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Is There a Lack of Integrity in WordPress?

March 12, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

A few years ago, I was working on a WordPress theme that had some really cool features (if I can say that without sounding as if I’m bragging). The features were brainstormed by a team and gathered through feedback through a number of customers and users, and all were implemented over a long period of time.

When the time came to actually release the theme, it proved to be worth it – it was well-received.

As with any product, we then went into maintenance mode doing the usual round of fielding bug reports, features requests, and so on, and then continued maintaining the product with periodic releases in order to provide bug fixes, minor feature updates, and so on.

Generally speaking, it was great. There was a lot to be proud of and things were going well.

But, as with anything, things couldn’t continue on the up and up forever and during one of the releases, I neglected to remove a line of code that was intended only for the development environment.

We shipped it.

And it negatively affected all of the customers who applied the update.

The Versions of WordPress and PHP

March 11, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the biggest challenges that comes with working with PHP and WordPress is determining which version of PHP to use.

From the WordPress.org Requirements page:

PHP version 5.2.4 or greater (recommended: PHP 5.4 or greater)

With respect to PHP, a lot has changed between 5.2.4 and 5.4. And the problem, for developers, usually comes down to something like this:

If we opt to stick with the oldest supported version then we have the largest audience appeal, but if we stick with newer versions then we get some nice, new features in the language but at the expense of certain hosts.

So when it comes to WordPress and PHP, what do we do?

Your Code Is Not Wrong (Or Right)

March 10, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

Every now and then, I’ll be having conversations with fellow developers about various things we’re working on, working through, and looking to focus on in the coming days, months, or weeks.

And sometimes, when doing this, it seems like there’s a pattern where some developers are facing some of the same set of challenges as other developers (or they’re facing challenges that other developers have once experienced or maybe even yet to experience).

Case in point: Last week, I had several conversations in which I was talking with some others about the feeling of never feeling fully satisfied with code that you’re writing, or with that feeling that comes with wondering if you’re architecting a project correctly.

I think we’ve all been there at some point. Personally speaking, I don’t know if the feeling ever goes away. I think we get better at what we do, and I think we become more aware of what we don’t know, but I don’t know if we’re ever completely happy with what we ship.

With that said, I think there is something to learn as it relates to writing good code, and reaching milestones in our projects.

Speaking at WordCamp Atlanta 2015

March 9, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

This year, WordCamp Atlanta is going to take place March 27th – March 29th and I’m really looking forward to it.

WordCamp Atlanta 2015

As it has been for the last few years, the event is going to be held at The Loudermilk Center in downtown Atlanta.

Practical Advice For Blogging, Part 1

March 6, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

For those who blog, you’ve no doubt been asked at some point in time:

How do you find the time to blog?

Or:

How do you consistently come up with things to write about?

And for those who are just starting out, I think these are great questions especially if you love to write.

After all, most (admittedly, some are in it for different reasons) of us do this because we like it – we enjoy sharing what we’ve learned, we hope to help others along their way, and we hope to learn from others via comments.

How I See Me Blogging

But if you’re looking to start a blog, looking to blog more regularly, or just trying to find some sources of inspiration for how to continue, then here are some things that I’ve found useful when wanting to consistently share things with you each day.

Granted, this may be geared more towards developers than anything else – I’ve tried to keep it pretty agnostic – but perhaps this advice for blogging will help someone else along the way.

Tom McFarlin