170 Plugin Release and Promotion

Plugin Documentation and Support

If you want to create a popular plugin for public release you need to have good documentation. Creating documentation for your plugin is a crucial step. As the author of the plugin you might think the operation of the plugin is so simple documentation is not required. Wrong.

• Every plugin requires a good explanation of what the plugin does, its operation and how it can be used, even if it means stating the obvious.

If you want your plugin to be popular, don’t skip this. After all, you’ve already put in all the hard work, why throw all that effort away for the sake of writing a few hundred words.

The installation section should contain at the very least the basic information necessary to install and run the plugin. Also, consider updating your installation section as you become aware of the problems your users may be experiencing.

• Keeping the installation and usage instructions up-to-date will save you a lot of time in addressing support questions.

How many plugins have you seen in the WordPress Plugin Repository which have great titles, but virtually no documentation? How many of those plugins do you use? Personally, if there’s no documentation with a plugin I simply move on to another plugin. My thinking is this, if the author cannot be bothered to provide a simple explanation and usage instructions, for how long with they be supporting the plugin?

• Plugin authors, in a hurry to release their plugin, skip steps, resulting in poor and inadequate programs and documentation. This is really bad practice because the success of the plugin depends greatly on the available documentation, not just good coding.

Documentation Befits for the Plugin Author

Your plugins documentation, the readme.txt file in particular gives you, the author many benefit. Benefits such as:

• You have the opportunity to say why your plugin is so good.
• You get the opportunity to brag about your plugin’s features.
• Enabling users to install and use the plugin easily so increasing its potential viral capabilities.
• Answer typical FAQ support questions.
• Promote your own web site and other products.
• Up sell your commercial services.