WPWeekly Episode 45 – Unlucky Stream

WPWeekly Episode 45 – Unlucky Stream

By Jeffro on March 14, 2009

wordpressweekly1While last months Friday the 13th date proved to be uneventful, the same can not be said for this months version. Last night, for the second week in a row, the live stream on Talkshoe.com as well as the SIP portion of their phone bridge went offline during the recording of WordPress Weekly. It eventually came back up only to go down again. I’m currently in the process of writing a support email to both a Talkshoe support representative that I know and also their Get Satisfaction page. I’m starting to worry if whether or not I should do next weeks show by cell phone to insure that my audio does not drop out of the interview. At this point, I am still not convinced that I should move the show to a new platform or do the show a different way than I currently do. However, if this continues to impact the show like it has for the past two weeks, Talkshoe will leave me no choice but to find something better, although it will be tough to do so.

For those that managed to make it to the show last night, thanks for sticking through it and my apologies for the disruption in audio.

Ad Copy:

This episode of WordPress Weekly is sponsored by, WebDevStudios.com. WebDevStudios is a website development company specializing in WordPress support and development services. Contact them today for help with your WordPress powered website.

Stories Discussed:

Lookup functions In A Flash
WordPress 2.7 Milestone
WordPress Forums To Be Revamped Maybe?
BuddyPress Skeleton Theme Released
Preview Of WordPress 2.8
Contributing To WordPress Development

WordPress Tavern Listener Poll:

Each week from now on, I’ll be featuring a new listener poll question on WPTavern.com The poll is located in the sidebar on the right hand side of the site.

Last weeks poll question was: Should WordPress Be Referred To As A CMS?

Out of a total of 26 votes, 14 of you said YES, 7 of you said It Depends and 5 of you voted NO. 0 people voted for the option What Is A CMS.

This Weeks Poll Question Is: Do You Like The Direction WordPress Is Heading?

Plugin Picks Of The Week:

Jeff – WP To Top – WP To Top is a WordPress plugin that adds a “Back to top” link in your blog without modifying your template files. This is useful especially if you have long posts or long pages. You will have a nice “Back to top” or whatever-text-you-want link floating at the bottom right/left of your page.

WordPress Trivia Question:

Who originally coined the term WordPress?

WordPress Trivia Answer:

Christine Selleck coined the term in response to Matt Mullenwegs desire to associated his new software project with Printing Presses. In this sense, press refers to the world of reporters, journalists, columnists, and photographers. An aptly chosen name, because WordPress serves as the printing press that enables its users to publish their words.

Announcements:

Matt Mullenweg will be our special guest on March 20th. Look inside of the WPTavern forums in the WordPress Weekly section for the thread dedicated to this show and post the questions you would like me to ask Matt. Vladimir Prelovac will be our special guest on March 27th

WPWeekly Meta:

Next Episode: Friday March 20th, 2009 8P.M. EST

Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: Click here to subscribe

Length Of Episode: 1 Hour 9 Minutes

Download The Show: WordPressWeeklyEpisode45.mp3

Listen To Episode #45:

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Lookup Functions In A Flash

Lookup Functions In A Flash

By Jeffro on March 10, 2009

A new site making the rounds throughout the WordPress community called WPLookup.com makes finding information for specific WordPress functions a breeze. Simply type in the function you’re looking for into the search box which contains a huge font size for some reason and click the look it up button.
I tested the search engine using the wp_list_pages function and it took me right to the Codex page outlining all of the information I needed.

wplookup

For now, this is a quick and easy way to navigate through the Codex as it relates to WordPress functions. Even if the search functionality is improved on the Codex itself, because WPLookup supports OpenSearch, you can add the search engine directly to your browser meaning I’ll probably be using WPLookup versus the Codex for some time to come.

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WordPress 2.7 A Milestone In Its Own Right

WordPress 2.7 A Milestone In Its Own Right

By Jeffro on March 9, 2009

As has been mentioned by a few other people and websites, namely WPHacks.com, WordPress 2.7 is a milestone in its own right. In his post, Kyle mentions how long it had been since 2.7.1 was released essentially confirming how well the beta testing phase went for the release of WordPress 2.7. So, I decided to do some investigating to see how long it took between a major version of WordPress being released and the first point release. While dates are not exact, they were close enough to where I could round them off as being a month.

