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Scaling WordPress (And Doing It Right)

February 19, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Scaling WordPress is a hot topic among developers.

For some, it’s just something you do through a variety of tools and practices that you learn over time. For others who are involved with development in other languages, it’s a fool’s errand.

As far as I’m concerned, WordPress does scale though it takes some strategies to get it to work (such as a proper use of transients, caching, etc.). But there are varying degrees of what it means “to scale,” right?

That is, depending on how many users you have, the type of content you’re serving, the level of demand your site has based on the interaction of the visitors, and some other factors will all contribute to whether or not your site is going to scale.

But if we’re working on a larger project and we know it’s going to need to scale, how do we know we’re doing everything correctly?

Writing Beautiful Code in WordPress

February 18, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Writing beautiful code in WordPress is a topic that any programmer, at some point in his or her career, is going to consider. I say this if for no other reason because it’s something that’s almost a right of passage for any programmer.

When it comes to writing code, there are some who get into it because they have a real love for solving problems using computers. Others get into it for others reasons. Maybe it’s because someone urged them to do so, maybe it’s because technology is going to continue to be ever present in our lives.

If you’re of the former, then I think your appreciation for code isn’t as high as for those who get into it for a different reason. I’m not trying to generalize, but I’m speaking from observation.

So anyway, when it comes to writing beautiful code in WordPress, how do we even go about doing that?

What is a Better Blogging Experience?

February 17, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

I first shared that Eric and I are working on a set of plugins that will lead to a better blogging experience, it spawned a handful of questions many of which ended up in my inbox.

On one hand, I love that because it shows there’s interest in what’s happening (and if you want to continue to follow along with what is happening, then don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list), but on the other hand, it also sets an unclear level of expectations.

Pressware Plugins For a Better Blogging Experience

As far as the former is concerned, that’s awesome. But for the latter? I’m no fan of that. Instead, I’d rather set a realistic level of expectations, so those who are interested know what to expect.

“Seems like a basic feature to me.”

February 16, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

The idea of “a basic feature” when it comes to creating software is such a weird notion to me. Last week, I was reading a blog and came across the following comment:

I don’t have a [device redacted] but these all seem like extremely basic features that should be there from the start.

And it’s a strange thing because the implication is that whatever is released out of the gate should be something that’s feature complete and should conform to whatever you (or whoever makes these comments) thinks of how a product should function.

But this carries several implications with it.

Yet Another WordPress Business

February 15, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

If you follow the WordPress economy via your RSS reader, favorite podcast application, and Twitter, then there’s a chance you develop a level of cynicism around the idea of another WordPress business starting up.

By that, I mean that it seems like there’s something new every single week: It could be a plugin, a new service, a new site, a new theme, or whatever. And there is!

I know that some like to talk all about the low barrier to entry that WordPress offers (which I call into question), and you may say that because of that, it gives people this sense of confidence that they can start a business built around WordPress and then find success.

First, all of these things that we see so frequently are signs of a vibrant and healthy economy. Secondly, what’s wrong with so many people trying to start something new?

Tom McFarlin

Scaling WordPress (And Doing It Right)

Writing Beautiful Code in WordPress

What is a Better Blogging Experience?

“Seems like a basic feature to me.”

Yet Another WordPress Business