Episode 64: Plugin Updates, Team Retreats, Automated Testing

Today’s sponsor is Network Solutions, maker of Secure WordPress. This platform is great for those wanting the ultimate in security. With 24/7 tech support and the ability to update plugins, backup daily and scan for malware, Secure WordPress is worth considering. Check them out at getnetsol.com/applyfilters.

On today’s podcast, we’re talking about our updates and some of the blog posts we’ve written recently that we’ll go more into on another date.

Pippin’s Update

Pippin released EDD 2.6 next week. He talks about all of the new features, including the native import options for payments and products, the ability to make refund payments easier, and a new customer metadata table. He also tells us about the big update coming to Restricted Content Pro, which entailed rewriting the entire interface to make it more intuitive and user-friendly, added support for payments through Alipay and Stripe, and a new add-ons page.

Brad’s Update

Brad just got back from a company retreat in Vienna, where they got together to attend WordCamp Europe. He got to meet lots of great people and is looking forward to the next regional retreat, which they decided should happen every year.

Some of the topics discussed on today’s podcast include:

Why adding more links to your pages can help your readers and users understand more about your product.

The pros and cons of testing with several people vs. automated testing.

Why refactoring can cause bugs.

Brad is getting a new full-time team member who will help with support on Migrate DB Pro.

Brad and Pippin talk about some of their recent blog posts.

Links and Resources:

Alipay

Rock-Solid Software Testing Without Hiring an Army

Hey WordPress Developer, Your Clients Should Own Their Plugin Licenses

The Monster That Is a Poor Database Schema

Escaping the Tyranny of My Desk

Extending the WP Metadata API

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Transcript

INTRO: Welcome to Apply Filters, the podcast all about WordPress development. Now here’s your hosts, Pippin Williamson and Brad Touesnard.

PIPPIN: Welcome back to Apply Filters, Episode 64. Today, Brad and I are going to talk about some of the things that we’ve been up to, a few blog posts that we’ve either written or read recently, some of Brad’s trip to WordCamp Europe in Vienna. But before we do that, let’s have a quick word from our sponsors.

BRAD: I registered my first ever domain name in 1999, 17 years ago. Back then there was one place to register domain names, a company called Network Solutions. Many of you probably already know this, but did you know that Network Solutions also has a WordPress hosting platform? They do.

It’s called Secure WordPress. It’s a managed WordPress hosting platform with an emphasis on security. They automatically keep WordPress core and your themes and plugins up to date. They have daily backups. They provide malware scanning and removal. And they put your site behind a data center class firewall to protect against zero day hacks and DDoS attacks.

They have expert tech support available 24/7 via chat and phone. Network Solutions takes care of keeping your site locked down and up to date, so you can focus on your business. Visit GetNetSol.com/ApplyFilters today to get started. That’s GetNetSol.com/ApplyFilters. And now back to the show.

All right, Pippin. What have you been up to, man?

PIPPIN: Well, the last couple weeks have been pretty busy with a couple of big plugin updates. We’ve been working on Easy Digital Downloads 2.6, which has been in progress since, I think, January is when our last major release, 2.5, was. It’s been about a 6-month development period, obviously with point releases in between. When we measure our development periods, we usually go major release to major release, so it’s been about six months for that.

We got that pushed out last week on Thursday, I believe, an