Alternatives:

Disappointed in the official planet feed, I searched for other resources of information and one day, came across a site called PlanetOzh. PlanetOzh is just like Planet WordPress except it has more sites to aggregate content from and is maintained by Ozh. Sites are added and removed on a somewhat routine basis. However, I remember sending an email to Ozh one day after I went through each site he was aggregating content from and told him which ones I thought needed to be removed due to their lack of WordPress specific content or that the site appeared dead. It was a substantial list. From my observation, it looks like he has cleaned up the site so it’s much more relevant than it was a few years ago.

Recently, the topic of the WordPress Planet was brought up again by James Farmer of WPMU where he does bring up some valid points. I’m of the opinion that the more people who see great WordPress centric information, the better off everyone in the WordPress ecosystem will be. So I’m all for making the WordPress Planet a better place. However, the official Planet WordPress feed is maintained by one person, Matt Mullenweg. Considering just how busy he is, I can understand how maintaining the list of sites on the planet feed would be one of the last priorities on his list. I think some would agree that there are far more important things to be spending time and energy on with WordPress.org versus the planet feed.

If you’re looking for more variety of content from different WordPress centric websites in your dashboard, you should try the brand new plugin called A Better Planet by WPLIft. In a nutshell, this plugin is a more up-to-date and relevant version of the official planet WordPress feed. While the master list is controlled by one person, it looks like it’s a lot easier to have a WordPress site added to their list than the official feed.

Responsibility:

While I wouldn’t mind seeing other WordPress centric sites in the dashboard supplying great information to users all across the world, I also wouldn’t want to see those same sites treating the dashboard as an enormous, untapped customer base. Being in the WordPress dashboard comes with great responsibility. For example, you have to be on-board with the 100% GPL philosophy. Sites can not link to other sites that promote non-GPL products. Sites can not advertise non-GPL products through display ads or otherwise. It really boils down to being an excellent steward in the community. There are WordPress centric sites that meet that criteria but I don’t make the decision on who is added to the feed and who is not.

Discussion Points:

So considering we’ve been having this conversation for a few years now, has anything really changed? Do you even use the news widgets in the dashboard or do you hide them as soon as you can?

After signing up, I viewed their demo video which does a great job of explaining how to install and configure their WordPress plugin.

Their plans range from Hobbyist at $19.00 per month to a Custom Enterprise solution. They don’t list what comes with the free account but you can find out that information after you sign up. The free account is perfect for small websites that have less than 2,000 articles. As I’ve learned in this process of reviewing search services, an article, post, or  page is called a document.

One search engine, 2 domains, 2,000 documents, and 50 query customizations. Recrawl once a week. Your search results must display Swiftype branding.

Swiftype doesn’t enable users to search by categories or dates. However, I’m beginning to think that if the search results are relevant enough, there isn’t a need to include those search queries. One of the cool things about Swiftype is that they give you access to manipulate the search results so that if they are not relevant enough, you can take a result and place it higher on the list.

I can help make the results more relevant

One of my favorite features is the drop-down suggested search results. In my experimental use, I’ve noticed that most of the time, the results of what I’m searching for end up in the suggested results drop down box.

There are a few instances where the result I’m looking for is nowhere to be found. For example, if I search for WPWeekly Episode 10 I see most of the episodes in the 100-110 range when I’m really looking for episode 10. When disabling the plugin, the search results are roughly equal. Both end up not returning the WPWeekly Episode 10 post as the first result. Using the search built into WordPress, I end up having to browse to the last page of search results to find the post I was looking for. With Swiftype, there is a huge improvement as the post shows up as the 13th result. It’s not number 1 but it’s not the last page of results either.

If I wanted to, I could navigate to the Swiftype dashboard and manually move the results around so that episode 10 IS the first result. But, what I don’t understand is why episode 100-110 were displaying if my search string only contained two numbers? I love the ability to rearrange results but if I have to spend a lot of my time rearranging things, then Swiftype is not doing its job.

