Pinoy WordPress Theme: Classique
Classique is a dark, 2-column, coffee-themed WordPress theme by Alex San Diego. No demo is available, but it’s fluid width, widget ready, and even contains PSD files to customize.
Customize acceptable upload file types
WordPress Garage points out that there’s a limited list of allowed file types that you can upload via the WP admin. For certain custom sites, since WordPress is being used for everything these days, that may need to be modified and Chris Meller shows us how.
As of WordPress 2.2, there are 35 allowed file types configured in the default install. While there’s no admin-based tool for editing this list (nor any plugins that I’m aware of), it’s not at all difficult to add your own…
The idea is to add a custom function inside your theme’s functions.php to be used as a filter. In that function you can then add specific file extensions and their corresponding mime types. On the other hand, to remove a file type that’s allowed by default, use the function unset().
Sounds simple and painless! Of course, keep in mind that limitations are put in place to keep WordPress secure, so tread carefully. Also, for reference, there’s a list of the accepted filetypes at the WordPress.com Support section, but that may vary on a self-hosted install.
WordPress admin cheatsheet proves it needs a sitemap of its own
Need to find your way around the WordPress administration interface? While the expanding/collapsing menus to the left may seem useful enough, perhaps you might want a view of all the pages you can visit at once. Enter the WordPress Cheatsheet by Andy Wibbels.
WordPress gets a bit more bloated with each new release and it can be overwhelming when you’re first diving in.
The existence of this cheatsheet indicates there’s something glaringly lacking from the WordPress back-end, and that’s a sitemap of its own. The developers should take note of this and add it to a future release.
Since it’s already feature freeze on WordPress 3.0 as of March 1, then the next one after that.
Tip: use shortcodes anywhere
Shortcodes are meant to be used for post and page content, but with a little custom code you can make them work elsewhere, as shown in this article:
- Text Widgets
- Template Files
- Comments
- Excerpts
- User Descriptions
- Category, Tag, and Taxonomy Descriptions
I think the most crucial piece of code to remember here is the one for theme files. Just add the line do_shortcode('[foo]'); and that will obey shortcode syntax. Super convenient! Also check out this list of custom shortcodes. For WordPress.com users, there are a bunch of media shortcodes already built in.
See also: how to use widgets anywhere.
Tip: add a widget anywhere with the_widget()
Here’s a very useful tip for everyone comfortable with customizing their WordPress themes: you can add any widget anywhere on your site, not just in your sidebar or widgetized areas, using the template tag the_widget.
Here’s the syntax:
<?php the_widget($widget, $instance, $args); ?>
This post by Shailan explains how to find the widget class name and arguments to use in the code. Refer to the Codex for the names of the default widgets. Want to create your own widget? Valums shows you how.
Ian Stewart & Viper007Bond join Automattic; “Theme Team” in the works
Aside from his theme Kirby becoming the basis for 2010, the next default WordPress theme, Ian Stewart has announced that he joined Automattic as its new Theme Wrangler. Aside from this, he shared news that a “Theme Team” is being formed and that his own site, ThemeShaper, will be its home.
ThemeShaper will become a public-facing blog for the Theme Team now assembling at Automattic. A place where we can help provide the best possible experience for everyone involved in WordPress theming; from the noobiest of beginners to the most powerful of WordPress wizards.
The state of WordPress theme development has made leaps and bounds in the past few years, so it’s great to see an even bolder step taken with Ian and the Theme Team.
Another prominent contributor to the WordPress community got picked up. Viper007Bond, known for his plugins like Viper’s Video Quicktags and YOURLS, also announced that he’s joining Automattic full-time. He didn’t, however, mention any special plans on the plugin development front, but it makes sense for that to come along later on.
WordPress ModGuide
DriftwoodCMS.com has a comprehensive compilation of resources called the WordPress ModGuide, which contains just about every tip, trick, hack, code snippet, or plugin to help customize your site.
WordPress is open source and the php code is free for all to use. And use I have giving credit where it is due whenever possible. Here is my gift back to the WordPress community. All of the links on the page are free resources. Spread the knowledge.
