Recently, I had the pleasure of connecting with Sven Wagener- a well known WordPress developer from Germany, a translation contributor, and the host of wp-Sofa.de- a channel that shares the latest WordPress news!
As an active member at WordCamps, he has been contributing to the WordPress community for a long time.
His latest plugin Torro Forms is a free drag and drop form builder plugin on WordPress that’s for both WordPress end users and developers.
In this candid interview with us, he shares his journey with WordPress, thoughts about his latest plugin Torro Forms, and his personal life.
Let’s take a look at what Sven has in store for us!
(Do note: The original interview was in German, this is the translated version)
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Tell us about yourself and how you got involved with WordPress.
Hi, my name is Sven. I’m 36 years old and live near Cologne in Germany. I programmed my very first website in the year 1994. Back then, we could see the source code of websites. So I started tinkering on my own website.
Somewhere along the line I started using PHP and MySQL to program websites for my clients. Eventually I discovered WordPress, and as compared to other CMSs, it made my work much easier! I was pretty excited about this concept as it was easy and it worked well!
What is your typical workday like?
I wake up, freshen up and start programming. Actually, that’s it. I prefer to work from home just like most WordPress developers.
You’re launching a new form builder plugin Torro Forms. Tell us about this plugin and the USP of the plugin over other form builder plugins for WordPress?
Torro Forms is a form builder, which in contrast to other form builders like Ninja Forms, is designed as per the basic WordPress look and feel. This helps the WordPress user work distraction free.
Apart from that Torro Forms provides an API for programmers. This should make it easier for developers to use the forms for their own purpose. For instance, they could use the API to tether the form to their CRM systems or newsletter services.
The API is documented on Torro Form’s website and the plugin is openly hosted on GitHub for everyone to take a look.
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How would you rank the following in order of importance and why? Users, Revenue, Popularity, Quality.
- Quality – Because it is the base of all your upcoming activities.
- User – Users will recommend your work when they are happy.
- Revenue – The better the revenue, the more we can invest in our products.
- Popularity – An outcome.
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You’re an active member of the WordPress community. According to you, has the language barrier affected the growth of German developers in the community?
I am very active in the community. I visit various WordCamps and regularly attend the Kölner Meetup . I also assist in coordinating events and contribute to the podcast WP Sofa along with Hans-Helge Bürger und Rene Reimann.
[su_note note_color=”#fff8cf”]Sven recently interviewed WordPress 4.6 development lead- Dominik Schilling![/su_note]
I can’t see any language barriers within the community as such. Most of the people understand and speak English and also have the opportunity to converse or communicate through English using channels like Slack.
However I see one problem in the community. I myself am at an international level when it comes to WordCamps. But there are some WordCamps which are carried out completely in their local or national language. Right from the website to the sessions at WordCamp.
If there is no information in English and not enough English sessions at a WordCamp, then the community may remain a closed one and there wouldn’t be any international networking. I personally would hate going to WordCamps where I get bored and start using my laptop.
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What are 3 things you like best about being involved in WordCamps?
- It is fun!
- The community is brought to the forefront.
- Many WordPress lovers get to know each other.
Thank you Sven for taking the time to talk to us. All the best with Torro Forms, we’ll be sure to stay updated with all its developments. To connect with Sven, you can follow @SvenWagener on twitter or follow @wp_sofa for the latest news on WordPress!
