Page 163 of 428

Highlight a WordPress Admin Active Submenu

May 19, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

If you’re working on a theme or a plugin for WordPress and you want to highlight an active submenu item, then your implementation is going to vary based on where you want to highlight the actual item.

An overexaggerated menu to help drive this point home.

This is one of those times where it’s helpful to have clear terminology for what you’re trying to modify:

Are you working on trying to highlight an active submenu in the admin menu,
Or are you working to highlight an active submenu on the front-end of the theme?

There’s no consistent way to do this. For what it’s worth, I don’t think they should be as they are two completely different entities (for lack of a better term). Perhaps having some semi-consistent filter names would be nice, but that’s about it.

Regardless, when you set out to highlight an active submenu item, it’s important to note which part of the project you’re working on and then go from there.

Improving WordPress Plugin User Experience

May 18, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

When working on a new WordPress plugin or generally speaking, a new feature of a project that will integrate with the WordPress back-end, I’m of the mind the all of the elements should inherit the styles provided by WordPress.

In short, I’m not a fan of when other people build things for the application and use the set of controls they think “look good” or that deviate from the core set of elements and style.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t improvements that can’t be made within WordPress, but there are also reasons for the look, feel, and usability of things as they currently are. And over time, I believe that these things will evolve just as they’ve done this far.

But what do you do when you’re working on a feature and you’re unsure of how it should work from a user experience perspective and you don’t really have a guide from which to draw?

The Facets of a WordPress Developer

May 17, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Do a few Internet searches for “WordPress developer” and you’re bound to find more than a few posts on the topic. Though my goal isn’t to add to the plethora of articles that already exist, there are a few thoughts I have as it relates to the topic.

And all of it comes from time spent working in the WordPress economy, working with others, talking with others, and so on.

This isn’t a post about how to hire, what salaries should be, or how to interview a person. It just has to do with the type of work we do.

Beginner Resources for JavaScript and jQuery

May 16, 2016 / Tom

This month, I published two articles on Envato about resources for JavaScript and jQuery.

For those who get involved in a form of development – be it back-end, front-end, or some other type of developer – we end up forgetting what it was like not to know how to do so something. It’s kind of like riding a bike or swimming, right?

We may remember when we learned, but how much do we remember about losing our balance or not knowing how to keep our head above water?

And that’s what I think it’s like to be on the outside of a programming language, how it interacts with third-party components (like the browser or the filesystem), and how the language is structured.

Because of that, I think it’s important to publish resources periodically on topics like this for those who are looking to get started.

Version Control With Git: A Guide From Tower

May 13, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

When it comes to version control with Git, it’s no secret that I’m a fan of Tower. In the WordPress development community, it’s not at all uncommon to hear others talk about why they love or hate GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Subversion, or whatever source control system they are opting to use.

That said, I think it’s fair to say that learning Git has its advantages. Although WordPress uses Subversion for core, themes, and plugins, many developers (myself included) opt to use GitHub for some our projects. This doesn’t mean that learning Subversion should be optional, but I think learning how to use both is important.

For this post, though, I’m talking specifically about Git. Case in point: If you’re looking to contribute to some of the most popular plugins (such as Easy Digital Downloads) then you’ve nothing to lose with this.

So what’s a good resource for doing just that?

Tom McFarlin

Highlight a WordPress Admin Active Submenu

Improving WordPress Plugin User Experience

The Facets of a WordPress Developer

Beginner Resources for JavaScript and jQuery

Version Control With Git: A Guide From Tower