All the links can be found on a single page and even includes non WP-specific categories like SEO and social networking. You can also share a resource that isn’t on the list. A must bookmark!
WordPress Theme: Kirby
Kirby by Ian Stewart started out as an idea for the next default WordPress theme when version 3.0 comes out. It’s a white, gray, and black theme with large text, ample white space, and what looks like a modern retelling of the default theme Kubrick we’ve come to know and love. There are two sidebar areas and four widget areas in the footer.
So I made the Kirby Theme. Actions speak louder than words, right? In the same way, code speaks louder than ideas. What better way to show off your ideas for a new Default Theme than to actually code one up? I get a fun project and you get a new Theme.
It has indeed been adopted by the WP development team as the new default theme and is now called Twenty Ten. It’s going through several tweaks until it’s fit to be called the predecessor of the great Kubrick. If you don’t want to wait until WP 3.0 to come out to use this theme, it’s available right now in the Themes Directory.
WordPress Plugin: BuddyPress Template Pack
BuddyPress Template Pack transforms WordPress themes into BuddyPress-ready ones. This makes getting into BuddyPress a whole lot easier.
Now you can use BuddyPress with your single site installation of WordPress, and you can keep your existing theme. Seriously, could BuddyPress have made it any easier for you to add social networking to your site? I know I can’t wait to try it out this weekend, how about you?
Just follow the steps once the plugin is installed, and if you want to go back, rest assured that none of your theme files are modified. The plugin requires the BuddyPress add-on, which also comes as a plugin. Your WP install should be at least version 2.9.1 too.
Download BuddyPress Template Pack
More than a dozen useful WordPress database queries
Secure, clean up, and optimize your blog with 10 “life-saving” SQL queries from Cats Who Code. Most of them are short and should work by simply copying & pasting them into your database manager. Here’s what you can do:
- Manually change your password
- Transfer posts from one user to another
- Delete post revisions and meta associated to those revisions
- Batch delete spam comments
- Find unused tags
- Find and replace data
- Get a list of your commentators emails
- Disable all your plugins at once
- Delete all tags
- List unused post meta
- Disable comments on older posts
- Replace commentator url
- Replace commentator email adress
- Delete all comments with a specific url
The article also recommends an SQL WordPress plugin so you don’t have to go anywhere else to execute the queries. If you’re not familiar with SQL, the best way to learn is by example! As a precautionary measure, however, make sure to have a database backup ready before doing any database manipulation.
WordPress Theme Directory submissions require 100% GPL support
WordPress theme authors looking to submit their works to the official theme repository should take note of some specific guidelines with regard to the GPL. While it’s a given that your theme should have a GPL license, your website should also be in full support of the license. Matt Dunn shares that when he submitted a theme and got rejected, this was the message he recevied:
Thank you for submitting the Elegant Blog theme, however it has not been selected to be part of the theme directory. Themes from sites that offer or support non-GPL themes (matthewlyle.com) are not included in the directory.
His post serves as ample warning:
You must either create a separate website to house them, or remove any “support” of non-GPL themes from your website. This would include advertisements for something like the Thesis theme, ThemeForest, and also any paid themes that you’ve created in the past that are not GPL compatible.
It seems the folks behind WordPress want WP designers and developers to embrace the spirit of GPL completely, not just during the occasion that they create themes for the platform. That sounds like a fair price to pay to earn inclusion into the directory, though I wonder if using a “separate website” is a proper solution if promoting the GPL is the goal.
BuddyPress 1.2 installs on WordPress
The biggest roadblocks to adopting social network software BuddyPress have finally been eliminated. With the latest version 1.2 coming out, you can now install BuddyPress on WordPress and not just WordPress MU. That goes for any WP version. Consider this the official way to run BP following this one.
Another highlight of this release is a quicker, simpler installation process: just 3 steps detailed in the download page. Simply add BuddyPress from your plugins page and activate a theme for it.
Probably the most exciting part of this release is a new default theme, which you can see running on the official site and the BuddyPress Test Drive site. BP is looking cleaner and more flexible than ever—you can create child themes with BP too.
