DEV Community: Adam Greenough

[Boost]

Adam Greenough — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 22:50:50 +0000

Adam Greenough

Apr 10

The XY Problem: How to spot it, stop it, and ask better questions

#discuss #productivity #programming #career

Comments 1

6 min read

The XY Problem: How to spot it, stop it, and ask better questions

Adam Greenough — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 22:49:50 +0000

A client emails you on a Friday afternoon. "Quick one. How do I change the font size on just one word in the footer?"

Simple enough. You point them to the editor, explain inline styling, and move on. Half an hour later, another email: "Great, and how do I make it bold and red?" Then another: "Can I add a link to just that word?"

So you get on a call. Turns out they're trying to add a legal disclaimer to the footer. They didn't ask about that because they'd already decided the best approach was to manually style individual words inside the existing footer text. They were asking for help with step four of a plan you never saw steps one through three of.

This is the XY problem. It's one of the most common communication patterns in technical work, and once you notice it, you'll see it everywhere.

Keep reading...

[Boost]

Adam Greenough — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 22:37:01 +0000

Adam Greenough

Apr 10

WordPress 7.0: What's Good, the AI, and What's Missing

#wordpress #ai #webdev #opensource

Comments 1

1 min read

WordPress 7.0: What's Good, the AI, and What's Missing

Adam Greenough — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 22:20:26 +0000

WordPress 7.0 was supposed to launch yesterday at WordCamp Asia. It didn't. On March 31st, the core team announced a delay to sort out the data storage behind real-time collaboration. A new schedule should land by April 22nd.

If you've been following the coverage, you'd think this release is primarily about AI. Every WordPress agency with a blog has published their version of "WordPress 7.0: The AI Era Begins." Having spent time with the betas and the developer notes, the AI stuff is comfortably the least interesting thing in this release, and the engineering effort going into it raises some questions about where the project's priorities are heading.

Keep reading...

I built a curated toolkit of 700+ web dev & design resources (and it’s finally ready to share)

Adam Greenough — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:46:00 +0000

I’ve been collecting web dev and design resources for years, and this has been an on-and-off side project for a long time.

After a fairly big revamp, I’m finally ready to share it:

https://toolkit.addy.codes/

(In a bit of side-project-inception, it's also built with my very own CMS!)

Toolkit is a curated directory of 700+ hand-picked tools and resources for developers and designers. The goal isn’t to be a “mega list of everything” — it’s to be:

Curated (no fluff, no SEO-farm filler)
Clearly labelled (free/freemium/premium/open source where relevant)
Easy to browse (by category/tags, not a massive scrolling link dump)

Below is a "guided tour" using the same sidebar categories you'll see on Toolkit, plus some highlights from each.

🧊 3D

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/3d

Discover powerful libraries, frameworks, and tutorials for creating stunning 3D experiences on the web.

Top picks: ztext.js, Gumroad Discover, p5.js, Characterz 2, 3D Icons, Three.js, Vanta.js, Zdog, Spline 3D Designer

♿️ Accessibility

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/accessibility

Build websites that work for everyone with our curated collection of accessibility testing tools, WCAG compliance checkers, and inclusive design resources.

Top picks: Driver.js, Van11y, Inclusive Components, Pa11y, Randoma11y, Staybl, Button Buddy, Accessibility Myths, Megapedia: A Table of Universal Shortcuts

🤖 AI/ML

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/ai-ml

Integrate artificial intelligence into your projects with cutting-edge APIs, pre-trained models, and developer-friendly ML tools.

Top picks: Beatoven, Freepik, What Can AI Do Today?, Cleanvoice, WasItAI, Flair, Illustroke, Shape of AI, Udio, Mochi Diffusion

🎞️ Animation

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/animation

Create smooth, performant animations that delight users with our hand-picked collection of CSS and JavaScript animation libraries.

Top picks: NEAT, SVG Loaders, Ambient Canvas Backgrounds, Animated Backgrounds, Animated Icons, Envato Elements, Barba.js, Animated GIF/WebP Maker, Two.js, p5.js

🎧 Audio

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/audio

Everything you need for working with audio on the web, from browser-based editors and sound effect libraries to Web Audio API resources and AI-powered music generation tools for your creative projects.

