Posts Tagged ‘wordpress plugin’

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WordPress Plugin: Promotion Tool

April 2nd, 2010 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Form, Function
Many of you looking for a WordPress plugin promotion tool have stumbled across my Happiness Today plugin.

You seem disappointed that the next version is where the real promotion potential lies, but the good news is that you do not need to wait.

If you have downloaded and activated Happiness Today, then you already have a tool for displaying random (or selected) promotion messages in your WordPress posts, pages or sidebar.

The main appeal of Pods is the way it makes extending the WordPress database so easy. But stored data is of little use if you cannot present it to your visitors. My first release of Happiness Today was just to prove that, like Hello Dolly does for standard WordPress, it is very easy to build a basic plugin. That basic plugin instantly demonstrates how Pods stores and displays data. In keeping with the Hello Dolly tradition, I displayed random lyrics in the Admin area – but the real life potential was always to be able to produce something simple yet useful, that can display random promotion messages to visitors.

Those promotional features are included in the current release, just not obvious. Here’s how to use Pods inbuilt features to get more from the Happiness Today plugin. Start your marketing campaign now. (more…)

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Pods WordPress Plugins Double Overnight

March 15th, 2010 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Function
Today, the number of WordPress Pods plugins in the plugin database doubled.

My Happiness Today plugin release joins the Pods UI plugin to double the number of examples of Pods CMS use.

Though this is released as a teaching tool, you should not assume it is perfect. Though it works perfectly, there are a few rough edges in the implementation. But that is the point of Open Source tools – we can improve all aspects of Happiness Today, collectively.

I like the idea of the Hello Dolly plugin as a teaching tool. Though it is criticized for it’s limited usefulness, the WordPress developers have defended it, by rightly explaining:

I think Hello Dolly is a good little example plugin. Users can turn it on, see that it does something, turn it off, see that it doesn’t do it anymore. Plugin functionality exemplified.

This is perfectly true, and useful for novice WordPress users who want to understand what a plugin is, without being intimidated by reams of PHP code. But Pods developers are a different breed. We have varying PHP & HTML skills, but we are bound by a common desire to learn and extend WordPress functionality.

So Happiness Today goes beyond the remit of Hello Dolly, and achieves useful outcomes. Using the simple Pods data edit screens, you can transform Hello Dolly into a client support tool, or promotion tool for any campaign where short messages to WordPress website builders are going to win you a click or three.

Simple Pods WordPress Plugin Output

Simple Pods WordPress Plugin Output

Though I have used plain text in the distributed plugin, the data is stored as rich text, so you can easily include images and hyperlinks in the message display. This is in addition to the included customizable link buttons. After editing the data files with whatever text you need, you can easily import it as a Pods Package for your client sites.

I prepared the plugin in minutes using the Pods Plugin Builder that is the real goal of this project. In fact, most of the time is spent writing the readme.txt file that is generated as part of the plugin distribution package. That tool is still under development, but when available, it will make distribution of your own version of Happiness Today, or any other Pods Package, a very simple process.

Happiness Today Next Steps

Please contribute ideas to the wishlist. Also, if you are a superb PHP programmer, I would love to here your thoughts on code improvement.

I would also like to you to rate the Happiness Today Pods WordPress plugin, but if you cannot give it a 5 star, at least give me the opportunity to fix any problems you have before you vote.

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WordPress Pods Plugin Builder Taking Shape

March 8th, 2010 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Function
WordPress Pods CMS plugin is fantastic for adding new content to websites that do not easily fit the standard Page or Post styles.

With it’s easy to use interface, it is good for novice writers, but it also stands on a very powerful data management platform.

This makes it a real candidate for Rapid Application Development, but how to package and distribute those applications?

Before I present my latest project for building structured WordPress plugins, packaged with properly formatted readme file, straight from the Pods interface let me explain what Pods is.
(more…)

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Make Microformats Work For You – Ignore Them

February 25th, 2010 by Keith from shrewdies | 2 Comments | Filed in Function
Microformats are the latest topic to confuse budding webmasters.

But are they relevant to WordPress website owners, and will they help or hinder your marketing efforts.

More to the point – what are they?

