What is your name and where in the world are you?
My name is Cristian, i am from Italy by i live in Lethbridge, AB (Canada)
Can you tell me a bit about your background?
I graduated in Electronic Engineering in 2002, and since then I’ve been developing software. I started with Visual Basic, then moved to C++ and C#. Since I moved to Canada I’ve worked with .NET, Java and PHP, which is my current occupation.
Are you a full-time plugin developer or is it your bit on the side?
I develop plugins for fun and to make some more income.
Why did you decide to put your development efforts into WordPress?
Because I started some new websites and I found that WordPress was the easiest way. At that point obviously I didn’t have everything I needed, so I tried some plugins. But I realized that I needed something more customized for my purpose, something specific, so I thought “I am a PHP developer, why don’t I develop what I need?” That’s how I started.
How much experience do you have working with WordPress?
About 6 months specifically with WordPress, but I’ve been a PHP developer since 2007.
Can you tell me a bit about your plugin and why you wanted to develop it? (e.g was it to solve a problem you encountered, was it for someone else, or did you just wake up inspired one morning?)
I needed a website where people could ask questions and other people could post their answers, I needed Yahoo Answers version for WordPress. I couldn’t find any plugin that matched my requirements, so the only way was to develop one, and to make it exactly how I wanted. This is how I came up with WP Answers.
What other plugins have you worked on?
I’ve worked on other 3 plugins:
- Easy Contact Form: allows you to create custom contact forms for your blog. You can decide which fields will be in the form, and which ones are required. Once you submit the form there is an automatic field validation and if everything is ok you receive an email containing all the information submitted. Recaptcha validation is also provided.
- Weather Info: a simple quick way to show weather forecasts on your site for any location
- Filter Posts in Pages: allows you to select which posts categories will show on your homepage. If you paste a shortcode on other pages you can display other categories on those pages
Do you have a favorite plugin?
WP Answers of course, and also Filter Posts in Pages – I can’t believe that it’s not included in WordPress by default. Who wants all of their posts mixed together on the homepage???
Any chance of a sneak preview of future plugins?
At the moment I am planning to develop a plugin that allows visitors to register on your site without redirecting to the default WP registration page.
Tell me a bit about your development setup and process. What’s your workspace like? Why?
Since I develop WordPress plugins in my spare time, my office is basically my room at home. Just a desk and my laptop, that’s what I need. After developing some plugins I started to optimize my time by creating a standard default plugin - that is my starting point. It’s a plugin template that contains the basic functions and files that I always need in my plugins. All I need to do is to change some default names and values, and then I can start adding custom code for the particular plugin!
What are your essential programs, accessories, toys for developing? What helps you get the work done? Are there any pieces of software you think you should use but you don’t?
I use a web development editor, it’s called Aptana. I think it’s absolutely great, it’s just an editor for web languages, no WYSIWYG involved, but with great features like intelligence, syntax highlighter etc. I am not sure of what I should use beside that, maybe something like Photoshop but I haven’t really needed it yet.
Do you have any favourite plugin development snacks or habits?
Well…yes, I have an internet radio on my desk, it’s always on while I work! I can get any radio station from any country of the world, it’s really cool guys and I promise..it’s a good way to have some distraction!
What else do you do apart from develop great WordPress plugins?
During the day I have my day job – I am a PHP developer for a web development company and this takes up most of my day. Beside that I do some sports, in particular I play soccer - outdoor during the summer, indoor during the winter. I am from Italy and soccer is “everything” there, much more than hockey in Canada (where I live now), just to give you an idea! Then I have 4 kids that make the rest of my time very very busy!!