    1 month 2.0
    1 month 2.1
    1 month 2.2
    1 month 2.3
    1 month 2.5
    1 month 2.6
    2 months 2.7

So as you can see, WordPress 2.7 is the only one since 2.0 to have two months go by before a point release. This is a testament to the entire beta testing audience which helped solve a ton of bugs before the release of WordPress 2.7. So pat yourself on the back if you were one of these testers. If not, pat someone on the back who did.

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WordPress Forums To Be Revamped Soon?

WordPress Forums To Be Revamped Soon?

By Jeffro on March 9, 2009

MichaelH who has been a long time contributor to the WordPress.org Forums created his own wishlist for what he would like to see in the forum software, that being BBPress. The reason why this is important is because of Michael’s status on the WordPress.org forums. Some of the things that is mentioned in his wishlist are items that have been preached about before by others so I’m hoping that with Michael’s wishlist, some of those items are finally addressed.

On the other side of the coin, Sam Bauers who is the lead developer of the BBPress project responded to Michael’s wishlist point by point and stated he would use the list as more of a To-Do list. You can read Sam’s response here. Note that the order in which Sam responds to the list is the order for his To-Do list.

Sam states that it’s a bit rough right now because the WordPress forums are running on BBPress 0.9 but they will be migrated to 1.0 when it’s released. As Sam mentions, that would make for a nice test bed for 1.0 features.

I have a few issues with the WordPress.org forum myself. For starters, the search sucks. You can only restrict your search results to documentation, the support forums, WP.org blogs or the bug database. I would love to see more refinement so I can search between non-resolved and resolved threads, search specific forums, etc. Another issue I have is that I have no way of knowing whether a thread I have responded to or have created has received a new reply without either subscribing to the RSS feed for that thread or visiting my profile where it lists recent replies. I’ll come out and say it that subscribing to the RSS feed for every thread I create or respond to is just plain dumb. Also, I should not have to actually visit the site to see if new messages have been created. I check email multiple times a day, not my feedreader. On top of that, I wouldn’t mind a simple subscription manager so I can delete subscriptions to threads I am no longer interested in.

Those two items I just described are standard run of the mill features found in 99% of other forum software on the web. I’ve been told that the issues I have with BBPress have been addressed in the form of plugins. The way I see it, the forums on WordPress.org are the #1 example of what BBPress is capable of and if I don’t see a couple features found in the majority of the other software, the mindset is that the software is way behind the competition. However, I’ve listened to Sam describe BBPress 1.0 and what will be possible in this version and what is currently possible with the software now and when he talks, it makes me wonder if I’ve made a mistake giving BBPress a bad rap. I actually get excited when I hear Sam describe BBPress.

I hope that at some point, I can get the impression that when I use the WordPress.org forums, I am using something modern. Until then, here is a toast hoping for a successful launch to BBPress 1.0 this year which Matt states “is so close to being released, he can taste it”.

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BuddyPress Releases Skeleton Theme

BuddyPress Releases Skeleton Theme

By Jeffro on March 9, 2009

Andy Peatling made an announcement today on the BuddyPress Forum that there is now a Skeleton theme available for BuddyPress which provides a clean base to start from when creating new member themes. Here is some information regarding this new theme:

There will be a lot more documentation coming to help you create a BuddyPress member theme. Right now, the best thing to do is download the “Skeleton Member Theme”. This will give you a solid base to work on when creating a new theme.

The skeleton theme contains all of the base template files, which include all the template function calls you need, plus a set of CSS outline files for you
to work from.

I’ve taken a look at the theme source files and Andy has done a great job of offering up a clean base to start from. All you have to do is use your creativity and plug in the values for the CSS provided and off you go! Note that this Skeleton theme is aimed at theme developers and is not actually a user selectable member theme.

basecss

Snippet of code taken from the Base CSS file.

