How to write a WordPress plugin that I’ll use

I tend to be very fastidious about the WordPress plugins that I’ll install. I’ll often write my own simple version of a plugin rather than install one from someone else that does a bunch of stuff I don’t need. Here is my philosophy behind writing WordPress plugins, best witnessed through the plugins I’ve written lately, like Markdown on Save, Login Logo, Monitor Pages, and WP Help.

Fewer features as a feature

There are diminishing returns as you add features. That is, the more you add, the more likely you’re adding something that X % of your plugin’s users won’t ever use. Stick to the basics. I’ll often release a “0.1” version of my plugin with really obvious features missing. When I get a flurry of “You should add Y!” messages, that validates my assumption that Y is necessary. Start with the smallest version that gets the core job done. Iterate as needed.

Code the hell out of it

The best part of starting small is that you can code the hell out of the plugin. Do it right. Make each line of code beautiful. Make sure you’re using WordPress APIs properly, and while you’re at it, add i18n support (WP Help 0.2 shipped with support for Bulgarian, German, Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Macedonian, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, and Russian!)

Reduce UI

If you can do without UI, don’t make it. Make every bit of UI prove its necessity. As an example, look at my Login Logo plugin. It has zero UI. It looks for the presence of a file named login-logo.png in the wp-content directory. The rest is “magic.” It measures the image, generates appropriate CSS, and gives you an instantly and easily customized login screen. The plugin is invisible. It’s completely out of sight, and out of mind. Finally, UI screens are generally where plugin authors make security mistakes. By skipping them, you make it much more likely that your plugin is secure.

Code it for the future

Don’t use deprecated APIs. Plan features in future-forward ways. Implement it in such a way that a site that is using the plugin doesn’t break if the plugin suddenly goes away. One example of this is my Markdown on Save plugin, which offers per-post Markdown formatting. First, I decided that for performance reasons, I wanted to parse Markdown then the post was updated, not on display. The obvious place to store the generated HTML was in the post_content_filtered column that WordPress provides (but does not use). But then I considered what would happen if someone deactivated the plugin or deleted the plugin. The code that accessed post_content_filtered would not work. Their blog would spit out raw Markdown. And any exports they made would export raw Markdown. What if they were exporting to WordPress.com which doesn’t support Markdown? So I decided to store the Markdown in post_content_filtered, and store the generated HTML in post_content. When you edit a Markdown-formatted post, it swaps in the Markdown, so you can edit that. But if you deactivated the plugin, it would fall back to the HTML. So you can feel free to use this plugin and know that if one day you wake up and you hate Markdown, all you have to do is deactivate the plugin and all of your posts are back to HTML.

Secure it

Writing secure WordPress plugins isn’t hard. It just takes awareness. Take the time to do your research and code a plugin that will be an asset to its users, not a liability.