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Daydreaming In March (2023 Wallpapers Edition)

We all need a little inspiration boost every now and again. Maybe your secret is to go for a walk, have a chat with a friend, or listen to your favorite playlist. Whatever it might be that refuels your creative batteries, our new collection of desktop and mobile wallpapers could help, too.

To bring you a regular dose of inspiring wallpapers, we started our monthly wallpapers series more than eleven years ago. Each month, artists and designers from across the globe contribute their designs to it, and, well, it wasn’t any different this time around.

The wallpapers in this collection all come in versions with and without a calendar for March 2023 and can be downloaded for free. As a little bonus goodie, we also compiled some March favorites from our wallpapers archives at the end of this post. Maybe you’ll spot one of your almost-forgotten favorites in there, too? A big thank-you to everyone who submitted their wallpaper designs this month — this post wouldn’t exist without you!

  • You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
  • Submit a wallpaper!
    Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
The Power of Words

“On this Day Of Poetry, we celebrate the power of words, the beauty they create. We honor the poets who have come before. Their wisdom and insight, forever in store. So let us celebrate, with a heart full of glee. This day of poetry, let our spirits be free. For in these verses, we find solace and hope. And with each word, we learn to cope.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

A Magic Place

“Spring is here and what better than seeing its arrival from one of the most impressive buildings in the world: the Taj Mahal. We sit and enjoy this marvel as the sun rises.” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela Jimenez from Spain.

The Beauty Of New Beginnings

“Spring and hope are definitely those things that inspired our designers to create such a wallpaper. It’s pure and beautiful — just like every month and every day of spring. We have way more options in our post with March calendars.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.

Shave The Whales

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Raining, Hope So

“Thinking about March, I think of water, not only because of a famous song. In France, it’s usually a rainy period, but this year there is a serious lack of rain since February. We are beginning to pray for this sky water to come.” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.

How To Draw A Zebra

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Daydreaming

“Daydreaming of better things, of lovely things, of saddening things.” — Designed by Bhabna Basak from India.

Oldies But Goodies

Women’s Day, the beginning of spring, or, well, pizza — a lot of things have inspired the community to design a March wallpaper in the past years. Below you’ll find some favorites from our wallpapers archives that are just too good to be forgotten. (Please note that these wallpapers don’t come with a calendar.)

Spring Is Coming

“This March, our calendar design epitomizes the heralds of spring. Soon enough, you’ll be waking up to the singing of swallows, in a room full of sunshine, filled with the empowering smell of daffodil, the first springtime flowers. Spring is the time of rebirth and new beginnings, creativity and inspiration, self-awareness, and inner reflection. Have a budding, thriving spring!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Botanica

Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Russia.

Queen Bee

“Spring is coming! Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, bees are flying… Enjoy this month!” — Designed by Melissa Bogemans from Belgium.

Ballet

“A day, even a whole month, isn’t enough to show how much a woman should be appreciated. Dear ladies, any day or month are yours if you decide so.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

“March the 2nd marks the birthday of the most creative and extraordinary author ever, Dr. Seuss! I have included an inspirational quote about learning to encourage everyone to continue learning new things every day.” — Designed by Safia Begum from the United Kingdom.</p

Spring Bird

Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from France.

St. Patrick’s Day

“On the 17th March, raise a glass and toast St. Patrick on St. Patrick’s Day, the Patron Saint of Ireland.” — Designed by Ever Increasing Circles from the United Kingdom.

Spring Is Inevitable

“Spring is round the corner. And very soon plants will grow on some other planets too. Let’s be happy about a new cycle of life.” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

Let’s Spring

“After some freezing months, it’s time to enjoy the sun and flowers. It’s party time, colours are coming, so let’s spring!” — Designed by Colorsfera from Spain.

March For Equality

“This March, we shine the spotlight on International Women’s Day, reflecting on the achieved and highlighting the necessity for a more equal and understanding world. These turbulent times that we are in require us to stand together unitedly and IWD aims to do that.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Bunny O’Hare

“When I think of March, I immediately think of St. Patrick’s Day and my Irish heritage… and then my head fills with pub music! I had fun putting a twist on this month’s calendar starring my pet rabbit. Erin go Braugh.” — Designed by Heather Ozee from the United States.

Awakening

“I am the kind of person who prefers the cold but I do love spring since it’s the magical time when flowers and trees come back to life and fill the landscape with beautiful colors.” — Designed by Maria Keller from Mexico.

Time To Wake Up

“Rays of sunlight had cracked into the bear’s cave. He slowly opened one eye and caught a glimpse of nature in blossom. Is it spring already? Oh, but he is so sleepy. He doesn’t want to wake up, not just yet. So he continues dreaming about those sweet sluggish days while everything around him is blooming.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Let’s Get Outside

Designed by Lívia Lénárt from Hungary.

Exploring New Worlds Through Books

“For me, every book has a new world in it. Whether it is a fairytale or thriller storybook, they always take us into a new world where we can explore new things, meet new people, and witness a new story every time.” — Designed by Suman Sil from India.

MARCHing Forward

“If all you want is a little orange dinosaur MARCHing (okay, I think you get the pun) across your monitor, this wallpaper was made just for you! This little guy is my design buddy at the office and sits by (and sometimes on top of) my monitor. This is what happens when you have designer’s block and a DSLR.” — Designed by Paul Bupe Jr from Statesboro, GA.

A New World

Designed by Kellie Heath from Portland, Oregon.

Fresh Lemons

Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from France.