Top picks: Beatoven, Freepik, Boring Sound Kit, Cleanvoice, Udio, Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium, Envato Elements, Lickd, Audiomass, Adobe Podcast

🖼️ Backgrounds

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/backgrounds

Generate beautiful backgrounds in seconds with our collection of gradient makers, pattern generators, SVG backgrounds, and texture creators.

Top picks: NEAT, Image to Mesh Gradient, Creatica, SuperDesigner Patterns, Repper Patterns, Ambient Canvas Backgrounds, Animated Backgrounds, Envato Elements, fffuel, UI Gradients

📝 Blogs

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/blogs

Stay current with the latest in web development by following these essential engineering blogs and publications.

Top picks: Go Make Things, Handheld Design, Developer Blog List, Inclusive Components, Build your own React, Web3 is going just great, The Yesterweb, Dense Discover, Email is Good, Smashing Magazine

📚 Books

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/books

Expand your knowledge with our carefully curated reading list covering frontend development, software architecture, design principles, and career growth.

Top picks: Flavio Copes Handbooks, Free Books for Designers, Web Browser Engineering, Career Guide For Software Developers, Ethical Design Handbook, Design Animation Handbook, The Design of Forms in Government Departments, Front-line PHP, Ibis PHP eBook Generator, Mindful Design

🏷️ Branding

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/branding

Create professional brand identities with logo generators, brand guideline templates, and identity design tools.

Top picks: Logofav, Envato Elements, WorldVectorLogo, Marketing Examples, Landing Page Checklist, Share Link Generator, Superposition, Simple Icons, Namechk, Logo Taco

💼 Business

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/business

Run your freelance business or startup more efficiently with tools for invoicing, contracts, time tracking, and client management.

Top picks: Krystal Hosting & VPS, PostHog, Fiverr Business, Gumroad Discover, Just Use Email, Email is Good, Buy Me a Coffee, BookStack App, Fiverr, Plausible Analytics

🧭 Career

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/career

Level up your development career with job boards, salary guides, interview preparation resources, and professional development tools.

Top picks: If You Could Jobs, Himalayas Remote Jobs, Soft Skills Engineering Podcast, Fiverr Business, UserTesting, CodinGame, You Got This!, 50 Ways to Get a Job, Career Guide For Software Developers, 30 Seconds of Interviews

🗂️ CMS

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/cms

Find the perfect CMS for your project, from modern headless platforms and developer-friendly flat-file systems to powerful traditional content management solutions.

Top picks: Ava CMS, Carrd, BCMS, Grav CMS, Contentful CMS, Craft CMS, Kirby CMS, Learn Eleventy From Scratch, October CMS, Eleventy

💻 Code

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/code

Speed up your workflow with code snippet libraries, online playgrounds, formatters, validators, and everyday utilities that make development faster and more enjoyable.

Top picks: What PWA Can Do Today, Floating UI, Publint, Layoutit, Flight PHP, Milkdown, Concrete.css, Cally, React Native Directory, Open SaaS

🎨 Colour

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/colour

Master colour in your designs with palette generators, contrast accessibility checkers, colour extraction tools, and resources for understanding colour theory.

Top picks: NEAT, Image to Mesh Gradient, Colors Visualizer, Pokemon Palettes, Reasonable Colors, fffuel, UI Gradients, Poline, Randoma11y, hue.tools

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Community

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/community

Connect with fellow developers in thriving communities where you can ask questions, share knowledge, and grow together.

Top picks: Nekoweb, Neocities, omg.lol, The Yesterweb, DEV Community, Awwwards, Product Hunt, CodePen, Personal Sites

✍️ Copywriting

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/copywriting

Write better copy for buttons, error messages, onboarding flows, and marketing pages with our collection of UX writing guides, copywriting formulas, and real-world microcopy examples that convert.

Top picks: Pushkeen, AnswerThePublic, Really Good Emails, Swiped, Not by AI, Twine, Tango, Marketing Examples, Grammarly, readme.so

🧰 CSS Generators

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/css-generators

Generate production-ready CSS code with visual tools for gradients, box shadows, grid layouts, animations, and more.

Top picks: Kelp, Layoutit, CSS Shapes, Glassmorphism, Accordion Slider, Tailspark Tailwind Component Library, CSS Accordion Slider Generator, CSS Loader Generator, CSS Pattern Generator, Golden Ratio Typography Calculator

🎛️ Design

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/design

Everything you need to design beautiful user interfaces, from professional design applications and UI kits to component libraries and design system documentation.

