coreymaass

Our local library, connected to seemingly every other library in the country, provides me with every book and movie I've wanted for years. Such an amazing resource. Request it online, pick it up locally, usually within two days.

I build many of my web app prototypes on WordPress. I give a talk about it: https://wordpress.tv/2017/06/05/corey-maass-rapid-web-app-de...

I had another idea last Thursday and had a prototype completed by the end of the weekend. WordPress takes care of ORM, routing, user management, admin and most of the features every web app requires. This leaves you to develop the actual unique selling proposition.

Yes, the low hanging fruit has been plucked, sometimes a dozen times. But if you think of WordPress as a very simple method of self-hosting, there are lots of apps that have yet to be built.

The other option is building a SaaS app and using a single WordPress install or WordPress multisite as the platform. I thought this was a crazy idea a couple years ago. Now I know of dozens of apps that have WordPress as the back-end, and it works well.

Obviously, it depends on the app you're trying to make. But I recently worked with a founder who found a niche, used Gravity forms to collect data, Gravity view to display and export the data, (your basic CRUD in programming parlance) and this solved the basic needs of the problem.

I presented on this a couple years ago at a WordCamp, and am giving the updated version in a week at WordCamp Belfast. https://wordpress.tv/2017/06/05/corey-maass-rapid-web-app-de...

So proud to be included in this. A lot of solopreneurs started with WordPress and moved to SaaS. I went the other way and still see so much opportunity in WordPress plugins, plugins-as-apps, and SaaS.

I've found the slow writing exactly what makes them so useful. Whatever I write sticks in my head better.

So meta! Excited to follow along to learn about both podcasting and SaaS!

There have been moments when I've agreed with you. And there are a couple plugins that emulate phpMyAdmin pretty closely. I've used them with some success.

However most of the time I've been grateful for the extra couple of clicks. It keeps clients from getting into trouble. Hell, it keeps me from getting into trouble.

Direct access to the database from within the WordPress dashboard implies you're doing some interesting, crazy things with WordPress. I think it's usually going to be an edge case when someone wants direct access to the database.

To expand on maintenance, you can offer security audits and scans, plugin audits before updating, site audits before updating (make sure updates won't break anything), and a small number of tweaks or discussion every month.

Sure. Email me through gelform.com if you want to discuss more.

A good examples is Timerdoro.com which uses custom post types to manage objects and social signin for rapid on-boarding. I would not build that by hand.

Another new site is plugindirectory.info. The core of the app talks to an api and charts the results. It took me about 20 hours to build. I didn't have to create pages, user management (registration etc), curl calls, db schema, and so much else. The core of the app took a couple hours, then I just concentrated on the code that actually makes the app.

I've given a talk on using WordPress for rapidly developing SaaS app MVPs. You can watch it here: https://wordpress.tv/2017/06/05/corey-maass-rapid-web-app-de...

It's great for certain types of apps, and solves a lot of the first 90% of your app out of the box (user management, marketing pages, etc). So you can concentrate on solving the core problem your app is trying to solve. As mentioned in other comments, you might run into scaling issues over time, but that too depends on the app.

I've built a couple dozen apps on WordPress, some of them have grown beyond MVP and are going strong. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

SEEKING FREELANCER | React | REMOTE

We're looking for a React.js developer to help us re-write a jQuery app in React. You'll help us get up and running (our devs are new to React), solve a few technical problems fundamental to the app, and then be a resource as we continue to build.

Budget (US): $1,000 - $2,000

Email: corey@gelform.com

I love Flying Tiger. Since it's still novel in America, it's the perfect place to get holiday gifts.

Sorry, I jumped to a couple conclusions from your original post. When you said "the platform itself is just too crap" I just assumed you meant tech, so that's why I mentioned Laravel, which most PHP devs consider better, code-wise. But both could have products developed for them.

> The fact that 25% of the web is powered by it doesn't mean 25% of the web will actually pay for your solution

You're right, of course, that not everyone in any market might buy whatever my product is. But I'd rather have an opportunity to sell to a market that includes millions rather than thousands, purely so that I could write more beautiful code. And yes, a bigger market means that you're competing with more people, but I think the numbers still stand.

> I would also be skeptical about the amount of money you could make on WP vs Laravel or a similar framework.

