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Harming? Please.

An excerpt from Jeff Chandler’s post WordPress Foundation Harming Rather Than Helping WordCamps:

If the WordPress Foundation is going to tell WordCamp organizers what the limit is on their sponsorship packages and quite possibly make it too low which can make or break an event, WordCamp San Francisco should be held to the same procedures. If WordCamp San Francisco can not put on a successful event because of the regulations of the WordPress Foundation, they should change its name so they can hold an event without anyone telling them what to do.

WordCamp San Francisco is a WordCamp in name, but that’s it. It’s not like other WordCamps. Think of it as WordPress OMGBBQ Yearly Event if that makes it easier.

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WordCamp San Francisco sponsor prices cause a stir

The WordCamp San Francisco 2012 sponsorship pricing page went up today, and discussion ramped up around Tony Perez’s blog post about it. He said:

My bigger issue is with the “Do as I say, not as I do” mentality. I fail to see how this camp is any different than any other. I have heard the rumors yes, the plan is to change the name and make it the one true WordPress conference. Great, then change the name and differentiate it, don’t hold it under the same name, hold everyone to one standard, and yourself to another.

Automatticians Evan Solomon and Jane Wells spoke up in the comments to respond to concerns. Wells explained, among other things, why San Francisco is still called a WordCamp:

Matt has not felt the need to change the name to differentiate, in part because most of the community already knows it’s different and in part because as the founder of WordCamp, with an event in SF, he’s attached to it.

The post and comment thread are both worth a read through, particularly if you’ve been confused about how WordCamp San Francisco differs from other WordCamps. I’d also recommend checking out Jane’s post announcing WordCamp San Francisco 2011, which further explains the thought process behind keeping it named WordCamp.

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You don’t need any plugins

WordPress.org support forum wizard elf Ipstenu, on her blog:

For most blogs, you really don’t need plugins. If you pull your site back to the things youmust have, you get a better understanding of what your site is. Once you look at your site ‘naked,’ with no plugins at all, you can start to add plugins back in.

I’m reminded of my editorial on using plugins. I agree with her here, though my editorial looks at plugin usage from a different angle.

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Where settings navigation should go

This particular bit from Konstantin’s blog is worth a second post, just for a quote. On a post partly about following WordPress’s lead and using tabs on theme options pages, Carl Hancock commented:

Just because something is mimicking what WordPress itself does does not mean it is the right way. WordPress does not do everything right, and I would say from a reusable UI perspective the horizontal tabs are one of the things it does horribly wrong.

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P2 Resolved Posts plugin

Plugins for the P2 theme are some of my favorite WordPress plugins, sort of by default. Daniel Bachhuber has released a simple GTD plugin for one of the best collaborative WordPress themes available:

Mark a thread as “unresolved” when the topic needs resolution, and mark it as “resolved” when you’ve achieved that state. There are also sidebar widgets to let you see all unresolved posts, optionally filtered to a specific tag.

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Buttons are for clicking

The post is a bit old, but I love Paris Vega’s thinking on the WordPress Upload/Insert button:

Frequently, clients who are staring at the WordPress content editing screen ask me, “How do I upload an image?” As an experienced WordPress user/designer/developer I used to get blown away by how silly such a question sounded. The button’s right there! But after running in to this problem again and again, I’ve decided the user is not at fault in this case.

The interface is deceptive. Let me explain…

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Running a website is like riding a motorcycle

Dre Armeda, on the StudioPress blog:

The key to being a safe rider is the acceptance of risk.

I have to consider a lot of variables, but ultimately I’ve decided that I want to ride, and I’ve accepted that there will always be a certain level of risk to that activity.

Running a website site [sic] is not unlike motorcycle riding when it comes to risk acceptance and overall risk management.