Top picks: Device Shots, Curated Design, Handheld Design, Site of Sites, Deck Gallery, Dark Patterns, Brutalist Shape Elements Mega Pack, Softr, macOS Cursors, Spectrum

🛠️ Dev Tools

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/developer-tools

Supercharge your development workflow with essential browser extensions, command-line tools, and utilities that every developer should have in their toolkit.

Top picks: Hoppscotch, Ava CMS, Kelp, Cally, Insomnia, Caesium Image Compressor, GetScreenshot, Bruno API Client, SVG Path Editor, React Native Directory

🌐 Domains & Hosting

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/domains-hosting

Launch your projects with confidence using our curated list of reliable hosting providers, domain registrars, and modern deployment platforms.

Top picks: How DNS Works, Carrd, Slash Pages, Server Hunter, GetDeploying, Expose, Krystal Hosting & VPS, StatusCake, .new Registry, Domainr

🛒 eCommerce

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/ecommerce

Build online stores with the best eCommerce platforms, payment processors, and shopping cart solutions.

Top picks: Commerce Cream, Easy Digital Downloads, Stripe Checkout, Shopify, Braintree Payments, WooCommerce

✉️ Email

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/email

Master email development with template builders, testing tools, and delivery services that ensure your emails look great everywhere.

Top picks: Really Good Emails, SendStack, Free Email Builder, Temp Mail, Just Use Email, Email is Good, Cerberus, Mailto Link, Maizzle Tailwind Email Framework, Foundation for Emails

⚖️ Ethics

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/ethics

Build the web responsibly with tools and resources focused on privacy, sustainability, and ethical design practices.

Top picks: SendStack, Website Carbon Calculator, Switching Software, Fathom Analytics, Humane by Design, Mindful Design

🎉 Fun

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/fun

Explore the playful side of web development with creative coding experiments, generative art tools, and delightful web curiosities.

Top picks: Geomini Remixable Font, 404s, Design Playlists, Slash Pages, Nekoweb, Chalk.ist, Web Neko, Cbox Live Chat, Avatartion, Neocities

🧩 Icons

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/icons

Find the perfect icons for your project with our comprehensive collection of free and premium icon libraries, icon fonts, and SVG icon sets.

Top picks: Freepik, 11,000+ Doodle Icons, SVG Flag Icons, Pixel Emojis, Material Icons, SVG Loaders, Game Icons, Animated Icons, Envato Elements, Stream Deck Button Designer

🖍️ Illustrations

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/illustrations

Add personality to your projects with beautiful illustration libraries, customisable SVG packs, and character generators.

Top picks: Freepik, Handy Arrows, Wired Elements, 11,000+ Doodle Icons, React Kawaii, Spectrum, Cool Shapes, SVG Geometric Doodles, Illustroke, World in Dots

💡 Inspiration

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/inspiration

Get inspired by the best of web design through curated galleries, award-winning sites, and creative showcases.

Top picks: Curated Design, Handheld Design, Design Systems Database, Dead Simple Sites, Site of Sites, Deck Gallery, 404s, OneMillionScreenshots, Logofav, Shape of AI

🎓 Learning

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/learning

Expand your skills with high-quality courses, in-depth tutorials, and comprehensive documentation.

Top picks: How DNS Works, Go Make Things, What PWA Can Do Today, Dark Patterns, Figma 101, Inside Modern Browsers, SQLBolt, Laracasts, PHP for Beginners

📣 Marketing

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/marketing

Grow your audience and understand your users with marketing tools, analytics platforms, and growth hacking resources.

Top picks: Device Shots, Microsoft Clarity, Pushkeen, Dark Patterns, Flair, AnswerThePublic, Really Good Emails, Meta Ad Library, Social Images for Open Source, SendStack

📷 Photography

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/photography

Source stunning visuals for your projects with free stock photography, image optimisation tools, and photo editing resources.

Top picks: Freepik, Foodiesfeed, Picography, Public Domain Archive, Jay Mantri, Flair, ISO Republic, Pixabay, Envato Elements, Artvee

🧱 Placeholders

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/placeholders

Prototype faster with placeholder image services, lorem ipsum alternatives, and realistic mock data generators.

Top picks: Wired Elements, Logo Ipsum, Social Images for Open Source, Boring Avatars, NotFound.org, WorldVectorLogo, HTTP Cats, Lorem Space, Doodle Ipsum, Acme Logos

🎙️ Podcasts

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/podcasts

Learn on the go with podcasts covering web development, design, career advice, and the tech industry.

