Web Development

Articles on WordPress development and general web development: how to add a sidebar in WordPress, add colors to the Gutenberg color palette, configure an Ubuntu VirtualBox virtual machine for web development, get a country name from an IP address, make MySQL 8 compatible with older versions, do a partial mysqldump, etc.

Articles

• [WordPress] How to Add a Sidebar Programmatically in 2025
  To create a sidebar:
  1. Register the sidebar with register_sidebar().
  2. Add the sidebar to your theme template with dynamic_sidebar().
• [WordPress] How to Add Colors to Color Palette in Gutenberg Block Editor in 2025
  • Add colors to the existing color palette in the WordPress Gutenberg editor.
  • Or completely replace the existing color palette.
    Integrate the code into your theme or a plugin.
• [VirtualBox] Configure an Ubuntu 22.04 / 20.04 Virtual Machine for Web Development (Complete Guide)
  The complete guide on creating a VirtualBox VM for web development. See how to
  • Create Ubuntu 22.04 / 20.04 VirtualBox virtual machines.
  • Configure the network on a bridged adapter or 2 adapters: NAT + host-only.
  • Install Guest Additions.
  • Share folders between the host machine and the virtual machine.
  • Optimize performance.
• How to Create Symlinks in a Folder Shared to VirtualBox via Guest Additions on Windows
  Create Symbolic Links in a Folder Shared to VirtualBox via Guest Additions on Windows
• [WordPress] How to Replace Category Pages With Static Pages Programmatically
  Replace your category pages with static pages just with a few lines of code:
  1. Add a static page. Do not publish it.
  2. Modify the category template.
  3. Apply CSS styles if necessary.
• Conditional or Partial MySQL Dump
  Do mysqldump conditionally:
  • Export some tables only.
  • Ignore some tables.
  • Limit the number of rows
  • Export procedures and functions only.
  • Export the database structure only.
  • Export InnoDB tables without locking them, etc.
• 12 Settings to Simplify Work In PhpStorm in 2025
  Change some default settings in PhpStorm to make your work faster:
  • Hide browser icons.
  • Open search results each time in a new tab.
  • Turn on Mark modified (*)
  • Increase the tab limit.
  • Turn off Code Analysis on commits to Git.
  • Turn off Restoring Context on Switching Git Branches, etc.
• [WordPress] Show Extended Information in the Plugin Query Monitor With No Symlink to db.php
  Show extended query information in the WordPress plugin Query Monitor even when a symbolic link to the file db.php can not be created.
• How to Get Country From IP Address in PHP on Ubuntu 22.04
  Get the country name and country code from the visitor's IP address in PHP with the GeoIP2 library:
  • See how to install and configure the GeoIP2 library on Ubuntu 22.04.
  • See an example of code for getting the country name and country code.
• How to Keep a Bash Script Running After the Putty Terminal Gets Closed
  To keep a bash command or script running after the Putty terminal gets closed:
  1. Use the command screen.
  2. Detach the session by pressing Ctrl+A, then D.
  3. Close Putty.
  4. Reconnect to the Linux server.
  5. Check the command or script is still running.
     Or use the commands nohup + disown.
• How to Make MySQL 8 Compatible With Older MySQL Versions
  Make MySQL 8 compatible with old MySQL versions. Make passwords compatible, and deal with errors. See some examples of setting SQL Modes in MySQL 8.
• How to Install Ubuntu 22.04 Virtual Machine on KVM
  Get all parameters necessary for installation from the Ubuntu image file. Install a virtual machine with Ubuntu 22.04 on KVM with the command virt-install. Configure networking.
• How to Install KVM on Ubuntu 22.04 Server
  Install KVM packages on an Ubuntu 22.04 Server. Configure network Interfaces. Also, you can install KVM on a VirtualBox virtual machine if you'd like to try it first.
• How to Debug Any Console PHP Script with XDebug in 2025
  Learn how to debug any console PHP scripts with XDebug — including Codeception, PHPUnit tests, and curl calls. See essential configuration steps.