Brian Krogsgard

The Events Calendar to get more ticketing support with new EDD add-on

edd-tickets-eventsThe Events Calendar is a popular events solution from Modern Tribe. It’s my personal favorite events calendar that I believe well balances features and simplicity. It could perhaps be simpler than it is, but it’s not near as complex as some of its competitors.

Many of the features for The Events Calendar are delivered with add-ons. Their latest add-on, due out soon, is a tickets add-on that integrates with the Easy Digital Downloads eCommerce plugin.

Easy Digital Downloads is a great eCommerce plugin that handles exactly what you’d expect: digital downloads. But it also handles subscriptions and other non-physical goods very well. It’s an excellent plugin from Pippin Williamson.

Modern Tribe already released a similar tickets add-on to integrate with WooCommerce, and if you already have a WooCommerce store, it’s probably perfect for you. I’ve used WooTickets a few times with great success. Likewise, if you already have a store running Easy Digital Downloads, the EDD add-on would be a great option.

However, if you don’t currently run a store already, but you want to sell tickets, the new Easy Digital Downloads store may be a more logical option, as it’s a bit lighter weight and doesn’t require or expect configurations for physical products and other powerful features WooCommerce comes with.

If you want to get a handle on the Easy Digital Downloads ticket add-on, Rob LaGatta did a nice demo of how to use it, which you can see below.

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Explicit browser support

browsersBrowser support is not a minor thing to consider when building web projects. Whether developing a website for a client or building a product, one of the most important things to clarify right away is what level of browser support is to be expected.

Browser support should be an explicitly defined item, even for small tools and projects.

Put browser support in the contract

When we do client work, browser support should be in the contract. I’m not terribly opinionated on what level of browser support is proper, but it’s always a good idea to have access to the client’s current analytics to see what browsers actual web visitors are using. You can make a more informed decision that way, versus using global numbers.

Desktop browsers that generate the most debate for what is right to support are older versions of Internet Explorer. Specifically, IE8 seems to be particularly controversial right now. While the browser still has 10% market share, a high number in my opinion, I see many template providers and website consultants ignoring support for it.

ie8-browser-support
Image via the IE8 Countdown

Pitfalls of vague browser support

This worries me a bit. If people that make products, like a slider script for instance, don’t explicitly state browser support, inexperienced developers may assume browser support is good. Then, when they use it on a client site, it could cause problems. Best yet is when the client themselves are on an old browser and the feature doesn’t work.

I’m not blaming people that release free code for developers doing dumb things. I’m saying people that release any code, free or commercial, can save themselves headaches by explicitly stating desktop browser support.

Examples of vague browser support

Let’s take my friends at WooThemes for instance. They make great products. However, on two of their most popular items, it’s difficult to figure out browser support.

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