Jingzhe

“Jīngzhé is the third of the 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars. The word 驚蟄 means ‘the awakening of hibernating insects’. 驚 is ‘to start’ and 蟄 means ‘hibernating insects’. Traditional Chinese folklore says that during Jingzhe, thunderstorms will wake up the hibernating insects, which implies that the weather is getting warmer.” — Designed by Sunny Hong from Taiwan.

Pizza Time

“Who needs an excuse to look at pizza all month?” — Designed by James Mitchell from the United Kingdom.

Questions

“Doodles are slowly becoming my trademark, so I just had to use them to express this phrase I’m fond of recently. A bit enigmatic, philosophical. Inspiring, isn’t it?” — Designed by Marta Paderewska from Poland.

Imagine

Designed by Romana Águia Soares from Portugal.

Explore The Forest

“This month, I want to go to the woods and explore my new world in sunny weather.” — Designed by Zi-Cing Hong from Taiwan.

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How to Integrate Square Payments in WordPress (Step by Step)

Do you want to accept Square payments to your WordPress site?

By default, WordPress does not come with credit card payment options. Square is an excellent payment gateway that can be connected to your site using several popular WordPress plugins.

In this article, we’ll show you how to integrate Square payments in WordPress, so you can easily accept credit card payments on your website.

How to Connect Square Payments in WordPress

Why Connect Square Payments in WordPress?

Square is a popular payment gateway that makes credit card payments easy. You can use Square on your WordPress website to securely accept payments through a simple payment form or a full-featured eCommerce store.

Like the Stripe payment gateway, it provides a flexible option to accept payments by credit card online or in person.

Credit card acceptance is available in USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, France, and Spain. Square offers a fixed transaction rate, and this varies for each country.

Note: You will need to enable HTTPS/SSL on your website so that you can securely accept credit card payments. For more details, you can follow our guide on how to get a free SSL certificate for your WordPress site.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to connect Square payments in WordPress.

We’ll show you how to add a Square payment form using WPForms, and then cover other methods, such as accepting Square payments in an online store using WooCommerce.

Connecting Square to WordPress Using WPForms

The simplest way to create a form for Square payments is by using WPForms. It is the best WordPress form builder plugin used by over 5 million websites. You can use their drag & drop builder to quickly create any kind of form, including payment forms, to your WordPress website.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the WPForms Pro version because it gives you access to the Square addon that will allow you to accept credit card payments without writing code.

You can also use WPForms to accept credit card payments using Stripe, Authorize.net, and PayPal.

Installing and Activating WPForms

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WPForms Pro plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After activating WPForms, head over to WPForms » Settings in your WordPress dashboard.

WPForms' pro settings

On this screen, you need to enter your license key into the ‘License Key’ field. You’ll find this key in your WPForms Account.

After that, make sure you click the ‘Verify Key’ button to activate your license. This will allow you to easily enable the Square addon for WordPress.

Connecting WPForms to Square

After activating the core plugin, it’s time to install the Square addon.

In your WordPress dashboard, head over to the WPForms » Addons page and then scroll until you find the Square Addon. Next, you need click the ‘Install Addon’ button.

Install the WPForms Square Addon

Once the addon is installed and activated, go to the WPForms » Settings page and click on the Payments tab.

By default, WPForms will collect payments in American dollars. If you need to accept payments in a different currency, just open the Currency dropdown and choose from the list.

Set Your Currency in WPForms Payments Settings

The next step is connecting WPForms to your Square account.

To make this connection, scroll down the page to the Connection Status section. Then just click on the ‘Connect with Square’ button.

Click the Connect With Square Button

You can now follow the onscreen instructions to either create a new Square account or connect WPForms to your existing Square account.

If you wish to test your payment form, then you should check the Test Mode option. This allows you to make dummy payments to make sure that the form is working correctly. Don’t forget to uncheck the box when you have finished testing.

Make sure you click the ‘Save Settings’ button at the bottom to store your settings.

Creating a Square Payment Form in WordPress

Once you’re successfully connected to Square, you’ll need to create a payment form. To do that, head over to WPForms » Add New in your WordPress admin area.

First, you’ll have to provide a title for your form. Then you should scroll down to the ‘Billing / Order Form’ template and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

Select the Billing Order Form Template in WPForms

WPForms will now automatically load your form template in the drag and drop builder. It includes most of the fields you will need and makes it easy to add, remove, or change the fields on your form.

For example, a Multiple Items list has been added to the form, so your visitors can select the product or service they wish to pay for. Once you click on this field, you will be able to customize the field’s label along with the name and price of each item.

Customize the Multiple Items List

If you are only offering a single item, then you should delete the Multiple Items field by clicking the trash icon in the top right corner of the field.

Next, you can scroll down to the Single Item field and drag it onto your form.

Add a Single Item Field to Your Form

You can click on this field to customize it.

For instance, you can change the field’s label, description, and price. The preview of your form on the right will be updated automatically.

Configure the Single Item Field

If you are only offering a single item, then the Total field is unnecessary. Feel free to delete it.

Next, you need to add the Square field to your form to collect the customer’s payment information. Simply click on the ‘Add Fields’ tab and scroll to the Payment Field section.

Add the Square Field to Your Form

You can now go ahead and drag the Square field into place on your payment form.

As soon as you do that, a notification will pop up letting you know that you need to enable Square payments for this form.

Notification to Enable Square Payments

Once you click the OK button, head over to Payments » Square in the WPForms editor. Once there, you’ll have to toggle the ‘Enable Square Payments’ setting to the on position.

