Back on November 18th, I released the interview I conducted with Matt Mullenweg during WordCamp New York. The audio in the interview was terrible and even though I tried for 30 minutes to fix it, I just couldn’t figure it out so I released it as is. Special thanks goes out to Sallie Goetsch of PodcastAsylum.com who edited the MP3 so that it now has Stereo sound and comes across much better than the original. I’ve since replaced the recording on Talkshoe with the new one in case you want to listen to it again with better audio quality.
WPWeekly On Tap For December
Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what I have planned for WordPress Weekly this month. On December 1st, I’ll be interviewing Raphael Mudge who is the lead developer of the After The Deadline plugin/service. AtD is the most recent acquisition by Automattic which is a contextual grammar and spell checker. It goes deeper than that but I’ll save it for the interview. If you have questions you’d like me to ask Raphael, please add them to this thread in the forum.
On December 8th, there will not be a show as I’ll be attending one of those Christmas parties that work is putting on.
On December 15th, I’ll be interviewing Jacob Goldman of C. Murray Consulting. We’ll be talking about their work involving WordPress and custom development. I recommend reading their case studies page.
December 29th will feature an interview I’ve been working on for quite a while to get established and that is with the WordPress MU Gurus Andrea and Ron Rennick who I had the pleasure of meeting in person at WordCamp New York. Two awesome people. Of course, we’ll be chatting about WordPress MU.
That’s it for the month of December. The Aaron Brazell WordPress Bible interview has been rescheduled to January 26th which is shortly before the book hits stores. Keep an eye on the WordPress Weekly section of the forum as I always provide an opportunity to submit interview questions for upcoming guests.
GravityForms Releases Version 1.3
About a week ago, GravityForms version 1.3 was released to paying customers. This new version includes a number of additional features such as:
- Email Notification Routing – Now you can set up notifications to route to different email addresses based on rules that you define. Use one form to route form submissions to sales, marketing, customer service department or wherever you would like.
- Enhanced Address Field – We’ve pumped up the address field for 1.3 with several new options and configurations. You can choose from US, Canadian or International address types, set the default state, province or country, and even toggle the country and 2nd line address fields.
- Enhanced Post Custom Fields – We’ve enhanced the post custom fields to let you choose from various field types. Custom fields can now be email, website, phone, multiple choice, drop down lists, hidden fields and more.
- Validation for Multiple Forms – We’ve retooled the form markup here and there so multiple forms on the same page will correctly validate as XHTML 1.0 transitional. We know you want nice valid markup and we’ve got your back.
If you have yet to purchase GravityForms, be sure to use the coupon code GFDEV50 when checking out to receive $50.00 off the developer license. As an additional perk to purchasing or upgrading to the developers license by November 30th, you put yourself in the running to win a ASUS EEE PC 1005HA Netbook. Last but not least, if you decide to purchase GForms, I’d appreciate it if you go through the following link as I’ll receive a little kickback. Thanks!
New York Matt Mullenweg Interview
Here it is, the 17 minute interview I conducted with Matt Mullenweg during WordCamp New York this past weekend. I wish I could have recorded everything I discussed with Matt considering I asked him just about every question under the sun regarding this and that as it involves WordPress. In this interview, I was a bit direct in terms of my questioning and if it sounds like I am instigating anything, it’s not the case. Also, there is no bad blood or rivalry between Matt and Jame Farmer or Matt and anyone else. With that said, enjoy the interview and hopefully, it doesn’t blow your ear drums out.
Download Link:
Listen To It Without Downloading Anything:
PremiumThemes.net Club Membership Winners
Last week, thanks to the help of BHavesh, I was able to offer readers of WPTavern a pretty cool deal. Five PremiumThemes.net club memberships. The only thing you had to do was tell me how you would use WPTavern.com if it were in your hands. The post received a number of comments and in fact, a couple of ideas mentioned I’m going to try and aim towards.
Each comment was given a number. Since there were 38 unique comments, the numbers range from 1-38. The winners are as follows:
- RGregory
- Jon Shaw
- Benjamin
- Brian – CodeClearly
- Marlon Burrows
I will be emailing Bhavesh the email address you folks used when submitting a comment and he should be in touch with you regarding your club membership within the next few days. Thanks again for your ideas and a special thanks to PremiumThemes.net for not only offering up a cool prize package but for embracing the GPL as well.
To the winners, feel free to contact me to show me how you’ve put the membership to good use.
WPWeekly Episode 79 – Alex King And WPHelpCenter
In this episode, I had the chance to welcome Alex King back to the show to talk about the WPHelpCenter, his Carrington theme framework and last but not least, his take on PremiumMod as well as his thoughts on building a business around GPL software such as WordPress. When I published my review of WPHelpCenter when it launched in April of this year, I had my doubts as to whether there would be demand for it considering the numerous outlets for support that exist within the community. After talking with Alex King within this interview, it’s clear that there is demand for such a service and it’s doing well.
