Tips to approve WordPress plugin - January 2019 WordPress Meetup

How to get approval of your WordPress plugins?

Topic Description:

1. What is a plugin and why it required with your default WordPress setup?
2. Kind of plugins you can create
3. From where to get new plugin ideas
4. Approval - Coding, Host, Approval Process, Comparison - wordpress.org vs CodeCanyon, Sales page Presentation
5. Become a contributor of other plugins
6. Conclusion

This will be the best session for you if you are thinking to learn plugin development. If you are already a WordPress Developer/Core Contributor of WordPress/QA team member, etc. but not collecting efforts to create your own plugins and host them, to create your own portfolio then we suggest that attend this session.

Transcript

1. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup Tips to approve WordPress plugin Speaker: Mr. Alkesh Miyani
2. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup Session Points that we will cover today 1. Why this session? 2. What is a plugin? 3. Kind of plugins you can create 4. From where to get new plugin ideas 5. Approval Process - Coding & Submission Process, Host 6. Comparison - wordpress.org vs CodeCanyon 7. Become a contributor of other plugins 8. Conclusion
3. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup (Continue) 1. Why this session? • Most WordPress contribution coming from India (as compare to other single country), • But still, clients are complaining that Indian developers are not providing good quality work. Is this acceptable? • We have mass resource, technical backgrounds and good leaders too!
4. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 1. Why this session? Then what is an issue??? • Mentality - ચાલશે.. चलता है (Developer’s mind), ૂ ું કર ભાઈ, કોડ કોઈ ચેક કરવા ું નથી.. Deadline is near, complete the project (Management’s mind) • Less showcase of our work ← (Today’s focus) • Not good presentation and code quality
5. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup Let’s one step forward, (Add credits in footer) → Proudly made in India by xyz team or dev name → Proudly designed in India by xyz team or dev name
6. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 2. What is a plugin? “A WordPress Plugin is a program or a set of one or more functions written in the PHP scripting language, that adds a specific set of features or services to the WordPress site. - Codex
7. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 2. What is a plugin? (Another definition) WordPress Plugins allow you to easily modify, customize, and enhance a WordPress site. Instead of changing the core program code of WordPress, you can add functionality with WordPress Plugins. - Codex
8. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 2.1. Why it require with your WordPress setup? “To create multi domain websites from simple CMS”
9. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 2.1. Why it require with your WordPress setup? Which industries are creating websites in WordPress? • IT & Consulting • Ecommerce • Banking & Finance • Education • Media & Entertainment • Healthcare • Blog & Tech • Political & Government • RealEstate
10. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup It means unlimited possibilities Let’s start it!
11. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 3. Kind of plugins you can create One of the latest trend item, • Page Builder Add-ons • Custom Post Type Showcase (Events, Portfolio, Gallery, Recipe) • WooCommerce Add-ons • Firewall & Security • Third Party APIs • Form Builder • Online Booking • Affiliate Marketing
12. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup Now everyone is thinking that let’s create my first plugin today (continue)
13. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup But question is that (continue)
14. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup How to start it? (continue)
15. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 4. From where to get new plugin idea? 1) Client Requirements - while you are working with projects 2) Active on WordPress support forum - when newbie or fresher guys are looking for support 3) Active on Social Media groups - where daily 1000s of new posts are coming 4) Check other dev plugin repositories - Github, wordpress.org and CodeCanyon Other points too, but be ready for risk - Follow other successful plugins - Create add-ons of non-GPL plugins
16. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup (continue) Learn, code and check the output functionality of your new plugin
17. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 5. Approval Process Checklist (before go through the approval process) • Must have unique plugin idea • Proper plugin name and description • Check feasibility (with future updates of WordPress and parent plugin if addon)
18. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 5.1. Approval Process - Coding Coding Standards (Very Common and Must required) • Default - PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript • Third party GPL libraries only allowed • File organization & folder structure • Comments everywhere - function, class, localization
19. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 5.1.1 Approval Process - Coding & Submission Process Requirements of plugin submission on wordpress.org • Author URL and Plugin URL must not same one • Brand name slug not allowed. (Ex. - woocommerce, you can use ‘woo-your_plugin_name’) • Data Validation - Sanitization & Missing use of nonce (there is a 80-90% rejections here) • Unique function name used but common with all plugin files • Activation & deactivation methods must used properly • Proper use of isset(), function_exists(), class_exist(), defined() or conflict with other plugins • Write $wpdb → prepare statement for MySQL queries
20. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 5.1.2 Approval Process - Coding & Submission Process Requirements of plugin submission on CodeCanyon • IMP - Your idea must be unique otherwise there is no welcome from marketplace • Almost all wordpress.org standards are required here too • Use and showcase of proper third party library with full credit on sales page • Provide documentation is compulsory • Preview image, title, description and tags must be selected properly • is_active_plugin() strictly not allowed, use class_exist() instead of it
21. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 5.2. Approval Process - Host Top plugin hosting sites • https://wordpress.org/plugins/ • https://codecanyon.net • https://www.templatemonster.com/plugins-extensions.php • https://www.mojomarketplace.com/plugins • https://creativemarket.com/themes/wordpress/plugins
22. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 5.2.1. Approval Process - Host When to choose wordpress.org (free) as your plugin host? • You are looking to provide your plugin as free for everyone • Free (lite) version of your premium plugin • Contribute to WordPress / looking to work more than one person with plugin development • Showcase your work immediately (as you’re a plugin developer too!)
23. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 5.2.2. Approval Process - Host When to choose Marketplace (premium) as your plugin host? • When you have unique and premium features that should be chargeable • Premium version of your free plugin • Ready to give full support of your plugin • Ready to give regular updates (& if required then need to give 100% refund too) • Backend designer team for help
24. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 6. Comparison - wordpress.org Vs CodeCanyon wordpress.org CodeCanyon First review within 48 hours First review within 15 days or may change Sale page only allow text with formatting Free support forum More chance to get approval Multiple authors are allow (Contributor) Multiple support members are allow Hard rejections then you are gone Comment is open but with ‘purchased’ tag Sale page allow HTML tags too
25. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 7. Become a contributor of other plugins How (only for wordpress.org)? - It totally depends on author mood • Direct communication with authors - phone, skype, email, etc. • Submit your patch or request a new feature with code on github • Regular active member with the plugin support • Code improvements like localization, proper comments, etc. • Bring someone’s old or outdated plugins • Documentation rewritten with more possible option showcase • Good design banners, logo and screenshots (plus, introduction video)
26. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 8. Conclusion Why you should become plugin developer? - WordPress is one of the best CMS and day by day, it’s popularity increases with rapid speed. Very simple answer, Any WordPress website has one active theme but plugins? → Sometimes 50+ when we see clients website. (Part of joke)
27. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 8.1 Revision Let’s revise in short, • Why this session? - To showcase our good work • What is a plugin and why it required with default WordPress setup? - Plugin extends a default functionality of WordPress • Kind of plugins you can create - Page Builder Addons, WooCommerce Addons, Form Builder, etc. (continue)
28. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup 8.1 Revision Let’s revise in short, • From where to get new plugin idea? - Client requirements, active on social media group and support forum, etc. • Approval process points - Coding standards & requirements of plugin submission, hosting selection, comparison • Contributor of other plugins - Help to extend plugin functionality, reply on support forum, direct connect, etc.
29. Ahmedabad WordPress Meetup That’s all from my experience Thank you so much to listen me Alkesh Miyani twitter: @miyanialkesh7 wordpress.org: https://profiles.wordpress.org/alkesh7/