Refactor or Retire? ICE and WordPress 3.0

There are many exciting things afoot in the world of WordPress these days. If you’ve been living under a rock then  custom post types (A really bad name choice BTW – it’s a data type of which post, page, attachment are default setup at launch), menu management, Multi-Site all in core of the next release will be news to you. If not, you’ve already got a beta installation running and loving the new UI elements and functionality.

Here are some of the links that I have found most useful in the last few days of my first cut at custom post type implementation and re-factoring with new features supported in 3.0:

• http://wpengineer.com/example-how-to-add-meta-boxes-to-edit-area/
• http://www.deluxeblogtips.com/2010/04/how-to-create-meta-box-wordpress-post.html
• http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/8-useful-code-snippets-to-get-started-with-wordpress-3-0
• http://justintadlock.com/archives/2010/04/29/custom-post-types-in-wordpress
• http://justintadlock.com/archives/2009/05/06/custom-taxonomies-in-wordpress-28
• http://www.webmaster-source.com/2010/01/08/using-the-wordpress-uploader-in-your-plugin-or-theme/
• http://wpengineer.com/use-more-flexibility-in-wordpress-templates/
• http://wpstorm.net/2010/04/editor-styles-custom-post-types-wordpress-3-0/

While the big features coming with 3.0 are getting a lot of the words / press, there are quite a few little things that have been improved that are worth mentioning.

New Installation Screen Updates

Without fail the first thing I would do on installation of any WordPress 2.9 or earlier setup would be:

• Create a new admin account (not named ‘admin’) with a secure password
• Re-login as that user and delete the existing ‘admin’ user

Having the option to provide this as a part of the initial installation is great. It could also reduce the amount of potential site hacks others encounter who never did this in the first place by giving them the username option at install time.

Header Image Management

The new default theme, 2010, looks quite a bit better than Kubrik which was showing its age. While some question the value of theme configuration pages in the admin console, users who want an easy way to tweak the look of their site without touching code will love the header and background image upload capability. I have explored a little of how it has been done (hint: function add_custom_image_header and /wp-admin/custom-background.php) that I can see being useful:

• Uploading of .pdfs or other attachments into a custom post type where you don’t want to have the URL defined in the content editor field.
• Bringing the featured image into a meta box along with other content type data (instead of a stand-alone meta box)

Idealien Category Enhancements: Refactor or Retire?

Idealien Category Enhancements (ICE) was the first plugin I wrote for WordPress, circa WP 2.5. When I was trying to find a workable solution before committing to writing it, I felt like the ability to connect template files through the admin console should be something that was part of the core of WordPress. The significant updates to 3.0 have raised some interesting questions in my mind:

• The inclusion of custom post types  has all but eliminated the use cases where I do make use of ICE in 2.9-. A category-driven approach feels so “duct tape / McGyver” when compared to the full-scope solution of custom post types.
• The ability to define single-{posttype}.php in a theme based on category was the feature most people who left feedback about the plugin indicated was why they were using it. Replace category with custom post type and you don’t need a plugin to achieve the same purpose.
• Pages with short-codes or Page Templates that use the query_var parameter tied to register_post_type can give an easy way to integrate post types into menus and navigation. You can even control the slug so that a page which acts as container for a post type “category” is identical to what the individual post types will use. This was always a challenge with ICE, although some writings on the permalink performance associated with /%postname%/ does make one wonder can vs should questions.

There will be a not insignificant amount of re-factoring work to enable any site to take advantage of the new features coming with WordPress 3.0. As I said at the outset, template management should be something that is part of the core of WordPress so I’m not entirely unsatisfied that this has come to pass. I’d like to think that my plugin helped influence that decision in the positive direction it has gone. I’m leaning towards retiring Idealien Category Enhancements as a result, but would appreciate any comments from those who currently use it and are looking at their options for 3.0 upgrade process.