Ad Copy:
This episode of WordPress Weekly is sponsored by WPClassroom.com. They have announced their next class called WordPress For Beginners that will be held on Tuesday November 24th From 6-9pm EST use the coupon code wptavern to take $5.00 off the price.
WordPress Tavern Listener Poll:
Last weeks poll question was: Should WordPress Change The Blog Nomenclature Within The Backend?
Out of a total of 103 votes, 92 of you said Yes while 11 people voted No.
This Weeks Poll Question Is: Would You Like To Hear An Interview With Anil Dash?
Picks Of The Week:
Jeff – WP Manage Plugins – WP Manage Plugins, is an easy way to give you more control over the plugins section of WordPress. This plugin enables users to disable upgrade notices for specific plugins, hide the plugins page from all users except yourself, hide the wp manage plugins settings page from all users except yourself, automatically email the site admin when any plugin is added/activated/deactivated and much more.
Last Weeks WordPress Trivia Question:
Which forum software was the first to use CSS based layouts rather than tables?
WordPress Trivia Answer:
bbPress. bbPress was originally written by WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg, after he could not find software available at the time that fit his needs. bbPress was the first forum software to utilize a CSS-based layout, rather than the tabular layouts of other forum software available at the time.
This Weeks Trivia Question
What powers the WordPress.org website?
Announcements:
Aaron Brazell aka Technosailor will be on the show next week to discuss his work with WordPress as well as his new book, The WordPress Bible.
WPWeekly Meta:
Next Episode: Tuesday, November 24th 8P.M. EST
Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: Click here to subscribe
Length Of Episode: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
Download The Show: WordPressWeeklyEpisode79.mp3
Listen To Episode #79:
Would You Like To Hear An Interview With Anil Dash?
This past weekend at WordCamp New York, I had the unexpected opportunity to meet and greet Anil Dash, founder of Six Apart the creators of MovableType. While some may wonder why I would bring an Automattic competitor onto a show about WordPress, I think Anil Dash has a lot to offer outside of blogging. If I were to bring him on the show, I’d discuss the WordPress products that his company offers. I’d also like to talk a bit about Web 2.0, the importance of data portability, some of the lessons learned throughout the lifespan of MovableType and of course, any questions you would submit to me through the forum. Before I setup a date to have Anil on the show, I just want to hear your thoughts.
Would You Like To Hear An Interview With Anil Dash?
- Yes (80%, 37 Votes)
- No (20%, 9 Votes)
Total Voters: 46
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Q And A With Darren Hoyt Regarding TheLocal
I recently had the chance to send some questions over Darren’s way regarding the newest theme released by Pro Theme Design called TheLocal. This theme is aimed at the HyperLocal news market and contains specific items such as the weather, date and time, and an awesome front page that is all widgetized. On with the interview!
To start things off, what inspired you to create this theme alongside Ben Gillbanks?
Since before the first Mimbo theme, I had a fair amount of experience designing for newspapers and magazines and I always liked that format.
As traditional media began changing in the last few years, I got more frequent emails from journalists who were either fired or were striking out on their own. I convinced a few of them to trade some insider knowledge for some WordPress help.
One journalist in particular gave me a long list of features that followed the hyperlocal model which was starting to grow. I pitched them to Ben and he was able to take about 90% of them and turn them into widgets or control panel options, which really thrilled this particular writer.
I also started signing up for a lot of journalism communities and Ning networks, etc, to connect with writers and find out what they were looking for. The Local is really just the first step, as we already have a lot more we want to add.
Why have you decided to go down the route of single site and multi-site licenses?
There are people who use our themes to set up quickie websites for their own purposes and may only have a question or two in the forums. The single-license offers support for only that one domain.
Then there are developers who use a single version of Elemental to build out 10 client sites with multiple child-theme designs. When they buy a multi-license, they get PSDs, sample child themes, as well as ongoing support for a number of domains.
What are some of the key points of differentiation from other premium themes?
I think a big selling point is the custom widgets and the fact the homepage is entirely widgetized. Ben has coded it so that no matter which column you insert widgets, the widths change dynamically so it’s difficult to break the layout. This is really important when the audience is writers with limited technical knowledge.
Also the Adsense widgets are nice. They can be used in 6 different sizes throughout the site. All you need is an account number and it generates the widgets, which are sized according to whatever column you insert them. The homepage grid was specifically chosen to accommodate the standard sizes.
How easy is TheLocal to modify outside of it’s given purpose? For example, what if I want three sidebars on the top half of the page instead of four?
Since most of the heavy lifting is done via the parent theme Elemental, the index.php file for The Local is only a few lines -
<?php get_header(); ?> <div id="widgetcol-1"><?php bm_dynamicSidebar('home-widgetcol-1'); ?></div> <div id="widgetcol-2"><?php bm_dynamicSidebar('home-widgetcol-2'); ?></div> <div id="widgetcol-3"><?php bm_dynamicSidebar('home-widgetcol-3'); ?></div> <div id="widgetcol-4"><?php bm_dynamicSidebar('home-widgetcol-4'); ?></div> <?php get_footer(); ?> |
Even for a new user, styling or moving around the columns or inserting standard content is straightforward.
