Archive for November, 2011

Documentation site is moving

Nov
27
2011
No comments

We've run in to a bit of an issue with our documentation site. While WordPress is a great backend, and just about perfect for our main site; it doesn't work well for documentation. Heck, even WordPress doesn't use WordPress for their documentation site.

What we've decided is to start using MediaWiki, the software that runs WikiPedia, for our documentation site. This should make it easier to create and edit pages and link between them.

One of the reasons we went with WordPress to start was to give everybody the ability to comment on pages and ask questions if needed. We'll be loading Disqus on to most of the wiki pages so the comments will still be there.

The new documentation site is still a bit light as we're in progress, and the documentation link on the top of this page still links to the old pages. But it will be switched over as soon as we get the pages moved over.

The new site lives at docs.proofbuddy.com

Categories:Development Blog
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WordPress plugin, any thoughts?

Nov
26
2011
11 comments

We've had quite a few requests for a WordPress plugin that works with ProofBuddy. And it is on our wish list. Catch is the requests have always been for a WP plugin without much else.

So the question for today is, if there were a WordPress plugin that interacted with ProofBuddy, what would you want it to do?

Here are my thoughts, roughly in order of likelihood. Let me know what you think in the comments if this is close to what you would like to see.

Shortcode for WP pages / posts
This is what I'm guessing most of the requests were after. Basically some way to insert a gallery from ProofBuddy in to a WordPress post. Maybe something along the lines of [ pbGallery passcode=123 ] that would pull a gallery out of the ProofBuddy database and insert it into a WordPress post.

Done correctly, this would allow you to basically wrap ProofBuddy inside of your WordPress theme and your visitors may not even have to know they're using ProofBuddy.

Dashboard widget
Possibly a dashboard widget for WordPress that displayed info about your ProofBuddy albums when you login to wp-admin. Something similar to what's in the ProofBuddy dashboard already where you could see sales, image counts, that sort of thing.

Insert Image
Some sort of interface that would let you insert an image that you've already loaded in to ProofBuddy without having to upload again.

Not sure how this one would work though.

Your thoughts?
Most of the really great features that have made their way in to ProofBuddy have started as a request from a user. Y'all are the ones using ProofBuddy every day with your clients and know all of those little nit picks that could make it better, and we truly appreciate any input you may have. 

Categories:Development Blog
Tags:,

Installing plugins and themes with FTP

Nov
6
2011
No comments

A bit of an update on a feature we're working on right now that should make adding and updating themes and plugins a lot easier.

ProofBuddy 2.0 is dependent on server settings on whether it can install plugins and themes automatically, and most hosts aren't setup to allow ProofBuddy to do what it needs to do. And they're setup the right way. While it would be nice for ProofBuddy to have access to write anywhere it needs to, it's generally safer for a host to not allow that to happen.

With ProofBuddy 2.1 we're adding the ability to upload themes and plugins using your FTP login information instead which should make it easier to add new plugins and themes. ProofBuddy will also occasionally check for new versions of any plugins and themes you have installed and let you update to the newest versions automatically as well.

The goal is for this also to allow you to update ProofBuddy through this same process.

And here's an obligatory screen shot of the first step to installing a new plugin via the new FTP uploaded.

The first step in uploading a plugin in ProofBuddy 2.1

Categories:Development Blog
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