Plug-ins are essentially the powerful snippets of code that are specifically designed to serve a purpose. These are perhaps the most intriguing attribute of WordPress that allow developers and users to make modifications or enhancements to its functionality, besides its core installation. Currently, there are around 29,000 plug-ins available in the WordPress library. Using these plug-ins, you can customize your site based upon your unique requirements.
Examine The Optimal Strategies For Seamless WordPress Plug-in Development
- Use Of Namespacing: There are two distinct ways to develop a WordPress plugin: either as a class or as a set of functions. Remember that the function inside the plug-in are tossed into the global namespace along with other non-namespaced functions. This means that a function with name plugin_init may conflict with the similar function created by someone else at any point. The issue can be fixed by prefixing the name of function with something different or unique. However, it is better to build a class for the plug-in. In this way, all the functions would be namespaced inside the class name and even you can use short and common function names.
- Access Web Services Carefully: The web is loaded with web services, rendering us everything from the latest tweets from social site ‘Twitter’ to weather forecast and stock quotes. Use of HTTP API is the most effective way for an extension to access the remote data. It handles the request in the background through an efficient remote method. It is just like a one-stop destination for the access of the web service.
- Load Only Required Data: You would not carry as many things with you for an overnight journey as you would for a whole month vacation. Similar is the case here, load only the necessary things like JavaScript, Stylesheets, and others that are needed for the specific page or the section of a site. Make sure that you do not load the admin scripts at the front-end.
- Turn ON WordPress Debug: In order to ensure that you are doing the things correctly, it is good to turn on debug as the WordPress debugger finds the error in your plug-in and prevents it from crashing.
- Avoid Deprecated Functions: There are some obsolete methods in WordPress that may be supported for the current versions but might not be compatible with the future releases. So, it is recommended to check if the specific function is marked deprecated. A link will also be available for the new function.
- WordPress Function Library: WordPress provides some functions that simplify the programming task. There is a single function for which you may be writing a lengthy code. You can check the function library in order to make sure that you have not written lengthier code than required.
Thus, it is recommended to consider the above-mentioned strategies before you start with WordPress plug-in development. These will surely help you acquire 100% error-free and secure plug-ins for your website.