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Small Preview Of WordPress 2.8

Small Preview Of WordPress 2.8

By Jeffro on March 7, 2009

With the release of WordPress 2.8 pushed back now to April 1st, (dates are always tentative) I decided to download the nightly build for March 7th and wanted to take a look to see what sort of progress has been made. At this point, no widget management features have been added to the core that I am aware of. I do know that Andrew Ozz has been assigned the task to revamp the Widget Management area. I wish him the best of luck! However, syntax highlighting along with function lookups have been added to both the plugin and theme editor. Here is what they look like.

coloredsyntaxhighlighting

functionlookupdocumentation

functionlookup

One thing I noticed already in the 2.8 bleeding edge version is that just like plugins, you can browse the theme repository and install themes without leaving your blogs backend. You can search, preview, and upload themes as well. Check it out.

installthemes

Although work is ongoing, I did want to mention the fact that MagPie RSS will no longer be the default parsing engine that WordPress uses. Instead, it will be SimplePie RSS. Simple Pie will be used in WordPress 2.8 for widget and dashboard feeds. Also at some point, plugins which used MagPie RSS that was built into WordPress will at some point no longer work. So if you have a plugin that does this such as the KB Advanced RSS Widget plugin, make sure to update your code to use the new parsing engine. No need to rush it though as backwards compatibility will be in WordPress for a little while before it is completely removed.

Last but not least, you’ll be able to select between 1-4 columns for your dashboard widgets.

dashboardwidgets

For a look at what will most likely come down the pike in WordPress 2.8, please see this Codex article dedicated to the version.

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Episode 44 – Interview With Brian Gardner

Episode 44 – Interview With Brian Gardner

By Jeffro on March 7, 2009

wordpressweekly1Prior to this episode taking place I had a feeling that this would be a great show. Despite there being a technical snafu where the stream audio disappeared, we covered alot of great information. We talked about everything ranging from Premium themes and the GPL to what StudioPress is all about to the future of WordPress themes. Definitely another classic show!

Ad Copy:

This episode of WordPress Weekly is sponsored by, WebDevStudios.com. WebDevStudios is a website development company specializing in WordPress support and development services. Contact them today for help with your WordPress powered website.

Headlines:

IntenseDebate Now Has Plugins
WordPress Store To Be Revamped
New WordPress Book On Plugin Development

WordPress Tavern Listener Poll:

Each week from now on, I’ll be featuring a new listener poll question on WPTavern.com The poll is located in the sidebar on the right hand side of the site.

This Weeks Poll Question Is: Should WordPress Be Referred To As A CMS?

Plugin Picks Of The Week:

Jeff – Mail Press – With this plugin you will be able to send beautiful and styled html and plain text mails based on dedicated themes and templates for any e-mail notification issued for comments subscribers, your periodic newsletters or post notification (per post/daily/weekly/monthly), specific admin events : registration of a new user, comment to moderate, new comment on your posts.

David – MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate

WordPress Trivia Question:

What role has the download counter played in the WordPress project other than counting the number of times a specific version has been downloaded?

WordPress Trivia Answer:

As the story goes, in 2005 at a party in a small San Francisco apartment, Matt Mullenweg who was then 20 years old was celebrating an early release of the software. As Mike Hirshland was looking around for a beer, he noticed the download counter on Matts laptop whizzing by like a race car. This was a Eureka moment for Hirshland and using his partnership with Polaris Venture Capitals, led the way to the first round of funding for Automattic which was 1.1 million dollars.

Announcements:

Matt Mullenweg will be our special guest on March 20th. And Vladimir Prelovac will be our special guest on March 27th

WPWeekly Meta:

Next Episode: Friday March 13th, 2009 8P.M. EST

Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: Click here to subscribe

Length Of Episode: 1 Hour 8 Minutes

Download The Show: WordPressWeeklyEpisode44.mp3

Listen To Episode #44:

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IntenseDebate Is Getting Plugged In

IntenseDebate Is Getting Plugged In

By Jeffro on March 6, 2009

IntenseDebate, the third party commenting service which Automattic acquired back on September 23rd, 2008 has announced that they will have their own plugin repository.

intensedebateplugins

IntenseDebate has had some harsh criticism as of late for seemingly not obeying the wishes of quite a few users who have requested that IntenseDebate implement FaceBook Connect. At one point, ID told users that FaceBook Connect was not on the development list for implementation but rather, innovations were in the works and would be released soon. Little did we know that these innovations are the plugin API.

