With the growing success of Utopian.io we all see how important it is to open up the Steem ecosystem to as many people and projects as possible. One of the driving forces to achieve that is by integrating Steem into WordPress which is run by 60 million websites worldwide. Hence the SteemPress plugin for WordPress.
As I am no developer myself I need all the help I can get to make this project a reality. I understand that it is key to break it into small first steps and create task requests out of them. These can then be tackled by all Utopian developers with guaranteed @utopian-io upvotes. Due to my lack of WordPress plugin understanding I hereby request a thinker familiar with the WordPress code and its plugins to come up with a first step plan.
This plan should merely contain the beginning of the SteemPress development. All we need are concrete steps to get the first steps done like building the infrastructure of the plugin and making important decisions.
Features of SteemPress
- Login with SteemConnect
To get access to the Steem blockchain the users need to be able to login with their posting keys. The safest way to do that is using SteemConnect from the busy.org developers. I am uncertain what the best method here would be. The Steem account could be merged with a WordPress user account to allow for seamless integration with non-Steem functions like webshops for example.
- Posting to the Steem blockchain
Instead of going to Steemit or any other Steem-based website you can create and post directly from your own WordPress page. For that the WordPress editor can be used or any other plugin editor like the super popular Visual Editor “Divi” from Elegant Themes. That might result in a dysfunctional look for the Steem post when read outside of the user’s website, which is acceptable in my opinion.
An auto-generated link on top of the post could send readers from Steemit & Co. to the authors website where the content is intended to be consumed.
The posting options should include the common payout methods (100%, 50/50 and No Payout).
One or more Beneficiaries can be set to receive a percentage of the payout without any service fees.
5 Tags can be set for the post (Default main tag can be set in plugin settings).
Upvote own post option (Default can be set in settings).
The Post could be stored in the WordPress database as a portfolio project which allows for separate posting outside of the Steem blockchain via the regular posts.
- Scheduling of posts
WordPress offers a schedule function for posts which is very helpful for website owners. Streemian.com offers such a service for the Steem blockchain, so it should be possible.
- Editing of posts
As long as the post is still active WordPress should offer the possibility to edit the post.
Displaying of the Post
On the frontend the post will be rendered according to the WordPress theme and plugins running on the website. The Meta Data of the post could contain the upvote function, the amount of upvotes and the amount of blockchain views. Some users might prefer the actual views on their own website instead. Maybe this could be set in the settings as either/or with blockchain views as default.
In the backend all Steem posts should have additional info showing the metadata for payout, votes and views, next to the amount of comments.
- Replacing WordPress comments with Steem comments
For each Steem post the according blockchain comments replace the default comment function in the style of the WordPress theme.
The upvote function for comments should work similar to Steemit. Downvoting should be a setting option which is deactivated by default, since many website owners probably don’t want to have such a function active.
The amount of comment upvotes should be displayed as well.
The comments should be ordered by default like on Steemit with the highest upvote first. For this a live switch would be great, where the order changes visually and not just after a page refresh. Further sorting options should be displayed above the comments, like oldest or newest or most replies.
- Multiple Authors
Using SteemConnect it should be easy to allow multiple authors for different posts (not the same, that is regulated with beneficiaries). I assume this should be connected with the Wordpress user database without ever compromising the user keys but to allow for a proper logging of who posted what.
- Thumbnails
WordPress already handles thumbnails very well. If there is no extra thumbnail defined the first image will be pulled. Otherwise a special thumbnail can be set using the thumbnail function from Wordpress. This thumbnail must probably be posted outside of the Steem blockchain and is used only on the websites database. But this is just an assumption and might be better stored on the blockchain as well for continuity.
Task Requests
- You need to be an experienced developer familiar with WordPress development
- Think about what the SteemPress project requires in general
- Create a list with at least five Task Requests for relevant developments
- You are not required to continue working on this project after this task
Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors