Author: Tom (Page 338 of 429)

The Identity Crisis of WordPress Plugin Icons

April 19, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the coolest things to be introduced to the WordPress Plugin Repository over the past couple of years was the addition of the header images – this one little addition made it possible to easily have your plugin stand out in the larger context of the entire repository.

This also got me thinking a bit about WordPress plugin icons.

The majority of our devices – either desktops / laptops, tables, phablets, and phones – all use icons to represent the application. Of course, this is nothing knew – we’ve been doing this since the GUI was introduced to computing, right?

But is this something that we should be considering for our WordPress plugins (or our themes)?

Displaying a Plugin Activation Message in WordPress

April 18, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

There have been times through out several projects where I’ve wanted to display a plugin activation message (or deactivation message).

WordPress makes it relatively easy to do this using two functions:

But here’s the the thing: These two functions may not work as you expect if you’re writing your plugins using object-oriented practices.

So I thought I’d share how I go about displaying a plugin activation message in hopes that it not only helps you in your future projects, but in hopes that you guys could offer up your own code review as well.

The Challenges of Building a Distributed Team

April 17, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

Earlier today, I shared a post on what I believe to be key strategies in working with a distributed team. As with anything, there’s always a flip side of the coin and, this case, there are definitely challenges of a distributed team.

The points that I’m about to make aren’t coming out of the void, either. In the Envato article, I received a comment that felt deserved a longer response than what normally goes into a comment.

I’ll post the entire comment here and then discuss the key points after:

I’d like to add one more thing as well. You have to find willing participants! No disrespect to anyone but you, pippin, and norcross are very well known WP developers. For an average joe, it’s not really that easy to say, “hey, I have a great idea for a plugin, let me ask some developers to build it with me.”

I think the first thing someone needs to do is network and build some relationships with plugin developers. And good relationships for that matter. Then those developers have to see if it’s worth it to them (do they have time, do they even want to do it, do they want to work with you).

Otherwise, it’ll be hard to work in the way you mentioned without hiring a developer out of pocket.

BUT, if you do build those relationships, or already have them, then the article is spot on =)

There are some valid and compelling points in this comment.

Working with a Distributed Team and WordPress

April 17, 2013 / Tom

In my most recent article on WPTuts+, I discuss what it’s like working with a distributed team and WordPress.

The point of the article was to give a short summary as to how it’s possible and what’s required to do good work.

The primary reason that I wanted to write this article was two fold:

I’ve spent the better half of my self-employment working wit 8BIT in a distributed environment
I’ve recently completed a plugin with two other WordPress developers who I’ve never met face-to-face

I wanted to share that it’s completely possible, but there are some key things that are necessary to make sure that good work actually gets done.

Are You An Open Source Pragmatist, Really?

April 16, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

As far as I’m convinced, one of the things that will forever exist within the WordPress development community is the various degrees to which we align ourselves with the principles of open source software.

Perhaps a simpler way of putting it is that the development community is forever going to be debating over the “spirit of the law,” or the “letter of the law” of the GPL, and will be deriving their actions and choices based on their interpretation.

But this post isn’t so much about my particular stance on the GPL. Instead, it’s more about something that I’ve seen being shared throughout the rest of the WordPress development community since late last week. Continue reading