Tag: WordPress (Page 125 of 220)

Articles, tips, and resources for WordPress-based development.

WordPress Coding Standards Are Good for the Planet

July 3, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

For the past few years, one of the areas of WordPress that has interested me the most is the area of the WordPress Coding Standards. Specifically, it’s one area in which I’ve tried to contribute and it’s one area in which I’ve talked about at my local WordCamp.

To say that I think they are a little important would be an understatement, so given the opportunity to talk about them – evangelize them, even – I will.

The short of it is this:

I’ve had a number of people help me to begin writing better WordPress-style code over the years, and I’ve seen a direct result of the impact that it can have when maintaining projects that are built with teams or even just myself.

Furthermore, there’s a lot of code that I’ve audited, reviewed, or seen suggested that does not follow the WordPress Coding Standards and this helps to perpetuate a problem that has a clear solution on how to fix.

To that end, I’m excited to share that I’ll be participating in an upcoming event at WP Sessions all about the WordPress Coding Standards.

Officially Partnering with WPBeginner

July 2, 2015 / Tom

As evidenced by this entire blog, one of the things that I enjoy most is writing about software development within the context of WordPress.

That is, I enjoy writing about taking techniques learned in computer science, software engineering, object-oriented analysis and design, and so on and then applying them in the WordPress space.

I’ll also talk about front-end development, and web application development. Sure, I’ll occasionally cover things like databases, though that’s not really my strongest area and I try to leave that to those who are far more skilled than I am.

But one of the tough spots that comes with having a site like this is making sure that you’re able to make the information as accessible to those who are just starting out in WordPress. As much as I would absolutely love to help bring others up to speed on where to start, it’s really hard to do that without giving them a strong foundation off of which to build.

Hopefully, we can change that.

My Time On The Grumpy Developer Podcast

June 30, 2015 / Tom

Last week, I talked about The Grumpy Developer podcast, what it’s about, and why I like it. For those who didn’t read the post or who just happen to be stumbling across this page, here’s the gist of the podcast:

If you’re a designer or project manager, you can consider me your friendly developer translator. I’m here to help you bypass the Grumpy Developer Syndrome and achieve a happy transition from design to launch. If you’re a developer…well…you’re welcome. Let’s all celebrate a departure from Happy Designer Land to a world where design-dev-project managers can all get along.

Sounds fun, right?

The Nature of WordPress Debates

June 29, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

Last week, I talked about when people claim that they are Getting Out of the WordPress Bubble and some of the perspectives others have when reading things like this.

The flip side of this is that there are some people who are deeply ingrained within WordPress and who pour their day in and day out into the software and into the economy around it.

I’m not one to say if either one is better than the other because I think they both offer their own set of advantages and disadvantages though, at this point in my career, I tend to be deeply immersed in WordPress – and I am by choice.

One of the challenges that comes with being ingrained in a culture is that you’re exposed to both the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of all of it. And, to be clear, it’s not just WordPress – all software communities, online communities, offline communities, etc. – all have this behavior, but when it’s what you do every day, I think it can leave you with a bit of a distorted perspective.

The TL;DR to all of this is simply that when entering the foray of WordPress debates, it’s important to remember that not everything you read reflects the perspective of all involved.

All About Up and Running with WordPress

June 23, 2015 / Tom / 0 Comments

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Fred Meyer and David Hayes of WPShout to talk about a variety of things all related to WordPress development.

During our Google Hangout session, we talked about the following questions:

What does well-written WordPress code mean?
What’s your favorite WordPress function or API?
What tools do you find most useful in your work with WordPress?
How should people learn WordPress development?

Ultimately, it was a great discussion. Fred and David are both really nice (and incredibly smart) guys who really made the conversation worthwhile. Perhaps the coolest thing about our time together, though, is that it’s part of a larger project on which they were working targeting those who want to really get up to speed with becoming a professional WordPress developer.

But it’s far more than just interviews with myself and other developers – and for those who are interested, I also have a discount that’s applicable to any of the packages that they offer.