Thursday, November 26, 2009

What a Great Wordpress plugin Looks like.

By Tylor Anson

A Wordpress plugin should have the following characteristics to make it more intuitive and easy to use.

Seamless installation: The plugin must be able to install easily and seamlessly without any trouble. A plugin is as good as it can be installed into the system, if anyone finds the installation to be very complicated; there is a chance that he/she would not use the system at all. Many Wordpress plugins are very good as far as features go, but are bad in installation.

A good un-installation process: This is as important as installation itself. Removal of the software should not in any ways impede the operation of the rest of the system. A good plugin should make sure that it stays independent of the rest of the system and does its work seamlessly without trying to alter anything else that can cause the system to fail.

Easy upgrade process: A good plugin must have a good upgrade process, a plugin must be able to adapt to situations and when a new feature can be added, it should be added without altering the whole system. Updates are required for all kinds of software, it is even more important for a software component such as a plugin.

Localization and local language support for the administrator: Every administrator would not understand English and would require some language support to use the interface of the plugin; a plugin should be able to provide this feature.

User Understandable errors: A good plugin must throw exceptions and errors that are understood by the end user to rectify and correct it if possible. Errors can be a very big problem if it is untraceable. There must be a system by which the administrator should be able to contact the developer to get all the details without actually getting confused or giving misinformation.

Import/ Export control options: Import and export controls are very much required for a plugin, it makes sure that the administrator can shift or transport the whole architecture of the system to another framework, without needing to make any large changes. It also helps in migration and upgrading of the system.

Intuitive user interface: A good interface is required to make the administrator work on the system easily. A good interface is a paramount requirement for a good Wordpress plugin.

Secure plugins: A good plugin must be unbreakable. It must not make the system weak.

Changes to the system: A change log is necessary to track all the changes. This is very important as it marks a timeline of the changes made so that an administrator can look at the past changes and its effect on the whole system.

Good documentation and support: A good documentation is necessary to make the administrator understand the plugin well.

A great Wordpress plugin must have all this and a few more features.

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment