If you’re tired of uploading WP-Config.php after each change you make, consider using a brand new plugin by Dgwyer called Config Constants. It currently has support for nine commonly used constants with more possibly being added in the future. While the plugin does not actively add constants to WP-Config.php, it provides a way for you to enable/disable the ones that are discovered. The options for the plugin are fairly straightforward as you can see via the following screenshot:
One of the coolest features of this plugin is the information icon next to each constant which is linked directly to its corresponding Codex page. One other nice feature is the ability for two-way editing:
Also, a key feature of the Plugin is the support for two-way editing. This means you can still edit wp-config.php constants manually if you wish and your changes will be automatically synchronized with Plugin settings. Likewise, if you update the value of a constant via the Plugin options page then wp-config.php is immediately updated.
While I’m not sure how many power users are going to bypass their usual method of changing/uploading the WP-Config file to installing this plugin to perform the changes, at least the plugin exists for those that prefer to go this way. Just remember to backup the original WP-Config file, just in case. If you would like to give Dgwyer direct feedback concerning this plugin, you can do so in the comments or via the following forum thread.
Vladimir Prelovac, an esteemed plugin author has shared his story on how he made $80,000 through one plugin. It took a few years but once he rewrote the free plugin and decided to charge for it, the money started to roll in. While I would have thought that the most purchasers would have opted for the cheapest version, instead, he made the most amount of money from the expensive version which had the least amount of costumers.
His story is inspiring. I just wish I had the skills necessary to create a plugin and then charge for it. I think I’ll hire Vladimir to create me a plugin, then I’ll handle the charging for it along with the support. Sure would be nice to have 80 grand to kick around.
I discovered Pinterest through Twitter as a number of the people I follow have been chatting about it as well as linking to content on the site. It seems that Pinterest has quickly become the new “cool” way to bookmark things across the web. One of those items that people pin to their virtual bulletin board could be a post from your website. If you want to make it easy for Pinterest users to pin your articles, consider using the Pin-It button plugin from PDerksen. The plugin provides most of the options necessary to configure where and when the Pin-It button will show up.
How many of you are using Pinterest for WordPress related content? I’ve signed up but I don’t have time to bookmark things or visit the Pinterest website on a regular basis.
Joost de Valk was one of the first to start the trend and now, he’s on pace to reverse it. Joost announced that he has decided to remove the dashboard widget which shows the most recent posts on his site from his SEO plugin.
Joost provided some interesting statistics that show where most of his visitors are coming from. As it turns out, the dashboard news are did provide additional traffic but very little in the way of conversions which is one of the reasons for the removal. Looking at the reactions of those that use the plugin, some applaud Joost for this action while others wanted the ability to choose whether to hide or display the news widget. While not mentioned, I think it’s a little humorous as well that within the Plugin UI Guide published by WPCandy recently, they featured the Dashboard News Widget of Joost De Valks SEO Plugin as what not to do.
Do You Want To See Plugin Specific Dashboard Widgets Disappear?
I'd Rather Have An Option To Disable/Enable It (49%, 97 Votes)
Yes (45%, 89 Votes)
No (6%, 14 Votes)
Total Voters: 200
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While I want to see the results of the poll question I asked, I’ll pose a few more questions for you to answer. When is it ok to have a dashboard widget such as the one that used to be within the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast? Is the dashboard considered sacred real estate reserved for only the most important information?
Personally, I like the trend of removing dashboard widgets generated by plugins. In this case, I think less is more.
If you’re using the self installed version of WordPress and looking to participate in the internet blackout day today, check out the SOPA Blackout Plugin. This plugin contains flexibility so that you don’t have to turn your entire website into a black hole. Instead, you get to set blackout dates as well as a myriad of other options to configure when and who sees your blackout message. One of the nice things about this particular plugin is that when it’s deactivated, all of its settings will be removed.
Earlier this morning, I discovered that while moderating comments, a small little X icon appeared that I’ve never seen before. After inquiring on Twitter why WordPress never gave me a new feature pointer to explain to me what this feature was, I was told that it came with the newest version of Akismet. On January 5th, 2011 Akismet released version 2.5.4 of their plugin and amongst the changes was the addition of a button that allows site administrators to easily remove the commenter URL. This particular feature is something I’ve become used to using as it’s part of the Ajax Edit Comments plugin. I think it’s pretty slick that this feature is now available despite it not actually being in core. In fact, if you didn’t know any better or forgot that you recently upgraded Akismet, you might think that it was added with WordPress 3.3.1 like I did.