There is a brand spanking new Plugins tab in your IntenseDebate dashboard that lists the current plugins available. To activate a plugin just select “Activate” next to the plugin when you are logged into your account. Check out the comment section on your blog and you’ll find a plugin icon at the top right of the comment box. To use the plugin just select the icon and you’ll be ready to roll.

So far, IntenseDebate has four plugins to choose from. PollDaddy for creating polls, Seesmic for creating video based comments, YouTube integration and Smileys. Here is a bit more information regarding the plugins.

So now it looks like we won’t need to rely so much on the core developers of the service to add new features in. It will be interesting to see how far this plugin repository gets off the ground but I think its a great step in the right direction.

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New WordPress Book For Plugin Development

New WordPress Book For Plugin Development

By Jeffro on March 6, 2009

wordpressplugindevelopmentVladimir Prelovac who I consider to be a WordPress Rockstar in his own right has is very own book called WordPress Plug-In Development. Beginner’s guide. Vladimir is not only a plugin developer but also a good theme developer as well if you take Blue Grace or Amazing Grace as examples.

Approach
This is a Packt Beginners Guide, which means it focuses on practical examples and has a fast-paced but friendly approach, with the opportunity to learn by experiment and play. Each chapter builds a practical plug-in from the ground up using step-by-step instructions. Individual sections show you how to code some functionality into your plug-in and follow up with a discussion of concepts.

Who this book is written for
This book is for programmers working with WordPress, who want to develop custom plug-ins and to hack the code base. You need to be familiar with the basics of WordPress and PHP programming and believe that code is poetry; this book will handle the rest.

Vladimir has worked on the book for the past year where version 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7 were released respectively. The book goes into detail regarding the underpinnings of the software, plugin security, development, hooks, and much more. It’s currently available in either Paperback form or online via PDF.

I’ve asked Vladimir if he would like to appear on a future episode of WordPress Weekly and he has agreed to do so despite the recording time being 2 AM at his location. What a trooper! As it stands, I have him scheduled to appear on WordPress Weekly on Friday, March 27th. We’ll be talking about his book, plugins, themes, and all sorts of WordPress Goodness.

If you’re new to development such as myself, I recommend giving WordPress For Dummies a read before this book. That way, you’ll gain knowledge of certain terminology used in development such as hooks, filters, actions, etc.

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WordPress Store To Get A Revamp

WordPress Store To Get A Revamp

By Jeffro on March 6, 2009

wordpressshoplogoRemember the WordPress Shop? If you forgot about it, don’t worry as I did too considering I haven’t seen much news come out of the store for quite awhile. Well, thanks to a Tavern forum thread started by community member Brad Williams entitled, Best Place To Get WordPress Gear? I needed to do a little digging to figure out what was going on with the shop. In particular, some of us wanted to know if their stock counts were updated in real-time or if they were static amounts. We also wanted to know if there would ever be more products offered in the store besides the mug and hoodies.

I sent an email to Alex who works for IndigoClothing.com, the company powering the WordPress Store and sent him my questions. He replied back and provided the following information.

The shop is still active and stock levels are pulled in real time from the warehouses.

The site is undergoing a facelift to match the current WP site designs and also a new batch of new product is being produced. USB drives have been added this week with more items to follow. (By the way, the USB drives cost $15.00 and contain 4 GB worth of space. Check them out here – http://shop.wordpress.net/usa/accessories/wordpress-usb-drive )

wordpressthumbdrive

The past twelve months regarding the store have been quiet but it looks like things are about to ramp up. I’m currently in the market for a WordPress Mug, WordPress Hoody (X- Large), WordPress T-Shirt (Green X-Large), and to top things off, I would not mind a WordPress Thumb Drive to replace my meager 64 MB one.

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