After that, you can type a description in the ‘Payment Description’ field. This text will appear on the customer’s credit card statement.

Toggle the Enable Square Payments Setting to the On Position

It’s a good idea to also complete the other optional settings. These let Square know where to find the customer’s email address, name, and billing address in the form you have created so that an email receipt can be sent.

Finally, WPForms also allows you to set up smart conditional logic for your forms. This is useful when you want to allow your customers to choose from several payment methods, such as credit cards or PayPal.

When you’re happy with how your credit card payment form looks, it’s time to save your changes. To do this, just click on the Save button at the top of the screen.

Configuring Notification Emails for Square Payments

Next, you can configure the email notification that is sent to you when the form is submitted. You can also set up notification emails to your customers after they make an order.

Every time a customer completes the payment form, WPForms will send an email to your WordPress admin by default. However, you may want to send these emails to a different address or even notify multiple people.

This is easy to do using WPForms. To customize your email notifications, simply click on the Settings tab then select Notifications.

Creating credit card payment notifications

On this screen, find the ‘Send To Email Address’ field. By default, this is set to {admin_email} and tells WordPress to use the WordPress admin email.

You can delete this dynamic text and replace it with any other email address. Simply type the new address into the ‘Send To Email Address’ field. If you want to email multiple people, just separate each address with a comma.

Creating email notifications

You can also edit the email’s subject line, message, and more.

Next, we’ll set up an email notification for your customers, confirming their purchase and thanking them. To do that, you need to click on the ‘Add New Notification’ button.

Creating a new WPForms notification

WPForms will ask you to provide a name for this notification. For this tutorial, we’ll call it ‘Customer Notification.’

After that, WPForms will show all of the notification fields that you can customize.

How to easily accept credit card payments in WordPress

You can enter a smart tag so the notification email is sent to your customer’s email address. Simply click on the ‘Show Smart Tags’ link next to the ‘Send To Email Address’ option.

After that, you need to select the form’s ‘Email’ field. This allows WPForms to use the email address the customer provided when submitting their payment.

Adding smart tags to your credit card payment emails

You can now customize the rest of the notification email, such as the subject line or email message. For example, you might personalize the email content using smart tags for the customer’s name or some information about the product they bought.

WPForms will also display an onscreen notification when they place an order. You can customize this by clicking the ‘Confirmations’ tab and editing the confirmation message.

Creating a payment confirmation message

Instead of showing a message, you might prefer to show a specific page or redirect customers to another URL.

To make this change, simply open the ‘Confirmation Type’ dropdown. You can now choose from the available options.

Changing the payment confirmation settings

Finally, you will want to make sure that these email notifications are delivered to the recipient’s email inbox and not to the spam folder. The best way to do this is by using an SMTP service provider to improve email deliverability.

For more details, see our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

Adding the Payment Form to Your WordPress Website

The final step is adding your new Square payment form to your WordPress website. WPForms makes it super easy to add forms anywhere.

Simply create a new post or page, or edit an existing one. Then, click on the plus (+) sign at the top and add a WPForms block in the WordPress editor.

Drag the WPForms Block Onto Your Post or Page

After that, select your payment form from the dropdown menu in the WPForms block.

Once you’re finished, you can save or publish your page and click on the preview button to see your form in action.

Preview of Square Payment Form

Congratulations, you’ve now connected Square payments in WordPress.

You can connect your Square payment form with email marketing services, Google Sheets, and other apps to further streamline your workflow using WPForms native integrations.

Bonus Ways to Connect Square to WordPress

WPForms offers a simple way to create a payment form that connects Square payments with your WordPress site. However, some users may have different needs.

For example, you may want to start a membership site or online store to sell physical products, sell ebooks, sell online courses, or even accept donations.

Square is not always the best choice. That’s because Stripe has much better plugin support than Square in WordPress, making it a better choice if you are looking to add a credit card option.

Many popular plugins like MemberPress, WP Simple Pay, and Easy Digital Downloads offer built-in Stripe integrations.

However, if you are running a WooCommerce store, then you can easily add Square support using the official Square for WooCommerce extension.

Square WooCommerce Extension

This extension syncs products between your website and your Square account. That means that when you add products to your Square account, they will be automatically added to your WooCommerce store as well.

Besides that, it supports recurring payments when used alongside the WooCommerce Subscriptions extension.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to connect Square payments in WordPress. You may also want to learn how to run a giveaway or contest in WordPress, or check out our list of the best social media plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Integrate Square Payments in WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

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Memories Of August (2022 Desktop Wallpapers Edition)

Everybody loves a beautiful wallpaper to freshen up their desktops and home screens, right? To cater for new and unique artworks on a regular basis, we started our monthly wallpapers challenge more than eleven years ago, and from the very beginning to today, artists and designers from across the globe have accepted the challenge and submitted their designs to it. Just like this month.

In this post, you’ll find their wallpapers for August 2022. All of them come in versions with and without a calendar, so no matter if you need to count down the days to a big deadline (or a few days off, maybe?) or plan to use your favorite wallpaper even after the month has ended, we’ve got you covered. A big thank-you to everyone who shared their designs with us — we sincerely appreciate it!

As a little bonus goodie, we also added some “oldies but goodies” at the end of this post, timeless wallpaper treasures that we rediscovered way down in our archives and that are just too good to be forgotten. Now there’s only one question left to be answered: Which one to choose? Happy August!

