[wp-hackers] Improving Plugin (and Theme) metadata

[Jennifer Hodgdon]

kingler wrote:
> First of all, I like the idea of using the gettext translation on the
> metadata. It requires no extra effort from the plugin author and will
> be backward compatible. However, one issue I can see is that it would
> mean that each plugin will need a set of po/mo files, stored in a
> folder structure. This will force some simple one-file plugin in the
> folder /wp-content/plugins/ to be organized into subdirectories.

Actually, even with MO files, you can install the plugin (and its MO 
file or files) in the top-level directory, so that isn't an issue.

However, there is one issue I can see with this idea of scanning the 
header with a special script: some plugins are internationalized, so 
they already have PO/MO files. Those plugin authors would have to have 
a way of getting the header strings into their main PO/MO files. 
Normally, you use POEdit (or similar software) and tell it to scan the 
files -- it looks for text in __() and _e() PHP functions, not for 
plugin header information.

     --Jennifer

-- 
Jennifer Hodgdon

Poplar ProductivityWare * www.poplarware.com
Web Databases/Scripts * Modeling/Analysis/Palm OS Software