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What Would You Do With WP-Hackers.com?

What Would You Do With WP-Hackers.com?

By Jeffro on July 21, 2010

WordPress community member Kris Young has registered the domain WP-Hackers.com which so far, points to a holding page. The question Kris asks on the WP-Hackers mailing list is what do to with it. His idea so far is to create a PasetBin like site where users could comment on code snippets until an agreed upon solution was met which would then lock the snippet and be used as a resource. This code snippet could then be linked to when someone asks a repeated question or one similar to it.

I’ve always thought about the idea of a website that just has code snippets where a user could copy and paste them into the appropriate location and it would work. Back in the days of editing archive.php, single.php, etc, I really thought the idea of some sort of code bank would have been awesome. Let’s say I was editing my theme and needed a code snippet that displayed comments in a certain way, I could look through the comments category and look for code snippets for the desired functionality I was looking for. Ideally though, this information would be better served as being within the Codex than on a seperate site.

If you were lucky enough to own WP-Hackers.com, what would you do with the domain to make it useful for the WordPress community?

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WPTavern Member Spotlight – Conorp And WPKickStart

WPTavern Member Spotlight – Conorp And WPKickStart

By Jeffro on July 7, 2010

You were one of the first people to help populate the WPTavern forum when it launched. Since that day, what has your experience been like?

My experience at the forum has been great. At the time of this interview I have had 490 posts, all of which have been warmly greeted and filled with enlightening answers. I also enjoy other peoples posts, and it is because of this that I use the search function quite frequently. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times I refer back to old threads.

If I understand correctly, you monitored the business section and even tossed around an idea to get feedback on. You now have your own consulting business in WPKickStart. Tell us how that came to be.

WPKickStart was actually born in the ChatBox of the forum. A number of members were throwing ideas at you saying that you should start your own consulting business. I took note of these and thought “I can do that stuff“. So I then went and created a thread to see what everyone else thought. You can see that thread here. (WordPress Services)

What does WPKickStart specialize in? Installations, maintenance, or custom builds?

WPKickStart specializes in installations and maintenance but most of my work these days involves custom builds. I am an ‘Affiliated Woo Worker‘ so I get a lot of work customizing WooThemes.

Are your clients primarily Australian based or all over the world?

A large amount of my clients are based overseas, but I have dealt with a few people based in Australia. That is the great thing about the web, location doesn’t matter.

Any tips you can give to other people thinking about starting a business similar to WPKickStart?

The best tip I can give is to just take a stab at it. Try to find an area that you can specialize in, and become the go to person for these services. Chip Bennett has done this very well with WP Turnkey, His Migration and Maintenance subscriptions are a great example of this.

Why do you enjoy working with WordPress?

I enjoy working with WordPress because of the community. I know that if I need a particular piece of functionality there will be a plugin for it.

Tutorials Offered By WPKickStart

Out of curiosity, what is it about Egyptian objects in Australia that fascinates you considering you maintain a website specifically for that subject? conorp.com

Ancient Egypt is obviously a hobby of mine and having a website on it is the perfect way to combine my two interests, the web and Ancient Egypt. My Egypt site was actually the first website I ever built. It began as a single html page with photos I had taken and has grown significantly since then. I actually started it out of frustration as there was no information on Egyptian objects in Australia out there. Even the museum and gallery websites failed to mention it. I created the site in the hope that other people interested in Ancient Egypt would see it and visit the various museums and galleries with Egyptian objects throughout Australia. I also wanted others from around the world to be able to experience the beauty of the objects located here.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to close out the interview?

Thanks for your contribution to the WordPress community! I love the Tavern, and if it didn’t exist I don’t think I would ever have started WPKickStart.

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Become Proficient With Joomla, Drupal, Or WordPress With OSTraining

Become Proficient With Joomla, Drupal, Or WordPress With OSTraining

By Jeffro on July 7, 2010

Here on WPTavern.com, I’m surprised by how many new companies I discover from the mere fact of them purchasing advertising on the site. One such company is Open Source Training. This is a company that specializes in training corporations with skills relating to Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress. To get more information on what this company is about, I sent some questions there way.

