Launching a WordPress Product in Public: Session 9

Transcript ↓

In this episode, Cory Miller and Corey Maass share their insights and experience about the challenges of finding the right balance between simplicity and complexity and the importance of testing and documentation. They also share their personal stories of how they got started with WordPress and how their experiences have shaped their approach to plugin development. For anyone interested in developing WordPress plugins, especially if you are looking to improve your development process and create more user-friendly plugins, this episode is a must-listen.

Top Takeaways:

• Building a successful plugin requires a deep understanding of user needs and pain points: Understanding your users’ needs and pain points to develop a plugin that solves their problems effectively is critical. This requires continuous user testing and feedback to improve functionality and user experience.
• Collaboration and communication are crucial for plugin development: Plugin development is a team effort that requires effective communication, collaboration, and project management. Clear communication channels, regular meetings, and shared project management tools help ensure everyone is on the same page.
• Monetization strategies should align with user value: Considering various monetization strategies for plugins, including premium features, subscriptions, and sponsorships, is helpful. Your chosen strategy should align with the user’s value proposition and offer a fair exchange of value. Being transparent with users about the plugin’s monetization strategy and how it impacts their experience is important for successful adoption.

Mentioned in the show:

• Crop.Express
• WPEngine
• Pagely
• StudioPress

You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:

• Corey Maass
• Cory Miller (CEO, Post Status)
• Olivia Bisset (Intern, Post Status)

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS.

Transcript

Session 9 Corey & Cory Launch a WordPress Product Live

Cory Miller: [00:00:00] So we’ll also, um, so re read me as the, the big one? 

Corey Maass: Yeah. I think that’s what we cover today. 

Cory Miller: Okay. So we’ll also, uh, okay. All right. Could you hear me? 

Corey Maass: Uh, first I can, yeah. Oh, okay. The echo you mean? Yeah. Yeah. The same thing. Mute it. Yeah. Open up YouTube and then close YouTube. But I, I keep the comments open if anybody’s weighing in.

Yeah, 

Cory Miller: exactly.

All right, Corey, this is session nine and we talked last week and we made the decision that we’re gonna be one this with a couple change. And call it good for now and move on to another [00:01:00] project, um, let it sit and simmer a little bit. Um, so any thoughts that you had based on last week or anything else?

Corey Maass: Yeah, I, I guess I just, I, I’m glad that we’re doing this, like I, and, and if for the, for the, the six people watching, You know, but hi, in historically this will be significant. You know, this is where we, uh, figured out how to make our millions. Right. Um, right. But I, I have had a lot of success not in a, in a project sense in the past of letting things.

Uh, and so I definitely like, cuz we could keep banging away at Crop Express, adding more features. And there’s still a few things that I wanna add. Like, I definitely wanna put a bow on it. Um, and I definitely think that it’s something for [00:02:00] us to talk about, promote, you know, we’ll send copies to, um, blogs.

Like let’s still have some of those conversations that, um, you talked about. As much because I want to talk to those people. I think it’d be fun. Um, but I also think that it takes the pressure off of us like, you know, Having this, having this thing and going, okay, what, what’s happening with it today?

What’s hap when Sometimes you just honestly need some time to go by. Um, and some people to mess with it and some people do mess with it enough to say, oh man, I wish it did this. And then, and then still ha use it for two more days before they finally do send us an email that’s like, okay, hey, I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days.

Boy, I wish it did this, you know? Just because we’re thinking a lot about it doesn’t mean anybody else’s. 

Cory Miller: Yeah. And I think there’s two things when you’re saying that came to mind is the get something [00:03:00] out, sit on it a bit, let it just kind of cook or just kind of be Yeah. I think it’s interesting. And then, um, is, is great for this.

And then second is.

I forgot what I was gonna say. Um, but the second is we have the feedback loop, right. Um, within the plugin. So, you know, we, we never know. Um, might be something I think we, we felt like there was something. Better to chase that. We discovered through this, which I look at product as discovery, you know, especially our product, you know, when you got a working product and you’re just adding things, that’s way easier.

Um, working product, meaning people are paying money for it in my mind. Um, we already know it’s functional and works. Um, but yeah, and I think, you know, just to talk about our decision for a second, we saw. More [00:04:00] opportunity on another direction that we discovered something you’d been working on in parallel.

