Steve’s Blog

We’re adopting more extensions at Joomlashack

Over at Joomlashack, we’ve hit on a business model that is working well.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve adopted 6 extensions: JCal Pro, jInbound, Shack Forms, Shack Toolbox, Shack Open Graph, and Tabs and Sliders.

A few weeks ago, we announced the arrival of 5 more extensions. This week saw the arrival of Shack Locations.

Oh, and we’ve adopted WordPress plugins too with Bylines and UpStream.

Joomla and WordPress are mature markets and some developers are leaving after 10+ years. We think that adopting code is a win for everyone. In the past, developers had limited options if they wanted to stop work on their extensions. If they made an official announcement, they had to deal with unhappy users. To avoid this, sometimes the developers would just disappear. In contrast, a smooth adoption leads to a great outcome for the developers and users.

I suspect we’ll adopt more Joomla extensions in the future, and more WordPress plugins too. 

Update: We did indeed adopt more. See this post on going from 1,000 to 100,000 WordPress installs.

Read MoreWe’re adopting more extensions at Joomlashack

Interview with Post Status about PublishPress

Post Status published an interview with me that covered a range of WordPress-related topics:

Many thanks to Dan Knauss for bearing with me and shaping these answers into something readable.

Post Status is one of the leading sources for WordPress news. It’s well worth the membership for their newsletter and their members-only Slack channel.

Read MoreInterview with Post Status about PublishPress

We Acquired jInbound to add inbound marketing to Joomlashack

This is the third time Vic Drover and I have worked together on an acquisition.

Back in 2013, Vic purchased Admincredible from us.

In 2016, we purchased JCal Pro from Vic.

And now, we’re working with Vic again to buy jInbound. If you haven’t used it, jInbound is the most powerful marketing automation extension for Joomla. Continue reading “We Acquired jInbound to add inbound marketing to Joomlashack”

Read MoreWe Acquired jInbound to add inbound marketing to Joomlashack

We acquired Bylines to make PublishPress better

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that we’re spending a lot more time focused on WordPress in 2018.

Our primary plugin focus is PublishPress, a suite of tools enabling WordPress teams to create great content.

To make PublishPress more competitive, we acquired Bylines, from Daniel Bachhuber. By default WordPress only allows one author per post. Bylines allows you to assign multiple authors to a post and publish articles from guest authors. Continue reading “We acquired Bylines to make PublishPress better”

Read MoreWe acquired Bylines to make PublishPress better

Diving Into WordPress in 2018

I’ve been deeply involved in Joomla and Drupal for years now.

But our Joomla business is doing really well at the moment, and there’s a great team in place, running the site very effectively.

That’s giving me more time to focus on our WordPress projects this year.

There are some books of course. Genesis Explained is very close to launch, and WordPress Explained is getting a major update. Continue reading “Diving Into WordPress in 2018”

Read MoreDiving Into WordPress in 2018

My Recaps of 2017

I wrote 3 very different year-in-review articles for some of our different businesses.

Joomlashack’s review was standard, showcasing how well things are going. I think it’s important to show that Joomla businesses still can successful.

OSTraining’s review talked about business models. In 2017, we made a major change to focus more on books and partnerships.

PublishPress’s review was a very different type of review. I had written a couple of “We did great!” reviews for 2017, so wanted to show the other side too and write a “We screwed up!” review too.

Read MoreMy Recaps of 2017

My love / hate relationship with wearables

Last Christmas, I got a Fitbit as a gift.

This Christmas, I got an email saying that my 4th Fitbit has shipped.

The devices were great and the customer support was excellent, but the devices were just fragile.

That pretty much sums up my experience with wearables in 2015: I use them all the time and they break all the time. Continue reading “My love / hate relationship with wearables”

Read MoreMy love / hate relationship with wearables