Monthly Archives: March 2009

Ten pointers for plugin authors

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I came across a great post today that talks about 10 characteristics of a great WordPress plugin. This makes essential reading for any plugin author because it’s a template for what users look for in a plugin. The article has all the detail, but here are the main points:

  • Easy Installation
  • Seamless Upgrade
  • Uninstall Option
  • Meaningful Error Messages
  • Localization Support
  • Intuitive Admin User Interface
  • Reset/Import/Export Options
  • Optimized
  • Secured
  • Good Support and Thorough Documentation

It’s great advice and I do know that I have a few of my personal plugins that are due an upgrade because they only fulfil some of the points above. At the end of the day, it’s all about how usable and supportable the plugin is and if you don’t keep the user in mind, then your plugin won’t get the exposure it deserves. It’s like swallowing the best diet pills in the world and then stuffing yourself. You’re just not going to get anywhere are you?

Using Custom Fields

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You might have noticed the “Custom Fields” section at the bottom of your Posts page. These let you add any extra information you want to a post, which can then be used in your template to enhance the page. I’ve used these on different sites in different ways and it does add a certain amount of extra flexibility to what you’re doing.

Here are a couple of examples:

  • ManxVoice: This uses custom fields for images and thumbnails related to the post. These are then used on the front page to enhance the display and make it look better for any viewers.
  • Tweetburn: This website uses custom fields to populate content pages with Twitter accounts from different categories. You can see from the topic pages that they are quite unique in content.

As you can see Custom Fields give you an immense amount of power over what you can do with your site. For example, if you have a website about automotive lifts, you could specify images for different products and then use these in different ways on your site. And if you find them quite challenging, check out the More Fields Plugin that makes using custom fields much easier.

Authentication in WordPress 2.8

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Example of a Plug-In Framework

Just came across an interesting post called Authentication in WordPress 2.8. It talks about the implementation of OAuth in WordPress and it’s impact on users and plugin authors. The great thing about OAuth is that it would let applications and other websites authenticate against your blog and withdraw information without needing your password. So, if you had a WordPress blog about travel insurance online, you could share the information on it with another website trying to repurpose that information.

Looks like WordPress will have some interesting changes. However, the last part of the post indicates that it won’t manage to make 2.8, partly because the OAuth libraries are in a state of flux and partly because of the impact it will have on the core.

WordPress lookup

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Are you a WordPress developer or theme designer who seems to spend hours hunting around for help around a particular tag or function? If so, Google has probably been your friend till now, as the quickest way to find the information you’re after. Now, however there’s a quicker way. Enter WPLookup, a quick way to search through WordPress’ codex.

wplookup

It’s a simple concept, you key in the tag or function you’re interested in and it takes you straight to the page you’re interested in. And you can also add it as a custom search directly in your browser. Simple idea, but effective.

Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that are the most effective, and the ones destined to the most success. Who know, maybe one of these days I’ll come up with a killer idea, make my millions, then I can take one of those round the world trips, with a night in Nepal, one of those Vegas vacations and a round the world cruise.

One day …

The Future of WordPress Themes

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I came across an interesting collection of opinions on the Future of WordPress themes (2009) from some of the leading theme designers in the WordPress ecosphere. There are some interesting ideas in there including:

  • I’m guessing by the end of 2009 the WordPress core itself will resemble a true CMS more closely. As CMS-like functions are added to the core, themers will incorporate them in creative ways, and the face of themes will begin to change. (Darren Hoyt)
  • WordPress 2.8, due out within a couple of months, will undoubtedly contain a feature set not unlike the current “automatic plugin update” feature, but for themes. Users will be able to upgrade their themes automatically from their dashboard, assuming their theme is hosted on WordPress.org Extend. (Nathan Rice)
  • Another trend I’m subscribing to in 2009 is the year of the theme framework. We have quite a few theme frameworks already in action and throughout 2009, I feel a few more will come online. However, educating end users about theme frameworks, child themes, CSS, should be a top priority or else this child theme concept will never lift high off the ground. (Jeff Chandler)

It seems like this opinion piece is put together ever year. It will be interesting to see what the field will look like next year. WordPress themeing is moving along faster than the safety equipment market.

Change the World WordPress style

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If you’re looking for a reason to write a WordPress plugin, here’s a good cause and a competition you might be interested in. The Change The World Challenge is a contest that asks developers all around the world to come up with a plugin, widget, website or other device using the Social Actions API. The WordPress blog encourages developers to go down the WordPress plugin route in this way:

Basically, the contest is to create a plugin, widget, mash up, hack, or other variety of web application that helps people find and share opportunities to take action. The grand prize is 50 benjis, and the best WordPress plugin will also be featured in the Plugin Directory. But the real prize is spreading a little more love in the world.

The main challenge, in my opinion, is to come up with a great idea; the coding is usually the easy part. It’s not just a matter of walking to a shop and buying the door hardware you need, it’s the process of imaging what it can be used for that’s the hard part. So if you come up with an idea, just let me know.