Episode 83: Finale

This is the last episode before we retire the podcast. Many people have enjoyed the podcast and we’ve had a lot of great feedback and a lot of fun, so we’ve been asked why we’re retiring. Ultimately, we just needed to make a change and it’s time to move on. Be sure to listen to hear about how things have changed over the past couple of years and why those changes have led to us retiring the show. For our last episode, we’ve decided to answer some of our listeners’ questions. Some of the highlights of the show include: Regrets that Brad and Pippin have had regarding not building a plugin they’ve had an idea for. Why it’s important for companies to start new projects frequently. Advice Brad and Pippin wish they could give their younger selves when it comes to development, projects, and processes. Some thoughts on pricing: How data, psychology, and strategy play into it. Takeaways Brad and Pippin have learned that have come about by sharing business ideas with others. Thoughts ...

Episode 82: The Future of EDD, Mergebot Updates, and Creating Your Own SSL Cert

Today, Brad and Pippin will be talking about what they’ve been up to the past few months, including things that have been going well and things that they’ve struggled with. Some of the highlights of the show include: The challenges that EDD faced when developing Commissions beta 3.4, as well as why the release was planned and developed. What EDD is planning to release over the next year or two. Brad’s newest blog post about creating your own certificate authority. Details about Mergebot’s launch. How Serialized Editor has helped Brad. Details of the 2.8 release of EDD’s core plugin. The status of the Migrate DB Pro release, including details of the new import feature. The importance of not working in a vacuum. The features of Restrict Content Pro 2.9. Links and Resources: Commissions Easy Digital Downloads Development How to Create Your Own SSL Certificate Authority Pippin’s Plugins Mergebot Laraval Spark Serializededitor.com EDD 2.8 Migrate DB Pro Restrict Content Pro 2.9 If ...

Episode 81: Matt Mullenweg – #WorthIt

Today, Brad and Pippin will be talking to Matt Mullenweg. Matt is the founder of WordPress and the CEO of Automattic. We will be talking about the history of Automattic and what Matt does in his spare time. We’ll also talk about what Matt feels is not talked about enough inside of WordPress. Some of the highlights of the show include: Matt’s announcement that he will be leading WordPress development: how the CEO of such a large company can lead this huge open source project. The tipping point where Matt decided he wanted to get back into the development side. Why Matt thinks there has been no progress on powering the WP Admin by the REST API and why this is one of his priorities. What Matt would like to see happen with the WP Admin to make it most successful. What Automattic looked like in its early days when the team was only a handful of people, as well as what Matt would change if he could go back in time. How Matt recommends people learn about management and communication. Wha...

Episode 80: Retargeting, Focus, and Other Listener Questions

Today we’re going to be talk about updates on what we’ve been up to recently. Then we’ll answer some of the questions that have come in from our readers and listeners. Sit back and enjoy the show! Some of the highlights of the show include: The two areas that Pippin has decided to focus on in 2017: Business growth and polishing all of the products. Thoughts on retargeting: What programs Brad and Pippin use, how the results are measured, and how to evaluate the trends over time. How a price increase at Easy Digital Downloads has affected interactions between customers and the EDD team and the revenue. Some of the new EDD add-ons that the team is breathing new life into. Information on the new employees at both Easy Digital Downloads and Delicious Brains. How Brad found their new marketer by defining exactly what they were looking for. Some of the limitations of Mergebot Beta and what DB will be doing before the launch. The process of moving attachments to another bucket in the upc...

Episode 79: WordPress Development Challenges, Hiring Developers, and Other Listener Questions

We’re going to answer some listener questions today. We’ve been getting a lot of great ones, and we thank you! We will continue answering questions in future episodes. If you have questions that you’d like to submit, you can do so on the form on our website, or you can Tweet us or send an email. Some of the highlights of the show include: Pippin’s and Brad’s least favorite parts of developing for WordPress and why. How Composer and Bower can help with single plugin development as opposed to when working with a team. Also, Brad’s and Pippin’s thoughts on using auto-loading for classes and plugins. Whether new plugins should use API to insert new posts, or whether Brad and Pippin prefer WP Insert. Thoughts on debugging Admin Ajax and making it faster. Which plugins are the most likely to be hogging resources and slowing it down? How to determine a good price to pay for a plugin, as well as how to approach a plugin creator with a specific offer price. Tips on hiring developers, ...