Are classes held all over the country in various spots or is everything performed online?

Hi Jeff. We’ve been able to cover most of the U.S.A. and Canada so far, plus some cities in England. Here’s where we’ve held at least one class:

Anchorage, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Cambridge, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinatti, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, St Louis, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington

Now some of those have worked out much better than others. Sometimes it’s easy to tell why: for example it’s much easier to hold a class in a city surrounded by other cities so Dallas does much better than Phoenix. However sometimes it’s a mystery: I’ve not figured out why we can run classes in Tampa and Los Angeles every two months but struggle even to fill occasional classes in Miami and San Francisco.

Upcoming WP Classes For 2010

When I look at the prices for tickets, I cringe. However, considering the types of clients working with OSTraining, have you had much success selling out these training sessions?

Yes, we’ve just today (June 25) held our 150th class since January 2010. That’s a class every 3.5 days or so and we’ve had just over 2000 attendees in that time.

Between Joomla, WordPress and Drupal, which has been the most popular in terms of training?

A couple of caveats before I answer fully:
1) That answer is Joomla simply because it’s where we started in 2008 and what we’ve been doing the longest. We added Drupal in 2009 and now WordPress in 2010.
2) I’ve a golden rule that I never try to compare Drupal, Joomla and WordPress. I cringe whenever I see a comparison between them simply because most of them are lazily done and from the viewpoint of people who really only understand one of the three systems. It’s a bad idea for Open Source projects to get territorial or competitive when there’s so much closed-source market share for us all to take.

However, there are some differences between the market for Drupal, Joomla and WordPress training services, and I’d be out of business pretty fast if I ignored them:

1) Drupal attendees tend to be large government agencies and universities. The market is still much smaller than WordPress or Joomla, but they tend to think $299 is dirt-cheap. They’re accustomed to paying much more.
2) Joomla attendees tend to be web design firms, small-to-medium size business and non-profits and large tech companies. They tend to think the $299 cost of the class is about right.
3) WordPress attendees tend to be web design firms, entrepreneurs and business people who want their own site. They tend to think $299 is a real stretch.

Other areas of the CMS market may see different patterns, but those are the people walking through our doors. It’s likely then that our offerings will soon start to differentiate for each platform – for example, we may focus on online training for WordPress, live training for Joomla and corporate training for Drupal.

Become Competant In Joomla, Drupal, Or WordPress

Near the bottom of the site, you have a couple of logos from some large companies that are purported to have used or using OS Training. Can you describe how some of those companies are using your service?

We’ve three levels of classes and large companies use them in different ways:

Online classes. They consist of video versions of our live classes backed by a support forum. Big companies tend to be a little sceptical perhaps because it’s not easy to go to Accounts Payable and ask to be signed up for training on some random website. Formal in-person training is much easier to get approved.

Live classes. They’re held every 2 to 3 months in the just about every major U.S. city. It’s common for large companies to send employees on either side of signing a development contract: before a project to scope out the software or after a project to top-up on their skills. Unfortunately, we’re also getting a lot of laid-off workers from companies like IBM who are retraining on their ex-employers tab.

Corporate training. That’s held whenever a larger business wants a private, custom class at their location. Last month Apple had us on-site to help them build a custom intranet. It seems currently that it’s easier for major companies to adopt Open Source for in-house rather than public-facing projects.

Out of curiosity, why did you decide to use Joomla to power OSTraining.com rather than WordPress or Drupal?

To be honest, either WordPress or Drupal would have been fine for this site. We’re running a fairly basic setup with a subscription system protecting content and a support forum.

Both WordPress and Joomla had several good options for subscriptions systems and forums. At the time Drupal didn’t really get a look-in because there weren’t any good off-the-shelf subscription options. We’d have needed to create one from scratch

We went with Joomla simply because that’s what we were training in at the time. When we launched I’d no idea the business would grow so big.

