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New! Free WordPress HD Video Tutorials

If you want to make WordPress submit to your web-design whims for world-wide-web domination, now is your chance!

We’ve just released a free HD video tutorial series that covers everything from basic setup of WordPress to Search Engine Optimization and Child Themes. We are also going to moderate a community forum if you have any questions about theme customization, or anything WordPress related.

It’s completely free, check out the details here.

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Settings API Explained

Update: Plugin Options Starter Kit

I have now written a Plugin options starter kit for people who want to learn how to put together a Plugin options form using the WordPress Settings API. You can see more information about the Plugin and download the latest version here.

Have fun, and be sure to let me know what other features you want added in future versions!

In this post I discuss the WordPress Settings API and how you can leverage them for use in your own plugins. Firstly there is coverage of the API in general and the various functions available together with their usage. After that there is a tutorial section with an example walk through of how to add options to a new sub menu page under the Settings Menu.

The Settings API was first added in WordPress 2.7 to make things more efficient when it came to adding options pages for your plugins (and themes) to the WordPress admin area. Until recently I was still doing things the ‘old’ way which involved doing all the form creation and submission handling yourself, checking for $_POST variables, manual security checks etc. Whilst this worked fine it was also cumbersome and time consuming to implement, and making changes was awkward.
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