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<blockquote data-quote="jameson_uk" data-source="post: 360172" data-attributes="member: 11220">I agree.&nbsp; I think it is partly a matter of knowing it exists.&nbsp; I only really found it when searching around.&nbsp; I don't even think the plugin documentation mentions MPI??Meedio did this particularly well and there was a much more active plugin community.&nbsp; You could just go to the setup screen and choose the plugins option.&nbsp; If would tell you if any you already had installed had been updated, what was new and allow you to browse.&nbsp; When you installed a plugin it downloaded the file, installed and then restarted Meedio.&nbsp; This worked really really well.I think part of the reason for the more active plugin community in Meedio was down the MP API itself.&nbsp; The Meedio API was very well defined and documented and it would take an hour or so to create a reasonably complex plugin.&nbsp; I have a degree in computing and can quite happily code stuff up (although I don't really do this on a day to day basis) but I have been thinking about creating plugins for MP but have found it too much hard work to figure out what actualy needs coding more than anything else.&nbsp; This is probably more of MP2 thing to consider but I think there would be far more plugins if the API was better structured and documented.The other thing here is skins.&nbsp; Because of the need for seperate files for each screen and for each skin it is quite difficult to provide a package that just works.&nbsp; I think the downloads are there because people still need to hack around and copy xml skin files around for plugins.Finally I don't think there is really any cohesion for plugins.&nbsp; The links from the home page are kind of dead and after a couple of visits I don't even bother looking there now I just look in the forums.&nbsp; Some stuff in the correct place is out of date or dead.This is not having a go as I think MP is ace <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />&nbsp; I just think that a standardised approach to plugins that is (a) known about, (b) user-friendly and (c) easy enough for developers to not have to waste time on is a winner.&nbsp; Without all three of these conditions being met any solution is no use.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jameson_uk, post: 360172, member: 11220"] I agree. I think it is partly a matter of knowing it exists. I only really found it when searching around. I don't even think the plugin documentation mentions MPI?? Meedio did this particularly well and there was a much more active plugin community. You could just go to the setup screen and choose the plugins option. If would tell you if any you already had installed had been updated, what was new and allow you to browse. When you installed a plugin it downloaded the file, installed and then restarted Meedio. This worked really really well. I think part of the reason for the more active plugin community in Meedio was down the MP API itself. The Meedio API was very well defined and documented and it would take an hour or so to create a reasonably complex plugin. I have a degree in computing and can quite happily code stuff up (although I don't really do this on a day to day basis) but I have been thinking about creating plugins for MP but have found it too much hard work to figure out what actualy needs coding more than anything else. This is probably more of MP2 thing to consider but I think there would be far more plugins if the API was better structured and documented. The other thing here is skins. Because of the need for seperate files for each screen and for each skin it is quite difficult to provide a package that just works. I think the downloads are there because people still need to hack around and copy xml skin files around for plugins. Finally I don't think there is really any cohesion for plugins. The links from the home page are kind of dead and after a couple of visits I don't even bother looking there now I just look in the forums. Some stuff in the correct place is out of date or dead. This is not having a go as I think MP is ace :) I just think that a standardised approach to plugins that is (a) known about, (b) user-friendly and (c) easy enough for developers to not have to waste time on is a winner. Without all three of these conditions being met any solution is no use. [/QUOTE]

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