🎬 Building Reusable Plugins for C.A.R.L. — Seed Starting Calculator Demo
Creating plugins for the C.A.R.L. Static Site Generator CMS is faster, simpler, and more secure than building plugins for WordPress. In this video I walk you through exactly how I built a fully interactive Seed Starting Date Calculator as a single reusable include file and embedded it across multiple pages with one line of PHP.
No plugin marketplace. No database queries. No security vulnerabilities from third-party code. Just a clean, self-contained HTML, CSS, and JavaScript file that drops into any page your CMS generates.
What You Will See in This Video
- How C.A.R.L. include files work as lightweight reusable components
- Building the Seed Starting Date Calculator from scratch with data for 26 crops
- How one include file powers multiple pages across your entire site
- Why static site generation eliminates the attack surface that makes WordPress plugins a security risk
- How to manage, edit, and update your includes from inside the C.A.R.L. admin panel
About the Calculator in This Video
The Seed Starting Date Calculator covers 26 crops across vegetables, herbs, and fruit. It dynamically calculates precise indoor start dates, transplant dates, direct-sow dates, and estimated harvest windows from a last-frost date input, with full support for Northern, Southern, and Tropical growing regions. The entire tool is a single include file with no external dependencies.
About C.A.R.L.
C.A.R.L. is a lightweight static site generator CMS built for speed, security, and simplicity. If you are tired of WordPress bloat, plugin conflicts, and constant security patches, this video shows you a completely different way to build and manage a content-driven website.
Links Mentioned in This Video
- C.A.R.L. CMS — carlriedel.com
- Microsteading.org — live site built on C.A.R.L.
- Live Seed Starting Date Calculator
- Full Calculators Suite on Microsteading.org
