Internationalization should be common practice, not a feature

By 16 hours agoFebruary 6, 2012

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A subject finally getting some attention in the WordPress community is i18n, or internationalization.

Internationalization is the process of making an application ready for translation. Often this gets confused with localization, which is the process by which the text on the page and other settings are translated and adapted to another language and culture.

Both internationalization and localization are equally important within WordPress, but there cannot be any localization if the theme or plugin has not been internationalized first. Therefore it is of utmost importance for WordPress theme and plugin developers to internationalize their software, regardless of whether it ever actually receives a translation into another language.

In the past couple of months we have seen more and more articles being published on the subject of internationalization. Some are even dripping with frustration!

I must admit that I have left frustrated comments on sites like WPCandy, WPBeginner, WPMU and the like, whenever something is promoted that is not properly internationalized. It seems I finally got someone’s attention as Ryan is the one who asked me to write this editorial after I left yet another frustrated comment on one of the articles published here.

For those whose native language is not English and who want to develop websites in more than one language, it is very frustrating to read any news about Fantastic Hypothetical Theme A or Cool Plugin B that were just released, only to realize after downloading that it is actually completely useless since it hasn’t be internationalized!

And do you know what is even worse? When said theme or plugin costs money (often called premium). Not only is that frustrating, it’s just wrong. Despite the number of features your theme or plugin has, if it has not been internationalized it shouldn’t be sold in the first place.

This is just not open for discussion. Internationalization should be common practice, not a feature!

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Pressbits 005: Don’t delete plugin options on deactivation

By 3 days agoFebruary 3, 2012

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In this episode of Pressbits I discuss my pet peeve of plugin developers deleting my options settings on deactivation, rather than upon uninstallation.

You should listen to it, especially if you’re a plugin developer.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you would rather download it directly you can do that too, or subscribe to this show via RSS or on iTunes. If you would prefer a written summary, you can also read that just after the jump.

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Pressbits 004: Don’t hesitate to release plugins

By 4 days agoFebruary 3, 2012

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In this episode of Pressbits I discuss the hesitance I sometimes see in folks to release their code as WordPress plugins. Listen, I dare you:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you would rather download it directly you can do that too, or subscribe to this show via RSS or on iTunes. If you would prefer a transcript, you can also read that just after the jump.

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Behind the Site: Tripawds, a user-supported three legged dog community

By 5 days agoFebruary 2, 2012

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Ed: Tripawds is, in all honesty, a very touching site. It is a community of bloggers and users supporting canine amputees. The site is run by Jim and Rene Nelson, and just so happens to be running on WordPress. Jim offered to share some background information on Tripawds when he saw our ongoing Behind the Site series.

In this series, a WordPress site’s owner walks us through what makes their site unique and how it does what it does. At this point I’ll hand it off to Jim, who wrote about he and his wife’s site below.

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Pressbits 003: Simple plugin updates

By 5 days agoFebruary 1, 2012

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I recorded a Pressbits episode just for you:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you would rather download it directly you can do that too, or subscribe to this show via RSS or on iTunes. If you would prefer a transcript, you can also read that just after the jump.

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Gravity Charge will integrate with WooCommerce

By 20 days agoJanuary 17, 2012

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Late last year we first learned about the next rocketgenius project called Gravity Charge. Carl Hancock, co-founder of Gravity Forms and rocketgenius, recently mentioned that he has already been in discussion with the WooThemes team about integration between Gravity Charge and WooCommerce.

I caught up with Carl about the new integration, and this is what he had to say about it:

Because Gravity Charge will have extensive and powerful content access control capabilities, one of the logical integrations would be to use Gravity Charge for controlling access to content, files and downloads and enabling WooCommerce users to use WooCommerce for the checkout process itself.

With those plans in mind from Carl, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a powerful and functional plugin, providing a great utility for e-commerce website owners.

PressTrends out of beta Tuesday, releasing plugin for users

By 22 days agoJanuary 15, 2012

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George Ortiz presented at WordCamp Birmingham today, and announced that PressTrends will be coming out of closed beta this week on Tuesday. The public launch will also bring the launch of a plugin for WordPress users that will offer statistics and analysis based on information gathered by all sites tracked by PressTrends. PressTrends has been in private beta since November, serving statistics to selected theme authors and shops.

Based on the brief demo Ortiz gave (see the photo below) the upcoming plugin will track a site’s posts, comments, and active plugins. Based on performance, Ortiz said, he hopes that the stats will be able to offer bloggers tips for how to improve the number of comments and success that bloggers see.

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WPCandy’s Completely Unofficial Guide to Plugin UI

By 26 days agoJanuary 12, 2012

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On the 29th episode of the WPCandy Podcast we talked about the sometimes poor state of plugin user interfaces. Many WordPress plugins are inconsistent with the native WordPress user interface in how they implement settings in the administration area for users.

I’m writing this guide to outline a (completely unofficial) set of best practices for implementing settings pages that is consistent and current with the native WordPress administration user interface. I’ve based these guidelines on my observations and experiences with using plugins in WordPress. They’re also totally a work in progress—if you have suggestions, feel free to add them in the comments section.

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