There is one last small issue I had. For some reason, the drop down suggestion box didn’t work for every search query. For example, if I searched for the term jeopardy which I already know exist within the post content of an article, the suggestion box doesn’t show up but the article that contained the word jeopardy within the content ends up being the first result. I reached out to Swiftype to see if they could explain this behaviour to me and this is what they had to say:

Autocomplete suggestions are based on the post title, author name, and tags. Longer text fields like the post body and excerpt are used for full-text searches only (i.e., when the user submits a search). We have implemented it this way because the large volume of text in posts would make the autocomplete results less useful.

You can read more about the fields we index in this tutorial: https://swiftype.com/documentation/tutorials/customizing_wordpress_search

Makes sense to me. I also discovered that I misspelled jeopardy when I added it as a tag to the post. Once I fixed the tag, everything worked as it should.

Conclusion:

Swiftype was a breeze to set up and within 10 minutes, I was able to improve the search results on my site. It only took that long because of the synchronization process. I’m going to stick with this plugin/service until I find something better but I come away from this experience being able to recommend Swiftype to those who want to substantially improve the built-in search functionality of WordPress. It’s also encouraging to know that on this journey I’ve been on, I’ve discovered that you don’t have to pay any money to improve the WordPress search.

Down Memory Lane With WordPress.com – Although this was published in 2009, it gives a great overview of the history of the WordPress.com front page over the years. It’s filled with interesting tidbits such as when the WordPress.com website promoted the Flock browser.

Then & Now: How WordPress Companies Have Looked Over the Years – Published at the end of 2012, not only does this article chronicle the WordPress.org website but a handful of other notable sites as well such as Woothemes, StudioPress and ColorLabs.

A 10 Year Visual History of WordPress.org – While I created a comprehensive history of the WordPress.com domain, Joe Foley of WPMU.org published a visual history of the WordPress.org website which covers all 10 years the website has been around.

A Journey Through Five Years of WordPress Interface. – Published in 2008, Ozh compiled a number of screenshots together showcasing the changes that the WordPress interface has gone through since 0.7.1 to 2.7. Take note of WordPress 2.5 as many consider it one of the worst interface redesigns WordPress has been put through.

A History of Default WordPress Themes – WPLift also published a history of the default themes that have shipped with WordPress. Although these were far and few between, starting with TwentyTen, we can expect to see a new default theme every year.

Brief History Of The Theme Repository – These slides are from Chip Bennett’s presentation at WordCamp Kansas City that delves into the brief history of the WordPress theme repository.

WordPress Archive Project:

While compiling this list of posts, I had a conversation on Twitter with a number of folks discussing the history of WordPress and how it would be cool if we could take various elements of WordPress and create a visual history such as the Login screen or the Post Writing interface. I was told by Siobhan McKeown that she is sort of working on a project like this. She currently has every version of WordPress installed on a local machine in order to create screenshots from one version to the next. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Bryan Witherwax or @Tweeterwax notified me that their WordPress 10 year anniversary party in Seattle, WA will have a local host setup with every version of WordPress installed so that attendees can see for themselves just how far WordPress has progressed.

@wptavern We have some guys setting up all of the versions of WP on a local host for people to play with for our WP 10yr party in Seattle.

— Bryan Witherwax (@tweeterwax) May 22, 2013

Ryan Hellyer has put together a section of his website that shows off the WordPress 1.0 Post Writing screen as well as the index page right after WordPress 1.0 is installed. In the coming days/weeks, Ryan will be adding different versions of WordPress with static Administration and index pages so we can at least get an idea of what the workflow is like. If you don’t see anything, it’s because the changes have yet to propagate to your DNS server.

I’m also going working on a post that explains what steps to go through to install each WordPress version onto a local host. It’s actually more difficult than you would think, especially for WordPress 0.7.1 which requires it’s own unique PHP.ini file.

Factors To Consider:

Starting Point – On the left hand side of the Plugin repository are a series of links for extending WordPress. I highly suggest starting off with browsing through the Most Popular and Highest Rated plugins first, then move on to other options. The plugins within those two categories have stood the test of time and generally, have earned those positions.