Um, we’re not ready to talk about that just yet cause we wanna get some things going, but I think that’s part of the product trail is, you know, discovery, what’s over the next mountain. And I don’t know about you, but I go, I gotta put multiple things in the. To see what actually hits. Oh, yeah. Um, I, I feel like you and I built enough of a case for the other thing that, um, is really interesting.

It seems like there’s something there. So coming back to the cycle of like, okay, we’d like this. We think this would be good. Mm-hmm. Other people, you know, would help. Um, anyway, I don’t wanna get off on that for a second, but I did wanna at least unpack a little bit of our decision. You know, Colin v1 with a couple of these tweaks, um, good.

And all that, and say, it’s always a safari. Yes. [00:05:00] 

Corey Maass: Yeah. And I, you know, I, it’s an ongoing conversation, I think is the other good metaphor. It’s, it’s literal for, in our case, but it’s also a good metaphor that as you talk, you uncover more things. You go, oh, I didn’t think about this. And it’s, um, so I guess the analogy too is, Concepts have to simmer.

Ideas have to simmer, you know, the cadence of you and I chatting once a week, you know, occasionally a little bit more, but, uh, gives us a chance to go, okay, so this happened this week where this new other thing came out this week where this new, um, you know, product caught my eye that isn’t related, but it sparked an idea, dot, dot, dot.

Like it’s, you know, trying to, trying to get it all done, you know, hackathon. Is a neat exercise, but I don’t think it’s the, the true arc of, of most products journeys. So, um, but I definitely, [00:06:00] oh, the one thing that I didn’t tell you about is I did get my first email from crop.express, the website of somebody asking specifically, I have a client website, they need the image to be exactly these pixel proportions.

So not even an aspect ratio. And uh, I was like, oh, okay. You know, so I think that I, I want to think about again, as we’re talking about sort of putting a bow on v1 uh, accounting for that situation, and then to me that kind of, again, we’ve, we’ve completed a. Product. It solves the problem. It solves the problem everywhere that we think that it matters.

Um, it solves the problem for all of the scenarios that we currently know about. And this is where, like you said, we’re wait, waiting for feedback. We’re waiting for people to say, oh, hey, you know, aspect ratio [00:07:00] isn’t really what I need, but I need is image or is pixel size. Uh, which technically can be done in the, I had added bin and max pixel stuff.

Like I, I think, you know, kind of like your feedback last week, like this settings page is the advanced settings, or it feels, you know, um, it feels like a 200 level class or whatever. Um, And so, you know, looking at simplifying that, but then, uh, yeah, letting it, letting it ride. Um, and, and at that point, like I said, I’m really excited about getting it at actually installing it onto my client’s websites and going, all right, Guinea pigs dance.

You now have to use my plugin. But I’ve, even, this week it came up again where, um, one of my clients was like, you know, trying to, trying to get an image. Onto the site correctly. And I had to walk her through some stuff. It’s like, don’t mention the plugin yet. Don’t mention the [00:08:00] plugin yet, but as soon as I introduce it and walk them through it, you know, so I think it’ll solve problems for them.

Cory Miller: Yeah, a absolutely. Um, it, this whole conversation, and this relates to crop express now,

uh, made me think of. But also kudos for like a, you, you saw an opportunity there with your client, like, so that’s like the validation of, you know, is this, is this a valuable thing? Mm-hmm. You’ve seen this a bunch of times where I wanted to share for anybody that’s listened later is I always come back to this, so it seems like, like I’ve majored in the pains.

Um, specifically with utility software in the past. The thing that’s really always compelling to me is gains. And I know you worked at O Opt Montreal at one point and I go, that was my classic example. We did utility things that [00:09:00] I themes and you know, you look at the gain, you look at like an e-commerce site or something, a marketing software or something like that, and it’s like that’s, I haven’t really camped.

Had a product. I don’t think that camps out in the gain side. Yeah. Um, but I think we’ve been doing this work too, is coming back to who is our customer for this. Mm-hmm. Whether it’s ourselves for sure. And then we’re developing out the profile for there. Like could this be something that’s something when we start and talk about the next project publicly, um, so that we can, that’s something I want to do better is go, okay, let’s identify.

The person that might have this problem or frustration or issue. This is a whole concept I’m trying to get to. What’s the amount of pain? Somebody goes, I’ll pay for it. What’s the amount of gain? Somebody goes, I’ll pay for it. You know? Yep. That’s [00:10:00] some of my learning as I’ve gone, is gone. Okay. Like when we created backup buddy.

