A simple question, but one I suspect has many answers: Which do you prefer, an early release which may not be quite ready, or a later release which should be ready?
When you develop plugins there is a real temptation to get it working and throw it out there for use. You have done the work and you think it is finished, having tested it on as many setups as you have available, and you know you can release it as a point (0.1-0.9) release which lets users know there may be bugs.
The other temptation is to hold off; to make sure you have covered all the angles and it can’t possibly go wrong. Use it yourself, or rope in a few willing subjects to test it, and release it only when you are satisfied.
The more important question though is what the users want, and expect.
As an open platform that is easy to develop for WordPress encourages quick and early release. I am not a trained developer, nor are, I suspect, many of the plugin authors, so I don’t work to any formal methods. I code and release. Should users expect this, or should they expect a completed, professional grade, product?
As a user I am often a little annoyed when something I think will be great just doesn’t work, but I understand. There are many different setups out there, and so I will allow plugin authors that extra bit of breathing room. After all I didn’t pay for it.
What do you think? would you prefer to get a plugin early, with the risk that it may not work? Does the potential to feedback problems earlier in the development process make this worth while? Or do you think that it shouldn’t be offered until it is in a finished state?
As a footnote to this I should mention that this is more than a philosophical question. I have a new plugin that I am testing on this blog at the moment. I like it and it seems to work well. But it may well have flaws I haven’t discovered yet. Should I release it and let everyone find the flaws, or wait until I have run it for a few weeks?
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Personally I’d be fine with working around bugs if the plugin is interesting enough. If it’s something I really want to use I’d even poke around the PHP source and try to figure out what’s wrong (I’ve done that with some plugins, e.g. WordPress Automatic Upgrade, with good results).
On the other hand, first impression is important. A buggy public release will lead to bleak reviews by bloggers & their readers might decide not to bother checking out your plugin. Ever.
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That’s an idea Di
I was also thinking of having an in development page so that anyone could try things out.
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You could label it ‘beta’ and be all web2.0 :) Seriously though I would say maybe release it quietly. There must be developer forums where you could ask people to give it a try.