The buzz for webmasters is that microformats help you on Google. But there are one or two fairly large points missing from that.

Before we look into those, let me explain what microformats are. They are tags in your web page, similar in operation to HTML tags. Whereas HTML tags change the appearance of text, microformats tell search engines and other robots what your text means. More specifically they describe the context of your text as structured data.

Whoopi-f-ing-doo you cry, or at least “so what.”

But wait, this is important.

If a search engine can interpret the type of information you are presenting, it can list you better. It puts your information into the right context. You can explicitly distinguish the author of a work from a work about an author.

Your words, with these descriptive tags, are known as rich snippets. If you currently earn money by providing content that includes reviews, people, businesses, organizations, events or video, then you need these snippets to help you get richer.

Why Microformats?

A search engine that might have sent you a little traffic from time to time has more information on rich snippets (including a validation tool), but before you investigate that, consider what is missing from the “Google & Microformats: Drive More Traffic” article. (more…)

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WordPress Plugin That Isn’t

February 2nd, 2010 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Function
This is about the WordPress plugin that isn’t a plugin!

It might become one. It started life as one.

But, for now, it is a Pods package, and this is the first part in a series that explains what a Pods package is, how it improves WordPress functionality, and how you can apply it to your own site.

Before we start, I was reminded earlier about the crucial importance of purpose as your first step. When you set out to add functionality to WordPress, you must be clear about why you are doing it. If you employ assistants, or ask for help on the forums here, or elsewhere, you must communicate that purpose clearly.

Xarzu told me earlier that she wanted to write WordPress plugins and asked if I could recommend a comprehensive list of hooks, actions and filters. I subsequently found she’d asked this in just about every forum on the Internet, irrespective of it’s subject matter. That kind of spam is best ignored, but it does serve as a prime example of what goes wrong when you do not have a clear purpose.

Firstly, I noticed that Xarzu had received lots of positive help, despite the poor question. People want to help, but if the goals are not clear, if the question is too vague, if there is lack of purpose, then that help is often wasted. So before you even think of adding any functionality to WordPress, think long and hard about the purpose of your plugin, and who the typical user is.

My latest project started when I tried the Splix theme, and found the built-in menu bar. It certainly helped me use WordPress as an application, and is a welcome feature of WordPress.com sites. It struck me that as you add functionality to your website, e.g. with forums, polls, news etc, your website becomes an application for your visitors. So I started my WordPress menu bar plugin project.

The purpose of the plugin is to improve navigation efficiency for 3 groups of users:
(more…)

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WordPress Plugins – Developer’s Dream

February 1st, 2010 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Function
I searched for WordPress Plugins that would help me apply structure to my own efforts.

A scary journey, but now the nightmare is over.

Now I can dream happily of a bright WordPress development future.

But, there is no time to dream. Not even time to hack together a pretty picture to decorate this article. I’m fired up for developing, but there is just enough time to let you know what the plan is.

When I finally decided on the SCB framework, I sat down to plan how to integrate my menu system, a hack of DashBar, into that structure. It looked like a project that might also suit Pods, as I would need somewhere to store menu item links.

What’s the first thing I notice in SCB? Routines to handle WordPress options and table data. But can’t I just use Pods for that?

Yes, I can!

(more…)

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WordPress Plugins – Beginners Nightmare

December 22nd, 2009 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Function

WordPress plugins are vital for efficiently functioning websites.

WordPress Plugins Structure Nightmare

WordPress Plugins Structure Nightmare

Given their importance, I would expect much more effort going into helping new plugin developers get to grips with plugin structure.
 

The WordPress development team resist adding features to the core if they are not universal requirements and can be dealt with by plugins. This is a good thing, and they have recently announced plans to develop “canonical” (i.e. official) plugins to “address the most popular functionality requests with superlative execution”[1].

Significantly, these will be “the best possible example of coding standards”[1]. But just what are these coding standards that are deemed so important?

The first thing I want to do when I write a plugin is adopt a structure that:

  • Is the most efficient in terms of performance (i.e. no redundant code, especially admin code loaded for all users)
  • Uses core WordPress functions and methods instead of home-grown alternatives.
  • Uses latest functionality and best practice, avoiding deprecated functions and methods.
  • Is familiar to the majority of plugin developers.

