Member
When looking for a particular plugin I often get a lot of suggestions, a lot of plugins. But many of them are so old they only work for versions beneath 3.0, and today I even encountered one that was compatible up to version 1.0 ;)
It would be a good idea imho to clean of the database, removing all plugins that are not compatible with at least 3.0 and which at the same time are not updated for some time (= years). Or move these plugins to a different category 'Deprecated plugins'.
Member
Agreed, but sometimes the plugins DO work even though they are old... To give you an example: I use a very simple plugin to have a correct ending of the word "comments" in the Russian language.
This plugin hasn't been updated since...2009 ;) But it works perfectly because it doesn't depend on the core files, but on the tags. And as soon as the tags remain unchanged it will continue to work great!
So it's a bit hard to "classify" ALL the plugins as old, or "deprecated", try-and-error approach is still needed imo.
WordPress God
I like the idea of cleaning up the repository. However, a plugin doesn't necessarily need an update to work with newer versions of WordPress, especially if the plugin used standard WordPress functions and hooks when it was written. I've written plugins 3 years ago that are still perfectly compatible with the newest WordPress. The trouble is figuring out which plugins need to be purged.
Also, this is WordPress.ORG.
Member
The main reason why I think it should be cleaned up is this: Are you going to install a plugin that says 'Compatible up to 2.5' if you yourself are using 3.1? I don't think so. And there are so many plugins that say 'compatbible up to 2.3 or 2.9'.
WordPress God
Are you going to install a plugin that says 'Compatible up to 2.5' if you yourself are using 3.1?
Yes, I would. And, yes, I have.
The "compatible up to x.x" note is usually irrelevant for plugins that are coded using standard WordPress functions.
Member
Yes, I know what you mean. I also have some plugins that are older than 'compatible' to 3.0. But I installed those when I was still running version 2.9 or below. New plugins I will only install when they are compatible with at least 3.0, because each time I update WP I would be afraid of breaking up my installation. And I'm not an expert, so I can't tell if a plugin is using standard WP functions or not.
Member
How about just adding a few more searchable fields to the plugin database, like WP version compatibility, number of downloads and last update? This info can then appear in the results table. Ideally, we could then sort any particular column of results.
Member
Great suggestion bowoolley. That would make it much easier to choose a plugin.
Inactive
i think it would be nice for users to be able to deprecate a plugin in favor of another.
as an example: there are several 301 redirect plugins
here are two:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-301-redirects/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/redirection/
'redirection' has a slightly lower rating, however its use is MUCH greater than 'simple 301 redirects' after inspecting them both, i found that 'redirection' contains all the features of 'simple 301 redirects' as well as many improvements. therefore the use of 'simple 301 redirects' plugin would be deprecated in favor of 'redirection'
i find this kind of research very tedious and it would be great to be able to save my research so in the future i always know which plugin i'm looking for while helping others find better plugins as well.
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