As you will already know if you read Sarah’s recent article, the new default WordPress theme will soon be available on WordPress.org.
Personally, I love the minimalistic look of Twenty Twelve, and think it makes a great addition to Automattic’s ever-growing portfolio of free WordPress themes.
Do you develop or contribute to WordPress? Participate in support forums? As you probably know, a group of official blogs exists for people like you. The “Make WordPress.org” group is home to P2-themed microblogs for the following development areas:
Core
Support
Plugins
UI
Accessibility
Themes
Polyglots
Systems
Keeping your ear to the ground
Some of these blogs can go awhile without seeing any traffic, but you can subscribe to individual “Make” blogs by email and RSS–hopefully ringing your bell when new topics of interest come around.
Just yesterday, August 4th, the team added a new way to keep your ear to the ground. Dubbed “WordPress.org Notifications,” it notifies you:
You may have spotted my little rant the other day regarding the apparent proliferation of subversive plugins on WordPress.org. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the 6Scan Backup plugin, which is essentially an advertisement for the same company’s premium security product.
What came as a surprise was the comment from a representative of 6Scan on that very post, in which he admitted “messaging issues”, and claimed that the plugin was a “work in progress”. Fair play to the chap for making himself known, but I’m not convinced.
Life as a plugin developer can be hard.
Not only do you actually have to develop plugins, if you’re doing your job right you have to provide all of the necessary documentation. You should probably have a dedicated page on your website for your plugin, filled with lots of useful information relating to its usage and such. Yep – even if all of that information is already on WordPress.org, nestled intuitively within the various tabs such as “Installation” and “FAQ”.
As some of you may know, I spend a lot of time looking at plugins.
In fact, I cast my eye over every single new plugin release on WordPress.org, and test any that I feel may of worth. So I end up testing a lot of plugins.
The ones that I like get featured here at WPMU. You never read about the countless plugins I test that don’t make the grade. Unless of course I need to vent about something (which I do today), in which case, plugins that I don’t recommend get free publicity.
What is a Subversive Plugin?
WordPress Recommends…
First, as a matter of due diligence, I feel I should direct you to what WordPress.org has to say about this topic. Here are the hosts that they most strongly recommend (and the minimum requirements that they set) for a WordPress.org site:
Dreamhost
Bluehost
Media Temple
Laughing Squid
If that is all the information that you need to make a decision, then you can stop reading right now.
But…
You might still want to take some time to think your way through the decision. Here are the questions I would recommend you ask of yourself and of any potential host.
How Much Do Your Really Need?
Last week I did something awful, namely a list post. Luckily it wasn’t one of those linkbaity things that way too many blogs publish to get some extra eyeballs, but still. It was a list and therefore I loathe myself right now.
And I will continue to do so, because this week we’ll, or more accurately I will, talk about what’s bad with WordPress. Last week was apparantly TDH is being nice week so those of you who thought I was replaced by a doppelgänger at the WPMU.org office (is there one?) can rest easy. Your favorite asshole is back.
The past few weeks have been interesting for non-Americans. Some of us have been following the SOPA controversy closely, while others just don’t give a damn. That’s not a good idea, if such a monstrosity would be passed in the States then it would surely strike back at us in the rest of the world as well, Europe in particular.
I don’t want that. Don’t fuck with my internetz please!
Friends, I’ve been thinking a lot on what we call WordPress themes the past few days. The name of the theme is important, much like the name of the book matters. “The One Who Walked and Walked and Walked (and Walked) with the Ring” is a far worse alternative to “The Lord of the Rings” after all.
I’m one of those guys who love open source. Really love it, you know, in that slightly scary way. You should see my bedroom, there are stuff on the walls that could possibly be illegal in some parts of the world, all tied to open source. Actually, you should probably stay clear of my bedroom. Unless you’re making open source software, then we should talk. Have a drink. Maybe hug a bit. A kiss? Why, I’m making eggs and bacon baby!
