Guest Ben Croker
Craft CMS plugin developer, trainer and consultant, lover of adventures and the great outdoors.
Season 06 Episode 12
– May 09, 2023
52:22
Show Notes
Lessons from a plugin developer with Ben Croker
A discussion on plugin development with Ben Croker who has developed plugins for Craft CMS and previously for ExpressionEngine. We discuss when to use a plugin, when a plugin should be commercial, how to price a plugin, and providing support to end users.
Show Notes
- Ben's origin story
- What is a plugin?
- CMS acquisition of plugins in order to add to core functionality
- When to use a plugin or build it myself?
- How do you come up with an idea for a plugin?
- Commercial vs Free plugins
- Supporting plugins
- No code vs bring your own code and technical knowledge
- Support tickets/issues
- GitHub issues
- Email (good for sensitive information)
- Ticketing systems
- Feature requests and pull requests
- How to decide the cost of commercial plugins
- Breaking changes in the CMS
- Plugins that work with other plugins
- Website security and plugin evaluation
- Advice for developers new to plugin development
- USE an IDE
Show Links
- Code Igniter
- ExpressionEngine
- Craft Cms
- Put Your Lights On
- Blitz
- Sprig
- Sendgrid
- Feed Me
- The Dangers of Over Reliance on Plugins in Website Builds
- SEOmatic
- Good Documentation is Hard (Matt Stein)
- HTMX
- Tailwind with Adam Wathan - Season 5 Episode 4
- Semantic Versioning
- Craft CMS Docs
- Craft Quest
- Craft Generator
- PHP Storm
- Visual Studio Code
Have a question for Sean, Mike, and Amanda? Send us an email.
Season 06
- 1 Tools of the Trade
- 2 Website Contract Advice From an Actual Lawyer
- 3 Choosing a CMS
- 4 Tips for Website Maintenance
- 5 Working with Conflicting Personalities
- 6 Building an Online Course with Jane Atkinson
- 7 PodCamp Toronto 2023 Recap
- 8 The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly about RFPs
- 9 Here's how to work from paradise
- 10 Rebroadcast: Pimp Your Typography
- 11 Internet Privacy with Michael Geist
- 12 Lessons from a plugin developer with Ben Croker
- 13 Stand Out on Social Media with Jessica Perreault