By Jeffro on September 12, 2011
Those of you who listened to episode 111 of WordPress Weekly or who have been reading this site for a long time realize that I’m on a quest to find a plugin that provides the right interface for making widgets flexible when it comes to configuring when and where they show up. To fulfill this task, I’ve been using Widget Logic but it doesn’t have any interface that allows users to choose where the widget shows up. Instead, it has a small box where you put in a conditional tag.
Today I came across a post by Sarah Gooding of WPMU.org (wonder if she listened to the show) showcasing the Flexible Widgets plugin by bechster. As the name implies, it’s supposed to provide additional display options for widgets to give them more display flexibility. After checking out Sarah’s screenshots and realizing the interface looks like something I’ve been thinking about, I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, after installation I noticed two problems. The first is that if I have too many pages to fit in the box, the scroll bar for the Pages area disappears. I was able to scroll within that area by placing my mouse cursor in the box and using the mouse wheel but this is not how it’s supposed to work. It should look like the Categories area with a proper scroll bar. I’m using Firefox 3.6.22 by the way.
Scrollbar Is Missing For The Page Box
The second issue I encountered is that the additional display options do not show up for certain widgets. For example, here is what my YARPP widget looks like:
Non Flexible Widgets :(
It also doesn’t work for my KB Advanced RSS widget but it works just fine for all text widgets. If these two issues could be fixed and I can be somewhat guaranteed that the additional display options will work with all widgets, this would be a great plugin to recommend as I love the simple interface for choosing where the widgets will show up. For now, I’ll be going back to Widget Logic. It’s worth noting that the plugin author states: May conflict with themes or plugins which include custom widgets.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged Plugins, review, widgets |
By Jeffro on September 9, 2011
The WP 101 Tutorial Plugin is a combined effort by Shawn Hesketh and Mark Jaquith. The premise of the plugin is simple, to showcase video tutorials of WordPress from within the back-end of WordPress. After using the plugin and watching a few videos, I think it delivers on all levels.
A view of the player within the back-end of WordPress
From what I could tell, the video player is powered by Vimeo but don’t go to Vimeo.com looking for a way to view these videos for free, I already tried that. The player supports watching videos at full screen or in HD which is a nice touch. The audio within the videos is easy to understand and follows the flow of the animation. As far as the settings go, there is only one to worry about, your API key. Once you pay for your monthly subscription, you’ll be given an API key that gives you access to the videos.
I believe there are two groups of customers that will really benefit from these videos. The first are consultants. I’m sure many WordPress consultants dread the time they spend having to teach someone where to click and what does what in WordPress when they could be spending their time doing something else. The second group are those looking for educational materials at a low cost. There are 17 videos in all covering everything from the Dashboard to the media library, to changing the theme. Basically, just about everything a novice WordPress user should know before they decide to tinker with the inner workings of WordPress on their own. So, for $48.00 for one month, you can cram in all 17 videos and then cancel your subscription. In this instance, I think $48.00 for one month of viewing is a great value for this content considering the production quality. However, $48.00 per month for 12 months is $576.00 per year which is a hefty price to pay as a user who just wants to learn about WordPress. This is why I think the majority of customers for WP101 will most likely be consultants who are the ones with recurring revenue through jobs that can afford subscriptions lasting three months or more.
Overall, the plugin is simple to install, simple to use, and definitely delivers when it comes to professional quality training videos for WordPress. You can watch a sample video that’s part of the package here.
*Update*
As mentioned in the comments, this video package is different than the one offered on WP101.com where individuals can access the same video content by paying a $19 one time fee for a lifetime membership which is extremely more affordable for individuals than this package. They are the same videos but clearly, the Plugin reviewed in this post is aimed at consultants, not at individuals.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged commercial, plugin, service, Tutorials |
By Jeffro on September 5, 2011
Not sure if any of the plugins or themes you have installed within your WP-Content directory contain the outdated version of TimThumb? Good news, there is a simple plugin that not only scans your content directory for the outdated version of the script, but also provides a link to quickly upgrade to the newer version. After installation, you’ll find the options page within the Tools menu. After running the scan on WPTavern for the first time, these were my results:
This plugin is especially useful to those who have more than a few themes or an abundant number of plugins installed as it checks the entire contents of the WP-Content directory. According to a post within the plugins support forum, it has not gone through specific testing with WordPress Multi-Site but the author sees no reason why it wouldn’t work.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged plugin, security, timthumb |
By Jeffro on September 2, 2011
Kaspars Dambis of Konstruktors.com has publised his second version of a proposed user interface design for his popular Widget Context plugin. Widget Context is a plugin that provides users the opportunity to show or hide widgets. I’ve used Widget Context in the past but I’ve been quite happy with the performance and functionality of Widget Logic which relies on me knowing about Conditional Tags. Because of the conditional tags concept, it’s not the most user friendly plugin. However, I am very satisfied with how it works. By default, when a widget is enabled in WordPress, it’s displayed within the sidebar on every page that sidebar is loaded. After configuring a widget through Widget Logic to only show up on the front page via the conditional tag, it is then hidden on all other pages EXCEPT the frontpage. So in a way, I’m configuring where the plugin will display and be hidden at the same time.