Top picks: Go Make Things, Design Playlists, Laracasts, Front End Happy Hour Podcast, The ReadME Podcast, PodRocket Podcast, Changelog Podcast, Soft Skills Engineering Podcast, Maintainable Podcast, The Bike Shed Podcast

✅ Productivity

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/productivity

Work smarter with productivity tools designed for developers.

Top picks: Automatisch, Design Playlists, Lookaway App, Personal Security Checklist, Releases, Tally Form Builder, Laravel Herd, .new Registry, Presentator, Desk Setups

🔒 Security

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/security

Protect your applications and users with security testing tools, SSL certificate resources, and best practice guides.

Top picks: Privacy Tools, Personal Security Checklist, Open Source Insights, Cloudflare Turnstile, StatusCake, Device Info, Objective-See, Web3 is going just great, 1.1.1.1, The Cursed Computer Iceberg

🏠 Self-Hosted

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/self-hosted

Take control of your data with self-hosted alternatives to popular SaaS products.

Top picks: Ava CMS, Automatisch, OpenAlternative, Slash Pages, Server Hunter, Presentator, GoatCounter, Dub Link Shortener, The Yesterweb, Umami

🔎 SEO

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/seo

Improve your search visibility with SEO analysis tools, site auditors, keyword research resources, and technical SEO guides.

Top picks: AnswerThePublic, Online Backlink Checker, SEO Best Practices, Moz, The SEO Framework, SEO Analyzer

☁️ Services

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/services

Build faster by leveraging powerful APIs and cloud services.

Top picks: Microsoft Clarity, OpenAlternative, Rewardful, GetScreenshot, Releases, Tally Form Builder, Cbox Live Chat, Krystal Hosting & VPS, StatusCake, PostHog

📦 Software

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/software

Discover desktop applications that enhance your development and design workflow.

Top picks: Lookaway App, Figma Plugins, Pay Once Apps, OpenAlternative, Caesium Image Compressor, Mochi Diffusion, SingleFile, NativePHP, Expose, Laravel Herd

📄 Templates

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/templates

Launch projects faster with professionally designed templates, framework starter kits, and production-ready boilerplates.

Top picks: Kelp, Open SaaS, Envato Elements, Adobe Express, shadcdn/ui, Inclusive Components, HTMLrev, Gumroad Discover, Geo for Bootstrap, TemplateMonster

🧪 Testing

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/testing

Testing frameworks, end-to-end testing tools, and quality assurance resources.

Top picks: Hoppscotch, Publint, Bruno API Client, Green Web Foundation, Open Source Insights, Cron Debugger, Firecamp, Cloudflare Internet Speed Test, Laravel Playground

🔤 Typography

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/typography

Master typography on the web with font libraries, pairing tools, and typographic best practices.

Top picks: Geomini Remixable Font, Server Mono, Modern Font Stacks, Google Web Fonts Typographic Project, The League of Moveable Type, Uncut.wtf, Hanken Design Co., Collletttivo, Tiny Bitmap Fonts, DaFont

🎥 Video

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/video

Create professional video content with browser-based editors, screen recording tools, and reliable hosting platforms.

Top picks: Freepik, ISO Republic, Envato Elements, Adobe Express, Lickd, Synthesia, Astrofox, Coverr, Kapwing, Handbrake

🧩 WordPress

Category: https://toolkit.addy.codes/tag/wordpress

Build better WordPress sites with curated themes, essential plugins, and development resources.

Top picks: Emergency WordPress Support, Envato Elements, Krystal Hosting & VPS, Local WP, Easy Digital Downloads, TemplateMonster, Turbo Admin, MailPoet, Advanced Custom Fields, WooCommerce

Over to you

If you end up clicking around, I’d love to know:

What’s your favourite tool/site from the list?
What’s one resource you swear by that I’ve missed?
If you’ve built your own resource or tool, drop it in the comments, I’d genuinely love to see it!

And if you want to suggest something for Toolkit itself, there’s a page for that too:
https://toolkit.addy.codes/suggest

If you build personal sites, what's your current setup? Static generator, database CMS, something else? I'd love to hear what you like about it, and what you wish was simpler! :)

Adam Greenough — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 18:44:00 +0000

Adam Greenough

Jan 26

I built the CMS I always wanted for my personal sites

#showdev #webdev #php #opensource

Comments 1

10 min read

I built the CMS I always wanted for my personal sites

Adam Greenough — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 18:18:21 +0000

I recently built my own CMS, Ava CMS, because no existing tool quite fit how I like to build personal sites.

