PowerShell legend Jeff Hicks joins The PowerShell Podcast to talk about what it really means to live in PowerShell every day. From running his entire workflow in the console to building highly polished terminal tools, Jeff shares how PowerShell can be used far beyond infrastructure management—to organize your day, automate personal tasks, and multiply productivity.

The conversation also dives deep into learning PowerShell long-term, embracing small wins, investing in your own career growth, and making yourself “available to luck.” Jeff introduces his newest project, PSIntro, designed to help absolute beginners get started with PowerShell through interactive, localized tutorials and a welcoming splash experience.
 
Key Takeaways:

• PowerShell fluency comes from time and repetition, not talent. Use it daily, even for small personal tasks, and progress will follow.
• PowerShell is a force multiplier. Thoughtful use of color, terminal UIs, verbose output, and helper functions can dramatically improve productivity.
• Investing in your own learning outside of work gives you career freedom. Your job is not your career—your skills are.

Guest Bio:
Jeff Hicks is a PowerShell author, educator, and community icon with nearly two decades of experience teaching automation to IT professionals. A long-time Microsoft MVP, Jeff has written multiple books, created countless tools and modules, and spoken at conferences around the world. Known for his practical approach and passion for teaching, Jeff continues to shape how people learn, use, and think about PowerShell.
 
Resource Links:

• Jeff Links - https://jdhitsolutions.github.io/
• PSIntro Project – https://github.com/jdhitsolutions/PSIntro
• Spectre.Console for PowerShell – https://pwshspectreconsole.com/
• PowerShell Summit – https://powershellsummit.org
• PDQ Discord – https://discord.gg/PDQ
• PowerShell Wednesdays – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztKT2wK6EW4&list=PL1mL90yFExsix-L0havb8SbZXoYRPol0B&pp=gAQB
• The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lKKfmdDtBOU

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Directions on Microsoft's chief negotiator Dean Bedwell shares licensing and negotiation trends (along with a few tips) with Mary Jo Foley in our year-end wrap.



Download audio: https://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/season4ep21bedwellyearend.mp3

WordPress hosting helps you get a WordPress site online faster and keep it running smoothly by reducing setup and configuration work.

This guide explains what WordPress hosting is, how it differs from other hosting options, and what to look for in a provider.

What is WordPress hosting?

WordPress hosting is a specialized type of web hosting built and optimized for running WordPress. It gives you the right environment and features to keep your site fast, secure, and low-maintenance. 

WordPress hosting becomes relevant as soon as you create a WordPress site, since it’s prepared for how WordPress works.

Such hosting plans typically include:

• WordPress pre-installed or one-click installation
• A domain name (often bundled in the plan)
• Built-in security features like backups or malware scanning
• Performance optimizations for WordPress (PHP versions, caching, database tuning)
• Support teams familiar with WordPress

Tip: WordPress.com offers a fully managed WordPress environment with automatic updates, built-in performance tools, and a secure infrastructure designed to scale with your site.

How does hosting actually work?

Hosting stores your website on a server and shows it to people when they visit your domain.   

When someone types yourblogsname.com into their browser, their device requests your website’s information from your hosting provider’s server — a computer that is always online.

The server then locates your site’s files and sends them to the visitor’s browser so the page can load.

In turn, the page’s loading time depends on your hosting plan and provider. 

The bottom line: every host follows the same basic flow, but not all of them optimize it for WordPress. 

Tip: If you’re curious to know what powers that speed, this behind-the-scenes tour of WordPress.com’s data centers explains it really well.

WordPress hosting vs. regular web hosting

Regular web hosting gives you a standard server where you set up WordPress yourself, while WordPress hosting provides an environment already optimized for it.

This usually means WordPress is faster to install, performance settings are already tuned for it, and getting started takes less work.

Tip: Web hosting comes in different types (e.g., VPS, dedicated, cloud), which describe how server resources are allocated. WordPress hosting works on top of these by optimizing the environment specifically for WordPress.