Requirements – The minimum requirements information is supplied directly from the plugin author and is generally used as the first factor in determining whether or not a plugin will work with a specific site. The number of downloads can be used to determine the age of a plugin as well as it’s popularity.

Ratings – Ratings are based on 5 stars where the average rating is shown at the top. Plugins can only be rated by logged in users. One of the recent changes to the plugin repository are plugin reviews. If you click on each star link, you can read all the reviews that go with that rating, very similar to Amazon.com. When choosing a plugin, don’t just read the 5 star reviews, also read the 1 and 2 star reviews to get a balanced perspective.

Plugin Author – Sometimes, the plugin authors name will show up as a link. This link will take you to their WordPress.org profile that displays an overview of their earlier works in the plugin repository as well as a stream of their recent activity. This information can be used as an indicator on their recent development activity around their plugins.

Plugin Support – This area of the page shows you how many support questions have been asked in the forum specifically for that plugin. When viewing the plugin support forum, look for the number of threads that have [resolved] in the title, the plugin authors name as being the last poster and threads that have answers by someone other than the plugin author which is a sign of a healthy community surrounding the plugin.

Compatibility – This area of a plugin page describes whether or not a specific version of a plugin works with the current, or earlier versions of WordPress. Using the drop down boxes, you can select an earlier version of WordPress as well as an earlier version of the plugin to see if enough people in the community have reported on whether they work together or not. This information is based on community feedback, not by the plugin author.

Trustworthiness – Although this is not a consideration you can search for, downloading a plugin from the WordPress plugin repository does have its benefits. Before each plugin is allowed to be hosted on the repository, it must go through a manual screening process that checks things like obfuscated code, malware, spam links, and security. This is also the same process a plugin update must go through before it’s also published to the repository to make sure nothing malicious is added after the first screening. For these reasons, I can’t stress enough how important it is to download from the official repository versus somewhere else. That’s not to say that plugins hosted elsewhere are not equally or more thoroughly screened, but with WordPress.org, you know what you’re getting.

The Big Picture:

With over 25,000 plugins in the repository, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to wade through them all to find the one that perfectly matches functionality with security, support, and reliability. For example, if you were to do a search for Backup or SEO, you’ll be greeted with a ton of different options. Using the factors I’ve listed is this guide can substantially increase the odds that a plugin will work out of the box with little hassle. WPTavern.com uses about 25-29 plugins and most of them have been in use for over 4 years, with little to no trouble.

Advice From Other WordPress Faithful:

I reached out to a couple of people in the WordPress community that deal with the plugin repository on a routine basis either for their own interest or because they are in the business of working with clients. Here is their advice.

Al Davis of WPTeach.com – Check what version the plugin is compatible to, as this is a great indicator as to whether the plugin is still being actively developed. If you are unsure how the plugin is going to work on your site, browse through the support forums, see what kinds of issues others may be having and see if those issues are being addressed. Finally, have a look at the screenshots and FAQ if they are available and make sure the plugin actually does what you are looking for.

Angie Meeker, Organizer Of WordCamp Columbus and WordPress Consultant – My first piece of advice is to ask yourself (and your trusted WordPress adviser or the WP Support Forums), “Do I really need a plugin for this?” Many new users to WP are unfamiliar with some of its simplest built-in functions (ones you don’t even need to know how to code to use). They go searching for a simple gallery plugin, not knowing there’s one built into the Media Uploader. They search for a plugin to schedule posts, to password protect pages, or to post by email.

On finding what you want in the first place:
1. Search with as specific of terms as you can think of. “Rotating Image Galleries” is a better search than just “Image Galleries.” Of course, this is true with all search.

2. Google “what you want to do + plugin + wordpress“, and look only at search results in the repository (those with wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ in the url). I find that sometimes searching the repository from within is limiting.

