Ash Allen
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ashallendesign.co.uk
Ash Allen
@ashallendesign.co.uk
1.4K followers 82 following 330 posts
🚀 Freelance Laravel Web Developer and Blogger
⚡ https://battle-ready-laravel.com
🔥 https://consuming-apis-in-laravel.com
✨ https://web-dev-freelancing.com
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Reposted by Ash Allen
laravel.io
Formatting PHP Code with PHP CS Fixer by @ashallendesign.co.uk

https://laravel.io/articles/formatting-php-code-with-php-cs-fixer
Formatting PHP Code with PHP CS Fixer | Laravel.io
The Laravel portal for problem solving, knowledge sharing and community building.
laravel.io
December 18, 2025 at 6:00 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Formatting PHP Code with PHP CS Fixer 🚀

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/php-cs-...
Formatting PHP Code with PHP CS Fixer
Read about how to use PHP CS Fixer to automate the formatting of your PHP code. We'll also explore how to use PHP CS Fixer in parallel mode and create a GitHub Actions workflow which checks the code s...
ashallendesign.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 4:33 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
What level do you run PHPStan at in your projects?

I've personally found level 5 or 6 to be the sweet spot (especially when adding it to existing projects) 😄
December 9, 2025 at 8:01 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
I've just hit a mini-milestone with my Email Utilities package:

It's crossed 100 stars on GitHub! ⭐

It's really close to hitting its first 1,000 downloads, too. I've just checked and it's been installed 995 times 👀
December 9, 2025 at 2:40 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
I've just released Email Utilities for Laravel v1.1.0! 🎉

This release includes:

✅ Artisan command that can be used to update the disposable domain list (shown in the screenshot)
✅ Caching to improve performance
✅ An updated list of disposable domains (4932 domains!)

[1/2]
December 3, 2025 at 1:40 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
The PR didn't get merged!

But I'm planning on writing an article soon to show how you can use Mailtrap for:

👉 Sending single emails in Laravel
👉 Sending bulk emails in Laravel
👉 Testing Laravel emails using Mailtrap sandboxes

Aiming to publish it next week 😄
ashallendesign.co.uk Ash Allen @ashallendesign.co.uk · Dec 2
I've just made a PR to Laravel to propose first-party support for sending transactional email with Mailtrap!

Is this something you might use? 😄

👉 PR: github.com/laravel/fram...
December 3, 2025 at 9:32 AM
ashallendesign.co.uk
I've just made a PR to Laravel to propose first-party support for sending transactional email with Mailtrap!

Is this something you might use? 😄

👉 PR: github.com/laravel/fram...
December 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Ash Allen
laravel.io
The Difference Between ?: and ?? in PHP by @ashallendesign.co.uk

https://laravel.io/articles/the-difference-between-and-in-php
The Difference Between ?: and ?? in PHP | Laravel.io
The Laravel portal for problem solving, knowledge sharing and community building.
laravel.io
November 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
The Difference Between ?: and ?? in PHP 🚀

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/php-ter...
The Difference Between ?: and ?? in PHP
Learn about the difference between the ternary operator (?:) and the null coalescing operator (??) in PHP. We'll also discuss a common gotcha that I see developers (myself included) run into when usin...
ashallendesign.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
I want to say a huge thank you to Mailtrap for sponsoring me on GitHub! 😄🎉

I've been using Mailtrap for a few years for email testing, and it's always been a great platform. So it's really cool that they're now sponsoring me!

Thanks! 🩵
November 24, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Ash Allen
laravel.io
Immutable and Mutable Dates in PHP by @ashallendesign.co.uk

https://laravel.io/articles/immutable-and-mutable-dates-in-php
Immutable and Mutable Dates in PHP | Laravel.io
The Laravel portal for problem solving, knowledge sharing and community building.
laravel.io
November 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Immutable and Mutable Dates in PHP 🚀

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/php-dates
Immutable and Mutable Dates in PHP
Read about the difference between immutable and mutable dates in PHP. We'll also look at a common gotcha I've experienced when using mutable dates and how to avoid it.
ashallendesign.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Ash Allen
laravel.io
Email Utilities for Laravel v1.0 Released! by @ashallendesign.co.uk

https://laravel.io/articles/email-utilities-for-laravel-v10-released
Email Utilities for Laravel v1.0 Released! | Laravel.io
The Laravel portal for problem solving, knowledge sharing and community building.
laravel.io
November 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Black Friday 2025 offer!

I'm offering up to 50% off my books 😄

👉 Details and discount codes here:

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/black-f...
Black Friday 2025 - Up to 50% off!
Get up to 50% off my books with Black Friday 2025 discounts. I am offering 30% off "Battle Ready Laravel" and "Consuming APIs in Laravel". I'm also offering 50% off "The Web Dev's Guide to Freelancing...
ashallendesign.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 2:06 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Saloon vs Guzzle vs SDK vs Http Facade for Laravel API Integrations 🚀

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/saloon-...
Saloon vs Guzzle vs SDK vs Http Facade for Laravel API Integrations
Read about how to decide whether to use Salon, Guzzle, an SDK, or the Http Facade to build API integrations for your Laravel applications. This article is a snippet from my "Consuming APIs in Laravel"...
ashallendesign.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 9:16 AM
ashallendesign.co.uk
When registering for a new website/app, do you prefer to use social sign-ins (e.g., "Sign in with Google") or stick with traditional email and password authentication? 🤔
November 17, 2025 at 5:10 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Email Utilities for Laravel v1.0 Released! 🎉

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/email-u...
Email Utilities for Laravel v1.0 Released! 🎉
Read about my latest package: Email Utilities for Laravel. It's a small package which can be used to check and validate whether an email address is disposable or role-based.
ashallendesign.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 1:36 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
As of Laravel 12.36, you can use the "File::allDirectories" method to get an array of all nested directories (including nested directories) within a given path 🔥
November 7, 2025 at 4:27 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Why I Deleted Social Media From My Phone 🚀

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/deleted...
Why I Deleted Social Media From My Phone
This year, I deleted social media from my phone. It started off as an experiment, but it has had a significant impact on improving my mental health and productivity as a web developer.
ashallendesign.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 11:59 AM
ashallendesign.co.uk
As of Laravel 12.29, you can use the "UseResource" and "UseResourceCollection" attributes to explicitly define the resource class and resource collection class a Laravel model should use 🔥
November 6, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Ash Allen
laravel.io
Returning HTTP 404 Responses Instead of 403 for Unauthorised Access by @ashallendesign.co.uk

https://laravel.io/articles/returning-http-404-responses-instead-of-403-for-unauthorised-access
Returning HTTP 404 Responses Instead of 403 for Unauthorised Access | Laravel.io
The Laravel portal for problem solving, knowledge sharing and community building.
laravel.io
November 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Returning HTTP 404 Responses Instead of 403 for Unauthorised Access 🚀

ashallendesign.co.uk/blog/unautho...
Returning HTTP 404 Responses Instead of 403 for Unauthorised Access
Read about how to use HTTP 404 responses instead of HTTP 403 when a user is unauthorised to access a resource. We'll also discuss some things to consider when using this approach.
ashallendesign.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 11:01 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Yesterday, I booted up my Ubuntu PC for the first time in a year or so!

I forgot how much I enjoyed using Ubuntu as my daily driver for dev work.

If more of the software/tools I want to use were available on there, I think I'd switch back in a heartbeat 😄
October 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM
ashallendesign.co.uk
Did you know PHP 8.5 adds a new FILTER_THROW_ON_FAILURE option for the `filter_var` function?

If the `filter_var` validation fails, it will trigger an exception to be thrown 🔥
October 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Ash Allen
laravel.io
Run PHPUnit and Pest Tests Without Vite Assets in Laravel by @ashallendesign.co.uk

https://laravel.io/articles/run-phpunit-and-pest-tests-without-vite-assets-in-laravel
Run PHPUnit and Pest Tests Without Vite Assets in Laravel | Laravel.io
The Laravel portal for problem solving, knowledge sharing and community building.
laravel.io
October 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM