Software Engineering in WordPress, PHP, and Backend Development
A listing and summary of all posts that I’ve contributed to the Envato WPTuts+ blog.
Introducing Ajax in the WordPress Dashboard is a relatively easy thing to do as WordPress provides a standard set of steps to follow. Unfortunately, it’s not always done correctly.
In my latest set of articles over at WPTuts+, I give a Primer on Ajax in the WordPress Dashboard. Continue reading
In June, I wrote a three part series for Envato called Introduction To WordPress Unit Testing. The series provided an overview of how to configure local environment for tests and how to begin writing basic tests.
Last month, I continued to discuss the topic by giving a case for why unit testing is important in WordPress.
Unit Testing (or other testing methodologies) is one of those things that’s often relegated to larger software applications or enterprise-level projects and seems to be often overlooked in the context of WordPress.
Why is that?
WordPress is a web application and the tools, themes, plugins, and extensions that we build are software that run on top of said platform and the platform as well as the certain themes and/or plugins can be used anywhere from just a few hundred people up to several million people.
In some cases, I think this qualifies it as enterprise-grade. Regardless, WordPress should not be excluded from the best practices in software development. As such, I’m contributing a series of articles on Envato that is meant to help you get started with WordPress unit testing.
It’s targeted at beginners but aims to lay a foundation on which more experienced developers can build. Additionally, I’m providing working examples of plugins and themes both of which have been built using unit tests:
Throughout the series, I walk you through how to setup your local development environment to include both PHPUnit and the WordPress Testing framework along with giving a background of unit testing, what it is, why it matters, how it can improve plugin architecture and theme development.
All of the code is also available on my GitHub page:
I’m currently publishing a series over at Envato that’s providing a deep dive into the WordPress Settings API.
My ultimate goal is to provide the best reference of this particular API for WordPress developers of all levels. Continue reading
If you’re in the business of building premium WordPress products, odds are you have a process in place. After all, processes scale from a single-person shop up to major teams – they can help improve our ability to produce quality work.
That said, if you’re just getting started with building WordPress-based products, perhaps you haven’t considered adopting a system that will help guide you through the project.
Though there are a number of different ways a person can approach their work, I offer points to consider when building premium WordPress products.
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