OSTraining also offers coding training. What is covered in this course and if I complete it, do you think I’d be able to write a WordPress plugin with PHP?

Unfortunately not yet. We’ve done an HTML class with a focus on creating posts (WordPress), nodes (Drupal) and articles (Joomla). A CSS class is underway with a focus on themes and templates, but PHP is third on the list won’t be until later in 2010.

I’ll be honest, however, and say coding isn’t highest on our priority list. Giving away a final corporate secret here (!), beginner training is far and away the most popular, followed by intermediate and higher-level general training. Theme design is popular enough but substantially further behind, and sadly, coding trails in last place.

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Ask Mark!

Ask Mark!

By Jeffro on July 2, 2010

WordPress core developer Mark Jaquith has started a new practice on his website where visitors will be able to use a question submission form to ask Mark anything having to do with WordPress. It could be a question regarding WordPress, usage, security, or development issues. From time to time, Mark will be publishing the chosen question or questions and answering them on his site. Considering Marks extensive knowledge in development security, it will be interesting to see how many of those questions are submitted/chosen.

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VideoPress Undergoes Major Update

VideoPress Undergoes Major Update

By Jeffro on July 1, 2010

VideoPress LogoVideoPress.com has announced a major update to it’s video player. The player has been completely rewritten using the Open Source Media Framework which is MPL-Licensed by Adobe. VideoPress now offers custom skins and partner integrations including WordPress.com stats, Quantcast, and CDN providers. These partner integrations are made simple through the use of OSMF plugins that will enable advertising and analytics built by each potential partner.

The player itself has a few changes as well such as the embed menu being replaced with a Share menu. The videos shortcode and HTML embed snippet are hidden behind a copy to clipboard button. The direct download links have been exposed for videos so you can download them in MP4 (H.264/AAC) and Ogg (Theora/Vorbis) formats. Last but not least, the new flash player supports different languages and if you’re interested in translating the player into even more languages, you can use the VideoPress translation page.

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VaultPress Issues First Set Of Invites

VaultPress Issues First Set Of Invites

By Jeffro on June 30, 2010

We haven’t heard much about VaultPress since its launch on March 31st but today, the site has started to roll out the first round of beta invites. Considering the nature of the service where backups are a continous event, they are controlling the growth of the service through the invite system. What’s interesting and what may spark a lot more interest is the fact that early customers are getting a lifetime discount applied to their subscription while the price will go up to the premium level once VaultPress goes public.

To generate buzz and perhaps allow people to move ahead in line, Matt encourages you to blog about why you want to use VaultPress and then link to the blog post. Alternatively, you can use the hashtag #vaultpress on twitter. So far, I’ve yet to receive my invite but I’ll be keeping an eye on my inbox. If you were lucky enough to snag an invite, let us know about your experience in the comments.

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The Mojo On MOJO Themes

The Mojo On MOJO Themes

By Jeffro on June 27, 2010

In a nutshell, what does Mojo Themes do?

First off, thanks for the opportunity to be interviewed on your site. It’s a cornerstone for the WP community and you’ve done a great job here.

In a nut shell, MOJO Themes is a Buy & Sell theme marketplace. Our marketplace delivers high-quality & unique themes ranging from HTML & email templates to complex CMS themes for WordPress, Tumblr and Magento (Coming soon).

Our main goal is to deliver our buyers with not only a premium selection of themes but also ensure each of our sellers provides top-notch support. We step in to help our buyers with simpler questions such as installing the item, which frees up more time for our sellers to address more specific support issues.

On the flip side, we’re always looking for ways to continually improve our marketplace for the sellers too. From new features to increasing sales, we do everything we can for them because we understand they play a huge role in making the marketplace a success.

The first thing I think of when I visit Mojo Themes is ThemeForest. Is this your primary competitor? Also, is Mojo Themes in any way inspired by ThemeForest?

To answer your question… Of course ThemeForest is one of our primary competitors and we have to keep our competition on our radar but we really don’t focus on what they’re doing.

In regards to your second question: It’s hard not to be inspired by everything the Envato Network does. They’ve built an empire within several spaces and deliver some great products.

