Author: Tom (Page 349 of 427)

WordPress Refactoring: Refining Plugin Functions

February 13, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

Whenever it comes to writing code – be it starting a new project or working with an existing system – there are a lot of developers that aim to write clean, maintainable code.

It’s a challenge for sure, but it’s not impossible. Even if you’re responsible for simply introducing a new function into an existing system, there’s an opportunity to leave the place a little better than you found it.

Granted, trying to refactor a larger system too much can have serious unintended consequences, so I don’t necessarily advocate doing that, but if you have the opportunity to break a one larger function into several smaller, more focused functions, then I think the opportunity should be taken.

I recently had a chance to do a bit of WordPress refactoring in the context of a commissioned plugin I am working on, and wanted to share the process that I followed for doing so.

How I’ve Been Using GitHub For WP Audio Player

February 12, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

For many, the nicest thing about GitHub is not just the open source nature of the site, but the social aspects of the site. And although I admit I’m not particularly fond of following my friends on yet-another-network, I do enjoy following the status of projects and being able to monitor them.

This morning, I spent some time cleaning up the issues that have rolled in for WP Audio Player. Granted, there aren’t many, but I want to make sure that there’s some organized vision, scope, and plan for the project.

As such, I thought I’d share my method for scoping issues, requests, and bugs as well as how I organize milestones while using GitHub for WP Audio Player.

WP Audio Player Plugin 1.4 Now Available

February 12, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

WP Audio Player – my plugin for easily embedding audio in your WordPress posts (and the first plugin I’ve ever open sourced on GitHub) just received a major update.

WP Audio Player

Though can read all about the updates on the plugin homepage, I thought I’d share some of the updates that went into this particular release, specifically from a developer’s perspective.

Your WordPress Developer Meetup

February 11, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

This post is Part 2 in Leading a WordPress Meetup Group. Be sure to read Part 1, as well.

In my last post, I talked about some of the things that my local WordPress Developer meetup did last year and what we’re looking to do this year. As much as I dig meeting other local developers, my own group didn’t start until just last year.

I think they can be an invaluable resource for a lot of people and I think it’s pretty stellar to see people putting together their own groups. But if you’re new to the whole meetup scene, there’s a couple of things you need to get started.

Here, I’ll outline a few things that you can do to get your WordPress Developer Meetup started using stuff that we’ve found successful.

My WordPress Developer Meetup

February 11, 2013 / Tom / 0 Comments

This post is Part 1 in Leading a WordPress Meetup Group. Read Part 2 if you're looking to start one.

One of the things that I love about the development community – regardless of what language, platform, or technology used – is that we love holding meetups in order to get together and chat about what’s relevant to our work as well as to help one another get better at what we do.

Last year, shortly after WordCamp Atlanta, I ended up joining my local WordPress Developer Meetup group (and props to Naomi C. Bush for putting that together).

One of the challenges of holding a developer-specific meetup group is that it can seem irrelevant to even those who may be considered advanced users versus, y’know, developers.

As such, Naomi and I are working together to increase the quality of the group by widening the scope. We also have some plans to help to keep those of you who aren’t local to stay up to date with what our group is doing.

In the this posts and the one following, I want to share what we’re doing locally and then some tips that we’ve learned from experience as to what you can do locally to help begin a local development group.