{"id":109209,"date":"2013-02-07T15:49:37","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T20:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpmu.org\/?p=109209"},"modified":"2013-02-07T15:49:37","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T20:49:37","slug":"wordpress-developer-plugin-an-essential-tool-for-theme-and-plugin-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wordpress-developer-plugin-an-essential-tool-for-theme-and-plugin-development\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress Developer Plugin: An Essential Tool For Theme and Plugin Development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Developer plugin is a WordPress developer&#8217;s best friend\u2015aside from his dog, of course.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a plugin developed collaboratively by Automattic and a number of other talented WordPress developers. Created to help you optimize your development environment, the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/developer\/\" target=\"_blank\">WordPress Developer plugin<\/a> gives you quick access to all of the best tools for theme and plugin development.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_209184\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-209184\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/developer-plugin-1050x351.png\" alt=\"Developer plugin\" width=\"1050\" height=\"351\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The WordPress Developer Plugin includes everything you need for an optimized development environment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When you install the plugin, a screen will pop up to ask you what type of project you&#8217;re working on so that it can tailor its recommendations for you. You&#8217;ll be presented with three options:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plugin for a self-hosted WordPress installation<\/li>\n<li>Theme for a self-hosted WordPress installation<\/li>\n<li>Theme for a WordPress.com VIP site<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For example, if you select a theme project for a self-hosted installation, the Developer plugin will offer the following plugin recommendations to assist in development:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_209186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-caption=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-ratio-full wp-image-209186\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/developer-tools-screenshot-1050x960.png\" alt=\"Developer tools screen.\" width=\"1050\" height=\"960\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plugins suggested for working on a theme for a self-hosted WordPress installation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Install and activate any of the plugins listed with just one click.<\/p>\n<p>The Developer plugin also adds a helpful menu under Tools in the dashboard where you can see a list of all recommended plugins. There you will find a few quick tips on enabling constants in your <em>wp-config.php<\/em> file for debugging and logging database queries.<\/p>\n<p>This plugin is especially useful if you&#8217;re new to WordPress development and you want to quickly get access to all of the sweet plugins that experienced WP developers use in their work. Consider it a gateway to everything you need for debugging and creating code that is compliant with <a title=\"WordPress coding standards\" href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/WordPress_Coding_Standards\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WordPress coding standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/developer\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Developer<\/a> plugin for free from the WordPress plugin repository (we retested it when revising this article in April 2022, and it still worked without issue).<\/p>\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s Note: This post has been updated for accuracy and relevancy.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>[Originally Published: February 2013 \/ Revised: April 2022]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The WordPress Developer Plugin includes everything you need for an optimized development environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4099,"featured_media":208287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"blog_reading_time":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_tutorials_categories":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[557,4],"tags":[],"tutorials_categories":[],"class_list":["post-109209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-development","category-plugins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4099"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109209"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209183,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109209\/revisions\/209183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109209"},{"taxonomy":"tutorials_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tutorials_categories?post=109209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}