  • You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
  • Submit a wallpaper!
    Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
Swimming In The Summer

“It’s the perfect evening and the water is so warm! Can you feel it? You move your legs just a little bit and you feel the water bubbles dancing around you! It’s just you in there, floating in the clean lake and small sparkly lights shining above you! It’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?” — Designed by Creative Pinky from the Netherlands.

Vacation Vibes

“Is the time crawling by you’re eagerly awaiting your vacation? Or you’re back in the office, reminiscing the sweet feeling of freedom? Never mind, because our desktop calendar is here to bring a vacation vibe to your life throughout the entire August.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Subtle August Chamomiles

“Our designers wanted to create something summery, but not very colorful, something more subtle. The first thing that came to mind was chamomile because there are a lot of them in Ukraine and their smell is associated with a summer field. If you look for something colorful and juicy, you will find suitable options in our listicle.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.

It’s Vacation O’Clock!

“It’s vacation o’clock! Or is it? While we bend our backs in front of a screen, it’s hard not to think about sandy beaches, flipping the pages of a corny book under the umbrella while waves splash continuously. Summer days! So hard to bear them in the city, so pleasant when you’re living the dolce far niente.” — Designed by ActiveCollab from the United States.

Freak Show Vol. 1

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Freak Show Vol. 2

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Ice Cream, All day, Everyday

“We like our ice cream at Mad Fish Digital so why not create a wallpaper for it?” — Designed by Suu Ng from Portland, OR.

Climbing The Beanstalk

“In August, we accompany Jack through the Beanstalk on surprising adventures. You sign up?” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.

Oldies But Goodies

Childhood memories, camping under the stars, or a simple pencil and a piece of paper — a lot of things have inspired the design community to create an August wallpaper in the past few years. Here are some favorites from our archives. (Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.)

Happiness Happens In August

“Many people find August one of the happiest months of the year because of holidays. You can spend days sunbathing, swimming, birdwatching, listening to their joyful chirping, and indulging in sheer summer bliss. August 8th is also known as the Happiness Happens Day, so make it worthwhile.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Bee Happy!

“August means that fall is just around the corner, so I designed this wallpaper to remind everyone to ‘bee happy’ even though summer is almost over. Sweeter things are ahead!” — Designed by Emily Haines from the United States.

Launch

“The warm, clear summer nights make me notice the stars more — that’s what inspired this space-themed design!” — Designed by James Mitchell from the United Kingdom.

Colorful Summer

“‘Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that the buzzing flies will stay outside where they belong. Don’t think summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year.’ (Alice Hoffman)” — Designed by Lívi from Hungary.

Cowabunga

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Hello Again

“In Melbourne it is the last month of quite a cool winter so we are looking forward to some warmer days to come.” — Designed by Tazi from Australia.

Melon Day

“Melon Day (second Sunday in August) is an annual national holiday in Turkmenistan devoted to festivities to celebrate the country’s muskmelon. Another reason for me to create this wallpaper is that melons are just awesome!” — Designed by Melissa Bogemans from Belgium.

Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference

“Headed towards Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference this summer? Oh, they say it’s gonna be a big one! Get yourself out there well-prepared, armed with patience and ready to have loads of fun with fellow Bigfoot researchers. Looking forward to those campsite nights under the starry sky, with electrifying energy of expectations filling up the air? Lucky you!” — Designed by Pop Art Studio from Serbia.

Childhood Memories

Designed by Francesco Paratici from Australia.

About Everything

“I know what you’ll do this August. :) Because August is about holiday. It’s about exploring, hiking, biking, swimming, partying, feeling and laughing. August is about making awesome memories and enjoying the summer. August is about everything. An amazing August to all of you!” — Designed by Ioana Bitin from Bucharest, Romania.

Shrimp Party

“A nice summer shrimp party!” — Designed by Pedro Rolo from Portugal.

A Bloom Of Jellyfish

“I love going to aquariums — the colours, patterns and array of blue hues attract the nature lover in me while still appeasing my design eye. One of the highlights is always the jellyfish tanks. They usually have some kind of light show in them, which makes the jellyfish fade from an intense magenta to a deep purple — and it literally tickles me pink. On a recent trip to uShaka Marine World, we discovered that the collective noun for jellyfish is a bloom and, well, it was love-at-first-collective-noun all over again. I’ve used some intense colours to warm up your desktop and hopefully transport you into the depths of your own aquarium.” — Designed by Wonderland Collective from South Africa.

Handwritten August

“I love typograhy handwritten style.” — Designed by Chalermkiat Oncharoen from Thailand.

Live In The Moment

“My dog Sami inspired me for this one. He lives in the moment and enjoys every second with a big smile on his face. I wish we could learn to enjoy life like he does! Happy August everyone!” — Designed by Westie Vibes from Portugal.

Unforgettable Summer Night

Designed by BootstrapDash from India.

Chill Out

“Summer is in full swing and Chicago is feeling the heat! Take some time to chill out!” — Designed by Denise Johnson from Chicago.

Treat Yourself

“It’s still winter in my part of Australia so warm coffee and donuts by the open fire is a treat. For warmer climates an outdoor picnic in the park with coffee and donuts sounds fun, too!” — Designed by Glynnis Owen from Australia.

Psst, It’s Camping Time…

“August is one of my favorite months, when the nights are long and deep and crackling fire makes you think of many things at once and nothing at all at the same time. It’s about heat and cold which allow you to touch the eternity for a few moments.” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

Coffee Break Time

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Heatstroke

“Even the sun gets a heatstroke in August!” — Designed by Luc Versleijen from the Netherlands.