Here’s how regular web hosting and WordPress hosting compare across key areas:

Feature	Regular web hosting	WordPress hosting
Built for	Any type of website	Optimized specifically for WordPress sites
Setup	You install and configure WordPress yourself	WordPress is pre-installed, or ready in one click
Maintenance	You manage updates, backups, security tools, caching, and troubleshooting	The hosting environment is pre-tuned for WordPress, reducing initial setup and configuration work
Speed	Depends on the server setup and how well you configure WordPress	Server settings (PHP, caching, database tuning) are optimized for WordPress out of the box
Security	Host defaults + whatever WordPress protections you add manually	Comes with WordPress-friendly security defaults (firewall rules, malware scanning, HTTPS)
Ease of use	More manual setup and configuration	Easier onboarding thanks to WordPress-ready defaults and helpful built-in tools
Support	General hosting support; WordPress knowledge varies	Support teams familiar with WordPress, themes, plugins, and common issues

These differences explain how WordPress hosting compares to general hosting, but there’s another important layer to consider: how much of the ongoing work the host handles for you.

Managed vs. unmanaged WordPress hosting

Managed WordPress hosting handles updates, security, backups, and performance for you.

With unmanaged WordPress hosting, the host provides the server, but you handle WordPress setup, updates, and maintenance yourself.

The key is choosing a level of management based on how much time and responsibility you want to take on for updates, security, and performance.

How does managed WordPress hosting make things easier?

Managed WordPress hosting gives you a smoother, more predictable experience because you’re not dealing with the technical issues that usually slow site owners down.

Instead of troubleshooting errors, comparing plugins, or fixing problems after updates, the hosting environment prevents most of those issues before they happen.

What this means in practice:

• Fewer surprises: Updates and changes don’t break your site unexpectedly.

• No plugin juggling: You don’t need extra tools for speed, backups, or security.

• No firefighting: Errors, threats, and performance drops are handled before you ever see them.

• Consistent stability: Your site behaves the same day-to-day without tuning settings.

• More time on real work: You spend your effort building pages, writing content, and improving the site experience — not managing the technical side.

Tip: Plenty of hosts label their plans as “managed WordPress,” but many are just shared hosting with a few extras. WordPress.com delivers true managed hosting with expert support, built-in security, a global infrastructure, and a 99.999% uptime guarantee.

How to choose the best WordPress hosting provider

The right WordPress host gives you speed, reliable uptime, strong security, and support so you can run your site without extra work.

Here’s what to look for when comparing WordPress hosting providers:

• Fast loading speed: Built-in caching, CDN, and servers optimized for WordPress.
• Reliable uptime: Consistent availability with fast recovery and alerts if issues occur.
• Built-in security: SSL certificates, malware scanning, and automatic backups at no extra cost. 
• Ease of use: Simple UI and automatic updates, without touching code.
• Expert WordPress support: Access to support teams trained specifically in WordPress.
• Room to grow and transparent pricing: Plans that can handle spikes and long-term traffic. WordPress.com, for example, includes unmetered traffic on every plan, so your costs don’t rise as your audience grows.
• How much work you avoid: Check how much setup, maintenance, performance tuning, and security the host handles for you versus what you’re expected to manage yourself.

Go with WordPress.com’s managed hosting

Choosing between hosting options ultimately comes down to your priorities and how much work you’re willing to handle yourself. 

The differences we outlined are straightforward:

• General web hosting: You get a standard server and install/configure WordPress yourself.

• WordPress hosting: The server is pre-tuned for WordPress, so setup is quicker and fewer settings need manual adjustment.

• Managed WordPress hosting: Ongoing updates, security, performance, and backups are also handled for you.

If you don’t want to deal with technical upkeep, WordPress.com gives you a fast, fully managed WordPress environment backed by automatic updates and expert support.

The text-decoration-inset CSS property solves a problem that we’ve had since the beginning of the web, which is that text decorations such as underlines extend beyond the first and last characters (to the edges of the content box, to be specific), resulting in vertical misalignment.

