Author: Tom (Page 380 of 424)

Improving WordPress Plugins

August 20, 2012 / Tom / 0 Comments

Improving WordPress Plugins

In some ways, plugins are kind of the “apps of WordPress” and they need to be treated as such. Many developers care about improving WordPress plugins and the associated experience, but there’s a long way to go.

Currently, it’s more like the Wild West than anything else: Anyone who can write code that does something with WordPress – regardless of if it follows any of the best practices – and can have their work added the plugin repository.

Last week, an impromptu discussion about the state of plugins grew into a much more serious talk. So much so that what started as a Twitter conversation moved to a Google Hangout then migrated to a blog.

Obviously, this touched a sensitive spot in the WordPress Developer community and a discussing ensued about what could be done to begin improving WordPress plugins and the associated process and repository:

Mou For Mac – Markdown Made Awesome

August 17, 2012 / Tom / 0 Comments

If you’re in the business of writing plugins for WordPress or are involved at all with the GitHub community, then you’re more than familiar with markdown.

Personally, I’ve tried a number of different markdown editors but have yet to be really satisfied with any of them. For the longest time, I used iA Writer and I still think it’s a terrific application, but I think it’s geared more towards writers and note takers. It doesn’t suite my particular needs.

The majority of the notes that I take are usually in some form of documentation – either it’s related to team meetings, documentation for work I share on GitHub, or README files for themes, plugins, or similar projects.

And as far as those situations are concerned, Mou For Mac is hands down the best markdown editor I’ve used.

Introducing Ajax in the WordPress Dashboard

August 17, 2012 / Tom / 0 Comments

Introducing Ajax in the WordPress Dashboard is a relatively easy thing to do as WordPress provides a standard set of steps to follow. Unfortunately, it’s not always done correctly.

In my latest set of articles over at WPTuts+, I give a Primer on Ajax in the WordPress Dashboard. Continue reading

WordPress Pointers: What’s Required For Development?

August 16, 2012 / Tom / 0 Comments

When I was in college, I had a year’s worth of classes where we did all of our homework assignments and projects in C.

I specifically remember hearing that if a person couldn’t grasp the concept of pointers and their associated functions, then they may not be best suited for programming. Although I think that understanding this is valuable, I’m not sure I fully agree. I digress.

Every now and then, I come across a new blog post that is breaking down pointers in C. They’re usually of the following flavor:

Pointers Made Easy
The 10 Step Guide To Understanding Pointers
Pointers: Let’s Get The Point!
…or something like that

Today, I came across another post doing the same thing. For what it’s worth, I think it’s well-written and I’m actually in favor of keeping this information current in the blogosphere.

But it did get me thinking about “WordPress pointers,” or what is WordPress’ equivalent of pointers?

Ending Development on Author Admin

August 15, 2012 / Tom / 0 Comments

For those of you who are interested, you can download the plugin though I no longer maintain this.

Roughly four months ago, I released a premium plugin that aimed to improve author administration in WordPress. Today, I’m officially ending development on Author Admin..

Similar to WP Social Icons, I’m more concerned with narrowly focusing my efforts on projects that are more closely aligned with the problems I’d like to attempt to solve.

That said, there are a few things that I did learn while working on and maintaining the project.