Version 3 Add-ons Coming Soon

  • Plugin Author Jean

    (@jeangalea)


    12 years ago

    Hello everyone,

    It’s Jean, the lead dev behind WP RSS Aggregator.

    I just wanted to give you all a little update on what’s coming up soon.

    First of all, a little background about the plugin. I created this plugin in January 2011 as I needed its functionality for my site WP Mayor. It also served as a playground for me to implement best practices plugin development procedures, so it could also serve as a guide to other new developers.

    As you all know the plugin proved to be quite popular, and I’ve received many requests for improvements and new features. I did release a few updates during the past few years, but there was much more I could do with it.

    You’ve all been waiting for the promised new features, and I’ve been probably the most anxious to have the new features out, simply because I need them for my own site too. Unfortunately I also had a lot of client work to deal with and I couldn’t justify taking a few weeks off from paying jobs to work on a free plugin.

    However I’ve also gotten many offers for donations to implement this or that feature. I didn’t take up any of these, again mainly because I didn’t have the time to concentrate for a few days/weeks on the plugin. The good news is that I’ve been following with great interest the newish practice adopted by many of the leading WordPress developers. This consists of having a core free plugin + premium addons.

    The idea is that 80% of all users will only ever need the core plugin, but then there are the other 20% that need some more advanced features. The needs of these users will be catered for through the premium addons.

    Income from the addons will be used to provide excellent support and also reinvest more time in improving the core plugin and creating more addons. One of my main inspirations is the Easy Digital Downloads plugin by Pippin Williamson, go check it out.

    Right now, I’m working full time on improving the core plugin to be able to accommodate add-ons (mainly through code refactoring and using hooks and filters), plus of course creating the add-ons themselves. The inclusion of filters and hooks in the core plugin will also make it easier for those of you who are developers to write their own add-on plugins that hook into WP RSS Aggregator.

    I hope this move will satisfy all those of you who have been waiting for the new features. Thanks so much for being patient!

    If you have any feedback or feature requests, please feel free to reply on this thread.

    https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/wp-rss-aggregator/

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Miz.Michele

    (@mizmichele)

    Sounds great. I see that people sometimes get upset when there is a charge for plugins. For me personally what I don’t like is when there is a plugin or a theme, for that matter, that looks great and then once you obtain it you find out that for any of it to work the way you want it to, or as promised, you have to pay.

    That to me is kind of misleading and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    Your approach seems very fair. You have a great, valuable plugin that you create and distribute for free and it looks you will continue to do so and now you are coming out with a more specialized version that you will charge a premium for.

    Seems only fair that you can make a living, as the other authors, for all of your time, expertise, knowledge and efforts.

    I really haven’t been using the plug-in because I need some of the extra features to make it workable for what I am trying to achieve so keep us updated on the premium status.

    Plugin Author Jean

    (@jeangalea)

    Many thanks for your feedback Michelle.

    As you said, the plugin in its current incarnation has been available for free for more than a year, and all the features that are in it will remain free. There will also be some new features that get added to the core plugin as well.

    The addons will be premium in order for me to be able to dedicate the time to develop and support them properly.

    This is the best model for plugins going forward, and is already being used by successful plugins such as WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.

    Can’t wait for more options. I would like to add to the code roughly 150-200 words for an excerpt and a really small 150×150 thumbnail (first image added) aligned left with cellpadding 5… lol

    ??

    Any help would be awesome. Thanks…

    Plugin Author Jean

    (@jeangalea)

    Those features will be in the first addon to be released.

    Plugin Author Jean

    (@jeangalea)

    WP RSS Aggregator 3.0 has just been released, thanks for being patient and waiting for this update. There’s a bunch of new options added, and you can expect another update in around a month’s time. Addons will also start being released in the first part of April.

    This version of the plugin has underwent a major rewrite and it is now able to work well with addons. In the following 3 weeks I’ll have the opportunity to ascertain that everyone is happy with how the core plugin works, and there are no bugs, before proceeding to release the addons.

    As always, your feedback is most welome and appreciated.

    PS For those who are eager to see what the addons will be able to produce, I’ll be testing them out on my blog: Fit for Blogging. For now I’ve got the beta version of the Excerpts and Thumbnails addon running, so you can see those in action.

    Hi,
    Just a question. Is there a way to import 200 feeds at once.

    I am current using Google reader to create bundle into one feed which works well but… since Google Reader is going away, I’m searching for an alternative.

    Thank You
    Rj

    Plugin Author Jean

    (@jeangalea)

    I’m working on an import facility from Google reader, stay tuned.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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