Ava is a file-based CMS written in PHP. Content lives as Markdown files with YAML front matter, themes are plain PHP/HTML, and it's designed to keep hosting and workflow simple.

Docs: https://ava.addy.zone/docs

What I was tired of

Over the years I kept bumping into the same stuff when building personal sites:

Templating engines that add a new language for no real gain
Build steps and deploy pipelines for simple content edits
"Just use a third-party service" for basic things like search
Heavy admin UIs that try to do everything
A lot of moving parts for what should be a small, maintainable site

I wanted something file-first, stays out of my way, and still lets me build dynamic features when I need them.

The middle ground nobody talks about

When you want to build a website, you usually hear about two paths:

Static site generators (Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy). You write Markdown, run a build command, and get HTML files. They are fast to serve and easy to host, but everything runs through that build step. Want to add search? That's a third-party service. Want a contact form? Another service. Want to preview a draft? Rebuild first.

Database CMSs (WordPress, Drupal, Ghost). Full-featured and dynamic, but now you need a database server, backups, migrations, and often a whole ecosystem of plugins just to get started. The content lives in database rows you can't easily read or version.

There's a third option that doesn't get enough attention: file-based dynamic CMSs. Your content stays as readable files on disk (Markdown, YAML), but you still get dynamic features like search, filtering, taxonomies, and custom fields, without a database and without a build step.

This is the approach I wanted to explore with Ava.

Why this approach clicks (especially if you're learning)

If you're newer to web development, here's why file-based might be worth considering:

You can actually see what's happening. Your content isn't hidden in a database. It's just files. Open them in any text editor, read them, move them around, back them up by copying a folder. There's no magic layer between you and your data.

You learn real fundamentals. With Ava, themes are just HTML files with some PHP sprinkled in. No custom templating language to learn first, just the stuff that works everywhere:

<h1><?= $content->title() ?></h1>
<article><?= $ava->body($content) ?></article>

That <?= ?> is standard PHP. If you learn it here, you can use it in any PHP project. You're not learning "Ava syntax". You're learning PHP.

The feedback loop is instant. Edit a file, save it, refresh your browser. No waiting for builds, no deploy pipelines, no "clearing the cache and rebuilding". This matters more than people realise when you're learning. The faster you see results, the faster you understand what you're doing.

You can use your own tools. Write in VS Code, Obsidian, Typora, or a notes app. Manage your content with Git if you want version history. Upload via FTP if that's what you know. The CMS doesn't force a workflow on you.

How it works in practice

Let me walk you through what happens when you use a file-based approach like this.

Your content is just files you can read

A blog post looks like this on disk:

---
title: "My First Post"
slug: my-first-post
status: published
date: 2024-12-28
---

# Hello World

This is my first post. I can use **bold**, *italics*, 
and [links](https://example.com).

The bit between the --- lines is YAML metadata (front matter). The rest is Markdown. Both are human-readable. You can open this in any text editor, on any computer, and understand what it says.

Compare that to digging through a WordPress database export to find your content. Or trying to move posts between static site generators that each have their own conventions.

Themes are HTML with helpers

There's no Blade, no Twig, no Liquid, no Handlebars. If you know HTML, you can start immediately:

<?php foreach ($ava->recent('post', 5) as $post): ?>
    <article>
        <h2><a href="<?= $ava->url('post', $post->slug()) ?>">
            <?= $post->title() ?>
        </a></h2>
        <time><?= $ava->date($post->date()) ?></time>
    </article>
<?php endforeach; ?>

This is a list of recent posts. It's verbose compared to Twig, sure. But it's also completely standard PHP that any developer can read. You're not locked into framework-specific knowledge that becomes useless if you move to a different tool.

Querying content

The $ava helper gives you a fluent query builder for filtering content. It reads like English:

// Get all published posts tagged "php", newest first
$posts = $ava->query()
    ->type('post')
    ->published()
    ->taxonomy('tag', 'php')
    ->orderBy('date', 'desc')
    ->limit(10)
    ->get();

// Search across all content
$results = $ava->query()
    ->published()
    ->search('flat file cms')
    ->get();

// Get a single item by slug
$about = $ava->query()->type('page')->slug('about')->first();

In practice, this queries the pre-built index, not the filesystem, so even complex queries stay fast.