A Midnight Summer Dream

“It’s not Shakespeare, it’s Monk, staring at the stars in a warm summer midnight. Just relax…” — Designed by Monk Software from Italy.

Falling Stars

“In August the stars are ‘falling’. The more falling stars you see, the more wishes will come true!” — Designed by Olga Bukhalova from Italy.

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Happy June Vibes For Your Screen (2021 Desktop Wallpapers Edition)

There’s an artist in everyone. Some bring their creative ideas to life with digital tools, others capture the perfect moment with a camera, or love to grab pen and paper to create little doodles or pieces of lettering. And even if you think you’re far away from being an artist, well, it might just be hidden somewhere deep inside of you. So why not explore it?

Since more than ten years, our monthly wallpapers series is the perfect opportunity to do just that: to challenge your creative skills and break out of your daily routine to do something just for fun, fully immersing yourself in the creative process.

For this post, folks from across the globe once again took on the challenge and designed beautiful and unique wallpapers to cater for some good vibes on your screens. All of them come in versions with and without a calendar for June 2021 and can be downloaded for free. At the end of this post, we also compiled some wallpaper goodies from our archives that are just too good to be forgotten. A big thank-you to everyone who shared their designs with us — this post wouldn’t exist without you. Happy June!

  • You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

Submit a wallpaper!

Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent! Join in! →

Mother Nature

“Rain, fog, and winter jackets have been our companions for the last couple of weeks, but we are challenging the gloomy weather with this colorful, vibrant, picturesque calendar design. Spring is the most wonderful time of the year, intense, powerful, and vivid. We hope to summon sunny June with our desktop wallpaper - join us!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Novi Sad, Serbia.

Reef Days

“June brings the start of summer full of bright colors, happy memories, and traveling. What better way to portray the goodness of summer than through an ocean folk art themed wallpaper. This statement wallpaper gives me feelings of summer and I hope to share that same feeling with others.” — Designed by Taylor Davidson from Kentucky.

Happy Father’s Day

“Whatever you call them, Pa, Dad, Daddy, Pops, they all have one thing in common: they are our superheroes. So, to honor superhero fathers this Father’s Day, we created this super calendar for you to enjoy.” — Designed by Ever Increasing Circles from the United Kingdom.

Bikini Season

“June reminds me of growing up on the lake. For me, this month is the official start of bikini season! I wanted to create this wallpaper to get everyone excited to put on their favorite suit and find their favorite body of water.” — Designed by Katie Ulrich from the United States.

Summer Party

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Happy Squatch

“I just wanted to capture the atmosphere of late spring/early summer in a fun, quirky way that may be reflective of an adventurous person during this time of year.” — Designed by Nick Arcarese from the United States.

Dancing In The Summer Moonlight

“If you’re happy and you know it - show some dance moves - because summer is finally here!” — Designed by ActiveCollab from the United States.

Love Yourz

“J Cole is one of the most inspiring hip hop artists and is known for his famous song ‘Love Yourz’. With all of the negativity and hate we have been having the past year, this is a message to remind people to love your life (love yourz) because there is no such thing as a life that is better than yours.” — Designed by James from Pennsylvania.

Made For Greatness

“Inspiring to more than mediocrity.” — Designed by Katherine Bollinger from the United States.

Summertime

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

This Is How You Start The Day

“When I think of June, I think of what summer items make you happy. For the 21+ club, summer means grabbing a drink with your friends on a hot summer day. The preferred drink of the summer is bottomless mimosas! And what better time to start drinking than the beginning of the day (responsibly of course)!” — Designed by Carolyn Choates from the United States.

Under The Starlight

“After being cooped up inside for so long, everyone needs a little nature break! And what’s more calming than a crackling campfire on a cool midsummer night, looking up at the shining stars and full moon!” — Designed by Hannah Basham from the United States.

Oldies But Goodies

Ready for more? Below you’ll find a little best-of from past June wallpapers editions. Enjoy! (Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.)

Summer Coziness

“I’ve waited for this summer more than I waited for any other summer since I was a kid. I dream of watermelon, strawberries, and lots of colors.” — Designed by Kate Jameson from the United States.

Wildlife Revival

“In these turbulent times for men, we are witnessing the extraordinary rebirth of nature, especially of the wildlife around the planet. Maybe this situation is a blessing in disguise? Either way, one thing is for sure, this planet is the home that we share with all other forms of life and it is our obligation and sacred duty to protect it.” — Designed by LibraFire from Serbia.

Summer Is Coming

“Imagine a sunny beach and an endless blue sea. Imagine yourself right there. Is it somewhere in Greece? The Mediterranean? North Africa? Now turn around and start wandering through those picturesque, narrow streets. See all those authentic white houses with blue doors and blue windows? Feel the fragrance of fresh flowers? Stop for a second. Take a deep breath. Seize the moment. Breathe in. Breathe out. Now slowly open your eyes. Not quite there yet? Don’t worry. You will be soon! Summer is coming…” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Solstice Sunset

“June 21 marks the longest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere — and sunsets like these will be getting earlier and earlier after that!” — Designed by James Mitchell from the United Kingdom.

Ice Creams Away!

“Summer is taking off with some magical ice cream hot air balloons.” — Designed by Sasha Endoh from Canada.

Deep Dive

“Summer rains, sunny days and a whole month to enjoy. Dive deep inside your passions and let them guide you.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

The Call Of Koel

“The peak of summer is upon us, and June brings scorching heat to most places in India. Summer season in my state also reminds me of the bird songs, especially the Koel bird. A black bird with a red eye, this bird’s elegant voice rings through the trees on hot summer afternoons. This June, I have created a wallpaper to give life to this experience — the birds singing in scorching heat give us some respite!” — Designed by Anuja from India.