Widget Context on the other hand has the ability to tell widgets where they are hidden and where they will be shown. Some may see this as a benefit as more flexibility, but I see it as another layer of complexity. The second edition of the proposed user interface for Widget Context is as follows:
You can also see a live demo of the UX proposal. I like the idea of being able to search for pages or posts to show or hide widgets during the configuration process. However, this version of the plugin implements rules that can have lower or higher power based on their vertical arrangement. While this provides more flexibility, I think it adds complexity. Since this type of functionality looks like it will never make it into the core of WordPress based on everyone that has told me “There’s a plugin for that” I’d like to share with Kaspars and anyone else that may be looking into this realm of WordPress functionality what I’d like to see so that we can have a GO TO plugin that everyone can use.
I’m thinking of a plugin that’s a cross between Widget Logic and Widget Context. This plugin should work on the premise that anytime a widget is added to a sidebar, it’s viewable across the entire site where that sidebar loads. UI is added to the widget screen so that I can easily search or choose from the various template files that make up my theme to decide where the widget will be displayed. By specifically configuring where the widget will be displayed, I’ve also configured where it will not be displayed. I’m not quite sure which user interface would work best for selecting more than one area where the widgets will be displayed, perhaps the check box method that already exists in Widget Context. This is about all I’d need to satisfy my needs. It’s simple, not many options and I think covers the basis for a lot of uses. Now, if Kaspars or users suggested that they wanted rules, or more complex ways of telling their widgets where to show up or hide, I would not complain about having an Advanced tab that showed additional options. But I definitely don’t want that clutter in view as part of the default configuration UI.
I’m not sure if I explained my vision very well but if you could, please take a look at the proposed changes and offer Kaspars some suggestions if you have any.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged context, interface, logic, widgets |
By Jeffro on April 4, 2011
WordPress blog owners can install the free WordPress plugin WP-Smush.it that uses Yahoo’s Smush.it service to reduce the size of images. The plugin works automatically in the background: It sends all uploaded images to Yahoo’s image compression service and uploads that optimized version to the server, instead of the unoptimized original version.
via Reduce Page Loading Time With WP-Smush.it For WordPress Blogs.
Smush.it definitely looks like an interesting service to quickly optimize your page loading speeds with shrunken images. However, it’s a pity you can’t perform a batch optimization for multiple images within the plugin although there is a roundabout way of doing it.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged images, optimize, Plugins |
By Jeffro on April 1, 2011
WebBoy – Episode 1 | WebBoy. Pretty cool comic showing WebBoy has he fights a battle against spam with his trusty sidekick, Akismet. This is one of the coolest uses of the horizontal slider I’ve seen in awhile. ∞
Posted in Plugins | Tagged akismet, comic, spam |
By Jeffro on March 25, 2011
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen an upgrade notice for Gravity Forms but alas, 1.5 is here. This new version incorporates a ton of new features and enhancements. Among the new features are:
Multi-Page Forms – Using the new Page Break field you now have the ability split longer forms into multiple pages or steps. We have also integrated a visual paging status bar that can be used to show a progress bar or the steps involved in completing the form.
Pricing Fields – Pricing Fields allow you to create quotes and order forms. It features integrated pricing calculations and is compatible with the Gravity Forms PayPal Add-On. Pricing Fields consist of a Product Field, Option Field, Quantity Field, Shipping Field, Donation Field and Total Field. They allow you to easily turn your form into an order form and collect payments when combined with the PayPal Add-On.
Text Counter – A visual cue to show visitors the number of characters available for use on a text area.
CSS Ready Classes – Easily create multi-column layouts using built in CSS classes. These keywords are custom CSS classes you add to the CSS Class Name option under the Advanced tab for each field.
Default Notification – One of my favorite new additions will now automatically setup an admin notification that uses the WordPress Admin email as the Send To and includes all submitted form fields when a new form is created.
There are a couple of other things added as well but you can check those out on the spiffy new GravityForms Website. I’ve been using Gravity Forms on WPTavern.com to handle my contact form for a few months now and I’m happy to say that it’s some of the best money I’ve spent. While I only use it for a contact form, the UI enables me to quickly and easily create a post submission form or edit my existing forms. So far, I’ve yet to see an alternate form solution that’s as elegant and easy to use as Gravity Forms.