Working with content items

Each content item is an object with methods for accessing its data:

$post = $ava->query()->type('post')->slug('my-post')->first();

$post->title();       // "My Post"
$post->slug();        // "my-post"
$post->date();        // DateTime object
$post->status();      // "published" or "draft"
$post->excerpt();     // Short description if set
$post->get('author'); // Any custom field from front matter

// Taxonomy terms
$post->terms('category'); // ['tutorials', 'php']
$post->hasTerm('tag', 'beginner'); // true/false

Nothing magical here. Just objects with readable methods. If you've used any PHP framework, this will feel familiar.

The indexing trick

"But wait," you might think, "if content is files, doesn't it have to read every file on every request? That sounds slow."

Good instinct. That's where indexing comes in.

When you run ./ava rebuild (or Ava auto-detects changes in development mode), it scans all your Markdown files once, extracts the metadata, and stores it in a binary index. Now when someone visits your homepage, Ava doesn't parse files. It reads from the pre-built index.

It's a bit like how a library works: you don't open every book to find what you need, you check the catalog first.

The index generates a few cache files optimised for different queries:

recent_cache.bin: The 200 most recent items per content type (homepage, RSS feeds)
slug_lookup.bin: Fast single-item lookups by URL
content_index.bin: Full metadata for complex queries and search
routes.bin: URL routing map

Most traffic hits the first two (fast path). Search and deep pagination load the full index (still fast, just bigger).

The result: cached pages serve in about 0.02ms. Uncached pages render in about 5ms. For comparison, a basic WordPress page load is typically 200-500ms.

When files aren't enough

Most personal sites will happily run on files forever. But if you somehow end up with 10,000+ posts, Ava has a SQLite backend you can switch to with one config line:

// app/config/ava.php
'content_index' => [
    'backend' => 'sqlite',  // Switch from 'array' to 'sqlite'
],

Same content files, same workflow, but the index lives in a database instead of a binary file. SQLite uses way less memory per request, which matters when you have 50MB+ of metadata. You don't have to think about this until you need it.

Project layout (typical)

This is the kind of structure you'll see in an Ava project:

mysite/
├── app/
│   ├── config/
│   │   ├── ava.php           # Site settings, caching, paths
│   │   ├── content_types.php # Define what you're publishing
│   │   └── taxonomies.php    # Categories, tags, etc.
│   ├── plugins/              # Your custom plugins
│   ├── snippets/             # Reusable PHP components
│   └── themes/
│       └── default/
│           ├── templates/    # Page layouts (index.php, post.php)
│           ├── partials/     # Reusable fragments (header, footer)
│           ├── assets/       # CSS, JS, images
│           └── theme.php     # Theme setup (register shortcodes, etc.)
├── content/
│   ├── pages/                # Your page .md files
│   ├── posts/                # Your post .md files
│   └── _taxonomies/          # Category/tag descriptions
├── public/
│   └── index.php             # The single entry point
└── storage/
    ├── cache/                # Generated indexes and cached pages
    └── logs/                 # Error and indexer logs

The important bit is that your content and config stay transparent and versionable. No hidden .cache folders full of mystery files. No database dumps to manage. Just folders and text files.

What the files actually look like

Let me show you what some of these files contain in practice:

content/posts/hello-world.md: A blog post:

---
title: Hello World
slug: hello-world
status: published
date: 2024-12-28
author: Addy
category: tutorials
tags: [getting-started, php]
featured: true
---

This is my first post! Here's what I learned setting up Ava...

content/pages/about.md: A simple page:

---
title: About Me
slug: about
status: published
---

I'm a developer who likes building things with PHP.

