For those who don’t know, Matt Mullenweg is an online social media entrepreneur and web developer best known for developing WordPress.
Category: Development
-
WordPress function to list site cookies
Having recently reviewed the WordPress plugins that are available to assist with the current cookie legislation I was dismayed to find a lack of anything simple that would be list out the shortcodes on a site, yet provide some flexibility.
So, I’ve written something.
(more…) -
How to get your WordPress site ready for the ICO cookie regulations
I’m going to assume you know what I mean by the new cookie regulations. Anyway, they came into force on the 26th May 2012 although the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) is saying that it has no plans to fine people immediately. Instead they will instigate action when a user complains via a webpage that the ICO have not yet set up. Even then they are more likely to ask you to make changes before going as far as fining you. Never-the-less, there is a potential $500,000 so it’s important that if the changes do apply to you, to do something about it. Of course, you can also complain about the law.
There are a number of plugins currently available in the WordPress.org repository which can assist you with meeting the requirements and I’ve looked at each to see what they offer and what they lack.
(more…) -
How not to write a WordPress plugin
With a number of plugins under my belt, I’ve collected a number of theories on what you shouldn’t do. All of them are relevant, if light-hearted.
-
Why WordPress needs to do more to help their development community
WordPress is a fantastic blogging platform – I love both using it and developing for it. However, with regard to the latter I find it a struggle to promote the work I do. Any WordPress plugins that I develop are free, GPL licensed and I provide free support via the WordPress.org site or, preferably, here on my own forum. Yet, WordPress.org is hardly helping me to promote my plugins amongst the many thousands of others.When you visit their plugin page you can get a list of the most popular or the most highly rated, but you need to get people actually downloading and trying your plugin to get on these lists – how do you actually get there? Well, that’s the rub. There is no other promotional mechanism. There is a “Feature Plugins” section on the main page and this might be a perfect way to do this. Sadly, it only shows 6 plugins, rarely changes (and then not by much) and of the 6 currently on display, every single one has been written by Automattic or a member of their staff. Yep, they like to promote their own work, but they’re obviously forgetting about the many others who ensure the popularity of WordPress with their own time and effort.
So, here’s a suggestion, borrowing some capabilities from their own platform. How about a slider on that front page, moving between one of a number of plugins, regularly updated, to help promote them. If the author has supplied a banner image this could be used to really help grab the visitor. Under that slider you could have a list of a number of other plugins that are being promoted. And, no, they don’t have to be created by Automattic.
The irony is, that of their 6 currently featured plugins, only 1 is in the top 6 most popular plugins. Only half of those popular plugins are by Automattic, showing that plugins written by others are equally as important and valuable.
It’s just a thought, anyway.
