There are currently 24,640 plugins in the WordPress plugin repository, with an unknown number available from third-party sites as free or paid plugins. When you need to extend WordPress for a particular task or function, how do you choose the best available plugin for your needs? You’re likely to find several that seem to fit the bill, but since plugins represent a wide array of features, quality, and usability, how do you choose? When is it time to dump a plugin in favour of another one? Rather than give you a list of recommended plugins, this workshop will attempt to give you a set of tools for evaluating plugins so you can always find the best one for your or your client’s needs. We’ll highlight which criteria are more important to consider. With its recent changes, what does the WordPress repository’s rating system mean for evaluating your plugin selection? We’ll look at how the WordPress repository can be helpful to your search — or not.
About Brent
Brent has been blogging since before the Y2K talk died out, posting about Linux and the Free Software movement. His next major niche blog project taught him what it’s like to maintain a daily posting schedule for more than five years, besting his previous streak by a full year. Along the way, he moved from a homegrown CMS to WordPress back when it was still called b2. Having taken on WordPress projects for clients, this spring he quietly launched a major site developed on WordPress Multisite as an application framework. He’s been interviewed and spoken or written on a variety of IT and internet-themed topics featured by ITBusiness.ca, CIO.com, and Slashdot. As an entrepreneur, Brent has managed a web design and software development firm, an ISP and web hosting company, and run popular blogs in more than one niche. He currently freelances as a web developer, project manager, website architect, and writer who bills himself as a Freelance Thinker. He is based in Winnipeg where he ignores his own blogging project to spend time with his wife and two daughters, who would otherwise be spending all their time with their new puppy.
