It’s been a while since I wrote a Developer Diary. I’d like to go over my most recent projects.
First, let’s go over one of my premium plugins: Comment Edit Pro.
Comment Edit Pro
I recently decided to rebrand a few of my products and I even created a business entity called DLX Plugins (Deluxe Plugins). It hosts a few of my plugins that I think are worthy of the Deluxe title.
As part of the rebrand, I renamed Simple Comment Editing Options to just Comment Edit Pro.
Comment Edit Pro is an add-on to Simple Comment Editing.
Simple Comment Editing is known for its zero-configuration, with only a few options of the most requested features.
The admin options for Simple Comment Editing are pretty basic. SCE is a tiny plugin by comparison to most other plugins. However, I included a variety of hooks to make the plugin highly extensible.
As people pressed for more options, I decided to create an add-on called Simple Comment Editing Options.
Since I spun off my plugins onto DLX Plugins, I decided to rename it. As part of the rebranding, I decided I needed to provide Comment Edit Pro with some additional options and a rethink of the admin settings.
Matching the purple theme of DLX Plugins, I moved the tab interface to the side (for more breathing room) and added a splash of purple.
In addition to the rebranding, I decided to do something to spruce up the comment section. I went for the feature that could have the most impact. The result is a new feature I’m calling Custom Comment Avatars.
The first step was finding an avatar set that was:
- Diverse
- Colorful
- Fun
After looking for what seemed like forever, I came across an avatar set that made sense for a comment section.
There are 42 avatars that users can select, and I am happy with the diverse selection.
Here’s how it looks in the comment list.
As a bonus, the avatars provide Gravatar protection, which means the email address associated with the comment does not generate a Gravatar. Gravatars can inadvertently expose an anonymous commenter should they want their identity a secret.
Loading 42 avatars on the front end is a costly endeavor. I decided to use a placeholder and load the avatars via JavaScript after the page load. This cuts down on the number of requests on initial load and preloads them enough that the avatars show almost immediately in the comments section.
After getting the front-end working, I started creating the admin interface for the avatars.
In addition to Avatars, I’m also working on a Mailchimp integration that is mostly finished. I have several other features planned, but I need to concentrate on QuotesDLX first.
Gravity Forms and ClickUp
Due to perceived demand, I started working on a plugin called Tazker for Gravity Forms and ClickUp. I decided on the brand name Tazker because I thought it was a nice play on words, and I also wanted to differentiate how the add-on is branded.
I have conquered the hard part, which is connecting to the ClickUp API and license integration.
I do plan on selling this, and I can’t list it in the repo because there are two trademarked names and .org doesn’t allow you to use the names in the slug or even in the plugin title.
Demand for the plugin hasn’t been great. I figured since ClickUp was on the Gravity Forms roadmap, there would be some demand.
It appears I am wrong for now. I do have a sign-up page, and if there is interest, I will complete the plugin.
Conclusion
As always, thank you for reading, and if you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
