Featured Community Plugin: Paul's Recipe recipe

This post is part of a series, featuring the incredible work of plugin authors who grow the TRMNL plugin ecosystem with every contribution. The TRMNL team has individually selected these plugins and authors to be featured.

Paul's Recipe recipe

Community member Paul (Discord: DD_DE) created Paul's Recipe recipe; here are their words on how it was created.

Why did you want this plugin to exist?

We've had a party coming up and I decided to serve the drinks for the guests. So I needed a menu and list of recipes. Instead of printing it out, just to find a blatant typo, I decided to make use of my TRMNLs. First I searched the plugins and recipes and while I found one it didn't fit all my drinks and also was quite hard to read in the dim party environment. So I made my own. I first made the menu, which I then refined for the recipes. After a successful party, I improved my plugin a bit further, adding proper form fields and custom scaling. I hope you enjoy.

How did you balance looks vs functionality?

In my first iteration, looks were definitely more important than functionality. But in preparation to release it, I've expanded the functionality a lot, while keeping the design very similar.

What was your process for creating the plugin?

My development principals are to avoid using AI as much as I can. This is because I'd need as much time understanding the AI code as it would take me to write it myself. In addition, I feel like I can learn more by scouring the documentation or other plugins that by asking the AI.

What, if any, challenges did you face while creating it?

I've struggled a bit with the liquid syntax, since it's been a while since my last plugin and I usually don't use it. But over time I got better again and reworked my clunky code from the beginnings , if needed. Oh and I nearly bricked my plugin while adding form fields, so that was fun.

Is there a tip you would give to a new plugin developer?

Probably to just start coding, use whatever tool you want, but understand what the code does. It doesn't matter if you're code is clunky, finish it and then rework it if you think you know better techniques.

What is your favorite plugin that someone else created and why?

I think it might be the "useless fact" plugin.