By Jeffro on May 16, 2012
When performing a search on the Codex, you’re presented with a slew of search results. However, not all of those results are within the Codex. The search portion of the Codex is powered by a Google custom search box which not only presents results from within the Codex, but from across WordPress.org as well, mainly the support forum.
While performing a search for Conditional Statements, the first result was the one I was looking for. However, if you want the results to strictly be within the Codex, I came across this link shared by Otto on the Documentation mailing list. While giving this method of searching the Codex a try, I found it difficult to find the Conditional Statements page I was looking for that was easily displayed by the Google Custom Search box. Even by checking each box, I failed at finding the page using both Conditional Statements and Conditional as my search terms.
My advice, stick to using the Search box that exists on the Codex page.
Posted in WordPress | Tagged codex, google, search |
By Jeffro on March 21, 2012
For the first time that I can remember, WordPress has been rejected from the Google Summer Of Code mentor ship program. This was an unexpected move, especially considering how WordPress has been a part of the program for the past few years. As you read through the comments of the post, quite a few people have expressed disappointment. However, if the experimental approach to WordPress development that is currently taking place with 3.4 via the aspect of teams is successful, WordPress could conduct a mini Summer Of Code event with each major release of the software, minus the big paycheck. It would also eliminate the age restriction that is currently part of the Google Summer Of Code. It’s unclear as to why WordPress was rejected but the reason is expected to be given at a meeting within the next week or so.
Posted in WordPress | Tagged google, mentor, wordpress |
By Jeffro on October 19, 2011
While a decision has not yet been finalized, judging by the responses so far on this blog post discussing the pros and cons of participating, it looks like WordPress may not be part of the event this year. Google Code In is an annual event sponsored by Google that is aimed at students between the ages of 13 and 17. The goal of the program is to encourage youths to participate in open source which is in contrast to Google Summer of Code which is aimed at university students. We’ll know whether or not WordPress is part of the program either through the WordPress.org website or when Google announces the participating mentoring organizations on November 9th.
Posted in News | Tagged coding, google, open-source
By Jeffro on September 5, 2011
From the screen shots I’ve seen as well as the feedback from a couple of different websites, it looks like Blogger has finally taken a few pages out of the book of WordPress in terms of the interface. Econsultancy.com thinks the refresh is too little, too late. I wonder how many people who participated in all of the interface testing for Blogger gave the suggestion “make it look like WordPress“. ∞
Posted in News | Tagged blogger, design, google, refresh |
By Jeffro on July 26, 2010
It’s no secret that Google’s own Matt Cutts is a fan of WordPress as he has used it to power his own website for quite some time. Recently, Matt was a guest on the WordPress Community podcast hosted by Joost de Valk and Frederick Townes. In the episode, Matt talks about blogging with WordPress, specific plugins he uses, whether or not meta tags matter, the duplicate content issue and 301 permanent redirects. All in all, this was one of the most information packed episodes I’ve listened to in a long time and Matt was a clear and concise speaker. If you’re interested at all in what the head of the spam team for Google has to say, download the show and give it a listen.
Posted in News | Tagged google, matt cutts, podcast, wordpress |
By Jeffro on April 1, 2010
I just finished watching a great video presentation by Brian Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman that discusses open source projects and poisonous people. I have seen this video and idea referred to numerous times but when it was referenced today in the WordPress Hackers Mailing list, I finally decided to sit down and devote an hour to watching the entire presentation.
While listening to the presentation, there were a number of instances in which I could relate certain things that have happened in the WordPress community to poisonous behaviour. I also had a better idea as to who some of these poisonous people are in the community or have been at some point. My verdict is that everyone who participates in the WordPress community or any online community for that matter should watch this video and then do a self review. I know there have been a few times especially with certain topics on the Tavern forum where I’ve harbored poisonous behavior but that is the not the goal of this website. I’ve stated this before and it’s worth saying again, WPTavern.com does not exist to poison the project or to inject conspiracies, hatred, or disgust into the project. It exists out of my enthusiastic views and uses of the software and the community surrounding it. I think a lot of people could do better to analyze how they discuss ideas or how they apply criticism without insults or taking it to a personal level. I also think there are a couple of people that could learn how to not respond to everything time and time again as if it’s their way or the high way.
Ultimately what this video showed me is that I have a lot to learn when it comes to the human element of open source software and managing a community.