It’s the last point that induces the biggest nightmare. Official coding standards[2] focus heavily on inline documentation and formatting[3][4]. This is all very well, but we need good examples that clearly show best practice in how to organize code in modules. Which bits are best in separate modules, and how should they be organized in sub-folders?

It speaks volumes to me that (more…)

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WordPress Comment Control

December 12th, 2009 by Keith from shrewdies | 1 Comment | Filed in Function
WordPress comment control is vital if you want to get the best contributions from your visitors.

The standard WordPress commenting features are very basic. I realize that does not stop thousands of great blogs getting exceptional comments from visitors. However, anything that can help encourage commenting, and make comment management easier, is A Good Thing.

 

WordPress Comment Control

I have found a WordPress plugin that does both these things very well, but why is this so important?

(more…)

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WordPress Plugin Control

December 4th, 2009 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Function

My dreams for WordPress plugin control have been realized

After months of planning an installation script (OK – occasionally thinking about planning one!), I have found the ideal plugin to control WordPress Plugins

 

WordPress Plugin Control
If you have setup more than a couple of WordPress installations, or you want to offer an easy way for newcomers to install their own WordPress, you will know how tedious it can become repeating the installation of a list of “must-have” plugins.

Now the only “must-have” plugin is Plugin Central from Vladimir Prelovac. Install that, and anything else you want is only a couple of clicks away.

At last, I have an easy way to save time when I setup my own new WordPress blogs.

More importantly, the web traffic tool that I am currently developing needs some simple instructions for setting up a new WordPress blog. I planned to develop my own plugin to install from a list of recommended plugins, but now I do not have to. I also found an unexpected bonus, as you will see below.
(more…)

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Commandeer Comments

October 15th, 2009 by Keith from shrewdies | No Comments | Filed in Function
WordPress comments enhance your site when managed properly.

Encourage commenting, and you add effortless content to your site.

Make it hard, and your visitors will walk away

Comment control using spam management plugins is important, but if you don’t encourage commenting you might as well just close the comments and forget the whole thing.

Don’t worry about spam comments. First, think how you can encourage visitors to contribute to your site by way of comments, then worry about weeding out the ones you do not want.

If you run a forum, you might consider doing away with comments altogether. If so, change the default settings in the discussions section, and stop reading this. My view is that the more opportunities you give for visitor contributions, the more those visitors are likely to return – so read on to learn how to commandeer comments to keep your visitors returning.

WordPress Comments Plugins

First to be installed is Quicktagzmilies from Zfen. This makes it so much easier to add HTML code to posts. Much easier than having to type <blockquote></blockquote> etc.

To install this plugin, you have to edit the comments.php file in your theme. This is a bit of a pain, especially as you have to remember to do it if you change theme, but it is worth it. One day I’ll look to see if there is a way to avoid this, but it is very easy to do, so not a priority.

Go to the editor in the Appearance section of the admin area and select comments.php. Find textarea* and add Quicktagzmilies code (it’s shown in the settings screen) as a new line above it: <?php if (function_exists('quicktagzmilies')) { quicktagzmilies(); } ? >

Next, your visitor (now contributor) may want to know if anyone else responds. Subscribe To Comments plugin has been extremely useful, but not updated for a long time. I have opted for a new version, based on the original: Gurken Subscribe to Comments from Martin Spuetz. This is a fairly basic subscription service, so if you find something better, please share it in the comments here, or in the functionality forum. I’d like to see subscribe / watch functionality for comments that gives the same benefits as the equivalent functions in the Simple:Press Forum plugin – could be another project for the future.

Finally, now that you have happy contributors, do you think it fair to deprive them of a little glory? For some reason, WordPress puts nofollow attributes on the links your contributor provides. The merits (or lack of them) for this are beyond the scope of this article, so I’ll just explain the very easy way to stop this. Install NoFollow Free from Michele Marcucci and the problem goes away.

It’s over to you now. How do you comandeer your WordPress comments to work for you? Add your coments below!

*Some themes have more than one textarea. The one you are looking for has an id of comment.

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