{"id":2203,"date":"2013-02-15T10:16:39","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T16:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/?p=2203"},"modified":"2024-06-06T09:46:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T14:46:02","slug":"marko-heijnen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/","title":{"rendered":"Finely Tuned Consultant – Marko Heijnen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Marko<\/a>We’re chatting with Marko Heijnen, a Dutch WordPress consultant hailing from the Lands of Nether. The first time we met was at WordCamp NYC when he was in the US for a time. When we met, Marko told me about a game he was in the process of building with WordPress, as well as some of the work he had done as a core contributor. He lives in Erica, Netherlands, which is a relatively small village. However, Marko makes it out to most of the major WordCamps, and has some serious visibility in the community.<\/p>\n

Marko does a ton of WordPress Development, but he’s a true technologist, hiding away in the middle of Europe. He’s developed quite a reputation for his work, not only as a developer, but a concept guy who can take an idea from idea to code in a short time. He’s also a consistent Core contributor, and is a big supporter of anyone who spends time contributing back to WordPress.<\/p>\n

In Marko’s own words:<\/strong><\/p>\n

My name is Marko Heijnen, and I live in a small village in The Netherlands. I started developing stuff 15 years ago with Turbo Pascal.
\nTimes passed, and in 2006 I started working with WordPress and after a bit I started to contribute back to core. That’s one of the best decisions I ever made. Now, I work full time on WordPress projects, plugins, themes, and obviously Core. When not working on WordPress I’m traveling to WordCamps and hangout with the Community!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When was the first time that you really got excited about WordPress and at what point did you decide to make it your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m started using WordPress for my own site in 2006. Initially, it was just a way to build my site, and I only coded some small changes. The first time I really got excited about WordPress was in 2010 when my first patch got committed. I realized that a small change I made would be used by a lot of people. How cool is that? In 2011, I decided I wanted WordPress as a part of my daily job. And since then I’ve worked full-time with it.<\/p>\n

Where do you go first to get your WP news, insights, and updates?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I follow Twitter, IRC and the \u201cmake\u201d blogs to stay up to date. Beyond that, I don’t have a specific routine of sites to follow.<\/p>\n

What WP consultants deserve more love than they get? Who should we be paying attention to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are so many awesome WordPress people out there, it\u2019s impossible to name everyone, because I might miss someone important. I would say all the people that work on core and spend their own time to make WordPress better- especially everyone who has contributed on multiple WordPress versions. <\/span><\/p>\n

What performance tips would you give to other pros (as related to speed, scalability, security, plugins, backup, etc.)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try to write as much of your own code as possible. You should know the code you are using and don\u2019t over-rely on plugins from others. I only use batcache and memcache\/APC as default plugins. Beside that I select plugins with care.<\/p>\n

Another thing is that sometimes, people cache too aggressively. Most sites can be easily cached for an hour and sometimes even longer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confess to us your biggest moment of WP fail?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I’m not sure what that moment was, but I made a big mistake in 3.5 rewriting the image manipulation code to the new WP_Image_Editor class. The deal is that when you edit an image it will loose some of the image sizes. When 3.5 got released and the problem got mentioned, I realized how silly the mistake was. I first thought it was introduced later in the process but when I checked the commit log I saw that I made the stupid mistake in the beginning. But this is basically the reason why 3.5.1 got released so late.<\/p>\n

If you were going to spend this weekend creating a plugin that doesn’t exist, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Off the top of my head, I would say a decent simple SEO plugin. The current plugins are too bloated for simple usage. I think they make SEO more important than it really is, and I like to have my backend as clean as possible. <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you use Themes & Child Themes, Roll your own, or both?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I depends on the people I work with. Most of the time I roll my own themes. There are cases that I use a Theme framework like Genesis. Also for personal projects, I use the theme \u201cResponsive\u201d as a parent theme and add extra functionality to it.<\/p>\n

What’s your favorite theme or theme framework? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really a theme user but I do like the theme \u201cResponsive.” It\u2019s nice and clean, and the color styling is pretty elegant, so adjusting it is quite easy to do.<\/p>\n

Favorite plugin?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love using posts 2 posts<\/a> for all kinds of projects. Also creating your own metabox for adding relationships is easy to do.<\/p>\n

Least favorite plugin?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say but I would go with \u201cWordPress SEO.” Clients choose because it’s popular, but don’t have a good reason, and don’t really know how to I use it. And last time I checked the code had lots of duplication and was throwing quite a few PHP notices.<\/p>\n

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done with Custom Post Types?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I once had to create an iPhone lottery app that used CPT\u2019s as a data source. So you had two CTP\u2019s: Lottery and tickets. All this information could be retrieved through a JSON API.<\/p>\n

What do you think is the biggest challenge that WP consultants will face in 2013?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Getting clients to be comfortable with the new media dialog. A lot has changed there. I’m also interested in writing plugins using the new model as best as possible. The new flow means that current code can and should be improved.<\/p>\n

If you could change one thing today about WP, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would remove\/redo custom fields. Current implementation doesn\u2019t make sense to me and is a really bad user experience that users are forced to work with.<\/p>\n

