Author: Tom (Page 93 of 427)

Object-Oriented Programming in WordPress: Statement of Work

November 28, 2017 / Tom

Before we get into the topic of object-oriented analysis and design (which is when most of us get the most fun out of what we do aside from actually writing code), it’s important to follow-up a few more things regarding understanding customer requirements.

In the previous post, I mentioned:

If you take time to understand what they want from the beginning, then the requirements don’t have to be a 50-page document outlining how every single module has to work.

For example, whenever I put together requirements (or a Statement of Work) as I usually call them when I send them to clients, I rarely exceed ten pages, and it’s often less.

And though there are times when it’s longer, I think that part of the reason that developing a short set of requirements comes with the preliminary discussions to make sure you and the customer(s) have developed a common language with which you can work.

When you do that, the requirements and the statement of work – whatever you opt to call them – don’t have to be as long.

What’s the Difference in CodeKit and Composer?

November 27, 2017 / Tom

Since I’ve written about CodeKit and Composer (more about the latter in recent posts, really), I’ll occasionally get emails asking which do I really prefer using whenever it comes to working on projects for others.

And the short answer is that they aren’t mutually exclusive. If anything, they can complement each other. They aren’t substitutes for each other.

As I’ve moved from less and less frontend-oriented projects, the less I use CodeKit. And the more I’ve moved more towards backend-oriented development, the more I use Composer.

Furthermore, front-end development is different than back-end development, right? So, again, why would we ask:

Should I use CodeKit or Composer?

That’s where the longer answer comes into play.

Scheduled Post Shortcut 1.4.1 Now Available

November 22, 2017 / Tom

Scheduled Post Shortcut is arguably my least popular plugins. That is, has an extremely low number of downloads based on what few number of analytics I have.

Scheduled Post Shortcut 1.4.1

Regardless, it’s one that I use (I mean, I technically wrote it for myself) and there are those who use the plugin if they write with any sort of regularity – whatever that may be for them.

However, it’s been brought to my attention by a number of people who joined up as members that they saw an error message in their dashboard whenever they logged into the site.

No good, right?

So as I head into the holidays, I wanted to get a quick fix for this out as a “thank you” to those who use it and for those who reported the error and who have signed up to join the site.

Musings on a Decade of WordPress: Themes, Plugins, News, Hosting, and More

November 21, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

I’ve been sitting on the idea of this post for some time because I’ve not been sure how to best articulate it. Some of us are better with words than others and all that.

But I thought since it’s been a while since I’ve written anything beyond a technical post, that maybe I’d use this time (you know, during the whole upcoming holiday season and all that), to share some thoughts, opinions, and observations on all things WordPress.

For those who live and die by hit pieces or the “…you’ll never believe what happens next” stuff we’re used to seeing on so many social media outlets, this is not that post.

Instead, this is one person who has been working with WordPress in a professional capacity for close to a decade in a technical way who’s simply sharing observations.

There’s a lyric I like:

Opinions are immunity from being told you’re wrong.

Maybe that works here, maybe not. I don’t know. But I’m going to open comments on this post, and although I may not respond to them, I’m genuinely interested in other people’s take on their experience with WordPress.

5 Ideas for an Enhanced GitHub Workflow

November 20, 2017 / Tom

Depending on your history with working source control, the way in which you go about working with a codebase, making commits, etc., varies.

Further, depending on if you’re using Git, Subversion, Mercurial, and so on also dictate how you manage your code.

But if you’re someone who’s working with Git (which I know many people in WordPress are starting to use more and more almost on a daily basis), there are some small things that I recommend doing to help make managing changes espcially with a team more manageable.