I say it’s a problem “we’ve” had rather sheepishly because maybe you, like some users, don’t actually care. But if you’re a funny bunny like me (I think “designer” is the technical term) then it most likely drives you crazy.

That being said, it’s not a problem that I’ve tried to fix because the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. The best fix is probably text-decoration: none and ::after with a custom background, but this can be a bit finicky and I’d rather use all of the features that come with native text decorations, such as text-decoration-thickness, text-underline-position (which enables us to change the position of the underline relative to the font’s internal metrics; the baseline, for example), and text-underline-offset (which determines the offset from that position).

So, how does text-decoration-inset work? Well, if I trim an underline just enough for it to vertically align with the text, I wind up with this instead (this only works in Firefox 146, by the way):

However, you can actually trim the decorations as much as you want, which enables us to create some really cool ones and even transition or animate them. Let’s take a quick look, shall we?

text-decoration-inset basic usage

text-decoration-inset, formerly text-decoration-trim, enables us to clip from the ends of the underline or whatever text-decoration-line is computed. This is the syntax:

text-decoration-inset: <left-inset> <right-inset>;

Yes, this means that we can set different inset values for the left and right sides.

These values must be <length>s, but we can use relative lengths such as em units, which are relative to the computed font-size. So, if the font-size changes, the insets scale with it. For example, in the demo above, 0.076em (which is what I’ve set as the left inset) means 7.6% of the computed font-size, and that’s the value that makes the left inset align with the left stem of the letter “N” and other left stems. This value was determined by trial and error, but it only needs to be determined once for each font.

If that first letter was, say, W? Yeah, then the inset wouldn’t align, so it’s not a perfect solution. I’d say that it’s suitable for when you know what the content will be.

Maybe the W3C will come up with a solution for vertically aligning text decorations as well as multiple lines of text both accurately and automatically. Until then, this is still a cool solution that enables us to create perfectly aligned effects like this (this demo uses an overline and an underline, and a whole ‘lotta text-decoration-thickness of course):

Animating text-decoration-inset

text-decoration-inset is more interesting when we start to think about transitions/animations. We often animate underlines, or should I say faux ::after underlines, but with text-decoration-inset we can do it natively. In the example below I multiply the insets by ten on :hover. Nothing too crazy, but remember that we can only use <length> values, so try to use em units, or at least test the text with different font sizes.

Again, Firefox 146+ required at the moment:

a {
  transition: 300ms;
  text-decoration-inset: 0.046em 0.009em;

  &:hover {
    text-decoration-inset: calc(0.046em * 10);
  }
}

Getting a bit more ambitious now, this next demo leverages a CSS @keyframes animation to create that shooting star underline effect. How it works is that we push the left inset all the way to the other side — but <length>s only, remember? We can’t use 100% here, so instead I’ve determined that the width of the element is 4.5em and used that as the value instead (the more precise we are, the better the animation or transition). Check the code comments for a full explanation:

a {
  /*
    The value at the start and end of the
    animation, as well as the default value
  */
  text-decoration-inset: 0.046em 0.009em;

  &:hover {
    animation: 1s next-level;
  }
}

@keyframes next-level {
  /* By half-way through the animation... */
  50% {
    /*
      ...the left inset has shifted 4.5em, 
      which is the full width of the element
    */
    text-decoration-inset: 4.5em 0.009em;

    /* It’s faded out as well */
    text-decoration-color: transparent;
  }

  /* Immediately after that... */
  50.999% {
    /* ...both insets are set to the left */
    text-decoration-inset: 0.046em 4.5em;
  }

  /* Then it animates back to the default value */
}

Overall, text-decoration-inset is a nice feature. It isn’t without its flaws, but no feature ever is. Personally, anything that helps me to refine a detail natively is very much welcome, and with text-decoration-inset we’re able to refine two — the text decoration alignment (relative to the text) and the text decoration transition or animation.

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text-decoration-inset is Like Padding for Text Decorations originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.