Author: Tom (Page 269 of 428)

Why I Use GistBox

May 31, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

Note that I no longer use this particular piece of software as I've resulted in using standard Gists.

One of the tools that I’ve been using more and more each day is GistBox. As the website states:

The Beautiful Way to Organize Code Snippets GistBox is the shared code library your team needs.

This isn’t a bad explanation by any means, but if you’re a single developer and/or you’re looking for quick reasons as to how this may be useful in your day-to-day workflow, this particular sentence leaves something to be desired, right?

Personally, I was skeptical until I gave it a try, but now I can’t really imagine not using.

More Thoughts on Why You Need a Team

May 30, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

This is the second post in a series about my thoughts an experience in building a team. Read the first, as well.

In the previous post in this two-part series, I talked about there are different types of teams that are out there and that work together on certain types of projects despite the fact that most of the material that we read is oriented around teams that make up a startup, a business, or a company.

Specifically, I talked about how I used a team to help test my WordPress theme prior to releasing it for sale, and how each person on the list was vetted and provided invaluable information, we didn’t have any type of strict hierarchy.

Instead, it was basically everyone person working together to make sure the product was as solid as possible. But there are more reasons on why you need a team.

As I’ve continued work on the next iteration of the WordPress Plugin Bolerplate, I’ve been working with a very small, focused team of developers all of whom are doing a stellar job helping to bring this project to fruition.

Some Thoughts on Why You Need a Team

May 29, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

This is the first post in a series about my thoughts an experience in building a team.

Posts that normally talk about teams usually discuss the importance of going further, faster, team dynamics, people leading in their core areas of competence, and often come back to some form of leadership.

I think that all of that is right and all of that is good and valuable, but when it comes to talking about a team when building some type of software project, I think that the articles and conversations are usually oriented around the ideas and challenges of building a company, or to help build something for the long term.

But there are other types of teams, and they are just as valuable as those that help make up a development team, testing team, a startup team, or so on, they just don’t necessarily fit the traditional mold.

And because of that, these are the types of teams that are normally talked about. As such, I thought it might be worth sharing a few thoughts on why you need a team especially in a non-standard context through my own personal experience.

Three Thoughts About Marketing WordPress.com Themes

May 28, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

For the last few months now, I’ve been selling Mayer exclusively on WordPress.com and I’ve really enjoyed it.

The thing is, for those that have kept up with the work I’ve been doing with WordPress over the past few years, you know that I’ve been involved in the development of several different themes (and still am, but more on that later).

The Mayer Demo on WordPress.com

But in working exclusively with the marketplace, there have been a number of questions that I’ve been thinking about as it relates to marketing WordPress.com themes.

Generally speaking, I don’t have answers to these, though I’m happy to share my thoughts; however, I’m definitely interested in hearing your thoughts and opinions as well.

WordPress at the Risk of First Impressions

May 27, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

The more time anyone spends with WordPress and all associated products (that is, themes, plugins, and so on), the more likely they are to also pick up on all of the commentary – both good, bad, and neutral – that surrounds the core application.

Obviously, I’m a fan of WordPress and make my living building things for it and trying to give back to the core application when I can so I know that what I’m going to say is going to come off as biased just as anyone else who writes about their preferred technology stack.

I’m well aware of the common complaints people have about the WordPress codebase and I’m not here to defend, to make statements about how it’s getting better, or to spark a discussion on how hard it is to maintain legacy features for a decade.

But if you’re a developer who is just getting into WordPress – specifically, products built on top of it – then I think that a significant portion of your first impression has to do with your experience on the first product that you use.