When you build a plugin or theme, I’d encourage you to really think about whether your settings page is really needed. Have you added the settings page just because it’s the normal thing to do? Maybe because users expect there to be a place to go and “configure” the plugin? Perhaps you just didn’t think…
One of the best feelings that one gets from being a developer is the sense of elation that comes with finishing a product. You make the last change or addition to the code and that particular key stroke designates the product as done (at least for that version). Once complete, the code sits there unchanged,…
There is a terrible, terrible practice among theme developers to remove some of the default filters that are applied to post and page content. The goal in removing these filters is to fix formatting problems with short codes, primarily column short codes. If you have ever done this, or would like to know why you…
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…
Occasionally a plugin is released that really excites me. Today that happened with the new plugin from Kathy Darling called “Nav Menu Roles”. It’s a really simple plugin that makes it possible to restrict nav menu items to users of a specific role, and it works really well.
The vast majority of WordPress plugins function as stand alone “systems” within WordPress. By this I mean that most plugins run more or less by themselves and do not interact with other plugins running on the same install. Depending on what you’re plugin does, this can definitely be a good thing, as you do not…
Last night WP Beginner sent out a Tweet asking how many plugins people used on their sites. This is one of my favorite questions, simply because I always love to see the response people send back. As I’ve mentioned quite a few times, I’m an avid opponent to the idea that a lot of plugins…
An open source project means that anyone can take and freely modify the source code, and also re-release it as a different product. WordPress is open source, as are the vast majority of WordPress plugins. As someone who makes their living off of WordPress, I have to ask myself the question “is open source right…
A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation at WordCamp Kansas City titled “Modular Plugins”. The talk was focused on the idea of writing extensible code when building plugins. I’d like to continue a discussion of the same topic here.
PressNomics is the first major non-officially sponsored WordPress event to be organized in the US (perhaps globally). It is designed to be a somewhat exclusive event catered towards the companies and individuals that power the commercial WordPress markets. The commercial market includes theme and plugin shops, hosting companies, and others within the WordPress economy, though…
