Now, that only a few days remain before this 2016 comes to the end, it is a very good time to take a look at everything, the good and the bad, that has happened this year on Dev4Press.
It was a while since I have written the last end of the year summary post, and considering how important this year was for Dev4Press, I like to look back and summarize everything that happened on Dev4Press.
The year or revivals
This year was very important for some of the old Dev4Press plugins that were a bit neglected in the recent years. GD Press Tools Pro and GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro were first premium plugins released on Dev4Press, but, they have fallen behind in terms of development. The problem was with an outdated interface that required a lot of time to rewrite. So, both plugins were 100% rewritten. What is more, GD Press Tools Pro was split into 3 plugins.
GD SEO Toolbox Pro started with some SEO features from GD Press Tools Pro, and during this year it has grown significantly, to include everything you will need in an SEO plugin. GD Security Toolbox Pro also started from security features in GD Press Tools Pro, but it was also expanded greatly. GD Press Tools Pro includes all other administration tools from the old plugin, and it is expanded with many more features. All 3 plugins use addons based architecture.
GD Content Tools Pro has replaced old GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro plugin, and expanded greatly on it, with powerful meta fields and meta boxes system.
Re-development of this old plugins took almost 5 months this year, but I think, that end result was great, completely worth the invested time.
The year of ratings
GD Rating System was released at the end of 2015, and during this year it has grown a lot, to reach 2.0 release last week. Plugin usage is on the rise, for both Free and Pro versions.
The number of features has doubled over the past year, including new rating methods (Like This and Emote This). And, much more is planned for the next year.
The year of redesign
Dev4Press website and network got the new look last month as the regular once a year redesign. This time, the website has gone through very significant changes in the way it looks, but also in the way content is organized.
All individual websites each plugin had are gone. Information for all plugins is now centralized on the main Plugins website, including additional articles, benchmark (for some plugins) and more in-depth features overview. This has greatly improved the way new users are able to navigate the website and find what they are looking for. New website blog is completely redesigned, and now has full support for Google AMP project.
The year of growth
The most popular Dev4Press plugin is, without a doubt, GD bbPress Toolbox Pro. This plugin had 3 major releases this year and ever increasing the number of active users. Other plugins maybe not so fortunate, but I am satisfied with overall sale performance this year.
But, one way for the Dev4Press to grow, was to recognize things that didn’t work. So, the theme related business was closed last month for good. With all the specialized theme shops and hundreds of premium themes released every week, I had to admit that investing more time into themes on Dev4Press was not a good way to use development time. From now on, Dev4Press will be only about WordPress plugins.
The road ahead
There are many plans for WordPress development in 2017. In the first three months, the focus will be on the GD Rating System Pro and GD bbPress Toolbox Pro plugins. There are plans for updates for all other Dev4Press plugins, and each one will get at least 2 major versions in 2017. And, there are many ideas for new plugins, with one plugin already in development.
I would like to say thanks to all Dev4Press loyal users and to all new users that started using Dev4Press plugins in 2016 and to wish all of you a happy new year from everyone in (small) Dev4Press team.
