I’ve been running Tidy Repo for over a year now, and from the beginning, it has been a passion project for me, a labor of love. Since then, I’ve gotten some great feedback on the site. Let me just say thank you to everybody who has gone out of their way to let me know that Tidy Repo is helping them, it has been what keeps me adding more week after week.
But I’ve also felt like more can be done with Tidy Repo. I started the project off because I was frustrated with finding WordPress plugins. I hope that I’ve made that task just a little easier for users out there and that the site has become something you can depend on. Plugins and plugin discoverability are a huge part of operating a WordPress site, but it’s hard to find the right information. I’d like to close that gap a bit more.
For a while now, it’s occurred to me that I would not be able to do this on my own. If I really want to take Tidy Repo to the next level and start helping people in new ways, I would need a little help. Thankfully, I’ve managed to find a new co-owner for Tidy Repo: Jack McConnell.
Jack runs Voltronik, a full-service WordPress design agency operating out of Bath, England. He has run several WordPress meetups in his hometown, and he’s on the Bath: Hacked committee. He is an incredible WordPress developer and writer with years of experience. And now, he’s my collaborator at Tidy Repo.
Jack answered my call for help a couple of weeks ago, and since then we’ve been talking at length about the future of Tidy Repo. I think we have some great new features coming up, and I’m excited to get started.
The most noticeable change will be, starting next week, Tidy Repo will feature new reviews 5 days a week. Every week. There are a lot of great plugins out there that we have yet to cover, and Jack will be helping out with testing new plugins and writing reviews. Expect more in the Repo soon.
We also have lots of ideas for writing more robust tutorials. Not just about specific plugins, but how to use plugins with WordPress, how to find the right plugins and more extensive plugin comparisons.
Another thing. Tidy Repo’s design hasn’t been updated since I launched it. People have generally responded favorably towards the site’s usability, but it’s clear there’s still a lot that can be done. Jack and I both have a laundry list of tweaks that can be made to the site to make it easier to use, easier to navigate and, as always, aesthetically pleasing. In the next few weeks, you’ll see a bit of a facelift as we start to roll out new features.
I don’t want to give you all the details now, so let me just say there is a lot in the pipeline. Over the next few months, Tidy Repo will offer more ways for people to learn about plugins, get one-on-one help from Jack and me, and connect with other WordPress users to get solid and personalized advice. I’d like to take the site out of the world of generic reviews and start addressing your problems, right now. To make Tidy Repo a site that makes finding plugins easy and most importantly, a site that you can rely on. And that’s what Jack and I aim to do.
For now, please welcome Jack McConnell to Tidy Repo. I hope to have some more updates for you all very soon.