The inspiration for MOJO themes came from another idea I had over 2 years ago. On top of that, I’ve always been a huge fan of WordPress, I started my first WP site back in 2006. I fell in love with the platform and the community behind it so I always wanted to find a way to be a part of it.

Back in early 2008, I purchased the domain name WordPressThemeMarketplace.com. My brother and I were in the process of reaching out to smaller developers within the WP community, finding out what they would want in a marketplace setting. Shortly after that, Matt Mullenweg announced the official WordPress Theme Marketplace. The announcement killed some of our motivation and from there, like most ideas that everyone has we never followed through. We all know how that announcement panned out, so maybe we should’ve stuck with it.

With some newfound motivation, we restructured the whole marketplace idea and the entire brand. Here we are today as MOJO Themes.

Since the sites launch, what type of reception have you had?

Beauty Salon WP Theme Within The Marketplace

The reception has been awesome and the support from our users has been humbling and rewarding. We’ve put every part of ourselves into this and we think that shines through. A lot of the users like the new, exciting and fresh look and can see the passion we have behind this.

All of the users feedback has been constructive and led to great improvements already within our marketplace. The sellers have been great at letting us know what they want. From contests to features we’re always open to help out our sellers.

For example, we recently launched “JOINT FORCES”, the very first collaboration program to unite designers & developers. Sellers can upload items with a partner to split the commissions. Our system takes care of all the logistics for a seamless allocation that is defined by the joint development partners. The sellers control the process and we take care of the rest.

Regarding WordPress themes, does the seller need to make their themes GPL compliant in order to be listed?

In terms of WordPress themes, we have a split license. The core Wordpres files all fall under GPL, while the rest of the files of the theme including, but not limited to the HTML, CSS code, images, and design fall under our licensing agreement.

When sellers upload a WordPress theme, they are instructed to include our license file that clearly states our terms.

Who controls the pricing of items? Mojo Themes or the seller?

Quite A Bit Of Template Variety

MOJO themes. When we were launching, we threw the idea back and forth about possibly giving the sellers control but in the end we chose to have the control.

Considering theme sellers keep 50%-80% of the profits, how does Mojo Themes make money to the point where the marketplace is sustainable?

The margins have proved to deliver positive ROI and with that type of a payout, it’s a fair trade for us providing the platform, advertising costs, admin, etc. in return for the sellers to upload and support their work.

What methods are in place to prevent both sellers and buyers from getting screwed?

I guess there’s quite a few ways you could look at your question so I’ll try my best to answer ;)

From a buyer’s standpoint, any buyer that has bought from MOJO will tell you our customer service is top priority. Keeping our buyers satisfied is always our biggest concern. Also, because we control what items and how the items get on our marketplace, the customer will always receive what they paid for. Lastly, from a support standpoint, we haven’t run into any sellers not providing adequate support. If and when that happens, we would take care of the buyers needs and try to work it out with the seller.

For sellers, we do everything we can to show our sellers how much we appreciate them and we want to do everything to ensure their success.

For sellers, one of the biggest frustrations of selling themes is piracy. Whether you’re selling your themes on our marketplace or on your own, there are the same issues with theme piracy. It’s frustrating for everyone but as of right now, we monitor our sellers items and we take it very seriously.

Lets say I purchased a WordPress theme. Is it up to the seller I purchased it from to keep the theme updated so it works with newer versions of WordPress? Also, is that the person I turn to for support?

I Haven't Sold A Thing!

Yes, the seller of the item is the person in charge of keeping the item updated. Once they send us an updated version we immediately update the file. Currently, when you have a support question you will leave on a comment or question on the item page and the seller will respond to you.

In the near future we will be unveiling a new and much more sophisticated approach to support. Stay tuned for the announcement!

If I’m a theme seller and I upload a theme to be sold through the marketplace, am I forfeiting any rights to Mojo Themes or does the seller retain those?

