ProcessWire Weekly #119

On the ProcessWire blog this week: Ryan's review of Tesla Model S + module updates

Our latest development version, 3.0.31, contains mainly housekeeping updates, improvements to comments, etc. Worth pulling in if you're already using the 3.x branch, but there's just not that much to blog about in there.

This is why in his latest blog post Ryan takes this chance to discuss something quite different indeed. If you're wondering what that headline is about, the short story is that Ryan got recently a chance to test a 2016 Tesla Model S, and the latest blog post is literally a review for this top-notch electric car.

If you're wondering what a Tesla Model S could possibly have to do with ProcessWire, well.. not much, to be honest, except that the Tesla cars are indeed magnificent pieces of modern technology, just like our beloved ProcessWire. Take this as a unique chance to hear what else our lead developer is interested in, if you will.

Anyway, feel free to visit the processwire.com blog and check out Ryan's take on this marvel of modern transportation technology. Ryan also covers some recent updates he's made to his own modules, so there's always that if cars – hi-tech or not – are definitely not your thing. Thanks!

Contributing to ProcessWire: a few quick tips on getting you started right away

This week we decided to include a brief guide for contributing to ProcessWire. If you're one of those users who might've been around for a while but just haven't made much noise about yourself, this is most definitely for you. In short: we're always looking for more active contributors, and your help would be very much appreciated!

First of all, when we're talking about "contributing to the project", we mean that in the widest possible sense. Even though ProcessWire itself is a software product, you don't actually have to contribute code – quite the opposite, really. If you're not confident in your programming skills, there are other ways to help too.

Please note that this is by no means a comprehensive list, but rather a few pointers on getting started. There are many ways to contribute and the method that suits you best depends on your skillset, the amount of time you're able and willing to put into the project, and many other factors.

1. Help with testing

Grab the latest version of ProcessWire from GitHub, give it a try, and if you see anything that doesn't feel quite right (or is downright broken), please let us know. You can submit both error reports and feature suggestions via GitHub issues – you just need to register a free GitHub account and you're good to go.

2. Spread the word

If you see a question about ProcessWire, feel free to answer it. If you find a great article on ProcessWire, don't hesitate to share it. Most of all, if you personally enjoy using ProcessWire let others know how awesome it is. Developers have a pretty strong tendency to trust other developers in their decision making.

3. Help others

Our support forum depends on volunteer work, no one there is getting paid to answer questions, and this is one of the most efficient ways to contribute: sign in, take part in the discussion. If you see a question you might be able to help with, jump right in and give it a try. If you help others, others can help you.

4. Build modules

If you are confident in your ability to produce quality code, creating modules is a fine way to help the community. What you need is a good idea, basic understanding about our modules system, and a free GitHub account to host your code. Finally, remember to submit your module to the modules directory.

Note: while this is most definitely not a requirement, we do suggest that developers of third party modules try to follow our coding style guide. This guide is mostly intended for core code, but there's no reason not to apply it to modules too.

5. Submit code

Finally, if you spot an error or dream up an awesome new feature, there's always the option of submitting code via issues or pull requests at GitHub. Keep in mind, though, that we very rarely merge code directly.

If your pull request isn't merged, please don't take that as an insult: Ryan has a strict process when it comes to core code, and this process doesn't always follow the native GitHub workflow. This process is one reason why the codebase of ProcessWire is in a great shape, so we trust you understand why prefer to stick with it.

Every little bit helps, so don't hesitate to get involved. In a project like ProcessWire, community building is at least as important as direct code contributions, and we warmly welcome all new users to the support forum. See you there!

Weekly forum highlights, tutorials, and other online resources

Here we've got a new collection of support forum highlights and other useful and/or interesting resources. As always please let us know if there's anything important we've missed so that we can include it in one of our future issues.

• The AdminOnSteroids module just keeps getting better and better: some of the latest additions to the module's feature list include improvements to template and field edit links, easily unselecting pages in page list, and more options for displaying thumbnails in page list. So much new stuff to play with – again!
• TemplateFileHelper and AjaxIntercoolerJS form together one of the projects we're currently eagerly keeping tabs on. Both are still strictly at a work in progress state, but the endgame is to provide an easy way to use intercooler.js with ProcessWire.
• Another interesting project is this upcoming guide for module development. It's a work in progress, but please let the author know if you have any suggestions or if there's something specific you'd like to read about!
• Did you know that both Italian and Polish sites of Burger King are now powered by ProcessWire? Their main site is still based on Drupal, but who knows – perhaps it's just a matter of time before we're the #1 platform for all burger chains out there ;)

Finally two more links specifically for our German speaking readers and anyone fluent in the (mostly understandable) automatic translations provided by Google Translate:

• Benjamin Milde has recently posted an article at Medium about a living style guide and combining Fractal with ProcessWire. This should be pretty interesting read, and there's a site profile to play with too.
• And finally, if you haven't been been keeping tabs on these, Leonid Lezner has been releasing new ProcessWire tutorial videos at a steady pace. Remember to follow his ProcessWire Tutorial playlist for the latest updates. Great stuff!

If you're interested in ProcessWire news, discussions, and updates, there's always something going on at the support forum. Since we're only able to include a tiny selection of all that in our weekly updates, head down to the forum for more.

Site of the week: portfolio of Thomas Forsyth

Our latest site of the week belongs to artist and maker Thomas Forsyth. A testament to simplicity, this particular portfolio site has just enough information about it's owner and his works, no more and no less.

It's hard not to be impressed by all the wonderful projects showcased on the site. Ranging from a foldable Nissan Juke and paper Iron Man to various pieces of furniture and a collection of hand-crafted brass nuts, they're all just plain magnificent. No wonder that the client roster looks equally magnificent: Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather, Google.. do we really need to say more?

As is to be expected, the majority of the content on this site is formed by the projects, each of which is featured on the home page and also has it's own page with a proper case story. There's also an About page for both artist and contact information and an embedded MailChimp newsletter subscription form on all pages.

Behind the scenes AIOM+ is working it's magic, connections to the site are secured with a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, and proper performance is further guaranteed by a combination of nginx server and HTTPS/2. The site does indeed feel quite slick, to say the least, so clearly this combination works wonders.

All in all this is a clean and usable portfolio site for a wonderful artist, and as always we are honored to see someone with such talent depending on ProcessWire for their online presence. Props for the implementation go to Ben Byford, so thanks to both Thomas and Ben for introducing all these wonderful projects to us!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's it for the 119th issue of ProcessWire Weekly. We'll be back with more news, updates, and content Saturday, 27th of August. As always, ProcessWire newsletter subscribers will get our updates a few days later.

Thanks for staying with us, once again. Hope you've had a great and productive week, and don't forget to check out the ProcessWire forums for more interesting topics. Until next week, happy hacking with ProcessWire!