Um, the de the developer goes, Hey, I think we should, WordPress needs a holistic backup solution. And I was like, I just go, yeah, because a hundred percent theoretical market at that time. Um, so it’s pretty easy. I think WordPress has got enough things out there. It’s interesting from a competitive standpoint is where’s that ideal place?

So, I don’t know, I wanna throw some of that up to you and see if you had any comments. Cause you always have something really help. Uh, that changes my perspective a little bit, but it’s like this balance, this is a formula for how products and services, different things get up and then, you know, nailing that customer, they go, oh man, that, that would, you know, when you get that feeling of like, oh, this would help me so much.

That’s the magic right there. Yeah. 

Corey Maass: And. [00:11:00] I’m, I’m definitely, I’ve also had some similar thoughts in that it’s, it is a, I think, a slightly different way of thinking about product. Right. And the looking for pain is a very popular, um, Hundred level, I guess. Apparently I’m making college analogies today. Um, but like you look at, um, Amy Hoy, Justin Jackson, uh, Rob Walling, like the, the startup thought leaders, um, who put out a lot of great content and have done for decades.

Arguably, um, the, the thinking for a long time has been okay. You are an aspir. Probably solopreneur. You are a entrepreneur, and I don’t mean that negatively, but the, like you are an aspiring, uh, you, you have an entrepreneurial spirit without [00:12:00] experience, right? So you, you’re, you want to start your entrepreneur journey.

Um, and, uh, a very popular formula to start with because honestly, I think. I know it’s generally more reliable as a beginner, um, is pain. And so there’s all these ideas about like, okay, you get on a forum for fishermen where all the fishermen are talking and you kind of listen to their conversations and, and when they keep talking about like, boy at dawn I wish I had, you know, a certain kind of light.

And that’s where you go, ah, That’s a pain. Now I can go try to solve it. Um, which is very different from, oh, I’m now, I’m blanking on the name. Um, but there was, um, a product that came out years ago and it just [00:13:00] popped up on my radar again. Oh, Prezi. P r e z I. Mm-hmm. I think, right? 

Cory Miller: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I remember Prezi, 

Corey Maass: that was a hundred percent a solution, looking for a.

It was a really neat, in, in, I mean, we still have the slides paradigm, the, you know, uh, PowerPoint, Google presentation paradigm, rectangle, rectangle, rectangle. And Prezi had this really neat software that they built online, which was very impressive at the time, cuz again, it was probably 10 years ago, but where you had a, it was kind of like a, an interactive mind map.

And so you had a point that had something. Concept off of it. And you’d zoom around, you’d sort of fly around this, this presentation and it was extremely novel. But I think every person built one presentation in it and was like, this is neat, but it’s very clear that I’m using this software cuz it does one thing.

Um, and they did a really good [00:14:00] job, I think, of marketing and finding a use for this and marketing it, but they. Couldn’t become the presentation standard that they’d hoped to because they changed. It was too specific, you know? Um, and that’s always the fear. It’s definitely more fun sometimes. Um, and I’ve definitely built a lot of products that were a concept and it was like, oh, I think I have a different way of approaching.

Uh, you know, project management to-do lists, time tracking the standard paradigms, but like, uh, instead of it being a vertical list, you know, it’s horizontal or whatever the, whatever, it’s, um, and I think that it’s you, it’s then tough because if you’re, if you’re on one end of the spectrum, you can, you can only present gain.

Like Prezi, where it’s a, where it’s, I hate to use the word gimmick, [00:15:00] but where it’s, again, a, a prob a solution looking for a problem that’s dangerous, that’s very, very difficult to change a paradigm. Like they did not change the way all presentations are. Look, they couldn’t. Um, and then on the other end of the spectrum, you know, what we’ve, what we’ve talking about is, um, a hundred percent solving for a pain.

It’s. Fishermen need a flashlight at dawn, build the flashlight. You’re done. And so what we start talking about is somewhere in the middle. Um, and it’s, and it, again, I think just a different way of, of thinking, uh, it’s gonna be more challenging for you, marketing it, more challenging for both of us or anybody to talk about it.

Um, if it isn’t a problem that people are already trying to solve. And I think what we’re, you know, I do, I do anticipate landing [00:16:00] somewhere in the middle, like crop Express I think is a good example of, it’s definitely a pain, but people are solving it by going elsewhere. They’re going to Photoshop, they’re going to crop.express, and we’re kind of bringing it to them.

