Easier Configuration Ideas

First we need to update to work better with 4.0. There are some compatibility issues, but on top of that we have some wonderful new api options to include!

Second I just have some basic ideas and suggestions:

1) Include defaults that work with all themes. By using html tags like h1-h6, p, button, etc., you provide the opportunity to let this plugin work on its own without forcing the user to implement their own plugin, which is beyond what most wordpess users are capable of doing.

2) Sadly with 75,000 downloads there are only 5 extension themes available that people have made. To fix this we just need to make it easier for add their themes. Most people don’t know how to make a wordpress plugin, let alone know subversion to be able to add a plugin to wordpess. So how can we make this all easier? First we need to make the set up easier and quicker. My proposal is to automatically generate a child plugin when first activating this plugin or have an option to download a plugin based on their current theme. If you think you’d want to implement this let me know, I’d be glad to write the plugin. If not here’s a simple function you could include on the settings page that helps people know what they’re suppose to do. You could just include this with some basic info like “copy this text into a new plugin file with a customize.json to add your own plugin.

function admin_notice_theme($output) {
	global $user_identity, $user_url;
	get_currentuserinfo();
	$my_theme = wp_get_theme();
	$themename = $my_theme->get('Name');
	$sitename = get_bloginfo('name');
	$pluginuri = home_url();
	$version = date('Y.m.d');
	$output = '<textarea rows="10" cols="75">' . "\r\n";
	$output.= '<?php' . "\r\n";
	$output.= '/*' . "\r\n";
	$output.= 'Plugin Name: tyles: ' . $themename . "\r\n";
	$output.= 'Plugin URI: ' . $pluginuri . "\r\n";
	$output.= 'Description: A theme specific plugin for the ' . $themename . ' theme, that adds theme customizer controls ';
	$output.= 'using the <a href=&quot;http://wordpress.org/plugins/styles/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;>Styles plugin</a>.' . "\n";
	$output.= 'Version: ' . $version . "\n";
	$output.= 'Author: ' . $user_identity . "\n";
	$output.= 'Author URI: ' . $user_url . "\n";
	$output.= 'License: GPL' . "\r\n";
	$output.= "\r\n";
	$output.= 'Require: Styles 1.1.9' . "\r\n";
	$output.= 'Styles Class: Styles_Child_Theme' . "\n";
	$output.= '*/' . "\n";
	$output.= "\n";
	$output.= "\n";
	$output.= 'if ( !class_exists( 'Styles_Child_Notices' ) ) {' . "\n";
	$output.= 'include dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/classes/styles-child-notices/styles-child-notices.php';' . "\n";
	$output.= '}' . "\n";
	$output.= '</textarea>';
	return $output;
}

<?php echo admin_notice_theme( $output ); ?>

Also, I think we need to make the docs a little better. Most people don’t realize this is basically an api to extend their theme. I’ve tried advocating it many times on stackexchange, but people will argue that it “Only works with a few themes”.

By auto creating a child plugin people people will have an easier time of understanding what their doing and how to use this. We could also have an export option where users could download their “child plugin” based on the changes they made. I’ve noticed many people have had issues with loosing changes. This would help so they don’t have to manually do things every time.

This plugin I would suggest you recommend, because it easily lets you restore your customizer options at any time.

I think the docs are a must for the todo list. While the youtube video helps, I think there a ton of things themers would find helpful that are impossible to know about unless you search through the code. If you take http://kirki.org/ which is the other decent customizer plugin, it is very easy to figure out how to use the plugin api.

For example, it’s nice to know there is an option to change the customize.json file, but without browsing all the code most people would never know there was a filter to do this:

function override_styles_path( $json_files ) {
    $json_files[] = get_stylesheet_directory() . '/styles/customize.json';
    return $json_files;
}
add_filters( 'styles_json_files', 'override_styles_path');

Additionally, It would be nice to be able to do this and not have to include a child plugin at, where the user could simply add styles.json to there theme and be done with it. The plugin could also check if customize.json was in the theme folder main path and if it was, not require a child plugin. Maybe this is already available, I just didn’t come across it.

It would also be nice to define styles headers in theme styles.css instead of a seperate plugin (this also might work already haven’t tried though). Logically this makes more since to me, since the plugin is theme dependent anyway.

Another nice one to add is option to remove the menu page, otherwise this is simple enough:

function remove_styles_menu() {
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'settings_page_styles' );
}
add_action( 'admin_menu', 'remove_styles_menu', 999 );

Most importantly 75,000 downloads and only 5 public themes available is terrible! People are either too selfish to share or like I said previously they need an easier way to upload. WordPress is mainly a community of designers and bloggers, and we need to make it easier for them! If we make it so they can auto create their plugin and all they have to do is create themes, you can include an upload button on your site that lets them share there theme. I think a lot more people would contribute if it were that easy.

Anyway, these are all just ideas, let me know if you guys want me to add the auto plugin installer and I’ll write it next week when I get a chance. I also have a “twitter bootstap” theme I will add this weekend that and will allow them to use this a lot easier by using bootstrap.

Also, heres a link on how to include this with tgm activation

https://wordpress.org/plugins/styles/