Category: Articles (Page 44 of 258)

Personal opinions and how-to’s that I’ve written both here and as contributions to other blogs.

WordPress Widgets: Refactoring, Part 5

January 9, 2019 / Tom

In the previous post, we created a Registry that is going to be used to store all of the various classes responsible for giving our widget its functionality.

To do this, there’s going to be a variety of other classes introduced, but before going there, we need to add the Registry to the plugin’s bootstrap (let alone create a bootstrap for the plugin).

Specifically, here’s where we left off:

As mentioned earlier in the post, we need to add this to the bootstrap of the plugin. To do this, though, we need to define our own filter so that we can easily pass the registry around the rest of the plugin (when the time comes to do that).

So in this post, we’re going to focus on doing exactly that.

Adding a Plugin Settings Link

January 8, 2019 / Tom

Whenever you’re building a plugin that introduces a submenu, and you’re using the proper APIs, you’re going to be creating an administration page (whether or not it has settings).

When doing this, though, you can also introduce a plugin settings link. These are the links that appear under the name of the plugin from in the plugin dashboard.

Plugin Settings Link

If your plugin introduces its submenu item, then it likely introduces its own settings page. And if you’re looking to associate this page with your plugin settings link, it’s really easy to do.

Gauging WordPress Podcast Interest

January 2, 2019 / Tom

Over the break, I had a lot of time to think about different things as it relates to Pressware and this blog. One of the things I’ve been thinking about for months now is the idea of starting a podcast.

WordPress Podcast Interest

I talked a bit about the initial idea some time ago. In the post, I mentioned the following:

I’m not particularly interested in doing the “interview others” for a podcast because other people are doing them so well and they are interviewing such interesting people.

But I did wonder if there’s not some room for a question-and-answer format. I know many podcasts end their episodes like this. However, I’m interested in experimenting with short podcasts (that is 10 – 15 minutes max) and those that answer questions.

The TL;DR version of the rest of the post is simple:

If you have five minutes to spare, would you mind answering the following survey? It’s not closed to anyone, and this will help me to gauge interest in doing this. All submissions are kept completely private.
The podcast will be short (20 – 30 minutes in length), will have a primary format, and will be geared towards anyone involved in WordPress.

Still curious? Read the rest of the post.

Starting 2019

December 31, 2018 / Tom

I believe last year was the first time that I’ve really spent planning for the coming year and blogged about it. This year, I want to do the same, but it’s a little different.

Starting 2019

Since I spent so much time organizing and planning out how I wanted to get things done last year and since it worked out, all things considered, I want to follow the same format. But the truth is that it’s not nearly as involved since I have a methodology to apply.

In short, it goes something like this (which you’ll see momentarily):

create four specific areas for the things you want to do,
have a set of goals for each of those areas,
if something comes along that both fit in an area and contributes to a goal, do it; otherwise, discard it.

That’s how I operated in 2018, and it’s how I want to operate in 2019.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (From 2018 To 2019)

December 21, 2018 / Tom

From Christmas to New Years, I’ve typically taken time off of work to celebrate the holidays and to spend time with family and friends.

Merry Christmas 2018

During this time, I usually spend time off of social media and blogging and this year is no different (in fact, I’ve been off certain services for the last month or so save for the work day).

To that end, I’m looking forward to hanging out with my friends and family (and each year gets more and more fun and interesting as the kiddos get older).
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