Tag: software

How long does it take between when a plugin update is released and when auto-updates install it on your WordPress site?

Auto-updates for WordPress themes and plugins were released this year in WordPress version 5.5. They allow WordPress site owners to opt-in to automatically have new versions of plugins and themes installed when they are released, without any intervention from the site owner.

If you use auto-updates, one question might be on your mind:

How long will it take between when the author of a plugin releases a new version and when that new version is installed on your WordPress site?

This question is vital for site owners and managers. Especially in scenarios when new plugin or theme versions contain critical security fixes, time is of the essence to avoid possible unauthorized access to your WordPress site.

To get to the answer, let’s first review how plugin and theme releases happen.

The Plugin and Theme Release Process

When a plugin or theme author is ready to make an update to their software, they upload those changes to the directory on WordPress.org. This is where the code for their theme or plugin is hosted publicly.

Most theme and plugin authors also indicate the release of non-trivial changes by increasing the version number associated with their plugin. Maybe it’s a small “point release” like going from version 1.1 to version 1.2, or maybe it’s a major release like going from version 3.0 to version 4.0. The change in version number lets everyone know that there’s new functionality and fixes available. It’s a convenient way to refer to how software has changed over time.

Once the updated software and version number change is live on WordPress.org, it’s immediately in effect for new installations of that plugin or theme. Anyone downloading and installing a plugin or theme from that directory will now be using the latest code made available by the author.

But what about existing sites that already have that theme or plugin installed? How do they learn about the new changes and new version?

How WordPress Sites Discover Updates

You might think it happens through a “push notification” sent to your site from WordPress.org. But the WordPress.org systems would have to contact thousands or maybe millions of sites to tell them about an update to a single plugin. That’s just not practical.

Continue reading How long does it take between when a plugin update is released and when auto-updates install it on your WordPress site?

How I built and launched a SaaS app in one month

In June of this year, I had an idea for a software-as-a-service (Saas) application that I wanted to build and launch. On July 1st, I committed the first lines of code to a git repo for the app. After about 200 hours of development time, on August 10th I launched the first version of the application into the world, ready for users and subscribers.

The service is called WP Lookout and you can read more about the service itself and why I built it on wplookout.com. This post is about the process, tools and services I used to build and launch a SaaS application in what felt like a relatively short period of time.

Here’s the short list of resources I used along the way if you just want to explore them without further commentary:

  • Laravel for the application framework
  • Laravel Homestead for my local development environment
  • PhpStorm for software development
  • Laravel Spark for scaffolding the SaaS subscription and account management
  • Stripe for subscription payment processing
  • Laravel Nova for an administrative dashboard
  • Git and GitHub for tracking code development, to-do items and feature branches
  • Upwork for hiring and paying a software code reviewer and consultant
  • Slack for coordinating with my contractor
  • TermsFeed for generating privacy policy and terms of service documents
  • Amazon Web Services for application hosting
  • Laravel Vapor for managing AWS setup and deployment
  • WordPress for building the WP Lookout marketing website
  • Matomo for privacy-focused analytics
  • HelpScout for managing user support interactions
  • MailerLite for handling new user onboarding and marketing automation

I’m not going to go in-depth on all of these tools, as some of them are pretty simple and self-evident in their value. Others are just magical and deserving of some additional observations. Here are some things that stood out and what I learned along the way:

Continue reading How I built and launched a SaaS app in one month

New WordPress and WooCommerce plugin: Harmonizely Booking Product

I’ve released a new, free plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce, Harmonizely Booking Product. The plugin creates a new WooCommerce product type that allows you to sell access to scheduled appointments on your calendar, using Harmonizely.

Here’s a quick video to show you how it works:

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Harmonizely and they did not ask or pay me to create this plugin, I’m just a fan of the service who wanted to create more ways to use it within the WordPress ecosystem. This post does contain some referral links where I may receive a small percentage of any sales that might result from readers clicking through.

There are a growing number of options to handle appointment scheduling, and if you’re in some field where people schedule things with you a lot (consultant, agency, counselor, accountant, lawyer, healthcare professional) I hope you’re looking at those tools to save you some time. One of the main reasons I like and settled on Harmonizely is because they support the open CalDAV standard for calendar connections and syncing, where as many other services only support Google Calendar or other proprietary connections. (This is especially important to me as a part of advocating for an open web.)

I also like Harmonizely because the service is simple and fast, they regularly release improvements and new features, they have a small and responsive team, and they’ve made their product roadmap public and interactive. Their basic tool is free and they have very affordable pricing for an upgraded version.

Creating this plugin to work with WooCommerce means that anyone who has an existing WooCommerce-powered store can add booking functionality in and keep using their existing payment methods, plugins and other settings. I can imagine a content creator who already sells access to video courses or other educational resources might enjoy being able to let users schedule a quick call with them for a small fee, too. Or maybe someone who offers troubleshooting services of some kind can now give their customers a quick way to pay for and schedule an appointment. There are lots of possibilities, and WooCommerce offers tons of flexibility so you can integrate with Stripe, Paypal, Square and other payment processors.

If you want to sell access to your time through a website, I hope you’ll take a look at Harmonizely, WooCommerce, and this new Harmonizely Booking Product plugin. If you have questions or need help, you can submit a support message or open a GitHub issue.

Enjoy!