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?