No, the wp updater does not support such activity. We would have to code something like that from the ground up.

We have talked about another panel under themes or plugins potentially where users could see other available plugins and themes… but frankly, we are waiting until we have something to offer before deciding on what the api might look like…

No – the updater is only ever going to update what is already installed. That is the way the WP Updater works.

It might be the way the WP updater works, but I suspect that people will think of it differently.  The model you’ve adopted is much like WP.  One gets WP, can go to a theme or plugin repository (which in your case would be your site), install stuff, and once it has been installed, it can be updated.  That model is fine if you have plenty of visitors checking out your repositories.  I take a more entrepreneurial approach; you have to build that traffic stream first.

To build people coming to your repository, I think at a minimum you need a check for new themes or plugins.  You may opt not to install them, ie, make the user come to your repo.  But you need to have a way to tell users “Hey, we have this new plugin!  Grab it here!” 

That builds traffic and all those other good things.

WPMUDEV has an update notifications plugin that checks for updates to existing plugins and also provides the notice of new stuff, as I described above.  It’s a small bit of code that coudl be used as a model.

I dont think folks would expect to see new plugins or themes in the updater… its for updates not new stuff…

and I am not sure how what you are suggesting is any different than what I said about the panel we have discussed for themes and plugins… would do pretty much what you are saying…

Mr Papa said

I dont think folks would expect to see new plugins or themes in the updater… its for updates not new stuff…

Agreed. The updater should just let me know what updates are available for what I am running. Not any newly available themes/plugings/overlays.

Mr Papa said

and I am not sure how what you are suggesting is any different than what I said about the panel we have discussed for themes and plugins… would do pretty much what you are saying…

If the panel can be turned off/on that might be the way to go. If someone isn’t interested they should be able to turn off like you can with WP news. You could always just have members register to DL and then use the newsletter to inform them.

@Mr Papa – Whether it is different from your panel depends on how you implement it.  Your panel suggestion is more powerful.  I think you could do something as simple as check for the # of themes or plugins a user has installed, compare that to the # now available, and put something in the updater that notifies the user of this:

“Hey, we notice you have 4 themes installed, but our theme repository has added 3 more.  Check them out at {link}.”

Simple and effective.

As I said above, part of it is mindset.  If SPF were as big as WP itself in terms of traffic to its theme/plugin repo, that check might be unnecessary.  But it’s not.  SP wants to encourage people to create themes & plugins.  That’s a nice way to encourage developers to build your repo, because you promote people coming back and checking out new additions on every install.  The updater was the biggest thing that made me take a new look at SPF.  Without it, even though it was more powerful than other forum solutions, I wouldn’t recommend SPF, especially to less sophisticated users, because updates were just too much trouble.  It’s just my personal opinion, but I think without my small tweak, you’re missing out on one of the biggest selling features of the updater, and without it, there’s less incentive for developers to add to your repo and for users to come back and check it out.