Kudos to the team on their newly designed website. One of the pain points regarding their old design was that it was difficult to locate the blog part of the site. Thankfully, they’ve fixed that by adding the blog link to the top of the new design.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged forms, gravityforms, Plugins |
By Jeffro on March 24, 2011
Over the past few days, I’ve had a couple of people ask me what plugins I use to accomplish my commenting system here on WPTavern.com. I’m not a fan of using a third party system so in no particular order, here are the plugins I use.
Akismet – I’ve had no problems with Akismet taking care of spam comments on this site.
Comment Quicktags Reloaded – This plugin provides the formatting buttons to the comment form.
Filosofo Comments Preview – This plugin enables a live preview of the comment before it’s published.
Subscribe To Comments – Enables users to checkmark a box to receive notifications of new comments
WP Ajax Edit Comments – This is one of my favorite plugins because it provides a very easy way for visitors to edit their own comments. It also has built in support for After The Deadline meaning commenters can spell check before submission. It’s a commercial plugin but well worth the price.
Secret Sauce:
There is one particular feature of the WPTavern comment form that makes it a little unique. For each comment, there is a Reply link. When a visitor clicks this link, something like the following shows up: @Jeffro – The @ symbol as used by Twitter means you’re replying to someone specifically. The comment number is the unique comment ID and will link to the comment being replied to so the conversation is coherent. Last but not least the comment authors name is bolded.
I have Kaspars Dambis to thank for adding this functionality to the site which was originally part of the WP Comment Remix plugin that won the WeblogToolsCollection plugin competition in 2008.
Now here is where it gets tricky. This functionality is not part of a plugin but is code that has been added to my child themes functions.php file. I don’t know where you would add this code in your own theme to achieve the same functionality but if someone could use it as a starting point and create a plugin that just does this, that would be cool.
/**
* Custom comment meta. Adds a custom comment reply link.
*
* @since 0.2
*/
function tavern_news_comment_meta( $meta ) {
return str_replace( '</div>', ' [tavern-comment-reply-link before=" | "]</div>', $meta );
}
/**
* Shortcode for displaying a comment reply link. A better solution would be to find a
* script that works within the WordPress comment system.
*
* @since 0.2
*/
function tavern_news_comment_reply_shortcode( $attr ) {
$attr = shortcode_atts( array( 'before' => '', 'after' => '' ), $attr );
$out = $attr['before'];
$out .= "<script type=\"text/javascript\">
/* <![CDATA[ */
function addAuthor(\$authorName, \$commentId) {
var \$author = '@<a href=\"#comment-' + \$commentId + '\" rel=\"reply\">' + \$authorName + '</a> -';
document.getElementById('comment').value += \$author;
}
function moveToComment() {
location.href = '#comment'; document.getElementById('comment').focus();
}
/* ]]> */
</script>
<script type=\"text/javascript\">
document.write('<a href=\"#comment\" onmouseup=\"moveToComment()\" onclick=\"addAuthor(\'" . get_comment_author() . "\', \'" . get_comment_ID() . "\');return false;\" class=\"reply\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Automatically include a link to the original comment\">Reply</a>');
</script>";
$out .= $attr['after'];
return $out;
} |
Posted in Plugins | Tagged comments, Plugins, system |
By Jeffro on March 23, 2011
When WordPress 3.1 was released, it introduced a new feature which made it easy to link posts published in the past. I’ve found that feature to be too limiting. For starters, the linking is limited to posts on your site. Secondly, you need to use the Visual editor in order to use the linking feature. There is a better way to accomplish the same feature set and more with a plugin called Insights by Vladimir Prelovac. This plugin adds a meta box that you can move to the right side or below the post editor and does not require the use of the visual editor. When in use, you type in some search terms into the search box and select where to perform the search. This is where Insights shines as you can select your own blog, Google Images, Google Videos, Wikipedia, Google, Google News, Google Blogs, and Google Books. The search results are present in the same meta box where you can either open the result in a new tab or copy the link to put in your post.
Search Results For Insights On WPTavern
Sometimes I need to find a link to a site when I’m writing a post and I can do that easily by selecting the Google search where I can copy and paste the link without using a new window or leaving the post editor. Talk about convenient. So if you’re looking for more flexibility in linking to content from the past while not being required to use the visual editor, the Insights plugin should fit the bill.
Posted in Plugins | Tagged insights, links, Plugins, review |
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6 Alternatives To Akismet
By Jeffro on April 4, 2011
If you’re worried about paying for Akismet in the future or are curious as to what some of the alternatives are, check out this plugin roundup via Themergency where Bradvin takes a look at six alternatives. ∞
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Posted in Plugins | Tagged akismet, comments, Plugins, spam | 6 Responses