WP User Control Plugin

I was working on a WordPress website job when my client requested to have a registration area, a membership login area and an area if the registered user forgot their password.

Anyone who has worked with me knows how I strive for minimal simplicity in regard to registration/logins, feedback and contact forms… and I try to avoid “member areas”.

Then I came across this wonderful plugin called “WP User Control”.

I am using WP User Control on this blog on my sidebar. When I started using WP User Control 1.1.1, I was really happy that I had found a plugin that I could place in the sidebar where users could “quickly complete login and registration tasks without having to navigate away from their current location.” Now, that’s what I’m talking about.

But what was lacking in version 1.1.1 was the ability to choose the default tab (login, register, or reset). So if a client wanted a registration form, and if this version could’ve defaulted to the registration tab, it would’ve been golden. But alas, this wasn’t so.

So I sent an email to the author, Bill Edgar, and asked if this functionality was possible for their next version update. And… it was added in version 1.2. The current version of WP User Control is 1.4, as of 3/24/12.

So this is the best of everything. I highly recommend this plugin. Forget adding extra user/membership pages to your WordPress site,  start using WP User Control in your sidebar and keep your current and new users on your home page instead.

The Plugin website: oaktondata

Or get the plugin at the WordPress Repository

 

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The Art of Losing A Client in 30 Minutes or Less

The last two WordPress websites I’ve worked on through Elance have been a WordPress Developer’s dream. And it was solely due to the fantastic clients I worked with.

Rarely do you get a job in which you actually click with your clients, albeit you are apart some +1,500 miles, and email is your only communication. Still, there has to be a chemistry, you have to see not only what they need technically, but you have to see their vision, because that is what you are getting paid to do. Enhance, develop and refine their vision, not your idea or interpretation of their vision.

You either see their vision right from the beginning, or you don’t. If you do, then chances are it will be a beautiful working relationship that could last for years to come. If you don’t see their vision, then I suggest you move on to the next potential job offer.

I have discovered long ago (when I worked a 9-5 in the corporate world) that you have to constantly communicate with whom you are working with. It’s pretty simple.

I have noticed, especially through posted feedback comments that in the freelance contractor world, contractors feel the need to act somewhat superior to their clients… this is a big mistake. You may have the skills the client needs, but remember… you need the client.

Talking down to, being rude, abusive, or a jerk to your client isn’t going to get you very far in the contractor world because news gets around. It’s a small world, and those negative client feedback comments are going to haunt you.

Now, on the other side of the coin there are clients who are a little rough around the edges right from the get go. Not that I have a sixth-sense, crystal ball, or x-ray glasses, but I can usually sense a potential trouble-making job before the proposal process is over.

I can give you the #1 tell-tale sign for a potential job disaster, but… that’s a chapter in our contractor guide which will be published in the next few months. More on that later.

So the bottom line is, respect your client, do all that you can to give them what they want, communicate, give status updates, suggest ideas, treat them as you’d like to be treated and you’ll be as right as rain.

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