Um, and so I think that I, I hope to still kind of do some of that stuff. Um, but then also, You know, maybe introduce concepts that, that WordPress doesn’t currently have, paradigms that, that WordPress doesn’t currently, uh, have its arms around. And so I’m kinda excited for all that. It’s also, I think it being more on that spectrum, it’s, it’s, it’s more creative.

It’s more fun for us. 

Cory Miller: Yeah. So yeah, a absolutely. You know, we, it seems like we’re using that whole thing is build something for yourself. And we’re using problems we see for ourselves using the new [00:17:00] thing we’re talking about, using word pr, um, post status and your clients and things. And it makes me think like the game pain conversation on that when we show that we can.

What I wrote down when, when we, just a minute ago was, you know, in the classic consulting bible, I think it’s Alan Weiss, he talks about the job of a consultant is to improve the client’s condition. Mm-hmm. In some way. Mm-hmm. And I’ve been doing a lot of thoughts about consulting cause I’ve tried it a couple of times and, uh, have failed miserably at it.

But, uh, I’m still trying. And, but from the. From that consulting thing. If you think about that just for a second, you’re like, how do I help improve the client’s condition, or in this case, our potential customer’s condition? And I think we’ve done a lot of that work in Crop Express is precisely thinking about the outcome they’re wanting.[00:18:00] 

And, uh, I’ll save the rest for our, for our next conversation. But, um, so I. Anything you learned, and I know we still need to do the readme, but, um, anything takeaways from what we’ve done so far? Other takeaways?

Corey Maass: I, in a, to be honest, I do think that we have, I’m thinking out loud here, so I, I, I reserve the right to take all of this back. Um, but at least some. The process that we’re going through, have gone through is the same, uh, falls in the same trap in that I do think that we have, we know there’s a problem. We, we’ve had the problem.

We don’t like how, um, propping and inserting images into WordPress currently [00:19:00] works. Um, we. Got excited and said, okay, there’s something here. We both felt, you know, felt it in our gut, but then as we got into it, there’s definitely been, I don’t, it’s not like I expect, you know, a million news, a million installs overnight.

Um, but there’s, there’s something, I don’t know what we could have done differently, but they’re, I haven’t felt. The spark didn’t ignite, I guess is what I’m, kinda what I would say. It’s like there’s something here. We’ve built a nice little utility. I almost, it almost feels like we’ve kind of, uh, you know, we, we saw a sparkle of something on the ground.

We started digging. There might have been a couple of other glimmers of like, oh, there’s a, maybe a li a hint of gold. It kept us digging, but I kind of feel like we’ve reached a point where, You know, we’ve dug around, we’ve dug up all the earth around what we thought might have been a vein of gold and said, okay, [00:20:00] yeah, no, I guess there’s nothing here.

Um, and not that that isn’t part of the process. Um, I don’t know what we could have done differently. I, I only question if there was a way to have arrived there sooner. Um, mm-hmm. And again, none of this is to say that I don’t think that what we’ve created has value. Um, and we kept sort of going, okay, well let’s, you know, we keep having really good high level conversations, which again, has led to other ideas.

Um, and so that’s, that’s not invaluable. Um, but we were sort of like, take a step forward and see, take a step forward and see. And now that we’re ready to kind of put a bow on version one, it’s like, yeah, this might be. You know, which is okay. Um, but it’s very, it’s, it’s a, it’s definitely a little hard to accept.

Do you know what I mean? Like just [00:21:00] the sunk cost fallacy or whatever it is. Like you Yeah. We’ve put in time and effort and, and so much thinking that we, we, part of me still really wants it to be something more than what it may. You know, and I know, and this, this conversation may be just as in, um, as premature as, uh, as what I’m alluding to, right.

Of like, early on we were very optimistic that we would find something bigger down the road anyway. So I have a thought 

Cory Miller: I, on that thought. I have, I have a thought for when we go to the next conversation. Hmm. Um, how we could maybe approach that even better. 

Corey Maass: But I guess I like what I do like is the meta, um, the meta of you and I recording all of these conversations.

Right. And I think, like, I remember one, one of the, a a, a mental image, but a [00:22:00] conversation, a memory that, that often pops into my head is when I still worked at we. Um, yes, the one that’s in the documentary, you can see my bald spot in, in the back of some of the shots, um, where they talk about, you know, the demise of, of WeWork.

Um, so yeah, I’m, I’m WeWork famous. Um, but, uh, at the time I sat at the table with, uh, five other entrepreneurs, everybody pursuing different projects and it was great because it was an an instant mastermind and very frequently we. Just say, Hey, could I, you know, buy you lunch and, and pick your brain about such and such?

And I remember a buddy of mine, Joel, coming to a real crossroads in, uh, in product and in business. Um, and again, him saying, Hey, could I just, could we take a walk? I’m like, you know, vexed about this and [00:23:00] we. Uh, in soho and we walked over to the river and just like standing at the railing and looking at, um, what, what would it have been, um, the Hudson River and looking over to New Jersey and him talking.

And there was this moment of me just feeling very, this is, this is feeling very grown up and very, like, we were having important conversations and, um, You know, and it, it felt great that I hopefully was helping him work through some problems and stuff. But, um, anyway, uh, the value in that experience, that camaraderie and, and then ultimately, like there were other conversations where he helped me just as much as maybe I helped him.

Um, but I’m hoping that at a high level, even though you and I like session seven, whatever this is, we, we are where we are. It is where it isn’t, where we expect it to. We are going to continue, but I’m, I’m hoping that people watching this are having some of that same, like, [00:24:00] oh, other people have these, these thoughts or go around in these circles or, you know, ramble to themselves just like I do 

Cory Miller: now.

I, I think so many times, uh, I’m not just, I don’t wake up born with a gift of know. What the pro products are. Um, I’ve gotta figure it out. 

Corey Maass: Ands am working with you, man. I know. I, I was counting on million dollar idea overnight, the magic. 

Cory Miller: Um, you know, and uh, so I’ve done a lot of thinking about products for the last 15 years, obviously, and gone.

Okay. You get, so I think we’re pulling together some components, comparing experiences too, and. Plowing the new head forward. Um, so yeah, I mean, the camaraderie’s been amazing. I do it just for that. But second is I think we’re building some experience about what products work, what, what products don’t. I, I think there’s a tendency for me is think [00:25:00] people do have magic and just know it, but there’s, there’s, there’s a lot of things that go into that.

Yeah. And there’s a lot of. Professionally about this particular topic, but there’s a reason why comp big companies buy smaller companies because they found the magic and they were pulled in, you know, kind of thing. Um, at least that’s how I think about it in my humility. 

Corey Maass: Well, and so I, in the last few years have learned to make things around my house.

I. My carpentry skills are getting better. I’m not good. But, uh, I have now, you know, built a big roof over my patio. I’ve built shelves, I’ve, you know, um, helped my father-in-law fix his roof, stuff like that. Um, and I’m, I’ve definitely had the experience where I’m, I’m working generally with people who know what they’re.

But not always. [00:26:00] Uh, I have, I can always jump on YouTube and, and Google things. Um, but I definitely felt the, so a little, a little insight to me like. Years and years ago, I was an artistic genius. Um, in my own mind, absolutely. Like I was, uh, a musician. I still am. I was starting to build product. I still do, but at the time I was convi, utterly convinced that I’m very smart and I will, I can, I can figure out magic, um, and, uh, an aspect.

Turning middle-aged or whatever it is, is like, I’m just another human. And yes, I might do some amazing things. Um, but most humans in one sense or another, do some amazing things. Um, but everybody also, everybody has to start from somewhere. And a lot of the times it’s a group of people. And so, uh, going back to like learning how to repair or I, I got to be, [00:27:00] I was, uh, helped a bunch of people literally build a house in a.

And it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. And the, the, the, in the crew, it was a dad and some son, his sons all work construction, all build houses, so they know how to knock together, literally knock together a house in a day. And I had no idea how to knock together a house in a day. Um, And so they are amazing at what they do now from experience, and they are smart people.

Um, and then that gets shared with the rest of us. There’s this trickle down, and I’m not saying I could go build a house in a day, but at least I have some sense of how it is done. And so this summer when I build a shed, I might be able to build a shed with a couple of other people in a couple of days.

You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Um, and so there’s, there’s definitely. You know, we, we always talk about the Steve [00:28:00] Jobs or the whoever, um, you know, the artistic geniuses. The, the people who can snap their fingers and, and creativity comes out, and then the rest of us have to work at it, you know? And, and that’s okay.

And it’s, it’s a little bit of luck and it’s a little bit of timing and it’s a little bit of the people around you, and it’s a little bit of the industry you’re in. And then it’s the practice that you’ve done. And you and I have both been thinking about product for, you know, 15 years or whatever it is.

