Software Engineering in WordPress, PHP, and Backend Development

Author: Tom (Page 369 of 427)

WordPress Donations: Is There Shame in Asking?

In light of yesterday’s post and some of the discussion in both comments and offering support for various WordPress projects, I’m curious as to what you guys consider to be etiquette when it comes to asking for WordPress donations.

As I mentioned yesterday, I personally think that we have a personal obligation to provide a level of support for free software that we released; however, at one point is it socially acceptable to ask for a donation.

On top of that, where do you even draw the line?

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WordPress Plugin Support: How Much is Too Much?

One of the nicest things about WordPress is how easy it is for developers to extend its functionality, and how easy it is for users to find plugins that help them enhance their blog.

All conversations about plugin quality and compatibility aside, WordPress plugin support is one area of development that often seems to be rarely discussed (unless I’m missing all the people talking about it!).

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A Case Study on WordPress Projects

For as long as I’ve been on the Internet (well, the Internet as my generation knows it ;), developers and designers have usually maintained some type of display of their work and it’s generally consisted of a listing of projects that they’ve completed with outbound links to said project.

I’ve toyed with the idea of going into detail as to how I’ve built certain projects – you can see this in posts such as how I built Category Sticky Post and Tag Sticky Post – but I’ve never gone all in as I’ve never sold on if it was of any interest to others.

But yesterday, Smashing Magazine ran a bit of a motivational post on Retiring The Portfolio Screenshot and focusing more on “case study” type posts.

This got me thinking about beginning to introduce a case study on WordPress projects.

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For The Aspiring Professional WordPress Developer

When it comes to discussing WordPress development, I think that one topic that’s hard to come by is how to begin taking on professional WordPress development gigs.

Specifically, I think that we could do a better job of communicating what to expect when another developer opts to make the move to become a professional WordPress developer. And by that, I mean doing something part-time or full-time for pay.

For roughly the past two years, I’ve divided my time between self-employment and two startups the latter two using WordPress as the backbone for their software. For the former, I’ve built a number of plugins – most free, a few premium – and have worked on a number of contracts building sites, plugins, and applications for others.

With that said, I thought I’d do my part in sharing some advice for the aspiring WordPress developer.

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