Updates are coming fast. I realized the great benefit of being able to include links and images in the menu data, so I rewrote the display php functions to allow HTML tags and entities to pass through and render in the browser. It was a simple change and something I probably should have done from the start, but as is probably true of the birth of most plugins, I wrote this one for a specific application with a specific set of requirements which did not include links and images.

So if you are updated to v1.1, you can put things like <img src="" />, <a href="">link</a>, style="", <strong>, <em>, etc. in any of the menu fields.

A few things I have in mind for future updates:

- Adding alerts before deletion of menus & items

- Using slug text rather than the menu name in the shortcode. This would give users more freedom with menu names without breaking the plugin.

- Adding multisite support.

- Allowing users to define the number of columns in a menu. Currently you are locked into the three columns: Item, Description, Value. If you could create a menu with as many columns as you want, then the sky is the limit for uses of this plugin.

All in good time…

I successfully submitted my first WordPress plugin. Simple Retail Menus is now available for download from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Here is an example menu of items created with the plugin. As you can see, it’s useful for more than just food, service and retail lists.

[simple-retail-menu id="2"]

[simple-retail-menu id="2" class="jsrm-menu light"]

[simple-retail-menu id="2"  class="jsrm-menu dark"]

Today I finally submitted by first WordPress plugin to the WordPress Directory! It’s called Simple Retail Menus, and it’s a simple enough idea for a plugin. It basically allows you to create and manage menus of items, such as for a restaurant or salon menu. And by ‘menu’ I mean a menu of food items or services, not teh “WordPress menu” of page and post navigation.

I created this plugin because I couldn’t find anything like it. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started, but after about a month of development I think I created a pretty decent plugin.

For details on it see the Simple Retail Menus page on this site.

Here’s one Screenshot: