Plugin Thoughts Episode 9 – Write Better Code; Release Better Plugins

Mike McAlister published a phenomenal article this evening titled “You Can Do Better Things”. It is targeted at the WordPress theme design / developer industry and really hits the nail on the head. There is a problem that many theme and plugin authors face that one might call “buyers’ demands”, and it’s the idea that…

Plugin Thoughts Episode 8 – Create Clean Code

In Episode 8 of Plugin Thoughts, I discuss some of the benefits of creating clean, readable code, and some of the downsides to writing poorly formatted and unreadable code. Whether you build plugins or themes, CSS, HTML, Javascript, or PHP, this applies to you. This entry is part 8 of 9 in the Plugin Thoughts…

Plugin Thoughts Episode 7 – Remember Core CSS

In episode 7 of plugin thoughts, I show you a demonstration of just how much CSS you don’t need to write for your WordPress plugins. WordPress core has a very large amount of CSS and you can utilize it when developing your plugins. This entry is part 7 of 9 in the Plugin Thoughts Series

Plugin Thoughts Episode 6 – Contribute to the WordPress Codex

There are a lot of ways that you can help out with and contribute to the WordPress project, but one of the easiest, and definitely most helpful, is by contributing to the expansion and improvement of the WordPress Codex. The next time that you come across a Function Reference page, or any other Codex page,…

Plugin Thoughts Episode 5 – Take Responsibility for Your Products

I am an avid proponent of developers supporting their products, and supporting them very well. I am also very strongly opposed to those developers and studios that choose to ignore support, or simply refuse to ever take responsibility for issues in their work. These are the kinds of developers and studios that always seem to…

Plugin Thoughts Episode 4 – Learn How Core Does It

This episode of Plugin Thoughts discusses reasons why you, as a WordPress plugin developer, should make an effort to understand how WordPress core functions. By gaining an understanding of how core works, you not only improve the quality of your plugins, but you also make it much easier on yourself when it comes to debugging…

Plugin Thoughts Episode 3 – Don’t Forget About Core Functions

When developing for WordPress, both in themes and plugins, do not forget that many, many core functions exist and that it is not always necessary (or wise) to write your own custom methods. Most core functions have actions and filters included, so when you write your own function to replace the one in core, these…