It is not easy cutting it as a WordPress plugin developer. As WordPress is extremely popular among bloggers and content management system mangers, there is always plenty of demand for this niche, but as many developers have jumped on the WordPress plugin train, the competition is intense.
That being said, there are plenty of opportunities for freelance work, and so with that in mind we have brought you some more tips for WordPress plugin developers the sequel.
Maybe you can let us know if the sequel is better than the original?
The tips…
Cross-site request forgery hacking attacks, can happen to anyone. Nonce, or number used once is a very effective way of securing your plugin against this threat.
Though Cross-site forgery (CRSF) hacking attacks are bad news and you need to protect your plugins against this, to use nonces to do this is very easy to implement. See WordPress documentation to get on the right path to protect your plugin.
Though some critics do not really feel WordPress is up to the job of databasing, it is a good idea that you use the WordPress functions that it has to create database queries and insert/update information. These functions are $wpdb->prepare(), $wpdb->insert() and $wpdb->update().
The beauty of these functions are that they will ensure that the functions are properly escaped. Nifty.
Speaking of nifty, you can always see a good video of it here by Mark Jaquith. This should give you a better idea of what it is all about.
It is important that your plugins do not hog resources and become a drag. To ensure this does not happen you must ensure that they only take resources when they need to, and not as a matter of course. So by localizing them you effectively do this.
Consider this code
• $local_pages=array(’plugins.php’); // define pages we want the plugin to be activated on
if (in_array($pagenow, $local_pages))
{
// do stuff here
}
This is useful for executing certain code, (like declare additional actions and filters) only when WordPress is loading a plugins.php page:
JavaScript should also be localized when it comes to resource use, and like the WordPress plugin should only be loaded when needed.
wp_enqueue_script()function, should be used to invoke external JavaScript files.
wp_localize_script()function, should be used to pass variables to your JavaScript from your WordPress plugin, if it is necessary for it to do so. By doing this you are ensuring that you are ensuring that it is easier to manipulate, and it ensures maximum compatibility for your plugin in the future. Which can’t be a bad thing.
Read the official reference guide, here.
If you plan to go freelance, a strategy that you could adopt is to create a few plugins for free and promote them tirelessly. If they achieve notoriety, you may well be approached by companies looking to develop plugins, to make money. Should this happen, be sure to talk about money and ask for half the money in advance. Should they pay it shows they are serious and it also shows you are too.
Always be honest and up front with clients, and make sure you are charging a competitive hourly rate for your services.
Once success, tends to lead to another.
These tips for plugin developers, should point you on the right road to plugin development success. They are good and practical, and easy to follow. It is up to you in the way you choose to use them, but just be sure that any plugin you develop, is one of quality to ensure your reputation, especially if you are planning to go freelance.
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July 31st, 2009 at 5:32 pm
不错!我要常来!谢谢楼主,good job!
January 29th, 2010 at 7:20 am
What a sequel…Thanks, great post you have there….