One of the strategies we use at Outcome Labs to ensure successful WordPress projects is a vetted set of themes and plugins. These include internally-developed software, open source software available under GPL licenses, and commercial software. Each component has been validated by our team for functionality, stability, and interoperability. Valid use cases and work practices for each component are documented. We monitor and review each component on an ongoing basis on our own sites and the client sites we manage to identify and address any issues which might arise.
We select the appropriate theme and plugins that will be used on any given project from this list based on the specific functionality required for that project. If we identify a gap, we have a process to identify approaches on how to fill. If we need to acquire or build a new component, we run a process to integrate it into our framework before it is deployed on the project.
This proven toolset and our team’s track record of successful projects using it is one of the key value propositions we offer when people hire us. They are tools we are very comfortable recommending. This is the first in a series of posts which will discuss components of our toolset.
One of the first tools we install when we set up a project is the Duplicate Post plugin that was developed by Enrico Battocchi. This plugin allows you to clone posts or pages, or copy them to new drafts for further editing. It clones the content of the page, the featured image, and SEO data. it is simple to use and well integrated into the wordpress admin. It has a comprehensive set of configuration settings. The plugin is very mature with over 3 million installations.
This week Yoast announced they had acquired the Duplicate Post plugin. Enrico will be joining the Yoast team. You can see the announcement here. The developer also did a post about it. The new plugin page is already up on the Yoast site. There have been a number of acquisitions in the WordPress ecosystem over the past 12 months. While some of these have raised concerns about the long-term viability of the product involved, we think this acquisition is a very positive move. Yoast is in the WordPress plugin business, has committed to maintain and extend the plugin as a free offering, and has a proven track record of support.