Kharkiv WordPress Meetup #5

One more time I was invited to talk at a local Kharkiv WordPress Meetup #5, which took place on April 20th. I have decided to share my thoughts on what you should do before actually starting to rewrite your WordPress plugin with a huge user base (in my case – over 700k active installs).

Slides

You can download slides here as well.

Presentation key points

1. So, you’ve decided to create a plugin for sale: https://bit.ly/khwp3
2. Working for Awesome Motive
   • OptinMonster, MonsterInsigts, WPForms, WP Mail SMTP
   • we are hiring: https://awesomemotive.com/career/
3. WP Mail SMTP
   • https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/
   • Fixes the problem of email deliverability
   • The repository was created on 09/06/2007 19:06:36
   • 900 thousand active installs
   • A lot of users using this plugin for years
     
4. Audit
   • Current problems from point of view of:
     • ordinary users
     • developers (do you have such users?)
   • User base activity
     • active install growth / downloads per day (*/advanced/)
     • support forum
5. Goals (why?)
   • What do you want to do:
     • adding new features/enhancements?
     • fixing old bugs?
     • update code based on the latest technology stack? Is it important?
     • start selling a paid version with new code/features set etc?
6. Target audience (whom?)
   • Whom this new version will be dedicated to?
     • if developers – API
     • if ordinary users – UX/UI
   • How long will users work inside you plugin admin area?
   • Does old design correlate with your target audience?
7. Requirements (what?)
   • Depends on Target Audience:
   • different ways to develop UI for developers and ordinary users
   • no need to waste time on something that is not needed, example: error messages
   • follow your target audience strictly for the 1st version
8. Technical planning (how?)
   • Minimum requirements?
     • WordPress, PHP, MySQL versions etc.
   • New technologies for you or not?
   • Full plugin rewrite or partial?
     • throw away old code and start fresh – it has both advantages and disadvantages
     • depends on timing
9. Time (when?)
   • Release:
     • exact date
     • when it’s ready
     • when dedicated development time/money will come to an end
   • Upfront thinking about this date:
     • users notifications
     • what will change at this day?
10. One more thing…
11. WordPress 5.0 [YOLO Release]* (* as per Chris Christoff from Awesome Motive, Inc.)
    
    • Gutenberg
    • “GutenBlocks”
    • React
    • jQuery 3.3.x
    • JavaScript hooks: addAction() / addFilter() etc.
      

Video