[bctt tweet=”I’ve just created my first WordPress plugin!”]
I found that no existing plugin did exactly what I wanted to do: display the contents of a text file as a sidebar widget, so I made my own, from scratch.
[There was a plugin that displayed the contents of a text file whenever a shortcode was inserted, which was ok for inside pages and posts, but not widgets.]
While I was at it, I realised how easy it would be to add a shortcode handler as well, so I did.
It’s a pretty specific plugin, only for my “bashthebookies.net” site – not for general release, but it’s a start. (Look for the “Basher’s Daily Tip” widget in the RH sidebar..)
I could easily create a generic “display text file as widget” plugin, though. I’ll think about it.
I also think it would be useful to have an online “plugin boilerplate generator” that did all the boring stuff leaving only the custom code bits to do..
I may do that, too..
Any comments or suggestions gratefully accepted as usual: