1. Modular Plugins
Pippin Williamson - http://pippinsplugins.com
@pippinsplugins
http://facebook.com/pippinsplugins
around the web as “mordauk”

2. what are modular plugins?

3. plugins that can be
extended

4. plugins that can be
modified

5. Definition:

6. Definition:
plugins that can be modified and extended

7. Definition:
plugins that can be modified and extended
without ever changing core plugin code

8. Example:
e-commerce plugins that accept
add-on payment gateways

9. Example 2:
gallery plugins that allow you to
alter the image markup

10. Example 3:
any plugin that has components that can be
changed by a theme or other plugins

11. Example 3:
any plugin that has components that can be
changed by a theme or other plugins
-
even tiny components

12. text

13. text
images

14. text
images
data

15. text
images
data
layouts

16. text
images
data
layouts
functions

17. any plugin can be modular

18. but not all are
most plugins are not modular
and cannot be modified

19. but not all are
most plugins are not modular
and cannot be modified
-
not without changing core code

20. it is a choice

21. it is a choice
plugin developers must choose
to make their plugins modular

22. the key to modularity

23. the key to modularity
using core WordPress methods

24. the key to modularity
using core WordPress methods
add_action()

25. the key to modularity
using core WordPress methods
add_action()
do_action()

26. the key to modularity
using core WordPress methods
add_action()
do_action()
add_filter()

27. the key to modularity
using core WordPress methods
add_action()
do_action()
add_filter()
apply_filters()

28. what usually happens

29. what usually happens
most plugin developers do not include
the necessary components

30. let’s see an example

32. what’s wrong with this?

33. what’s wrong with this?
not much, actually

34. what’s wrong with this?
not much, actually
but . . .

35. what’s wrong with this?
not much, actually
but . . .
it could be much better

36. how it should be done

38. what can we do with this?

40. the results

41. let’s modify it slightly
different method
slightly different output

45. now go a little further

46. combined
filters and actions can be combined

48. real world examples
taken from real plugins

49. Restricted Site Access

50. BuddyPress

51. Soliloquy Slider

52. WP E-Commerce

53. Sugar Event Calendar

54. Gravity Forms

55. Easy Digital Downloads

56. Easy Digital Downloads

57. Easy Digital Downloads

58. reasons to build modular
plugins

59. make developers happy

60. make developers happy
the community matters

61. make developers happy
the community matters
help the community by writing extensible code

62. make developers happy
the community matters
help the community by writing extensible code
others will say nice things about you

63. Matt Varone
“Extensible code makes me happy.”

64. Ryan Imel
“I think the true measure of a quality theme
or plugin is how well it works with other
plugins and themes - - both those that
already exist and those that haven’t been
made yet.”

65. Jake Goldman
“What would core do?”

66. WordPress is modular
how do you think plugins work?

67. WordPress is modular
how do you think plugins work?
-
by using methods like those we just looked at

68. built with extensible
functions
WordPress is comprised of extensible “modules”

69. build it like WordPress
build your plugins like you were building
WordPress itself

70. why?

71. why?
because you ARE building WordPress itself

72. thanks