Oh, The Places You Will Go!

“In celebration of high school and college graduates ready to make their way in the world!” — Designed by Bri Loesch from the United States.

Bauhaus

“I created a screenprint of one of the most famous buildings from the Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe for you. So, enjoy the Barcelona Pavillon for your June wallpaper.” — Designed by Anne Korfmacher from Germany.

Join The Wave

“The month of warmth and nice weather is finally here. We found inspiration in the World Oceans Day which occurs on June 8th and celebrates the wave of change worldwide. Join the wave and dive in!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Flamingood Vibes Only

“I love flamingos! They give me a happy feeling that I want to share with the world.” — Designed by Melissa Bogemans from Belgium.

Shine Your Light

“Shine your light, Before the fight, Just like the sun, Cause we don’t have to run.” — Designed by Anh Nguyet Tran from Vietnam.

Summer Surf

“Summer vibes.” — Designed by Antun Hirsman from Croatia.

Ice Cream June

“For me, June always marks the beginning of summer! The best way to celebrate summer is of course ice cream, what else?” — Designed by Tatiana Anagnostaki from Greece.

Lavender Is In The Air!

“June always reminds me of lavender — it just smells wonderful and fresh. For this wallpaper I wanted to create a simple, yet functional design that featured — you guessed it — lavender!” — Designed by Jon Phillips from Canada.

Strawberry Fields

Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from France.

Start Your Day

Designed by Elise Vanoorbeek from Belgium.

Pineapple Summer Pop

“I love creating fun and feminine illustrations and designs. I was inspired by juicy tropical pineapples to celebrate the start of summer.” — Designed by Brooke Glaser from Honolulu, Hawaii.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cloud.netlifyusercontent.com/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/16db22ee-c7f8-47a3-856c-992c82cd61f9/june-16-pineapple-summer-pop-preview-opt.png" alt="Pineapple Summer Pop"

Nine Lives!

“I grew up with cats around (and drawing them all the time). They are so funny… one moment they are being funny, the next they are reserved. If you have place in your life for a pet, adopt one today!” — Designed by Karen Frolo from the United States.

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How to Add Categories and Subcategories in WordPress

Recently, a reader asked us how to create subcategories in WordPress.

In WordPress, your posts can be organized into different categories and tags. You can even create subcategories for further organization.

It’s important to use categories and subcategories correctly, so you can help your readers find the content they’re most interested in. Proper content categorization can improve your website’s SEO rankings as well.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add categories and subcategories in WordPress, step by step.

Adding categories and subcategories to WordPress

Understanding Parent and Child Categories in WordPress

Categories are a powerful tool. They’re not just a way to sort your content. They also help you develop a proper site structure that is meaningful and semantic. This is great for your WordPress SEO.

Important: If you’re not clear about the difference between categories and tags, take a look at our guide on categories vs tags. This explains why categories and tags are different, and how to use them correctly.

Now you might be wondering why and when would someone need to use child categories (subcategories) on their WordPress website?

Let’s say you’re creating a travel blog for different destinations around the world. You might want users to be able to find articles by both country and city.

For example, you might have an article about the best waterparks in the United States. It would make sense to use ‘United States’ as the category for that post.

But you might also have articles about the best places to eat in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and more.

This is where you can use child or sub categories. ‘United States’ can become a parent category, and the cities can become child categories.

Child and parent categories in WordPress

A post filed under a child category doesn’t need to also be filed under the parent category. In our example, we could have left ‘United States’ unchecked and just put the post in the ‘New York City’ category.

If you file a post under the child category but not under the parent category, then your post will appear only on the archive pages of the child category. This is particularly helpful when you want to avoid duplicate content.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to add both regular categories and child categories in WordPress.

Adding a Category in WordPress

You can easily add a new category in WordPress when writing a post. In the Document panel on the right hand side, open up the Categories tab.

Then, you can simply click the ‘Add New Category’ link to create your new category.

Adding a new category in the document settings of a post

Once you click the link, two new boxes will appear where you can add your category. For a regular category, you don’t need to select anything from the Parent Category dropdown.

The boxes to add your new category are now visible

Once you’ve typed in the name for your category, click the ‘Add New Category’ button.

The box for that category will then be automatically checked for your current post. You can uncheck it if you want.

The new category has now been added to your site

You can also add a new category without editing a post.

Simply go to Posts » Categories and add your new category. This is handy if you want to create all your categories before adding content.

This method also lets you edit the slug (URL) for your categories. You can delete and rename categories here, too. You can even give them a description. See how to to add SEO keywords and descriptions in WordPress.

Adding a new category under Posts - Categories in WordPress

Adding a Child Category (Sub Category) in WordPress

You can add and edit child categories in exactly the same way you added your parent categories.

When you’re editing a post, open up the Categories tab and type in the name for your child category. Select the category that you want to use as the parent from the dropdown list.

Adding a new child category while creating a post

Similarly, you can also go to Posts » Categories to add child categories. Just type in the name for your child category and select the parent category from the dropdown menu.

Adding a new child category under Posts - Categories

Your child categories can also have their own child categories, if you want. For instance, we might decide to develop a category structure that used continents, countries, and cities, like this:

A list of child categories with their own children

Here, Europe is a category, with the United Kingdom and Spain as child categories. These then have their own child categories: York and London for the United Kingdom, and Barcelona and Madrid for Spain.

