Design Guide for Plugin Developers

By Tung Do

Plugin developers, you’re doing too much with your plugin setting pages — colors, layouts, and tables inconsistent with WordPress, inline CSS, `!important`, just too much. The WordPress admin is a complicated system. If you don’t test for the majority of scenarios — large screens, tablet view, phone view, no Javascript — then create setting pages that are generic as possible. Ugly setting pages with misaligned items and broken layouts (due to updates to the WordPress admin CSS) lead to trust issues on the user’s end.

If you’re a great developer, don’t make people think you’re not by having custom, but ugly plugin setting pages. Continue reading →

The Trouble With No Grandparents in the WordPress Community

By Tung Do

Grandparents love us because they see an opportunity to correct their parenting mistakes. Unfortunately for you, you’re a WordPress child and when parents fight, there’s no one to run to. WordPress lacks grandparents, entities that have your best interests in mind and regardless of your behaviors.

WordPress.org Guidelines and Policies

There are pros and cons to the way WordPress.org and WordCamp (extension of WordPress.org) are run. I’m here to argue for neither. WordPress.org has the right to do whatever it feels as a website and organization. I deserve the same freedom on DevPress.com.

What’s troubling for me personally is how a massive site like WordPress.org continues to make decisions against the interests of the community without consequence. Every couple of years, something new gets established at WordPress.org. We’d argue about it at the expense of someone’s blog for about 100 to 200 comments and then learn to live with it without compromise.

Surprisingly, we have no influence on the hub we contribute to. It’s like an immune system trying to a keep a person alive, but he/she can’t stop getting sick. Even if it’s for a good cause like running for a healthier body, you shouldn’t run 20 miles on the first day. Maybe , you (WordPress.org) should learn to listen to your body (community).

Compromise and Take Care of Your Kids

That’s what parents do for the good of the family. Some suggests Automattic should create a 100% GPL compliant market to replace ThemeForest. That’s a no-no. When parents fight based on personal interests, they need to compromise, not win. When one side wins, you get even less freedom.

Create Grandparents

The WordPress community needs a new WordPress centric place to simply exist without strict guidelines.

  • a place to act as a hub for communication
  • an unbiased source where we can read the news, learn, and exist without the filters that are WordPress.org and Themeforest.net
  • a place to meet up for online events
  • and maybe a free market will grow from it without affecting the .org side of your WordPress life

Why do we, one of the biggest communities online, spread ourselves too thin across Twitter, Facebook, WordPress.org, Google Plus, etc.?