## What I do

I build websites, mostly.

app/config/ava.php: Main site settings:

<?php
return [
    'site' => [
        'name'        => 'My Blog',
        'base_url'    => 'https://addy.codes',
        'timezone'    => 'Europe/London',
        'date_format' => 'F j, Y',
    ],

    'theme' => 'default',

    'content_index' => [
        'mode' => 'auto',      // Rebuild when files change
    ],

    'webpage_cache' => [
        'enabled' => true,     // Cache rendered pages
    ],
];

app/themes/default/partials/header.php: A reusable header:

<header>
    <a href="/" class="logo"><?= $site['name'] ?></a>
    <nav>
        <a href="/blog">Blog</a>
        <a href="/about">About</a>
    </nav>
</header>

app/themes/default/templates/index.php: The homepage template:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title><?= $site['name'] ?></title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?= $ava->asset('style.css') ?>">
</head>
<body>
    <?= $ava->partial('header') ?>

    <main>
        <h1>Recent Posts</h1>
        <?php foreach ($ava->recent('post', 10) as $post): ?>
            <article>
                <h2><a href="<?= $ava->url('post', $post->slug()) ?>">
                    <?= $post->title() ?>
                </a></h2>
                <time><?= $ava->date($post->date()) ?></time>
                <p><?= $post->excerpt() ?></p>
            </article>
        <?php endforeach; ?>
    </main>

    <?= $ava->partial('footer') ?>
</body>
</html>

Every file is readable. You can understand what it does by opening it. That's the whole idea.

Configuration is PHP arrays

Instead of YAML or JSON config files, Ava uses plain PHP arrays. Here's what defining a content type looks like:

// app/config/content_types.php
return [
    'post' => [
        'label'       => 'Blog Posts',
        'content_dir' => 'posts',
        'url'         => ['type' => 'pattern', 'pattern' => '/blog/{slug}'],
        'taxonomies'  => ['category', 'tag'],
        'fields'      => [
            'author' => ['type' => 'text', 'required' => true],
            'featured' => ['type' => 'boolean', 'default' => false],
        ],
    ],
    'project' => [
        'label'       => 'Projects',
        'content_dir' => 'projects',
        'url'         => ['type' => 'pattern', 'pattern' => '/work/{slug}'],
    ],
];

Why PHP instead of YAML? You can add comments explaining why a setting exists. You can use constants, environment variables, or conditional logic. And PHP arrays are what the code uses anyway, so there is no extra parsing layer to debug.

Theme templates are just PHP files

A minimal theme template looks like this:

<!-- templates/post.php -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title><?= $content->title() ?> | <?= $site['name'] ?></title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?= $ava->asset('style.css') ?>">
</head>
<body>
    <?= $ava->partial('header') ?>

    <main>
        <article>
            <h1><?= $content->title() ?></h1>
            <time datetime="<?= $content->date()->format('Y-m-d') ?>">
                <?= $ava->date($content->date()) ?>
            </time>

            <div class="content">
                <?= $ava->body($content) ?>
            </div>

            <?php if ($content->terms('tag')): ?>
                <div class="tags">
                    <?php foreach ($content->terms('tag') as $tag): ?>
                        <a href="<?= $ava->url('tag', $tag) ?>">#<?= $tag ?></a>
                    <?php endforeach; ?>
                </div>
            <?php endif; ?>
        </article>
    </main>

    <?= $ava->partial('footer') ?>
</body>
</html>

Partials (header.php, footer.php) are included with $ava->partial(). Assets get cache-busting URLs automatically. The $content variable is the current page/post, $site has your site config, and $ava is your helper for everything else.

Dynamic features without the usual hassle

Even though it's file-based, Ava aims to cover the stuff that normally pushes people toward a database-backed CMS:

Custom content types: Not just posts and pages. Projects, recipes, events, whatever your site needs.
Taxonomies: Categories, tags, or any custom grouping you want.
Built-in search: Full-text search with relevance scoring. No Algolia account required.
Shortcodes: Embed dynamic content or reusable components inside your Markdown.
Plugins and hooks: Extend the system when you need to.
Optional admin panel: A quick web UI for edits and uploads.
CLI: Run ./ava lint to check your content, ./ava rebuild to refresh the index, ./ava status to see what's going on.

The goal is that you can keep the "edit files in your editor + Git" workflow, but still build the kinds of sites that usually need more infrastructure.

Shortcodes in action

Shortcodes let you embed dynamic content in Markdown without writing HTML:

Copyright © [year] [site_name]

Contact me at [email]hello@example.com[/email]

[snippet name="newsletter-signup"]

You can register your own shortcodes in your theme:

// app/themes/yourtheme/theme.php
return function ($app) {
    $app->shortcodes()->register('youtube', function ($attrs) {
        $id = $attrs['id'] ?? '';
        return '<iframe src="https://youtube.com/embed/' . $id . '" 
                frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>';
    });
};

Now [youtube id="dQw4w9WgXcQ"] in any Markdown file embeds a video.