Categories on the same level within a parent category are sometimes called “sibling” categories. For instance, United Kingdom and Spain are sibling categories here.

Categories can only have one parent. You can’t add one sub-category under two different parent categories.

SEO Benefits of Category Based Site Structure

Your category URLs will look something like this:

http://example.com/category/united-states/new-york-city/

This is meaningful and helps search engines and visitors understand what your page is about. You also get a chance to add keywords into your URL. Keywords help people find content on search engines.

WordPress also allows you to easily change the /category/ prefix your category URLs. You can even remove it completely if you want.

Simply go to Settings » Permalinks page and scroll down to ‘Category base’ section.

Changing category base section

Here you can enter the prefix you would like to use and click on the Save Changes button to store your changes.

The ‘category’ prefix in your category URLs doesn’t add any benefit to your SEO. You might want to get rid of it by installing the FV Top Level Categories plugin. Simply install the plugin and it will remove the word ‘category’ from your category archive pages’ URLs. Instead, they’ll look like this:

http://example.com/united-states/new-york-city/

Important: If you decide to change category base on an existing WordPress site, then you’ll need to set up redirects to avoid 404 errors for search engine visitors. For more detailed instructions, please follow our guide on how to change the category base prefix in WordPress.

How to Display Categories and Child Categories in WordPress Sidebar

You can add a widget to your WordPress sidebar or footer to show a list of categories. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance » Widgets.

Adding a new widget to your sidebar

If you haven’t changed your widgets from the ones that WordPress puts there by default, you should see the Categories widget already in place. If not, you can drag and drop it from the list of Available Widgets on the left hand side.

Dragging and dropping the categories widget into place on your sidebar

By default, the widget will show all your categories in a flat list, in alphabetical order:

A flat list of categories

Tip: Categories will only display on the list if you’ve assigned at least 1 published post to them.

You can change it to show the child categories (subcategories) beneath their parent categories, if you want. Simply check the ‘Show hierarchy’ box in the widget like this. Don’t forget to click the Save button.

Check the 'Show hierarchy' box to list child categories beneath their parents

On your site, you should now see your parent categories with the child categories nested beneath them.

A hierarchical list of categories in WordPress

Tip: If your sidebar changes don’t show up, you might need to clear your WordPress cache.

Aside from the default category widget, you can also create custom category menu links using the WordPress navigation menu. After that, you can add that menu in your header menu, sidebar, footer, or other menu locations.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add categories and child categories in WordPress. You may also want to take a look at our article on how to create an email newsletter to grow your website traffic, and our comparison of the best WordPress page builders to create custom layouts.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add Categories and Subcategories in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

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Rapyd Launches UK-Based Payments Solution

​Rapyd, a global Fintech as a Service company, today announced the launch of a single, "full-stack," payment solution in the United Kingdom allowing businesses locally and globally to access every major local payment method — such as cash, bank transfers, e-wallets, and cards — through one easy to integrate connection.

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29 Days Of February (2020 Wallpapers Edition)

29 Days Of February (2020 Wallpapers Edition)

29 Days Of February (2020 Wallpapers Edition)

Cosima Mielke

What will you make of the extra day that February has in store for us this year? Visit an old friend, explore a new place, or use it to get stuff done you have put off for so long? Whatever you might have planned this month, our new collection of wallpapers is bound to cater for a little inspiration spark along the way.

Created by artists and designers from all across the globe, the wallpapers come in versions with and without a calendar for February 2020 and can be downloaded for free — a Smashing tradition that has been going on for more than nine years already. A big thank-you to everyone who challenged their creative skills and shared their artworks with us this time around!

As a little bonus goodie, we also added some February favorites from our archives to the end of this post. Because, well, some things are just too good to be forgotten, right? Enjoy!

Please note that:

  • All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

Submit your wallpaper

Do you have an idea for a March wallpaper design? We are always looking for creative talent to be featured in our wallpapers posts. Don’t be shy, join in! →

It’s A Cupcake Kind Of Day!

“Sprinkles are fun, festive and filled with love… especially when topped on a cupcake! Everyone is creative in their own unique way, so why not try baking some cupcakes and decorating them for your sweetie this month? Something homemade, like a cupcake or DIY craft is always a sweet gesture.” — Designed by Artsy Cupcake from the United States.

It’s A Cupcake Kind Of Day!

Well It’s Groundhog Day… Again!

“‘It’s always Groundhog Day and there’s nothing I can do about it.’ as the inimitable Bill Murray said in the timeless Groundhog Day movie. We used a photo manipulation technique to come up with this sense of being caught in a time loop. When the Groundhog emerges from his den on this Groundhog day, will it forecast an early Spring or six more weeks of winter? Find out on February 2nd!” — Designed by Alistair Dodds from the United Kingdom.

Well It’s Groundhog Day… Again!

Love Is in the Air

— Designed by MasterBundles from the United States.

Love Is in the Air

National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day

“If ‘don’t cry over spilled milk’ hasn’t yet been your mantra, it should definitely become now. The English proverb, whose national day is celebrated on February 11th, stands as a reminder not to worry over things of the past that cannot be undone, but to think positive, and keep our spirits high. Life is too short to let the trifling issues bother us.” — Designed by Pop Art Studio from Serbia.

National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day

The Rainbow Is Here!

“In February the weather is crazy. One day it is sunny and the next it is snowing. And that is its charm…” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.

The Rainbow Is Here!

