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WordPress Meta Data: Other Data (Not IDs)

April 1, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

Yesterday, I talked about some of the advantages of using IDs when working with various pieces of WordPress data and populating different input elements, saving it to the database, and more.

For certain types of data, this works well; however, this may not always be true especially as it relates to data types such as taxonomies. This is going to be most notable in WordPress 4.2.

Taxonomy term splitting coming in WordPress 4.2

If you’re an experienced developer, then I recommend reading the blog post linked above; otherwise, suffice it to say that using IDs may not always be the best option depending on if you’re doing a database migration (and how that migration might be done).

So what else are we left to do?

WordPress Meta Data: Use IDs (Not Titles)

March 31, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the features that I’ve often found myself having to implement when building custom solutions for others is implementing some type of select box – be it multi-select or single select – or another similar input element that’s [naturally] populated with a list of option elements.

These options may consist of posts, pages, custom post types, categories, taxonomies, etc. It doesn’t really matter what type of information it includes, but it does matter how the information is populated.

Use Your WordPress Powers For Good

March 30, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to speak at WordCamp Atlanta about the Importance of Following The WordPress Coding Standards.

I had a blast talking with the audience, meeting new people, answering questions, and being exposed to some ideas and techniques that I’d not previously considered.

During the talk, a friend of mine happened to snap a picture of two young guys – between 11 – 13 years old or so – sitting on the front-row of the presentation.

Since I tend to be protective about sharing pictures of my own kids online, I’ve opted not to share the picture here, but it doesn’t matter – the important thing is that there were young kids present at this WordCamp soaking up every word that was being present and even asking questions.

This is something that I’ve yet to see at a WordCamp – at least in Atlanta – and it’s really got me excited for the future of computer science, of WordPress, and of programming in general.

The Importance of Following The WordPress Coding Standards

March 28, 2015 / Tom

Today, I’m attending WordCamp Atlanta. I’ll be speaking on the topic of The Importance of Following The WordPress Coding Standards.

The WordPress Coding Standards

It’s been a couple of years since I was able to attend a WordCamp (primarily because my wife and I were growing our family and welcoming additional humans to Planet Earth :).

Anyway, I’m excited to be back.

Include Bugs in Screencasting

March 27, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

For a number of years, I’ve been doing screencasts that help to teach others how to use WordPress – the majority of my work has been done for Envato, but I’ve also done some one-on-one screencasting as well as some screencasting for smaller teams.

Personally, I think it’s a really invaluable way to show people how to get started with using a given project without having to have them trudge through the documentation that often ships with software or with the manual that walks users through how to do a certain task.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for documentation, but I also know that when you’re sitting in your chair amidst all of this frustration and you have no idea where to turn, flipping through pages and pages of content hoping to find a solution isn’t always the best feeling in the world.

Anyway, the neat thing about screencasting is that aside from being able to show people how to use a project, it can always be a means by which we use to teach other people how to learn a new skill.

To me, that’s a really cool thing.

But up until this year – in fact, up until my latest round of screencasting – I always worked hard to make sure each video was as pristine as possible.

I don’t know if that’s always such a good idea, though.

Tom McFarlin