And so I’m walking around, I’m in San Francisco this week, so I’m walking around in San Francisco thinking, The amount of, you know, tech and, and whatnot that’s here. Um, but what it really comes down to is like, I was driving on the highway last night. Judging harshly, all of the ridiculous billboards, because I’m like, who is Twilio think they’re advertising to?

Or who is, um, who else did we see monday.com? And I’m not necessarily picking on their billboards. They’re fine. But it’s like, [00:29:00] okay, th this is, these, these is, this isn’t, that’s most of these products I don’t think. Attributable to one person’s genius. These are products that were built by teams and companies that were built up over time.

And then there’s a marketing team, and now I’m questioning some of the marketing decisions, but I’m like, who are they marketing to? You know? And how does that differ from like the online billboards ads and such that I’m seeing when I’m in New Hampshire versus in. You know, I’m, I’m essentially in Silicon Valley, you know, so it’s, uh, humbling, right?

I mean, they’re exp spending tens of thousands on billboards that I think are not very good. Um, but at the same time, they’ve arrived there over time, you know? And did it start with conversations like this? Did it, you know, who was the team involved? Who were the people involved? What were their experience?

I think that’s all fascinating. I wish most [00:30:00] companies. There was just a, a thread on Hacker News. Um, was it Hack News or Reddit? Like what are your favorite postmortems? Um, and it’s, I, I like the people on that thread were wishing that they were more write-ups of, um, You know, there’s probably a little bit of morbid curiosity, um, but also like, you know, what are the lessons we can learn, but also a, a lot of it’s just the stories are fascinating.

There’s a reason why there’s 101 podcasts interviewing founders, many of whom haven’t reached the success that most of us would, would want, themselves included. Um, but the stories are fascinating, you know. 

Cory Miller: Yeah, it, it, I’ve, I read the founders at workbook and it was really cool, but, and a lot of it is serendipity.

Yeah. And it’s like, I was gonna use a band analogy cuz of your music background [00:31:00] and just go like, you know, how does. Um, I know some mu musicians and I’m like, one pretty dang popular in the nineties, eighties and nineties. Mm-hmm. And, uh, spent some time with him. Really great guy, but I was like, I always wanna go.

How did the, like he’s played with that, his band for, you know, A long time and they’ve had success together and it’s like, how do you, how does that come together? Is always the magic for me. And then how do they make this great music that a lot of the best bands I’ve heard, you know, they need, like Dave Matthews was the continuum.

You’re like, man, great voice. But I’ve also heard like he wouldn’t be Dave Matthews and Dave Matthews band without all the incredible musicians around him. He happens to get the names stands,

Corey Maass: the connections he had and stuff like that. 

Cory Miller: Yeah, that was very much, iThemes , by the way, I got way more credit and I can’t sing so[00:32:00] 

Corey Maass: well. But um, yeah, and I think that, thank you. I think you’ve sort of. In some ways summarized what, what I, my rambling was trying to get at is the, it’s everything is the sum of its parts, right? And so it’s like, there was a point where I thought that I would snap my fingers, um, and not that I didn’t work really, really hard, um, but I now understand that it’s so much more as the building blocks, the sum of the building blocks, um, and the culmination of things.

And like a lot of bands, you know, I love, in fact, I’m, I’m rereading Elton John’s book. Um, great read by the way. I’m not a fan of Elton John. I, when I read it the first time, I went back and literally tried to listen to some of his music and I couldn’t get through most of it. It’s just so not to my taste.

Um, I’m wrong. Don’t, there? There is no question that I am, I am wrong. Literally, [00:33:00] billions of people love his music and I don’t, so I am wrong here. But the book is really fun. Um, well written self effacing. Self self deprecating. Um, and, and I’m a music history nerd. Um, but it’s the, you know how things came.

Um, you know, and he definitely is magical, musically. Um, but he, he watch the past tense of grind grounded. He, he worked really, really hard for a really long time and with a lot of people, and people came and went and stuff like that, you know, so at some point you and I are. Reach a a point where you’re gonna fire me and hire somebody better and keep going with the band.

Um, and I will be the pee best. Um, you know, the long lost drummer, original drummer of the Beatles, um, who will die in obscurity. [00:34:00] And I accept, 

Cory Miller: I don’t think so, cuz you, you, you forget. I don’t know how to sing and it’s not gonna be as fun at all without the drums and guitar solo and everything you’ve done so.