Also since it inherits all of Elemental’s functionality, the theme comes with a control panel that lets you edit your nav (pages vs. categories), typography, weather, footer categories, header image, and so on.
Would you consider this a magazine theme, or something different?
I think a magazine has more emphasis on original content whereas The Local does a lot more aggregation and appeals to community interests.
Can you explain what “Additional customizable content areas via action hooks” and is this geared more towards the developer crowd?
This has become more common in frameworks like Thematic and Hybrid and we wanted to include it here so that people were free to add PHP functions or HTML within certain pockets of the layout without having to touch the templates and interfere with the upgrade process. There are 12 different regions that you can edit this way.
Anything else you’d like to add or say?
A better way to tour the theme and really see what it can do is to check out
the product screencasts – http://prothemedesign.com/themes/thelocal/
Help Me Create A Case Study Template
I’ve received a good amount of feedback from folks asking me to generate case studies on the use of WordPress when it comes to large scale use or heavy modified development. I’d love to do these case studies to find out the particulars on how WordPress is used in certain situations but the problem is, I don’t know how to go about it. This idea has been circulating around thanks to John M when he made a thread about it in the forum. Personally, I would like to create a questionnaire that can be sent to these people but I’m not sure if that is the correct way to go. Furthermore, I don’t know which questions to ask when it comes to a case study. This is where I need your help. If you have ideas, questions, or anything of that sort, please post in that forum thread or here in the comments.
Managing Comments With Ajax Edit Comments
By Jeffro on November 8, 2009
Ajax Edit Comments was first released for WordPress in April of 2007 in response to a reader’s frustration in leaving a typo in a comment. For the first time, anonymous users could edit their comments.
While sticking true to its humble roots to help out the anonymous user, Ajax Edit Comments has evolved into the most powerful comment manager for WordPress; for the first time, admin users could edit and moderate comments from a post.
Ajax Edit Comments 3.0 introduces lots of fixes and new features. This post will give a brief overview of what Ajax Edit Comments 3.0 has to offer from an admin user’s perspective. Alternatively, watch this YouTube video for a brief walkthrough.
Can Edit All Comments
Ajax Edit Comments 3.0 introduces a new pop-up box called Colorbox. The previous pop-up box we used was called Thickbox. Since Thickbox is no longer being maintained, I figured it was best to search for alternatives. The result? Colorbox is more elegant and loads way faster.
Edit Comments Screen
The screenshot above shows the common editing box for Ajax Edit Comments. You can edit the common comment fields, or you can switch to the “Advanced” tab to edit the comment time and the comment approval status.
The Ability to Move Comments
It happens once in a blue moon, but it’s a pain in the rear when it does: someone makes a comment on the wrong post. The old way of dealing with this is to delete the user’s comment, and then re-post it to the correct post. Rather time consuming.
The Move Comments Screen
With Ajax Edit Comments, select “Move” and you can move the comment by browsing posts, or by searching by post title or ID.
Blacklist Comments
Say you’ve received a spammy comment. This guy’s persistent and somehow he is escaping your spam filter. With Ajax Edit Comments, you can select the “Blacklist” option and add the commenter to your WordPress blacklist (found under Settings->Discussion).
Blacklist Comments Screen
The blacklist option can add the commenters name, e-mail address, URL, and IP address to the blacklist.
In addition, the Advanced tab allows you to mark as spam any comments that match your search criteria. For example, you can spam any comments that match a commenter’s e-mail and IP address. This is useful if your blog is under attack and you need to take some quick action.
One Click De-link
You’ve received a genuine comment. But the link the commenter provides is rather spammy, or isn’t work safe.
De-link Option
The de-link feature allows you to keep the comment, but remove the link the commenter used with just one click.
Hooray for Undo!
Previous versions of Ajax Edit Comments used confirmation boxes when you clicked on any of the approval options (e.g., approve, moderate, delete).
Ajax Edit Comments 3.0 gets rid of the annoying confirmation boxes and instead displays an undo option.
More Icon Choices
Ajax Edit Comments 3.0 introduces icon themes. Ever since 2.0 came out, users have nagged me about the default icon set (which I personally liked of course). With 3.0, I found several icon sets that would fit, and decided to build in a “theme” feature.
Icon Choices
Within the Ajax Edit Comments admin options, you can select from six different icon sets.
Dropdown Display
I will be the first to say that the Ajax Edit Comments interface is getting cluttered. Up to seven options could be displaying for the admin for each comment.
With Ajax Edit Comments 3.0, I decided a dropdown display would work best to conceal the remaining options. For those that don’t like the dropdown, it can be easily removed in the Ajax Edit Comments admin page.
Dropdown Menu
Conclusion
Ajax Edit Comments 3.0 is a major upgrade over the 2.0 version. The interface has been tweaked, it now includes themes and a dropdown, and there are numerous power tools for admin users.
If you haven’t already, give Ajax Edit Comments 3.0 a try.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged ajax edit comments, comments, managing, plugin | 11 Responses