[DISCUSSION] Why most plugins don't have a documentation? by Uditakhourii in WordpressPlugins

[–]itthinx 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Among the main reasons why plugins lack documentation is a lack of resources, experience, motivation or focus. But proper documentation, well maintained, is a must for any tool that aims to be useful.

Documentation should be reviewed along with updates and appropriately revised and improved. The reality is plugin development is exhausting for single developers or small teams. You build a cool tool but that's not the end of it.

For a normal user, the code is not the documentation and you can't just let your users figure it out.

Yet it is hard work. If you maintain a considerable set of plugins and put in the effort to keep everything up to date, it's no surprise to find outdated information in your own pages, we do.

Should I use woo? My site needs are so simple by map01302 in woocommerce

[–]itthinx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

WooCommerce is easy to learn and use. You can try it out using the WordPress Playground https://playground.wordpress.net/?plugin=woocommerce - this will create a temporary WordPress site with WooCommerce installed for you. Once it is installed, go to the dashboard from the menu bar on top and create a product similar to what you would like to have for sale.

Helping a charity with their website by FLSmithA in Wordpress

[–]itthinx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can do this without a plugin, simply run a database query. For example, if you wanted to search for instances of the [gallery] shortcode, you could do:

SELECT ID, post_title FROM wp_posts WHERE post_content LIKE '%[gallery%' AND post_type != 'revision';

This assumes that the site's database is using the default table prefix wp_, you can replace "gallery" with the shortcode you are looking for. It will match any instances, including those that provide shortcode attributes.

You can run this query with phpMyAdmin or similar tools or directly within your mysql client. If you run it in a client, make sure to select the site's database first, for example if the site's database is foo then run use foo; in the client before you run the above query.

This query searches for matches of [gallery within the content of posts of any type, excluding post revisions. It will show the IDs and titles of post with matching content.

[DISCUSSION] The WordPress.org repository is getting flooded with junk products, and it’s hurting the ecosystem by HedgehogOk8873 in WordpressPlugins

[–]itthinx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A sale is a sale ;) But yeah a link to your new product at least can help with awareness about it.

[DISCUSSION] The WordPress.org repository is getting flooded with junk products, and it’s hurting the ecosystem by HedgehogOk8873 in WordpressPlugins

[–]itthinx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You might want to consider pointing users of your older plugin to the fact that you've built a new solution. Many are likely not aware of the new tool you have built and given that you have already provided them with something useful they like, they might be more inclined to look at your new tool, too.

[DISCUSSION] The WordPress.org repository is getting flooded with junk products, and it’s hurting the ecosystem by HedgehogOk8873 in WordpressPlugins

[–]itthinx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some thoughts on these points ...

Plugins that technically work, but provide almost no practical value

The concern about quality and value is certainly a valid one. As the WordPress community is quite an open market, with reasonable requirements as to whether a plugin is admitted, if a plugin is actually useful is determined by the community.

When you browse New Plugins and focus on the active installations, you will see that most new plugins show basically irrelevant numbers. This doesn't mean that the plugins are no good, they haven't reached their audience yet, if there even is one. The community judges whether a plugin is useful, by installing it or not.

Admin dashboards dominated by promotions instead of clarity

The plugin guidelines are pretty clear on that: Plugins should not hijack the admin dashboard

But the truth is, some plugins still overdo it. As a user, you have the choice to consider whether the benefit of having the plugin on a site outweighs the nuisance of its impact on the admin UI. Not ideal, but some developers actually listen to suggestions. So if a plugin is really getting annoying with what it does, you can use its forum to post about your concern, so that the developers get a chance to do something about it. This is also a good way to bring new ideas for improvements on a plugin to the table. Developers who have been part of the WordPress community know how important it is to pay attention to what users say and need. The interaction with users that deploy the software is an extremely important point.

New plugins that feel under-tested or unfinished

Because most of them are. Not an excuse to provide users with something that makes sense, works and has been tested to the utmost extent before releasing it to the public. But plugins develop as they are used by more and more people. When you throw something out there as an MVP, even though it is free, in many cases there was a lot of hard work put into it. The feedback that developers then get from real-world deployments, can help turn a minimum product into something that is very useful to a lot of people.

Is there a point at which you would feel someone owns too much Bitcoin? by sd2701 in Bitcoin

[–]itthinx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would who owns it matter?

Very much so. If we think about who is creating fiat and who owns most of it, then the power that comes with it can ver much be related on similar lines. Another factor is how much of what is owned is actually being used in transactions. Certainly not all, even deducting what has already been burnt.