It is no secret that I enjoy writing WordPress plugins. I’ve got a few that I’ve released freely, some I keep to myself, and many are contract work. Most of my work goes undisclosed. However, when I release free plugins, the question that invariably arises is “what versions of WordPress will it support?” I have a tendency to write code for the latest version of WordPress. The WP developers add new functions that increase it’s functionality or add extra depth that plugin developers can tap into.
But that’s just my preference. What’s yours? How many previous versions of WordPress should new plugins support?
Allan Collins
February 16, 200910:10 pmI would say to only support 2.6 and higher.
johnkolbert
February 16, 200910:20 pmHey Allan. Thanks for your comment. So your thought it the current version plus the previous version? That sounds reasonable.
Allan Collins
February 16, 200910:27 pm@johnkolbert – I feel that if we continue to support older versions of WP, we are sending the message to website owners that it is okay to have an outdated CMS.
Although, it would be nice to know what the market share is for WP versions.
Miroslav Glavic
February 16, 20097:17 pmI was looking for a plugin and saw it was valid/tested up to 2.3.1 or something like that.
Do people seriously have WordPress installations that are THAT old?
People whine and complain when their WordPress sites get hacked. If you keep your WordPress installations up-to-date, your plugins and themes up-to-date then that will reduce the risk to a lot less than outdated WordPress installations/plugins/themes.
There is no excuse to have WordPress 2.3.1, or anything that old. If your plugin hasn’t been updated in let’s say a year….uninstall it, find one that is similar…as there are so many plugins that do the same, the author won’t support it then get another one that does the same thing. Themes, there are thousands.
As for how many previous versions…..I would say up to 12 months after the new version comes.
Keep support for the last version before the current (so when 2.8 comes, then still support 2.7 series, but drop 2.6 series and lower).
2.3.x WordPress installations are just webmastered by extremely lazy webmasters.
plugins and themes that are not updated in over a year then you are just being lazy.
R.Bhavesh
February 17, 20097:24 amIts unfortunate that wordpress keeps releasing new versions every few months. I believe the plugin should support the previous version unless the new version is not stable (2months after the new version is released probably).
e.g. the new 2.7 version had(or still have?) some permalink issues that would force people to switch back to older versions.
johnkolbert
February 17, 20097:34 pmBhavesh, good to hear from you! Yes, WordPress is notorious for quickly releasing new versions. It can make it tough for plugin developers (or theme developers like your self) to keep up with all the changes. It seems reasonable to support the previous version until the second incremental version is released. For example, support 2.6 until 2.7.1 is released.
Wesley
February 17, 20098:46 pmAs others have said, simply the latest and latest-1 version should be supported. Some users might not yet want to update because some plugins don't yet work etc..
Users who don't update and are still on 2.5 or less probably don't have a very active blog and will soon be hacked anyway.
Gwen
February 23, 20092:15 amThis is why we are upgrading. I would hate to be hacked. This is our business and if I need to upgrade so be it.
John
February 26, 20094:09 pmI think a timeframe rather than # of versions would maybe be a better metric. So, 12 months would maybe be reasonable.