This introduction chapter is followed by seven chapters; six of which describe the creation of WordPress plugins and a final chapter dealing with post-development issues:
Digg This
Live Blogroll
The Wall
Snazzy Archives
Insights
Post Types
Development Goodies
Various development topics and WordPress specific functions are introduced throughout the development of these plugins, using concrete, step-by-step practical examples.
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This is the first plugin we will be developing. This plugin will show a Digg button in your blog posts.
The purpose of this plugin will also be to introduce you to the basic concepts of WordPress plugin development.
We will access some of the basic WordPress API functions, and talk about filters and actions which are the WordPress mechanisms for controlling the workflow of the site.
The second plugin comes from the idea of making the default blogroll look a little bit more exciting.
We will expand our knowledge of WordPress API, but also introduce two very important allies in WordPress plugin development, namely jQuery and Ajax.
jQuery and Ajax technologies help our plugins become more engaging, and we will learn the basic concepts of using them through a series of practical examples.
This chapter is all about WP Wall; a plugin that creates a shoutbox on your blog's sidebar, where users can leave comments and shouts.
The chapter teaches important lessons, including how to create a widget and interact with the WordPress database. It also expands the usage of Ajax to include dynamic interaction with the user.
I will also try to engage you to think about WordPress plugin development in a slightly different way.
If plugins can be classified by beauty, this would be the most beautiful plugin in the book. It will display your blog archives in a way you probably have not seen before.
During the creation of the plugin, we will explore how to interact with posts, create plugin options, and manage them through a settings page in the administration. We will then use all that knowledge to produce a beautiful representation of your blog's archives.
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Insights plugin will add to the productivity of the blog owner by offering quick access to common information in the Write Post screen.
In this chapter, we will learn how to change the WordPress Write Post screen and interact with the built-in TinyMCE editor. We will use Ajax to get information delivered directly into our post while we write it!
The final plugin of the book will see us working more closely with the WordPress backend, and explore ways to transform WordPress into a versatile Content Management System (CMS).
We will learn how to customize the administration menus and pages, use custom fields to store additional information, explore user capabilities system, and use localization.
After all the hard work in developing those plugins, comes a chapter dedicated to all the post-development work (after-hour party!).
The purpose of this chapter will be to explain localization, documentation, code management, and plugin promotion. It will also give you some information regarding WordPress MU development. Wordpress MU is a multi user version of WordPress that is becoming more popular each day.