Posted in Video | Tagged google, opensource, people, poison, Video |
By Jeffro on March 7, 2010
The 2010 Google Summer Of Code program for WordPress is just about ready for prime time. The Google Summer of Code is a global program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source software projects. It was created in 2005 and continues to this day. Thanks to some willing students in 2009, we saw the creation of a new search API, and a theme framework in Elastic. When comparing the projects list from 2010 to 2009, they haven’t changed much although bbPress has been added to the list this year.
One of the project ideas that caught my eye was Template Versioning.
WordPress saves post revisions, but changes to theme files are not recorded, though the presentation layer is sometimes just as important. Build a versioning system for template files within the theme editor.
I wonder if any willing student will snatch up this project. This project idea also confirms that the built in theme editor isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
For any students who want to participate in the WordPress GSoC project, you’re encouraged to review the application template from 2008 as well as the ideas from last year. However, the best way to increase your chances of being selected is to start learning the WordPress code base right now and submit a few patches so the mentors can get a basic idea of your abilities.
Good luck to any student who pursues one of the listed project ideas.
Posted in WordPress | Tagged 2010, google, projects, summer of code |
By Jeffro on February 26, 2010
Darnell Clayton of BloggingPro.com takes a look at the prospects of WordPress possibly overtaking the popularity of Blogger thanks to mobile applications. At this point, WordPress has an application for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia, and Google Android. That covers most of the smartphone market. However, I have a hard time believing these devices are being used to publish full length content on a regular basis.
In my experience with using the WordPress app for the iPhone, I’ve come to realize that it’s just not the same as having an actual mouse and keyboard with multiple monitors. Blogging on the iPhone is a pain in the rear thanks to an inefficient work-flow and the on-screen keyboard which I’ve still have not been able to master. I’ve relegated to using the WordPress app as a management utility to moderate comments, perform quick edits on pages or posts, and other small tasks. I wonder if I’m alone in this respect or if others have had the same experience when blogging from a mobile device.
Posted in News | Tagged blogger, google, mobile, wordpress |
By Jeffro on July 27, 2009
Are you fed up with the way the default search works on your WordPress powered site? You’re not alone. As was discussed in the forum thread I just linked to, Google Custom Search was brought up as a way to substitute the WordPress search engine with one powered by Google. I thought about adding Google CSE to WPTavern.com but until I get a bunch of complaints that the search sucks or I find myself not being able to quickly find what I’m looking for despite typing in a descriptive query, I probably won’t go through with it. However, Lyndi of Nice2All.com did go through with it and she shared her experience in this blog post.
After giving the matter a lot of thought I decided to add a Google Custom Search Engine to this site. Initially I thought this would entail a lot of work but I was pleasantly surprised. It went very quickly and in fact it was very easy to do.
Nice to see that it won’t be hard to do if I ever decide to add it to WPTavern.
Posted in WordPress | Tagged custom search, google, nice2all, search |
By Jeffro on March 27, 2009
If you’re involved with the WordPress project, chances are you already know that at about this time every year, the WordPress guys announce a series of projects for the Google Summer Of Code which is an annual event aimed at providing accepted students the chance to work with Mentors for their favorite participating open source project where they gain exposure to real-world software development scenarios and the opportunity for employment in areas related to their academic pursuits.
This years round of projects that students can place applications for are as follows:
- BuddyPress
- Media
- Blog Import/Export
- User Roles
- Template Versioning
- MPTT
- Search
- Video
- Theme Frameworks
- Community/Event Organizing Framework
- WordPress MU
- Other
Those who are interested in more information regarding the projects and who is mentoring them can find all of the information on the official Codex articled dedicated to Google Summer Of Code 2009.
Overall, I’m hoping that at least a few of these projects are accomplished over the course of the project as many of them would benefit the software greatly such as search, media, and blog import/exporting. While I don’t have any code fu to participate in the event, the projects themselves I believe can be used as a way to figure out what is in the core developers heads in terms of where the project is heading.
Out of the project listed, the ones that I’m most interested in is the theme versioning system. Like post revisions, theme revisions would work in much the same way, saving a revision of the template with each save. A system like this would probably make people a little less afraid to venture into the theme editor to make changes to their css file or core theme files since you would be able to revert a change.
Community/Event Orginizing Frameworks would be pretty cool. For example, the official WordCamp site could use a framework such as this where WordCamp orginizers can have a subdomain similar to how WordPress.com works but they have all the tools they need built into the site to handle registration, planning, sponsorships, event location, etc.
What about you? Anything in the list of projects that screams out at you?
Posted in WordPress | Tagged google, gsoc, summer of code, wordpress