The CLI

The command line is where Ava shines for developer workflows:

./ava status          # Health check: PHP version, cache status, content stats
./ava lint            # Validate all content files (catches YAML errors, missing fields)
./ava rebuild         # Rebuild the content index
./ava make post "My New Post"  # Scaffold a new content file
./ava cache:clear     # Clear the page cache
./ava user:add me@example.com  # Create an admin user

After a week or two, it becomes muscle memory. And if you're new to the terminal, Ava's CLI is a gentle introduction. The commands do one thing and the output is pretty helpful.

The honest trade-offs

This approach isn't for everyone. Here's where static site generators or database CMSs might still be better:

If you want zero server-side code, static site generators win. Your output is just HTML files that can live on a CDN with no PHP runtime.

If you need multiple editors with granular permissions, a database CMS is probably easier. File-based works great for solo developers or small teams who are comfortable with files, less so for clients who need a polished editing experience.

If you want a huge ecosystem of ready-made themes and plugins, WordPress is hard to beat. Ava is "bring your own code". That's a feature for some people and a dealbreaker for others.

Who this is for

Ava is for developers who:

Prefer writing real HTML/CSS and sprinkling PHP when needed
Want their site to be understandable end-to-end
Like file-based workflows and Git history
Want a small, boring hosting setup (any PHP host works)

It's not aiming at drag-and-drop site builders or big theme marketplaces. It's intentionally "bring your own code".

If that sounds appealing, or if you've been frustrated by the same things I was, this approach might be worth exploring, whether with Ava or another file-based CMS like Statamic, Grav, or Kirby.

If you want to poke at it

Docs: https://ava.addy.zone/docs
Home: https://ava.addy.zone/

Never manually change your copyright date again with this innovative cloud-based API. 🗓

Adam Greenough — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 16:09:25 +0000

Fed up of changing your websites copyright date by hand EVERY year? Looking to offload complex date calculations to the cloud? Travelled here from the future and looking for a definitive confirmation of the current year? This FREE current year API is here to help.

https://current-year-api.addy.codes/

API Documentation

Basic Usage

If you don't need to factor in timezones and are content using UTC, the basic usage is the simplest way to get up and running with the Current Year API. Simply make a request to the API URL with your preferred method to receive the current year in JSON format.

https://current-year-api.addy.codes/what-year-is-it

Advanced Usage

For those that need accurate current year calculations based on timezone data, you can add a timezone parameter.

Read more...

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-1476582732083904514-940'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1476582732083904514&theme=dark" }

PS. Just in case – yes, this is satire!

480+ handpicked tools & resources for web designers/developers 🧰

Adam Greenough — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 11:58:12 +0000

Hey everyone! Passed 10 years in the industry now and my bookmarks continue to boom. I've curated all my favourite tools & resources for web designers & developers to share with you too. Almost all are free, with the exception of a few which will have a from price on the card.

I hope you find something new to take with you on your dev journey!

Tools & Resources for Web Designers & Developers

Am I missing any of your favourites?

Please let me know if I am missing any of your favourites in the comments!

🧰 412 (and counting) of the best web design & development resources organised for your browsing pleasure

Adam Greenough — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 20:49:15 +0000

https://toolkit.addy.codes/

Link ↑

Hey everybody!

Thanks so much for checking out my little project. Hope you find something new. I've worked hard to make sure only quality (imo) resources feature in this directory. It is not just a scrape of everything I can find.

I know there are quite a few of these style sites, but I have tried to improve on them by including real up to date website screenshots (a website's hero says much more than an icon!), a bit of pricing information where available, favourites functionality and some better organisation. Any feedback on the site itself would be very much appreciated.

What are your go-to web dev links in your bookmarks bar? Are any of your favourite resources missing? I'd love to hear them!

Roast my landing page 🔥

Adam Greenough — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 19:30:57 +0000

Hey DEV friends! 👋🏻

I've been working on a landing page for my new project this week and would love your feedback on the design & content. You know how when you look at a project too long you go a bit blind to it?

Link is here: https://wpfor.dev/

Many thanks in advance.

Webwide turns one, V2 launched 🎂🎉

Adam Greenough — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 19:07:17 +0000

It's now been a whole year since I launched by web design & development forum! We are celebrating with a launch of version two and a whole host of new features. I'd love your feedback!

https://webwide.io/threads/webwide-turns-1-whats-new-and-whats-next.1129/