternative for independent, DIY WordPress enthusiasts who want to rock their own email signup forms.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we’re giving away three copies of Digging Into WordPress! Winners will receive full access to the Members Area here at DigWP.com to download current versions of the book and all exclusive themes and bonus material.

Super stoked to announce my new book, WordPress Themes In Depth! It covers the entire process of setting up, development, distribution, and everything in between.

WordPress Themes In Depth is literally overflowing with over 450 pages of in-depth theme-building action. And it includes example themes and lots of project demos. If you want to develop, customize, and even sell your own awesome WordPress themes, you’re gonna benefit greatly from this book.

Theme update! The H5 Starter Theme is all updated and afresh for your theme-building adventures. The previous version of H5 still works great, but there was a lot of room for improvement, especially with all of the new features and functionality made available in recent versions of WordPress. So now the H5 starter theme is better than ever and as always 100% free download for everyone.

Digging Into WordPress update! The book is now current with the latest version of WordPress, 3.8 “Parker”. The Parker update is focused primarily on improving the appearance of the Admin Area, along with the usual blend of bug fixes and enhancements. As with all DigWP updates, the new version is a FREE download for everyone who owns the book.

To celebrate the new design and book update, we’re giving away 5 free PDF copies of Digging Into WordPress and having a Fall Book Sale!

Digging Into WordPress update! Version 3.7 of the book is updated for WordPress 3.6 and 3.7 (beta). As with the previous 10 updates, everyone who owns the book gets the new version for FREE.

Well sort of.. more like a design “refresh” really. DigWP.com launched in May 2009 with its first (brown) design. Then later that year the site was redesigned for the launch of the book. The second (blue/grey) design was well-suited for the site and a natural progression from the first design, and the new design continues along the same path.

I’m excited to announce the launch of my 3rd book, The Tao of WordPress! Every page of The Tao of WordPress is carefully distilled, refined, and focused on WordPress. I wrote this book for beginners, students, designers, admins, enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to rock their own WordPress-powered site.

We’ve teamed up with WebHostingBuzz to present you with a superb hosting giveaway for 2013.

WebHostingBuzz is providing the following great prizes: three lucky winners will pick up an entire year of FREE hosting that includes 750 GB Disk Space, 15,000 GB monthly Bandwidth, a free domain name and more.

Chris and I launched DigWP.com back in 2009, and since that time have posted many WordPress tips, tricks, and techniques (well over 300 posts!).

So as 2013 fast approaches, it’s a great time to look back at the best of DigWP for each year, 2009 through 2012 — 4 years and counting!