since 2013 · about 5 hours a week, on my own time
I learned WordPress for free. This is how I pay it back.
I answer support threads, translate WordPress into Tamil, send patches to core, publish free plugins and help run meetups and WordCamps. None of it is big on its own. After thirteen years it adds up.
- 1,454
- replies on the WordPress.org support forums
- 2
- WordPress releases with my props: 5.6 and 7.0
- 14
- projects I’ve helped translate into Tamil
- 6
- free plugins in the WordPress.org directory
Where I show up
Support forums
Most of my contribution isn’t code. People write in with a white screen, a 500 error in wp-admin, or a site that has just vanished, and somebody has to answer. I’ve tried to be that somebody, 1,454 times so far.
Core
My name is in the credits of WordPress 5.6 (December 2020) and WordPress 7.0. They were small fixes, but they taught me how a ticket turns into a commit: Trac, patches, reviews, and a lot of patience.
Tamil translations
I’m a translation editor for WordPress in Tamil (ta_IN). I translated WordPress core from 4.3 to 5.3, plus WooCommerce and other plugins. As an editor I also review and approve other people’s translations.
Community
Meetup organiser in Chennai and WordCamp speaker since 2019, WordCamp organiser since 2021, and a former member of the WordCamp Asia organising team. These days I spend Contributor Days helping people make their first contribution.
Nobody posts in a support forum on a good day
Some of the threads I’ve replied to recently. Answering these taught me more about how WordPress breaks than anything I’ve built.
How it added up
Thirteen years, one year at a time. Pick a year, filter by the kind of work, or press play and watch it build up. The dates come from my WordPress.org profile, the plugin directory and GitHub.
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Joined WordPress.org
- Feb Made my WordPress.org account. Every forum reply, translation and plugin since then hangs off it.
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Four plugins in one year
- Jan WP Smart Property, now EstateCraft, went into the plugin directory.
- May WP Smart Flexslider, now SlideCraft.
- Jun WP Smart Wishlist, now WishCraft.
- Oct WP Smart Variations, now SwatchCraft.
Plugin Developer
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First Tamil translations
- Aug Started translating WordPress into Tamil. You don’t need PHP for Polyglots, only a second language.
Translation Contributor
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Working in public
- Started putting my work on GitHub: seven repos that year, mostly theme and component starters.
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A quieter year
- Three small repos, including a WooCommerce add-on. Some years are like that.
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Two more plugins, and Gutenberg
- Oct WP Book, now BookPress, went into the directory.
- Nov A spam protection plugin, now ShieldCraft.
- Started experimenting with Gutenberg for WooCommerce, the same year the block editor shipped.
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On stage, and organising
- Jul Spoke at a WordCamp for the first time.
- Oct Started organising WordPress meetups in Chennai.
WordCamp Speaker
Meetup Organizer
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Editor, and my first props
- Jan Became a Tamil translation editor. Now I review and approve other people’s strings too.
- Dec WordPress 5.6 shipped with my name in the credits.
Translation Editor
Core Contributor
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Organising WordCamps
- Jan Moved from the audience to the organising team, and later joined the WordCamp Asia organisers.
WordCamp Organizer
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Photos, and Docker
- Nov Started uploading CC0 photos to the WordPress Photo Directory.
- Five repos, including a Docker setup for local WordPress.
Photo Contributor
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Blocks, again
- Two repos, one of them more block editor experiments.
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The AI year
- May Built Auto Memoirs, an AI writing plugin, with Mohan Raj.
- ai-engine: one PHP library for Gemini, Llama and Groq, which my AI plugins share.
- ai-comment-moderator, ai-spam-shield, developer-setup, thirukural-api and more. Seventeen repos in total.
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AI that answers from your own content
- ai-agent-for-website and ai-author-for-websites: AI that works from the site’s own content, not the open internet.
- wp-cli-shell: WP-CLI in wp-admin, for hosts without SSH.
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WordPress 7.0, a theme, and a rebuild
- Second set of core props, in WordPress 7.0.
- Rebuilt my old plugins as the “Craft” family: SlideCraft, SwatchCraft, WishCraft, EstateCraft, ShieldCraft.
- Oct Submitted my first theme, AgencyCraft, to the theme directory.
- agent.md and wp-manager, plus this site, rebuilt from scratch.
- Oct Contributor Day at WordCamp Rajasthan, helping first-time contributors.
Plugins in the directory
All free and GPL, with no pro version. Each one started as a problem on a real site that I didn’t want to solve a second time.
SlideCraftFast, keyboard-friendly sliders and carousels: hero banners, post and product carousels, galleries.v3.0.0
SwatchCraftColour, image and button swatches in place of WooCommerce’s variation dropdowns.v3.0.0
WishCraftWishlists for WooCommerce or any post type. Several named lists, guest lists, share links.v3.0.0
EstateCraftProperty listings with search and OpenStreetMap maps, for block and classic themes.v3.0.1
ShieldCraftSpam protection for comments, registration and forms. No CAPTCHA and no outside service.v2.0.0
BookPressTurns posts and pages into PDF eBooks, with covers and a table of contents.v2.0.0
On GitHub
Experiments, tools I use every day, and a few finished things. Issues and pull requests are welcome on all of them.
Want to start contributing but not sure where? I wasn’t either, for years. Read your first WordPress contribution, or message me before the next Contributor Day and we’ll find you something to work on.