Corey Maass: But anyway, why don’t, why don’t you share your screen if you have the, the read me. I think, I feel like the brainstorming we did last time worked well. Like you were typing, typing, typing, um, while we were both chatting, if that works. Yep. So we’re here.

Nice. Oh, so there’s an edit option. That’s cool. Uh, bottom left, there’s a button that’s an edit. Can we make our changes right in it? Cool.

Cory Miller: You know what, we’ll wanna go back when we do the, the new brand that we talked about, we’ll wanna come back and put the links here. 

Corey Maass: Oh, for sure. [00:35:00] Okay,

so I go to, we’re press. Slash plugins

and I search for crop

and I’m seeing what else comes up. And like there’s a, yeah, image aspect ratio. Custom fields for, um, a ACF crop and image as keywords. Um, I also heard from, I did a, um, a call with um, Matt Cromwell and, um, I hate to say it, but Leslie Pizza, um, cuz I can never remember her last name and I think she actually, like a lot of people call her Leslie Pizza.

Um, But, uh, they were helping me [00:36:00] review one of my other plugins and said that we can actually have up to 12 keywords. Uh, just the first, I think, five show up. So, uh, I was actually misinformed that, or I, under, I had the wrong knowledge that, uh, I thought we could only have a few keywords. So, um, I think on that, on that first screen, Plug in maybe.

Yeah, I saw tags. So, um,

like I’m, I’m wondering if, I mean this is, and this is all always speculation, but is, is it better to have image crop or is it better to just have crop? To me, you don’t crop, you don’t crop anything that isn’t an image. So I, it might ju we might, image, crop might be. Cropping is good though.[00:37:00] 

Cory Miller: So I had crop and cropping. Since we can add more tags, that’s good knowledge, 

Corey Maass: right?

In WordPress, uh, featured images are often called thumbnails.

Um, oh, media library. Now that we have that, it’s probably, you know, if people are looking for ways that they are manipulating images in the media library, maybe they search for media library.

Um, I can’t imagine that people are looking for the term aspect. Um,

More likely they’re looking for, oh, image size, right? Like we had the, the guy message me and say, I need, you know, I need [00:38:00] all images, need to ultimately be 700 by 500 or whatever it was, like image size. Um, so anyway, I feel like that flushes it out a lot more. Okay. 

Cory Miller: Yeah, that’s awesome. I mean, that’s really good base level things.

We gotta just check the box for. Uh, do I push saver update code? I’m always the Control s. Control s. Command desk. Command desk, right. 

Corey Maass: Um, I probably save, I I imagine that Save actually does both. I just remember that Save took a long time. Okay. 

Cory Miller: Um. Okay. I put cropping here and I put precise. I took out feature damages, but is there anything else you see that we should probably like a list of features maybe[00:39:00] 

Corey Maass: I. So up to 150 characters, um, I’m still looking at the description first. Um, it seems like, uh, do you have a, something that’ll tell us how many characters we’re using there? Go stick it in a fake tweet or something though. So I guess they just give you. A counter,

I think like, so I do, I [00:40:00] think we could just say crop images in WordPress Z or is that a sentence? It’s awesome. I think that’s really good. WordPress easily, but I, I guess my point is I, we’re not using 150 characters. Let’s, let’s add more words. Um, and WordPress easier. Dash featured image media library.

You know, it’s a little bit of, um, keyword.

I mean, we had the block too. Mm-hmm. Prop images and WordPress.[00:41:00] 

Uh,

say Guttenberg block,

like, um, image crop or guttenberg block. I just always feel like we need, I, I’m not convinced that people. Only at like truly think of it, it’s just the block editor. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

[00:42:00] Yeah, that’s.

Cory Miller: Probably have all these memorized, but I was gonna go back into the plugin. So we have mm-hmm. Go ahead. 

Corey Maass: Um, just the, that we can, um, keyword stuff, the title too. So going back to the plugin tab, crop express,

crop express, four featured images or, um,

I’m just trying to think of what the key, what the keywords might be like. Hmm. [00:43:00] I don’t think we need WordPress.

Cory Miller: Yeah, I was trying to say something like car is a,

it keeps it native, I guess. Like you don’t have to go outside of WordPress. There’s a better term for that, I’m sure. 

Corey Maass: Right, but I guess this, this is more like, this is more search rankings. I literally think repeating Crop Express for featured images for media library for Gutenberg block. Um,

yeah, I think, I think that that’s, to me, that’s what, what the purpose would be. It’s, it doesn’t hurt, like those are human readable words, but I do think it helps the seo.

