Today sees the release of version 2.0 of my Freelance Availability Widget WordPress Plugin!
This plugin is a plugin I use on this here site, as it helps me as a freelance developer communicate with prospective clients my availability. I’m big into managing expectations as a freelancer, and one of the most frustrating things is not having availability within timeframes. This can take time away from finishing work, frustrates a potential client, and generally is not ideal for anybody.
The first version was released when I started freelancing, and now the plugin now has been heavily expanded. Here are the two main changes.
Compatibility with Gutenberg
This project has been for me a learning experience with Gutenberg blocks. I’ve learned how to build heavily customised WordPress blocks, especially using the internal UI. It’s been great. The legacy block is still there, but now you have a properly constructed Gutenberg block, which can be put anywhere. You can see it used in the sidebar of this very blog post.
Date Shortcode
Finally, I’ve expanded it in a way I wanted to for ages – I’ve made it so that all widgets are controllable by a central date. You can also display the date you are available or soon to be available within a shortcode which you can see throughout the site.
As it’s heavily expanded, there is a still legacy widget, but I’d advise switching to the new widgets. You can download the plugin using the link below.