ABC article by a plugin’s developer for the plugin’s day 🙁 May 1st, 2012 😉
Some infos and mood notes,
This english text is not the translation of the french one. Some letters show only draft text…
A
Alone, action
With published open source, the developer is not alone and quickly receives messages if a bug occurs.
add_action is one of the most important functions to build plugins.
B
Bug, bbpress, business, bilingual
bbPress is a simple forum to build support forums. But the updates were eagerly awaited. What does Matt ? Business ? Travel ? Update: version 2.1 is announced and is in beta tests.
C
Copyright, cms
Wordpress is more and more a CMS (content management system) but be aware of how to use Custom Post Type, Babel Tower is not far.
Copyright, copyleft
A big question
D
Donation, Documentation
Some stats : since 3 years with xili-language, more that 52000 downloads, around 2000 current sites according peak of upgrading… less that 10 donations from 1 USD (?) to 80 EUR (one hour of job as european donator says.) Compare to 5 or 10 emails or forum posts per week.
E
Expert, email (see forum), error
A good result of a well known plugin using deep and core functions of WP is that progressively you become an expert !
By defining constant WP_DEBUG to true in wp-config.php, it is possible to detect errors and also notices generated by php code lines.
F
Free, filter, forum
free to use, to copy,…
Contrary to popular belief, GPL doesn’t say that everything must be zero-cost, just that when you receive the software or theme that it not restrict your freedoms in how you use it.
add_filter is one another key function to modify the results of the core of WP.
Forum, feedback
Response time varies because of the time difference, week-end, holidays and day without screen and keyboard ! think about that and be not too much demanding… it is the price of free !
G
Gplv2
WordPress is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
H
Hotline, hook
Without hook, no plugin !
I
Ideas, investments
Without Ideas, no plugin !
J
Javascript jquery
WP has choosen jquery javascript framework libraries. With condition, it is possible to use Mootools framework as demonstrated in xili-floom-slideshow plugin.
K
Key, kit, knowledge
In DB and table, keys columns permit efficient queries.
knowledge: see newbie
L
Localization, licence
WP is ready for lot of languages through localization functions.
M
Multilingual, Multisite
A multisite network is a collection of sites that all share the same WordPress installation. Groups of tables are reserved for each site.
Multilingual website needs specific taxonomy to assign a language to a post.
N
Nav menu, newbie
Nav_menu functions and features (Menus item in Appearance dashboard menu) offer ways for no-developer to customize navigation menus.
To become an expert, first you must be a newbie who seeks and spends lots of time to discover and understand 😉
O
Open source
Be able to read the lines of code in WordPress is an infinite source of creation and more…
P
Plugin, Profit
Q
Query
in sub-folder wp-includes, query.php is the most important file of WP core.
R
Release – see version, return delay – see feedback
S
Services – Support – stats
Stats: don’t confuse total quantity of downloads and peak after an upgrading.
T
Theme – translation – tracs – time
Theme’s files are the master pieces of the appearance of a website.
U
Update, users
WordPress versions Updating period double the time of tests for developers.
V
Version
When WordPress releases a beta for a future version, tests are twice longer to verify a new version of a plugin.
W
Widget, wiki, WordCamp, WordPress, webmaster
For developers, a widget uses more than 100 lines of code to customize, set and display the results of a function or a template tag ( ex. wp_list_pages() ). Easy to use by editors and webmasters in dashboard.
the new wiki gathers informations about dev.xiligroup.com
WordCamp: a day to give a real face to an avatar !
X
X, xili, xmlrpc,
Mr.X : lot of forum’s subscribers use avatar or pseudo !
xiligroup is an informal group founded by Gérald Morales and Michel Scriban in may 2007.
xmlrpc – we work and build plugins using xmlrpc protocol to exchange datas between WP sites and between Filemaker and WP (not yet free published)
Y
Year
First public version in WP plugin repository has started in year 2009
Z
Zero
zero defects or bugs is a dream in IT. Here in WP, it is important to detect if the bug comes from PHP, WP, and the current plugin or the others.
See you soon…
Michel S.
May 1st 2012
References:
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2010/02/23/wordpress-plugin-developer-day-march-1st/
http://wordcastnet.com/2011/thank-a-wordpress-plugin-developer-day-2011/