Category: Resources (Page 18 of 60)

I’ve written several posts about WordPress meta boxes. Perhaps the series of posts closest to what I’m going to touch on in this post is the one that outlines:

1. Aiming For Simplicity
2. Separating The Logic
3. Each Component
4. The Front-end

You can read each of these if you want, but they aren’t necessary for this particular post. If you’re familiar with WordPress meta boxes and how to create them programmatically, then you should be good to go.

The short of it is this:

There’s a consistent way to create WordPress meta boxes in an object-oriented way. This includes an interface, defined methods, and permission and security checks.

A lot of people who work with WordPress use third-party code to create these features. This includes other plugins or generators. That’s fine. I’d say that falls more into the implementor camp, but that’s beside the point.

Further, it’s not the point of this post. Instead, this post focuses on concepts for WordPress developers looking for object-oriented solutions.

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I’ve written a number of posts about WordPress plugins, their place in the overall WordPress economy, and my perspective as it relates to writing and releasing plugins.

To be sure, it’s a challenging place to be. Arguably, the most popular business model for plugins is freemium. For those who are new to this whole thing, this is basically means:

• You offer a version of you product for free. Perhaps it’s a crippled version or it’s a version that’s designed to last for a definitive period of time.
• You present the user with the opportunity to upgrade the plugin through the use of prompts throughout the plugin (or your mailing list) or however you’re capturing the leads.
• This will grant all of the features and/or greater access to support, licensing, add-ons, etc. (depending on how your plugin is built) for a one time or even a subscription-based period of time.

This model works, but it’s not without it’s challenges. For example, take a look at any of the plugins in the WordPress Plugin Repository and you’re likely to find that many of them have support questions.

That is, people who are granted free software are asking for support for it. Then again, what else is to be expected?

Inherently, there’s nothing wrong with that and I’m not saying this is wrong. If you’re going to offer something for free, then expect to receive some demand for support. How much you choose to offer varies.

Regardless, many plugin authors may be a single person or may be a small number of people all of whom are trying to provide a solid product. And, generally speaking, when you offer a premium version of the plugin, only a small percentage convert.

Some people say only 1%-10% convert (though I’ve read reports where somewhere around 3% might be more correct). Regardless, it’s easy to see that going with the freemium model has its defined set of challenges.

So say you’re a WordPress plugin author, you’re looking to apply the freemium model to your business or to your product, but you want to make sure that you’re doing so with as much insight and strategy as possible.

What do you do?

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Earlier this year, I talked about why I recommend Array Themes. I’m also proud to call myself a partner of theirs.

If you haven’t read the article, that’s okay (I don’t expect people to read everything here). The gist of why I’m such a fan and why I’ve selected them as my theme partner include the following:

• They offer impeccable design for a variety of authors.
• They have beautiful typography.
• They follow the WordPress Coding Standards.
• They sell within their own shop, WordPress.com, and ThemeForest.
• They create themes for almost any niche of blogging.
• They offer exceptional quality in a marketplace crowded by those with products that often fall flat.
• …And more.

Additionally, Array offers a free plugin compatible with their themes that enhances native functionality.

So, if you’ve missed it, that’s why I’m proud to call Array a partner of this site. But that’s not what this post is about.

Instead, I’m excited to share their latest release (and offer you something special for it!).

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You can read plenty of information about the importance of escaping information in WordPress via the Codex. If you’re new to the topic, I highly recommend it.

If you need a refresher, or are looking for a short description for why this is necessary, consider this the working definition:

For security on the other end of the spectrum, we have escaping. To escape is to take the data you may already have and help secure it prior to rendering it for the end user.

Clear enough, right? And WordPress offers plenty of functions to help with this.

How do we know which one to use, though?

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