Okay. [00:44:00] And I put block, I don’t know how long this can be, right? Uh, I mean, short pixels is pretty long. Say what?

I am, I’m comparing other ones in the repo and like short, short pixel image optimizer Dash Optimize Image is Convert WebP and a V I f. Like they’re, they’re, the title of theirs is 66 characters, so I feel like we’re, we’ve got room to play with.[00:45:00] 

Uh, the sentence above, you can take out featured images, so crop express speeds up your content workflow. Uh, giving you uniform images for your blog post. I think you can take out featured because we now have expanded, but I still love this intro. Um, so even the title at the top, make cropping featured images you can take out featured.

So making

that what you meant right here. Yeah, and, and again, that I think that could be similar to the short description. So rather than make cropping images, we could just say crop images easier.

Yep. I think it’s bad English, [00:46:00] but I think it.

But I think, yeah, we define the problem, we define the high level solution well, and then talk about features, which is the formula you’re kind of supposed to follow. Mm-hmm.

Nice.

And I would even add another one, uh, below that first one you just said. Say, um, something like, uh, round avatar images or something like that. Like shapes is shapes and down the road we can add [00:47:00] stars and rainbows and unicorns if we want. But you know, I still think that it’s pretty amazing that you can crop a circle.

Uh, yeah, there you go.

Cory Miller: Love it

and the set sizing defaults give. I don’t know if guardrails communicate cross cultures, but um, to me it’s like put those Boeing bumpers on your client, right? From like doing crappy stuff. So giving some, you’re kind of making it easier on your client by giving them some base. You’re, you’re actually taking out the [00:48:00] possibility of error on the client you deliver work for by giving them some.

So keep them for, 

Corey Maass: um, Prevent uploading the wrong,

wrong image, like it’s really wrong size and shape image, but that’s really wordy.

Huge images that slow down your site. There you go. Nice.

Yep.

Um, you could also, uh, another, you another new under the, the second item is, um, media library.[00:49:00] 

Cory Miller: Just throw things out just to get us going. 

Corey Maass: Absolutely.

Yeah, we’ve got, at this point we’ve got the three integration points, featured images, media library, and Gutenberg block. Um, and then we’ve got settings.

[00:50:00] Settings. 

Cory Miller: Got the block you said, I’m sorry. Feature damage image and then the standalone block? Mm-hmm. Okay.

I’m just testing that. I don’t know if it works. [00:51:00] I almost feel like putting this above here and then, you know, new, like the first one is the block. Yep. That’s cool. It’s in post copy images by sizes set. Image

three, need it. Let’s see. I almost feel like this needs to be, I don’t know. I don’t want to nitpick it too much. Image sizing.

Okay. Anything I missed? 

Corey Maass: No, I think this is a great next version. Okay. 

Cory Miller: Save it. Mm-hmm.[00:52:00] 

Can you do custom ratios? Mm-hmm.

Where already said that. See, so it’s really a square circle or 

Corey Maass: you’re accustom, right? I I feel like, I mean, it’s circle, circle or anything else. So, um, pick the most pocket aspect ratios or create your own. Crop a circle if you want to kind of thing. Yeah, I mean they’re, cuz they’re all,[00:53:00] 

yeah, I think that’s great. You’re done. Okay.

Now do you just need this? Yeah, so if you’ve hit update code and it updated, uh, cuz I’m not seeing our new tags in there, so I don’t think we’ve updated. Oh. Update code. There we go. There we go. Yeah. So send that to me and I’ll, I’ll drop it in. Cool.

Done. Great. Um, so I actually need to bounce. Okay. Um, But yeah, you send that to me. Uh, we’ll plug that in. I’ll upload it later today. And then, um, again, I I, there’s a little bit of a long tail, there’s a couple more the settings that we wanted to add and [00:54:00] stuff like that, but, um, you know, let’s, again, I’m, I’m excited to kind of let it, let it simmer for a while.

Yeah. 

Cory Miller: Okay. Sounds good to me. I’m gonna put some notes about the next topic. In chat, um, just so that We’ll, they’ll be there and I won’t lose them. 

Corey Maass: Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry. I’ve, I’m, yeah, no problem. I’m getting lost, but, um, yeah, we could also, let’s, you know, let’s schedule a call, uh, tomorrow, Friday, too. Okay.

Sounds 

Cory Miller: good, man. Enjoy San Francisco. 

Corey Maass: Thank you. Thanks man.

This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.