I use this feature quite a bit because even though a comment may come across as spam, it appears relevant enough to the post that I publish it without the benefit of the commenter URL. Some folks don’t like this behaviour and would prefer that either the comment is deleted or published in its entirety. Are you one of those people?
If you’re the owner of an iPad, you’ll likely love the sound of Touch Punch which is a newly released plugin by David Gwyer that enables users to use touch screen gestures to control the WordPress administration area. For example, with Touch Punch, you can now drag and drop widgets using your fingertips. Here is a list of activated WordPress admin pages that the gestures will work on.
Admin dashboard – Drag to re-order admin dashboard widgets.
Widgets page – Drag new widget instances into widget areas, and sort existing widgets.
New posts/pages – Drag to re-order meta boxes on new post/pages.
Edit posts/pages – Drag to re-order meta boxes on existing post/pages.
Navigation menu page – Drag to re-order meta boxes, and individual menu items to change position/hierarchy.
Add new links page – Drag to re-order meta boxes (Note: the first three meta boxes are fixed by WordPress but the others are sortable).
I don’t own an iPad so I’m not able to test this plugin but I know there are plenty of people within the WordPress community that do, so if you manage to try out Touch Punch, let me know in the comments what you think of it.
One of my favorite WordPress plugins of all time WP Ajax Edit Comments, will soon be free again for all to use. According to a recent email sent out by iThemes, as of January 1st, 2012 they will no longer be supporting Ajax Edit Comments as a premium plugin. Instead, the full version will be uploaded to the WordPress.org plugin repository where users will be able to continue using the plugin with free updates. For iThemes customers that have recently purchased the plugin, they’ll have two options. The first is to request a full refund. The second is to receive a six month upgrade to the PluginBuddy Developer Suite which is valued at $100.00.
This is yet another twist for this particular plugin. Over the past few years, it’s gone from a small, free plugin to having a site built specifically for it with paying customers, managed by Ronald Huereca. Soon after, Ajay D’ Souza stepped in as co-developer of the plugin. Then, Ronald joined the team at iThemes which placed Ajax Edit Comments behind their pay wall. Coming back full circle, it will be available again for free.
The e107 importer plugin for WordPress created by Coolkevman is in need of a developer or a group of community members to keep the plugin updated. The plugin was originally created by Kevin to migrate a number of e107 websites he managed to WordPress. His stance was that the plugin would be maintained and updated until he migrated all of his sites from e107 to WordPress. This occurred on July 5th, 2011 where Kevin announced that the plugin would no longer be maintained.
The reason behind this decision is simple and straightforward: I’ve recently migrated my last e107 website to WordPress. Now that e107 is no longer part of my life, I have no interest in spending time and energy working on this plugin.
So if you plan to get rid of your e107 sites in favor of WordPress, do the migration now, as the plugin will self-deteriorate as WordPress API gets updated.
While I have not personally tested this plugin, it has been tested by the author to work with e107 0.7.25, WordPress 3.2 RC2 and bbPress 2.0 Beta. Odds are that the plugin works just fine with WordPress 3.2.1 and bbPress 2.0. With regards to bbPress, Kevin points out that forum posts from e107 go into bbPress the plugin, NOT the stand alone version. e107 version 0.7.26 was released on September 14th with a full change-log located here.
Kevin did say that if someone were to send in a code contribution that he would add it to the project and possibly release version 1.5 but it’s not guaranteed to happen. Now would be a great time to either ask Kevin to take over the plugin or create a fork of it before the differences between WordPress and e107 become so great that the importer needs to be recreated from scratch. One last thing to mention. The plugin was developed and maintained on Github with the WordPress subversion hosted plugin acting as a mirror for the sake of distribution.
WPBeginner has published a review of the Post Admin Shortcuts plugin that enables users to pin a post, page, or custom post type to make it easier to find and edit the next time your in the back-end of WordPress. Definitely a convenience type plugin that can come in handy if you’re routinely editing an old post that is deep within your archive. ∞
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Akismet 2.5.4 Adds Easy Link Removal Button
By Jeffro on January 12, 2012
I use this feature quite a bit because even though a comment may come across as spam, it appears relevant enough to the post that I publish it without the benefit of the commenter URL. Some folks don’t like this behaviour and would prefer that either the comment is deleted or published in its entirety. Are you one of those people?
Posted in Plugins | Tagged comments, editing, plugin, url | 9 Responses