Software Engineering in WordPress, PHP, and Backend Development
Personal opinions and how-to’s that I’ve written both here and as contributions to other blogs.
Since working in software, one of the things that I’ve yet to actually get used to is how quickly people want things delivered.
But I’m not saying this as someone who has built things for others, but also as someone who enjoys using things other people have built, and as someone who cares deeply about trying to get better at what I do for a living.
The bottom line is that development takes time, and good development takes even more time, but neither of the statements are completely one-sided.
For anyone that’s maintained blog for any length of time, you’ve likely hit a point where you’ve changed the format of your blog, changed the content of your blog, changed the way you write, or simply gotten better at actually publishing content.
And if any of the above are you true, it’s likely that you’ve had to determine whether or not you want to go back and work through the process of updating old blog posts or leave them as they are.
Depending on how long you’ve been blogging, this could be a huge task; for others, it may not take more than a couple of hours.
Periodically, I’m asked the question:
Should I learn JavaScript or jQuery first?
Last month, I wrote about my two favorite JavaScript books, and though I considered answering that question in the post, it seemed a bit off topic – at least that day.
So why not take the opportunity to cover it in a post of its own?
About a year and a half ago, I released the first version of Single Post Message for WordPress which is a simple plugin specifically for adding a notification at the top of the bottom of a given post.
For whatever it’s worth, it’s one of the plugins I’ve enjoyed creating the most not only because it scratched my own itch, but also because it’s an extremely lean, focused plugin that aims to solve exactly one problem.
The other day, Pippin William tweeted the following:
Good plugin idea for someone: add metabox to edit screen that allows notes to be entered and displayed just above comment form for that post
— Pippin Williamson (@pippinsplugins) September 28, 2013
To which Japh Thomson replied:
@pippinsplugins Sounds like a feature request for @tommcfarlin’s “Single Post Message” plugin: http://t.co/boCu7LdmSO
— Japh (@Japh) September 29, 2013
And to which Andrew Norcross built and responded with:
https://twitter.com/norcross/status/384463729578225664
You can read the entire conversation, but there are three things that I really dig about this particular exchange and the plugin that came out of it. But before discussing those, I think its worth checking out the WP Comment Notes plugin itself.
When it comes to taking notes, I’m a bit obsessive about it. In fact, I used to carry a notebook with me everywhere – literally – in case any kind of idea, thought, or something I forgot to do (or needed to do) struck me wherever I was.
For me, it wasn’t enough to jot down a note in whatever piece of paper I had available – I needed I make sure I had a “catch all” notebook of sorts. This is a habit that I developed in college (in fact, I actually still have some of those notebooks in a drawer!) and has persisted ever since.
Despite the fact that I don’t think I’ll ever really stop using notebooks, I have been trying to go as digital as possible. Case in point: Not long ago, I shared how I take notes using Bamboo Paper.
But for quick little notes, personal reminders, and ideas, that’s a bit overkill right?
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