[theme-reviewers] TGM plugin activation

[Otto]

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 5:40 PM, Kirk Wight <kwight at kwight.ca> wrote:
> I'm asking, of course, because it would be great to start suggesting it (or
> something similar) to theme devs that are including functionality like
> shortcodes, etc in themes. Also because, well, I might want to use it myself
> :)

While that library is indeed pretty handy, it's entirely possible to
do the same basic thing on a somewhat smaller scale by simply writing
code to do it yourself. I'm not against the library, but for that
custom type of look, it may be desirable to sort of DIY it with
regards to the interface.

I wrote a post to this effect, demonstrating the basics of how to
detect installed plugins, give the user links to install and activate
them, etc. You might find it helpful.

http://ottopress.com/2012/themeplugin-dependencies/

In that class, I demonstrate how to check for plugins, check to see if
plugins are active, and provide activation and installation links on
pretty much any screen you like. It could be done in a few lines of
code instead of having a large library included, at the expense of not
having a grand sort of interface provided to you, type of thing.

-Otto