Remember back when I wrote a post explaining how to make a dynamic duotone-effect pages menu in WordPress? Well, I turned it into a widget. Now even the not-so-code-savvy can put a chic duotone page menu in their sidebar. Head over to the WordPress plugin repository to download it (and rate it)!
ColorBoxes is my latest WordPress plugin, allowing users to easily insert alert-style messages at the top of any page or post. Just like SimpleMap, this plugin was born out of a need on a client’s website. I needed a foolproof way for these alerts to be made without going into the HTML editor and making <div> tags with custom classes.
Just like many fellow programmers out there, when I first started publishing my own code for the world to see and use, it wasn’t the greatest. I didn’t fully understand the WordPress API and all the tools it had to offer. I have since learned a lot about how to write WordPress plugins “the right way”—the most efficient, clean, and safe way, that is. WordPress has functions, classes, and hooks that work right out of the box to make plugins easier to code and less risky to use. Here are a few of my favorite tips.
I just posted SimpleMap version 1.2b3 to the WordPress repository. This update fixes a few bugs and adds a couple of niceties.
I have barely had time to work on SimpleMap lately, but I’m hoping to get a lot done on it this weekend to get 1.2 out of beta. For the benefit of anyone using the beta, here are the bugs I’m aware of.
Head to the WordPress repository to download it! Please check out the Beta Testing Forum if you want to participate.
I made some incredible progress on version 1.2 over the weekend (I used a couple of vacation days from work, so yesterday was really the end of my weekend). The ability to have multiple maps with only specified categories is DONE. I haven’t fully tested it yet, but that’s what a beta is for! The [...]
SimpleMap Support Forums are now live! Click on the “Forum” link in the header to get to them. You can post in the forums without having to register, but you will have to provide your name and email address. I will leave the comments open on the SimpleMap page for now, but I strongly encourage [...]
The number of comments on the SimpleMap page has now surpassed 150. I am so grateful for all of the feedback I have gotten from users! The downside of this is that the issues/bugs users have reported are sometimes getting lost in the sea of comments. Even though I’m keeping track with my own issue [...]
I’ve been using Lighthouse to track my changes/bugs for SimpleMap, and it’s amazing. My workflow is so much better, and it’s easy to keep track of things. That being said, I’m nearing a point with SimpleMap where my work on it will be a little more sporadic for a while. I’ve been working on it [...]
Yes, it’s another post about SimpleMap… I swear that other development insights and code snippets will be in my posts in the near future, but for now SimpleMap is taking up most of my dev time. This is more of an announcement and invitation for suggestions than anything else. What I have planned for the [...]
It has been brought to my attention that SimpleMap 1.1 (and 1.1.1) was completely broken in all browsers but Safari. First of all, I’m really sorry about this; second, I’ve got a fix worked out that I will release tonight in 1.1.2. In the meantime, here’s the fix that you can apply yourself: In js/functions.js, [...]
This turned out to be a behemoth of an update! Here are the biggest new features: Support for international locations (any country supported by Google Maps) HTML description for each location Custom categories for locations Improved admin interface Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to use Google Maps API version 3 yet, which means you still need [...]
For those of you waiting for the update, I’m sorry I didn’t get it finished over the weekend. I have been trying to solve the problem of large CSV imports stalling the browser, to no avail. Even though I’ve found a way to import large files extremely fast, it still has to process each line [...]
Thank you so much to everyone who has commented or emailed with errors and feature suggestions. It has helped me fix a lot of things I would not have seen otherwise! Also, a big thank you to Thorsten and Fernando for the German and Spanish translations, respectively. These will be included in the 1.0.6 release [...]
SimpleMap version 1.0 is launched! Here is some eye candy for you: Check out more on the plugin’s home page or on the WordPress.org Plugin Repository!
At Brave New Media, we’re working on an intranet-style site for one of our big clients. We’re using a combination of WordPress and a custom web-based file management software to build it. The Sales department of this company is divided up into a number of teams, and the user accounts in WordPress needed to have [...]
I’ve posted some of my WordPress plugins on my WordPress Plugins page. More will be added in the next few days as I get them packaged up for public use. Enjoy, and stay tuned!