WordPress Plugin Competition Blog

Hi everyone,

I just finished up version 1.0 of my first competition submission, WP Comment Remix. You can get the full details and download link here: WP Comment Remix

Before now, if you had a popular blog (or even a not-so-popular blog), it was a pain in the butt to go through and reply to comments, and you never had a quick way to see which comments you hadn’t replied to. WP Comment Remix fixes all that.

Features your readers can see

With the addition of both public-facing features like Reply and Quote links on comments, this plugin makes it easier for your readers, and you, to coherently reply to comments.

And WPCR also adds a whole new functionality to comments, Comment Tags. Comment tags are a great way to allow your readers to classify their comments, so everyone can find specific tags quickly and easily.

If, for instance, your post is about fruit, and you want to see all of the posts about Bananas, you simply click the “Banana” tag and it filters to all of the comments about bananas.

Or, for a more real-world example, if you are reading a post about a plugin, and want to see all the bugs that have been reported (so you don’t report the same one) then you could simply click on the “bug” tag.

Features just for you

Then there’s the additions to the admin area itself. WPCR addresses many of the comment management needs that bloggers see every day.

First, WPCR adds a new comment notice above the “Comments” menu link that tells you how many comments you have that haven’t been replied to. Clicking on that link takes you to the comment management area with only those comments displayed.

On the comment management pages, WPCR adds new links, like Reply, Quote, Edit, and Ignore. The Reply and Quote links pop up an AJAX reply box, where you can reply to the comment without leaving the page. The Edit link takes you to the edit comment screen (where you can also edit the comment tags), and the Ignore link lets you tell WPCR that you don’t want to reply to that comment, and not to list it with the other comments that are in need of a reply.

On the Manage Posts page, clicking the comment # now uses AJAX to drop down the comments for that post. You can manage the comments here just as easily as on the comment management page.

Widgets

WP Comment Remix also adds 4 new, powerful widgets for you to use:

Recent Comments Remix, Recent Trackbacks Remix, Most Active Discussions, and Most Active Commenters

Each widgets’ display can be controlled easily through the Widget controls

Admin Settings

All of the features in WP Comment Remix allow you to turn them on and off by changing the plugin settings, available under Settings > Comment Remix. So, if you don’t want to use comment tags? You can turn it off. Only want the Reply link, and not the Quote link? Turn the quote link off.

I like plugins easy that way

Future

I’m posting here now to get your feedback, ideas for new features, bug reports, etc. All of the features I had in mind are present in the plugin, but I’m always up for ideas that will make this a better plugin!

1. Video - I’m currently working on a video that will both showcase the features of WP Comment Remix, as well as serve as a help file to walk users through everything.
2. Localization - This is the first plugin I’ve used the localization features on, so I’m still getting it all ready. Feel free to start translating it, though, this will be ready soon!

Download

I’m still waiting on approval for the Plugin Directory, so for now I’m hosting the download on my blog: http://pressography.com/plugins/wp-comment-remix/

How do I start writing on the Plugin Blog and submit my ideas for feedback from readers?
After you have registered yourself on the Plugin Blog or if you already have a registration but do not have author permissions, please contact us with your details and a little information about the plugin(s) you are planning to enter into the competition and we will enable your account. This is a security precaution and we apologize for any inconvenience.

When should I submit my plugin?
We recommend that you submit your plugin to us at the end of the competition. This will give you enough time to test the plugin for any bugs and resolve them. You will have time to look into feature requests from your visitors. This will also ensure that you don’t need to submit multiple bugfixes to us. We prefer receiving a single final version for our records.

Won’t I be at a disadvantage if I submit it at the end?
No, of course not. Voting will begin only after the plugin competition ends. Also, our judges will take a look at the plugin only after the end of the competition.

Is okay to release it prior to submitting it for the contest?
Plugins released in these two months are eligible for the competition. In fact if you release it now, you have time to test it and receive feedback from the community so an early release to public is a good thing. Conversely, an early release to the public does not mean an automatic submission to the competition.

How do I know the plugin is new?
You can search to see if a similar plugin is available in WordPress Extend. You can also use any search engine to see if a similar plugin is available.

What about the plugins in last year’s competition
If you need an idea of the type of plugins that have been submitted in the past, here is a list of plugins from last year’s competition.

I am a WordPress user. I have an idea, where do I submit it?
You can also post them in this post or this posting in our News Forum.

How do I sponsor a prize?
If you would like to sponsor a prize or donate some money to the competition, please contact us. We are actively looking for prize money.

Do you have any other questions about the competition? Please post them in the comments section below.

Good day. I am Ajay D’Souza. I blog at http://ajaydsouza.com/ and http://techtites.com/. Those of you who have been following this blog for more than a year may remember my daily release posts as well as the A-Plugin-A-Day series. MBA life has kept me busy since then, but that’s another story.

As part of my new assignment out here, I’ll be looking after the Plugin Competition. I’ll be maintaining the WordPress Plugin Competition Blog as well as making weekly posts both here and at the Competition Blog.

With the WordPress Plugin Competition 2.5 beginning today, I thought I’d just write in with a few tips on making your entry.

Firstly, read the rules to be followed are listed in the post. Please make sure that your entry does not break any of them.

Getting Inspired

One of the important rules that we have is that the plugins should be new, i.e. no updates to already existing plugins. One great place to get inspired is WordPress Ideas. WordPress Ideas is a place where the people from the WordPress Community, both users and developers vote for what they would like included in WordPress. Some have been implemented, while some may actually appear in future versions and still others that may not be. So, why not make a plugin to accommodate for the latter two?

You can also hunt for ideas in these posts or this posting in our News Forum.

Offering the plugin for download

Something that many authors forget in their zeal to develop a plugin (or a theme) is its documentation.

Firstly, make sure your plugin zip file contains a readme.txt. If needed, include a full fledged help section as well. You can also put this on the plugin release page on your site.

Next, create a separate page on your blog / site dedicated for the plugin. Posts are a no-no! They get lost in the crowd.

Make sure the page has the following:

• Overview
• Requirements
• Features
• Installation Instructions
• Download Link
• License
• Method to get support

When linking to the download file, one method I follow is to link to a file without any version etc. e.g. it reads simply pluginname.zip. The purpose of this is that I can always update the zip file with the latest version of the plugin without bothering to change the link.

Old versions of the plugin can be archived as pluginname_v1.0.zip, pluginname_v1.1.zip and so on.

Sending it to us

You’ll need to send your plugin to us via email. We will reveal the email address that you need to send the plugins to in the second month of the competition.

The competition is on for another two months, which gives you plenty of time to release a feature rich plugin.

Before that, release a well tested version to the public. Fix any bugs that come up, try to provide more features as requested.

The WordPress community is demanding and extremely helpful at guiding you down your path.

All the best for now.

To the WordPress Community

I’m sure you’ll love the competition and many of the plugins that stem from it. Authors are always hunting for ideas and who better to tell them than you. Please feel free to post your ideas in the comments section below.

Or, you can also post them in any of these two posts or this posting in our News Forum.

If you would like to sponsor a prize or donate some money to the competition, please contact us. Lots of eyes see these competitions and your encouragement goes a long way in helping provide incentives.

Stay tuned and please help spread the word.