Once you’ve found one:
1. Read the entire description, Installation, FAQ, and Other Notes (ALL of them). If there are Screenshots, look at them to get a hint of what the plugin does. Not all plugins have all of these areas completed, though.

2. Look at the “Requires Version X.X” and Compatible to X.X” If your installation is WordPress 3.1, and the plugin requires 3.5, then it’s NOT the plugin author’s fault when you install it and it doesn’t work. Either upgrade your WP install, or don’t use the plugin. If you’re using 3.5 but the plugin says it’s only compatible to 3.1, then there’s no guarantee it will work with that forward version. It MIGHT, but there’s no guarantee.

Sometimes, a plugin author knows for CERTAIN a plugin DOESN’T work with a newer version, and they’ll make a note of it in the description. Remember, the authors of these plugins are not paid to create and update these, so if a plugin is not up-to-date, don’t go berserk on the plugin author. Be polite and ask if/when there might be an update.

3. Perhaps one of the most useful things you can check out: the Support Forums for a plugin. Plugin authors don’t HAVE to give support for plugins in the repository, but many do. Look at the support threads submitted. How many people submitted the same questions? Does it seem like those questions are simply user error (like maybe they didn’t read the instructions?) or are they asking about a bug or a problem with the plugin? If there are bugs, is the author responsive to correcting them or providing hints at how users can make corrections? Does the author respond to questions? In my opinion, these point to a plugin author who is vested in the success of his/her plugin, and that usually equals success for you when using it.

4. Reviews: These are a recent addition to the WP Plugin Repository, so don’t be surprised if many plugins don’t have many or any.

5. Lastly, clicking on the plugin author’s name will take you to a list of all the plugins that author has submitted to the repo. It stands to reason that a plugin author whose overall portfolio has quality ratings, good reviews, maintains the support forums for his/her plugins and keeps the plugins up-to-date probably creates plugins the community can trust.

Marcus Couch co-host of the WordPress Plugins A-Z Podcast also has some bullet points worth checking

1) How long has the plugin been around? What is the update cycle?
Nothing is worse than committing to a particular plugin and having the developer drop support after just a few version revisions. An active developer assures you that the plugin will receive update attention throughout the various WordPress Core updates that come along several times a year. A developer that frequently updates along with WordPress versions is a quality to look for when choosing between plugins to install on your live sites.

2) Does this plugin play well with the rest of my plugins?
If you’ve ever owned an aquarium, you know that some fish don’t play well with others, often leading to complete breakdown of the natural order and balance of the tank. Plugins are the same way! Make sure that the plugin you are going to install does not “overlap” functionality and cause issues in the performance of others.

3) Plugin vs Plugin Race
If two plugins exist that perform essentially the same function, install them both but activate only one. Run a site load comparison with sites like Pingdom.com and other data load measurement tools. Find out which plugin is more efficient with loading time and use the results to make a determination if one of the plugins takes too long to load or drains too much system memory.

4) Shortcode Dependency
When deciding to use a plugin that relies on shortcodes, understand that somewhere down the line you might want to remove that plugin. This means that there could potentially be thousands of instances of [shortcode] throughout your page and post content.

5) Community
Is there a great community behind the plugin? There are so few plugins with thriving, rabid communities, but it’s always a huge bonus when a large base of plugin fans can gather with the developer and help to improve a plugin and it’s core functionality. Once you start using a plugin on a regular basis and find that there is an active community associated with it, PARTICIPATE! I’ve had many plugins programmed with exactly the functions that I needed simply because I asked the developer to include them in future revisions.

Summary:

I realize that some of the information in this post is redundant but Angie provides real-world expectations and views. Scott Reilly clearly sums everything up into one paragraph.

When choosing an appropriate plugin from the Plugins Directory it’s often best to take various factors into consideration rather than just any single factor. The plugin author, the number of support threads replied to in the past two months, the nature of the types of support threads being created (and the nature of the author’s responses, if any), the number and nature of the reviews being given (or lack thereof), the last update date, and the rating can all play a factor in making a decision.

If you can contribute anything else to this guide for choosing which plugins to install, please do so in the comments.

Speaking of documentation, how many of you have actually changed something on the Codex whether it be a typo, a bad link, or corrected information? I’ve made at least a few changes, such as typos and fixed a couple of broken links but nothing major. Just like many other aspects of the project, documentation is one of those thankless jobs. You can log into the Codex, make some changes and unless you brag about them, no one will ever know. However, documentation is one aspect of the project that impacts users for generations. While correcting a link or adding a paragraph of information is not critical to the Codex, it does provide a warm fuzzy feeling when you think about how many people may come across a page that you fixed so that instead of loading a 404 page which doesn’t help anyone, they get the information they were looking for.

Just for fun, I asked my twitter followers to tell me in 140 characters or less, why documentation is important to WordPress. This was one of their responses.

@wptavern Same reason documentation is important to anything: so people will know how to use it.

— Sallie Goetsch (@salliegoetsch) May 20, 2013

A picture I took at WordCamp Dallas 2008.

There has been a lot of speculation on the “shady mystery buyer” of Weblogs Tools Collection and WPTavern (here), which has been funny to watch. It’s me.

Why on earth? Well, it’s the same and different for each one. Jeff wanted to step back from WPTavern and had an offer but I thought it wasn’t really fair given the years and effort he had put into the blog. Even if he wasn’t going to be part of the WordPress world anymore I wanted him to go out of it with the best deal possible. For Mark, the context was similar except I don’t think he talked to any other buyers because his priority was having it in good hands – someone who would keep it around. I have a high regard for the great historical context WLTC provided, being there with WordPress from pretty much day one. So each was purchased by Audrey and went into hibernation.

Neither was done to be a business or make any money and there are no plans for ads or sponsors on either site.

In 2008 when I also first met Mark.

Why haven’t I posted anything until now? Well, I’ve been very busy — Automattic, WordPress, et al. Also the original plan was to just archive them both.

Convinced by Scott, I reached out to see if Jeff would be interested at taking another crack at making a first rough draft of history for the WordPress world. I recall fondly the days when I used to be more nervous about doing an interview with Jeff than the NY Times because I knew he’d have much more in-depth and nuanced questions given his deep understanding of WP. I’m looking forward to seeing that again in the WP blogosphere.

What’s the plan? Currently: put WLTC into archive mode, and reboot Tavern to be a “third place” for the WP community. We’ll show off the latest and greatest with bbPress and some newer WP features like post formats. Longer term it might make sense to roll Jeff’s (and anyone else who is interested) work into some official news resource WP.org, but haven’t really decided anything there yet. Consider this a grand experiment which I’m as interested to see the results of as I’m sure you guys are.

Any questions I could answer?

Is it searching or is the site broke?

I was pointed in the direction of Ticket 22754 as being related but I don’t think so. If anyone comes across a ticket where this is already being addressed, please share it in the comments. I searched through Trac myself and came up empty.

If you don’t live in Northern Ohio, check out the following list of WordPress parties taking place this weekend to see if one is happening near you.

VaultPress has now confirmed that they will be shutting down Code Garage after July 1st.

Today we’re happy to announce a migration plan that provides Code Garage users with the protection they’re used to — while letting us improve security and backup services for everyone by focusing our resources on VaultPress. Through July 1, all Code Garage customers are invited to migrate to VaultPress. To sweeten the deal, your first two months are on us — you won’t see a charge from Code Garage or VaultPress for two months after the migration. After those 2 months, your Code Garage bill will remain unchanged – you’ll keep paying what you’ve been paying as a Code Garage customer.

If you’re not interested in migrating, we’ll maintain your service at Code Garage through July 1, and give you your last month free.

Any Code Garage customer that migrates to VaultPress will automatically be placed on the VaultPress Lite plan with the addition of daily security scans. For a detailed look at how Code Garage was founded and how Timthumb played a role in the company’s success, read this blog post by founder Peter Butler.