Where do you see WordPress going in the next 2-3 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the focus will be more on using WordPress as an app platform. So hopefully this year we will seeing a decent RESTful API for WordPress. I also think a lot of code will change to be more object orientated. If you’re keeping score, this is already something you see in the latest WordPress releases.<\/p>\n

Tell us a story where you saved the WP day for yourself or on a client project. What made the difference for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I once reserved a complete week for myself to develop the plugin, Tabify Edit Screen<\/a>.  It was an awesome week where I worked on a plugin that was special to me and really handy for people.<\/p>\n

What’s the biggest misconception you encounter about WordPress, and how do you clear it up for your clients?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The biggest would be that clients complain that WordPress can\u2019t do something they need. They only think inside the box. WordPress can do a lot of things but you sometimes need to be creative with it. As for how I clear that up, I just let them see projects\/plugins I worked on. I’ve done some crazy things with WordPress before, and it does really help to have examples to show clients.<\/p>\n

If you were interviewing another WordPress developer for a job, what is the first question you would ask and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It depends. If they never contributed back to WordPress I would ask why they never did that. If they already did contributed back I would ask what piece of code they made for WordPress, they are the most proud of.<\/p>\n

What did I miss?  Here’s your chance to fill in the blanks and add something you want people to know about you!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love doing the things I do. I stopped labeling myself as a developer since I also do UX and creating concepts. The only thing I don\u2019t do I really design stuff. I don\u2019t want to make people cry \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

I also visit a lot of WordCamp each year. And recently, I’ve also started organizing meetups in Amsterdam and Belgrade. One of my goals this year is to see the first WordCamp Serbia happen.<\/p>\n

Thanks Marko!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Y’all mosey on over to Marko’s site markoheijnen.com<\/a> to see some of the crazy, out of the box things he’s done with WordPress, and to see what sort of magic he can work for your site!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re chatting with Marko Heijnen, a Dutch WordPress consultant hailing from the Lands of Nether. The first time we met was at WordCamp NYC when he was in the US for a time. When we met, Marko told me about a game he was in the process of building with WordPress, as well as some…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[411],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finely-tuned-expert"],"yoast_head":"\nFinely Tuned Consultant - Marko Heijnen | WP Engine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meet Marko Heijnen. Gain valuable insights on WordPress development, plugins, and open-source contributions from an experienced developer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finely Tuned Consultant - Marko Heijnen | WP Engine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meet Marko Heijnen. Gain valuable insights on WordPress development, plugins, and open-source contributions from an experienced developer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WP Engine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpengine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-15T16:16:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T14:46:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/markoheijnen.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Austin Gunter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wpengine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wpengine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Austin Gunter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/\",\"name\":\"Finely Tuned Consultant - Marko Heijnen | WP Engine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-15T16:16:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-06T14:46:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/669f047558daf2cf0747a7cbe8bf5a74\"},\"description\":\"Meet Marko Heijnen. Gain valuable insights on WordPress development, plugins, and open-source contributions from an experienced developer\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Finely Tuned Consultant – Marko Heijnen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"WP Engine\",\"description\":\"Managed Hosting for WordPress\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/669f047558daf2cf0747a7cbe8bf5a74\",\"name\":\"Austin Gunter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c46fa98068156fdd2b81c009b7d8110d8d6eb6b287305e7e0c64fb29cbb7088?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c46fa98068156fdd2b81c009b7d8110d8d6eb6b287305e7e0c64fb29cbb7088?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Austin Gunter\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Finely Tuned Consultant - Marko Heijnen | WP Engine","description":"Meet Marko Heijnen. Gain valuable insights on WordPress development, plugins, and open-source contributions from an experienced developer","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Finely Tuned Consultant - Marko Heijnen | WP Engine","og_description":"Meet Marko Heijnen. Gain valuable insights on WordPress development, plugins, and open-source contributions from an experienced developer","og_url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/","og_site_name":"WP Engine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpengine","article_published_time":"2013-02-15T16:16:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-06T14:46:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/markoheijnen.jpeg"}],"author":"Austin Gunter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@wpengine","twitter_site":"@wpengine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Austin Gunter","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/","url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/","name":"Finely Tuned Consultant - Marko Heijnen | WP Engine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-15T16:16:39+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-06T14:46:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/669f047558daf2cf0747a7cbe8bf5a74"},"description":"Meet Marko Heijnen. Gain valuable insights on WordPress development, plugins, and open-source contributions from an experienced developer","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/marko-heijnen\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Finely Tuned Consultant – Marko Heijnen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/","name":"WP Engine","description":"Managed Hosting for WordPress","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/669f047558daf2cf0747a7cbe8bf5a74","name":"Austin Gunter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c46fa98068156fdd2b81c009b7d8110d8d6eb6b287305e7e0c64fb29cbb7088?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c46fa98068156fdd2b81c009b7d8110d8d6eb6b287305e7e0c64fb29cbb7088?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Austin Gunter"}}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}