The rights of all items remain with the seller. MOJO-Themes maintains the rights to choose the listing price and to delete items. We have made a strong effort to never alter or edit the sellers work. We are very aware of the time and creative investment our sellers have put into their items and feel it is not our responsibility to alter their work. So to be more specific, all ownership rights remain with the sellers.

Special Offer:

If you’ve made it this far AND you happen to be a WPTavern VIP subscriber, you have access to a special coupon code that will take 10% off any purchase from any item within the Mojo Marketplace. This is a lifetime coupon for VIP members.

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WordPress Support Forum And Themes

WordPress Support Forum And Themes

By Jeffro on June 25, 2010

There has recently been a discussion on the WP-Forums mailing list concerning the following sticky thread. In a nutshell, there are two questions being considered. The first is whether decoding should be allowed on the forums. The second is whether this type of behaviour on the forum promotes the use of so called pirated themes. I say so called due to the fact that if the theme is licensed under the GPL, no pirating actually occurs.

Unfortunately, there are more bad places to download themes than good. Case in point, take a look at this screenshot from a Google search I performed looking for ‘Free WordPress Themes‘. The first two results are filled with base64 encrypted themes.

Poor SEO, or too many sites using themes with public facing links with encrypted code? Whatever the case may be, it’s evident that many users within the community are getting a hold of these themes and using them on their site, possibly not even knowing about the encrypted code within the footer.php or other files within the theme. In my opinion, I think that support of any kind for commercial themes should not be allowed on the WordPress.org support forum. Not only does it not make sense, but it’s a common courtesy to those companies that provide support as part of their value. While browsing through the Welcome Message that all new forum members should read upon signing up, I didn’t see any mention of commercial theme support. This would also make it very easy to just lock or delete threads concerning obfuscated code within commercial themes.

As for free themes that have been downloaded from the official theme repository and redistributed with the encrypted code or free themes in general, I’m not sure if decrypting those themes should continue on the forum or not. On one hand, it’s an opportunity to educate that user and explain why that code within a theme is bad news while on the other hand, it’s a never ending problem with no hard solution. I think education here is our best bet to fight against this with a detailed post on the WordPress.org blog but it’s not as if that will solve the problem, it will only make folks more aware.

There is no law saying you can’t place obfuscated code within a WordPress theme but it’s considered very bad mojo within the WordPress community. Obviously, these sorts of themes are not allowed within the theme repository but outside of the WordPress.org domain, it’s the wild wild west. It’s reached the point now where if a developer is releasing free themes, their best bet for trustworthy exposure is to have the theme on the WordPress theme repository. I suppose it’s a trade off. You can get a theme from the repository which doesn’t have the best variety and selection and know that it won’t have encrypted code or any other junk in it, or you can take your chances by finding a theme somewhere out on the net.

I’m interested in hearing what you folks have to say regarding the issue of themes, obfuscated code, and the WordPress support forum.

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Template Tags For WordPress 3.0

Template Tags For WordPress 3.0

By Jeffro on June 20, 2010

So WordPress 3.0 is now in the public’s hands but for developers, what’s changed with regards to template tags? Navjot Singh of Nspeaks.com has a fantastic post on new and updated template tags for WordPress 3.0. Among them are wp_nav_menu, add_custom_background, and comment_form. Most of these template tags are for theme developers but it doesn’t hurt as a plugin developer to know these exist.

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FastCompany On Why Small Businesses Need WordPress

FastCompany On Why Small Businesses Need WordPress

By Jeffro on June 17, 2010

Francine Hardaway gives her six reasons as to why small businesses need WordPress on the FastCompany blog. While all of the reasons she gives are good ones, I needed to take a moment to correct her on number 1. WordPress does not have an in house e-commerce plugin. Francine probably got confused with the WP E-Commerce plugin which to someone who doesn’t know the ins and outs can be confused to think it’s part of the software. She also mentions that the e-commerce functionality will be built into 3.0 which is not the case. I’m sure many people would be happy to see e-commerce be available for WordPress out of the box but I feel that use case is better suited for plugins or even a mildly forked version of WordPress.

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