Freedom

“On the 24th of February, far north in Europe, the tiny nation of Estonia celebrates its 102nd Independence Day. Cheers to the cleanest, greenest nation on earth! Happy Independence Day Estonia! Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm — My fatherland, my joy and happiness.” — Designed by Shishir Keluskar from Tallinn.

Freedom

Rock & Roll

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Rock & Roll

Celebrate Love

“February brings the season of love, and what could be better than celebrating it with Taj Mahal - the iconic monument and symbol of love.” — Designed by Farhat Asif from India.

Celebrate Love

Oldies But Goodies

Do you know those moments when you rediscover a treasured item you almost forgot about? Below you’ll find some February wallpaper goodies from our archives. Maybe one of your favorites from the past is in there, too? (Please note that these wallpapers don’t come with a calendar.)

Savannah Stroll

“February is a month focused on romance and as a southerner, I can’t think of a more romantic way to spend a day than strolling the historic moss-draped streets of Savannah, GA. Spending time sitting on a bench on one of the many beautiful squares, holding hands and people watching as you sip a cappuccino.” — Designed by Heather Ozee Designs from the United States.

Savannah Stroll

Principles Of Good Design

“The simplicity seen in the work of Dieter Rams which has ensured his designs from the 50s and 60s still hold a strong appeal.” — — Designed by Vinu Chaitanya from India.

Principles of Good Design- Dieter Rams

Dark Temptation

“A dark romantic feel, walking through the city on a dark and rainy night.” — Designed by Matthew Talebi from the United States.

Dark Temptation

Cold And Frost

“Frosts in Russia are very severe. Walking through the Park, I found these branches at the top and decided to capture the moment.” — Designed by Nikolay Belikov from Russia.

Cold And Frost

Love Is Worth Fighting For

— Designed by Maria Keller from Mexico.

Love Is Worth Fighting For

Share The Same Orbit!

“I prepared a simple and chill layout design for February called ‘Share The Same Orbit!’ which suggests to share the love orbit.” — Designed by Valentin Keleti from Romania.

Share The Same Orbit!

Charlie Chaplin

“I love street art, so I took a shot of this great graffiti of Charlie Chaplin with his inspirational quote that is even more true for this age: ‘Sometimes we think too much and feel to little’. He also said: ‘More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.” — Designed by Marija Zaric from Belgrade, Serbia.

Charlie Chaplin

Plucking At The Heart Strings

“Choose to embrace Valentine's as a day to appreciate those who are special to you. The base of this wallpaper is ‘Plucking at the Heart Strings’, an original painting by Hayden Gigner.” — Designed by Adam Mezzatesta from the United Kingdom.

Plucking At The Heart Strings

February Ferns

— Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from France.

February Ferns

French Fries

— Designed by Doreen Bethge from Germany.

French Fries

Snowy Sunset

— Designed by Nathalie Croze from France.

Snowy Sunset

Balloons

— Designed by Xenia Latii from Germany.

Balloons

February’s Gift

“A leap year means we have one more day to cherish! Maybe use it to visit an old friend, or go somewhere new, but use it well! And the most important: have some fun!” — — Designed by Printsome.com from the United Kingdom.

February’s Gift

Made In Japan

“See the beautiful colors, precision, and the nature of Japan in one picture.” — — Designed by Fatih Yilmaz from the Netherlands.

Made In Japan

February Flowers

“A little bit of romance, a little bit of vintage: Happy Valentine’s Day this month!” — Designed by Kari Andresen from the United States.

Smashing Wallpaper - february 13

Love Angel Vader

“Valentine’s Day is coming? Noooooooooooo!” — — Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Love Angel Vader

Febrewery

“I live in Madison, WI USA, which is famous for its breweries. Wisconsin even named their baseball team ‘The Brewers.’ If you like beer, brats, and lots of cheese, it’s the place for you!” — — Designed by Danny Gugger from the United States.

Febrewery

Free Your Mind

“People should have the right to believe and think what they want. They should be free in choosing their opinion. The wallpaper (especially the birds) reminds me of the great freedom we have in many countries of the world.” — — Designed by Daniela Faltz from Germany.

Free Your Mind

Frozen Worlds

“A view of 2 frozen planets, lots of blue tints.” — Designed by Rutger Berghmans from Belgium.

Smashing Wallpaper - february 13

Join In Next Month!

Thank you to all designers for their participation. Join in next month!

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How Performance Testers Can Help Protect and Secure IT

In August of 2018 Bob Diachenko, Director of Cyber Risk Research at Hacken.io found that over 2 million Mexican citizens had their healthcare data leaked due to a security vulnerability in a system's database. At that same time, he found that the data of 93 thousand users of a popular babysitting app, Sitter, was also exposed. As if this isn't scary enough, in November, Marriott Corporation revealed that over the last four years hackers had broken into its reservation system and stealing the private data of over 500 million customers. That's more than the combined population of Russia, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain combined!Securing and protecting.

Securing and protecting.

Given the security breaches that have occurred at places like Facebook (50 million profiles), Equifax (143 million), Yahoo (3 billion), eBay (145 million) and surprisingly, Adult Friend Finder (412 million), you'd think that companies would learn from one another. Many have, and yet, many have not. Data theft is still an all too common occurrence in the digital landscape. That's the bad news. The good news is that security has become a company-wide concern, not something relegated to a few compliance officers sitting in isolation in the data center. Companies have come to understand that everybody has a role in making sure that its digital infrastructure is secure and protected. This includes test practitioners and QA personnel.