Episode 78: Payment Gateways, Tax Season, and Other Listener Questions

Today’s episode is sponsored by Pagely, the original gangsters of WordPress hosting. They’ve been around for a long time, but they’ve gone from humble beginnings to hosting huge brands. They’ve been able to figure out who their customers are and why they come to them. If you have scaling, security, or other “unsolvable” challenges, you can count on this solution-findingcompany. Go check them out at Pagely.com. Today we will be dipping into our mailbag to answer questions. We’ll be doing this again, so if you have a question that hasn’t been answered, be sure to send it in! Some of the highlights of the show include: The best way to set up recurring payments, with or without a plug-in or an affiliate program. What OS to go with when building custom routes in the REST API for a mobile app. Suggestions on the best process for entrepreneurs to prep for taxes, including tips on how to keep all of your paperwork under control, preferably with the help of a bookkeeper. How to track...

Episode 77: How to Build a Batch Processing System with Drew Jaynes

Today’s episode is sponsored by Pagely, who are the original gangsters of managed WordPress hosting. They come from humble beginnings, but now they host huge brands like Disney, Visa, eBay and more. They know their customers well and they understand and provide solutions for the complex challenges of scaling. Check them out at Pagely.com for more information. Our guest today is Drew Jaynes. He works for Sandhill Development with Pippin, and today we’re going to talk about batch processing. Drew will talk about his recent projects, and he’ll share tips on batch processing, data sets, and more. Some of the highlights of the show include: What batch processing is and why it’s important, including examples of why you might need to use it with your WP site. Challenges Drew ran into when building a new batch processor with API. The differences between batch processing and step processing. Detailed information on how Drew’s new batch processing works and how it’s an improvement over ...

Episode 76: Advanced Strategies vs. Just Shipping, and Other Listener Questions

We don’t have a sponsor this episode, but we are celebrating 100,000 downloads! With a sponsorship, about 2,100 people will listen to your ad. If you’re interested, visit applyfilters.fm to check it out. Today, Pippin and Brad will answer questions from the audience. You’ve asked some great questions through Twitter, email, and Post Status Slack. Some of the highlights of today’s show include: Working in advanced strategies vs. just shipping. Is it better to just get the item out the door, or to get the product perfect and smooth out all of the rough edges before offering it? Brad and Pippin have different philosophies on this, and they discuss their thoughts on finding the balance between polishing and speed. Considerations to keep in mind when a feature is released and it’s not being used. Is it because it’s too unpolished, or because it’s just not a worthwhile feature? Two development areas where the advanced strategies vs. just shipping question applies and needs to be ca...

Episode 75: Your Development Questions, Answered

Today we’re going to answer questions from listeners. We’re focusing on development today, and if we don’t get to your question, we will get to it soon, so go ahead and get in touch if you have a question that you would like answered. We also apologize because our sponsorship form wasn’t working, but we’ve got it fixed now. If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, please check out our Sponsorship page and fill out the form. Some of the highlights of the show include: How nonces are used: their fully defined used, how else they’re used, and where meta boxes fit in. We also discuss some of the security issues that nonces can help with. Steps for a PHP developer to take to become a WordPress plug-in developer. Advice on coding WP with PSR standards. A discussion of object-oriented programming versus procedural, particularly the benefits of OOP. The tools that we use regularly and what helped us level up as developers. The best practices for making your own plug-ins and codes....

Episode 74: Looking Back at 2016, and Ahead to 2017

2016 had been a year filled with challenges, achievements, and good experiences for both Pippin and Brad. Today, we’re going to talk about the year in review, both professionally and personally. We’ll also think ahead to what we are hoping to continue, change, and accomplish as we look forward to a dynamic and successful 2017. Sit back and relax to a fun hour of reminiscing, goal-setting, and chatting about various topics. Some of the highlights of the show include: Fun stats for Apply Filters: How many episodes, how many downloads, and which episodes were the most popular. Some of the challenges in 2016. One major one for Pippin was that the growth of EDD seemed to have stalled. Brad’s challenges. One is that he realized that he’s taking on so many different tasks that he’s not doing them all well. Thoughts on deciding when to hire someone and how to hire the right person. Brad’s highlights from 2016: the Better Search Replace plugin, new team members, a retreat in Vienna, a ...