Category: Resources (Page 11 of 60)

A summary of useful links, applications, and tools that I find around the Internet.

Writing Good Git Commit Messages

July 1, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Git commit messages – actually, any commit messages – are one of those things that I believe start off with the best of intentions.

That is, we tell ourselves that from the outset of a project that this time is going to be different than the last time. Whereas, the last time, our commit messages started off well but, by the end, we’re writing things like:

Fixed some things
Removed stuff
Refactored the function

Sure, this is a bit facetious, but the point is that if you look at commit messages for a lot of projects, they start off far more detailed in the beginning than by the end of the project.

I’m guilty of this, too. How, then, do we stick with good commit messages (and specifically, good Git commit messages, since so many open source developers use that service)?

A Different Take on WordPress Tutorials on Plugins

June 24, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Sites for WordPress tutorials are nearly a dime a dozen. Some are fantastic, and others leave us wanting more. I know their ultimate goal is to help other people learn how to write plugins the right way, but it’s a mixed bag when it comes to the quality of the content.

Are you learning the best practices?
Are the concepts being presented done so in a way that’s accessible via beginners and intermediates alike?
Are they promoting practices as outlined in PHP best practices and WordPress best practices?

There’s nearly an endless permutation of how we can present information which is why I enjoy sharing my take on things here, reading the comments, sharing content on other sites.

But one aspect of WordPress tutorial sites that is underserved, in my opinion, is talking with people who build things for WordPress and the reasons for creating a solution and the rationale behind how they’ve built it. This is something that can be covered both about WordPress themes and WordPress plugins.

Because I spend the majority of my time working on WordPress plugins, I’m obviously going to be focused more on that aspect of the economy than the other. And recently, a friend of mine started up a new site specifically geared towards WordPress tutorials focused on plugins.

The site is neat, though: It’s not like a music review site that aims to provide a rating or end-user review of a plugin. It’s something different, and I’m a fan.

Start Here for the Aspiring WordPress Developer

June 20, 2016 / Tom

Earlier this year, I launched a closed-membership site, The First Version, aiming to help the aspiring WordPress developer.

Ultimately, the goal of the site was not to teach in-depth concepts such as PHP, object-oriented programming, or how to create themes or plugins.

Instead, it was meant to give budding developers a survey of the landscape of WordPress development and what tools, resources, and options they have at their disposal for starting on their journey.

Given the feedback, response, and membership, I think it went well. But it’s been closed for a few months. After an exercise in re-branding and a refocusing of the content, I’m relaunching the site for another few months.

Optimus For WordPress Image Optimization

June 17, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

WordPress image optimization is one of those things that’s useful for anyone who blogs regularly (be it weekly, bi-weekly, daily, or however many times).

Including images in your posts is usually considered a good thing, but as you start to do so over time, you’re going to end up utilizing storage space on your server. On top of that, sometimes images include metadata that isn’t always necessary for images posted on a site.

For example, the time, date, and location of a photo isn’t always necessary to keep when sharing an image on the web. Sometimes, sure, but all the time? Doubtful.

Anyway, there are a number of great plugins that are available that compress images, remove metadata, and generally help with all of this. One of the one’s that I’ve been using and that I’ve grown to really like is Optimus.

Debug WordPress with Kint PHP Debugger

June 10, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

When working to debug WordPress projects, I’m personally a fan of using Codebug (something I should probably write about a bit later), but it’s more of a general debugger than one specifically tailored for WordPress.

If you’re looking for the later, then there’s a solid plugin available from Tonya Mork (of Know The Code) that brings the features of Kint Debugger into a WordPress plugin.

For those who have never used a professional-grade debugger, this is a great way to get started with going beyond the standard print_r and var_dump statements that so many often use to locate problems.