As well you should. Developers are a notoriously cheap market, especially for software. Why buy it when I can build it? :-)

But I'm skeptical that one could make a more financially successful product around another, better code-based product (and again, I think that's the scope of our debate, which is my assumption). Few code-based markets can compare to the size of WordPress, so even if you could charge 10x as much for a product, you still might make more selling at a lower price to a bigger market.

And yes, I will probably always make more per hour as a contract developer, but the extra $1k/month buys me a lot of beer and pays for ever conference I want to go to (especially Wordcamps :-) ).

I feel compelled to jump in and defend the platform I've spent most of my time on for the last 5+ years. Yup, it's not Laravel or some other new, beautiful framework that has the luxury of standing on the shoulders of giants. But it's solid enough, it's constantly being updated... both those are technical considerations. We're talking about launching a product people pay for. WordPress powers 25% of the web. I challenge you to considier the potential market for a product for WordPress vs something like Laravel. Which market is bigger, has more eyes, is more established, and is known to spend money?

We've seen a lot of people use our Kanban board WordPress plugin [0] for lots of different work flows - CRM, sales, and editorial being the biggest after project management. Sorry for the self promotion, but I think it's related.

https://KanbanWP.com

I'm working my way through these and love them. I'd bought books and followed tutorials so I'd completed 3-4 "hello world" apps. With Stephen's videos, I thought, "oh, great, another hello world" but the way he explains things, sudden I understand what it all actually meant instead of just bashing together code and hoping it worked.

Say it again! I learned this lesson a few years ago while talking to a guy who'd had a few "exits" totaling $200k or less. It blew my mind. Wait, you can sell for less than millions?! It led me to sell an app for $7k instead of letting it die a slow death desperately hoping for millions to fall out of the sky. Great perspective shift for me.

The best part of WordPress is that it's been around long enough to have a very long tail of documentation and written experience. It also has a wonderful online community. Check out Advanced WordPress on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/ - for just one expample. Start building sites and asking questions when you need help.

I started looking for opportunities in WordPress a couple years ago. Anytime I found a new app, I got in the habit of checking if it existed as a WordPress plugin. I've since built a nice side business that I hope to grow into a day job.

Thrilled this exists and monetization was figured out. Years ago, I used a similar service that shut down unexpectedly because the creator couldn't figure out how to monetize it. I've thought about rebuilding it myself twice. I even own the domains! :-)

As you know about javascript and css, you are likely not the target audience for most commercial themes. The average non-technical site owner equates features and effects with value. They are serving their audience.

With that said, there are thousands of themes out there. I'm sure a few might meet your requirements. Unfortunately, it may take a long time to find them.

Finally, you might start with a skeleton theme instead, and build up your own without all the whizbang. As I agree with you about commercial themes, that's what I do.

I wrote a single file CMS a couple years ago, similarly out of necessity. It might be a place to start. Build off of it as you need to.

https://github.com/gelform/GelCMS

If you're willing to go lossy, also look at PNGQuant - https://pngquant.org/ I've started using it on all of my web images. I've yet to see the loss on a couple dozen images, but the size drops by up to 66%, even after being run through imageoptim.

I've done three. All were wrapped up or abandoned within a dozen episodes. I learned that the prospect of an on-going podcast is daunting. It seems many others have learned the same thing, as "seasons" and story arcs seem to be gaining in popularity. I'm starting another podcast soon, but with a distinct curriculum in mind, so I can stop after 6 episodes and still have a complete topic arc that I can release. I'm hoping that will make the difference.

Yes. As a solopreneur, I had a moderately successful side project. When the app fell over, it took me two weeks to get it back online due to compounded tech debt. As a daily service, I lost most of my users when the app didn't work for 14 days. The app never recovered, and ultimately I sold it. One more vote against doing everything yourself.

Talking about it in as many places as possible - AWP on Facebook, Post Status, etc. But past that, a little optimization and if people are looking for it in the repo, they'll find it.

As stated, make sure you create a free version first and put it in the WordPress plugin directory. Most of your traffic will come from there. Make frequent updates, include good keywords, and if there's a need for it, people will find it. It's also a great way to start testing for premium features.

Before putting the dish down, require that the cat lay on a designated mat. If s/he moves, pick up the dish. Eventually the cat should learn to lay on the mat for the hour before mealtime, rather than bugging you. Worked for both my dog and my cat.