WordPress 2.9.2
WordPress 2.9.2 fixes a bug that lets logged in users see trashed posts created by other authors. It’s not a very urgent update, only to whose who find the Trash bug an inconvenience, but it’s still wise to download the latest version whenever you can. This should give you ample time to backup first.
Haven’t used the new Trash feature before? Here’s a walkthrough on it and here’s how to customize it.
Add Google Buzz to WordPress & BuddyPress
WPMU.org lists 5 different ways you can integrate Google Buzz into your WordPress and BuddyPress site. Aside from a the Buzz This WP plugin and the Digg-like button, you can also display your Buzz stream and share BP profiles to Buzz.
- “Buzz This” Plugin for WordPress
- Make Your Own Button to Add Anywhere in Your Template
- Share Your Google Buzz Posts on Your Site with Google Buzz ER Plugin
- Add the Ability to Share BuddyPress Profile Links With a “Buzz This” Button
- Add “Buzz This” to Individual BuddyPress Activity Stream Posts
Although Google Buzz is facing controversy right now for privacy issues, it could become a huge social network overnight since it’s built right inside Gmail, and bloggers will definitely want to take advantage of that audience.
Update: see also this post by Mashable.
WordPress Theme: Motion
Motion by 85ideas is a dark, 2-column blue and green theme with a watercolor-on-paper texture and transparency. It contains 5 widget areas in the header, sidebar, and footer. This theme is also available for WordPress.com users.
Ask and earn at WP Questions
Do you have an important WordPress question that you’re willing to pay money for it? Or are you so confident with your WordPress knowledge that you deserve to earn from it? Try WP Questions.
It’s not official, but looks like an interesting premise. It fills in the gap between answering common problems and hiring for full-blown WordPress projects. Need a template tweak here or a bug fix there? If it’s a very specific task or problem, and you’re running out of time, this should do the trick.
Questions close automatically after 3 days and the asker has to pick the winning answer. The asker is also in charge of setting the price for the question. Listing fee is 9%; payments go through PayPal. Read more about the rules here.
11 WordPress One Minute Podcasts
Tris Hussey has compiled all the episodes of his show, the WordPress One Minute Podcast, in one page. It’s perfect for WordPress users who are just starting out, covering some of the most popular tips in blogging with the platform. The current list so far:
- Ep 1: Pasting from Word
- Ep 2: Disable the default admin account
- Ep 3: Turbo-charge admin panels
- Ep 4: WP.com vs WP.org
- Ep 5: Press this bookmarklet
- Ep 6: Sidebar widgets
- Ep 7: CPanel file manager
- Ep 8: Pretty Permalinks
- Ep 9: Upgrading plugins
- Ep 10: WP to Twitter
- Ep 11: All In One SEO Pack
From dealing with Word-formatted text to acquainting onself with the All in One SEO Pack, consider the list a virtual pocket guide for WP, if not for you then for a friend or loved one who just got into ‘Pressing. It’s an interesting take on the podcast format, which normally contains several different topics and long-winded discussions on each.
It’s also worth noting that Tris is currently writing the book Using WordPress, so keep your eyes peeled for developments on that.
Get WordPress for Android
It was only a matter of time before WordPress released an official app for the Android platform, and now it’s here. WordPress for Android is based on wpToGo, and now version 1.0 is available in the Android Market. It works for both WordPress.org and WordPress.com blogs and lets you work with posts, pages, and comments on the go.
Features include the ability to:
- Configure and manage multiple blogs
- Comment moderation including the ability to reply to comments
- Create and Edit Posts including categories, tags and photos
- Create and Edit Pages
- Get notified of new comments in the Android notification bar
More detailed development info on the Android app can be found here. Download WordPress for Android here.
WordPress Personas for Firefox
Firefox Personas, which let you skin your whole browser according to your own tastes, now has WordPress ones made by Automattic itself. As of writing there are two personas: WordPress Inkwell and WordPress Vintage Press.
WordPress and Firefox are both open source projects with great communities, so it’s not surprising to see their worlds colliding every now and then. In fact if you’ll Google just a bit, Firefox add-ons for WordPress will turn up—and vice versa.
In the Philippines, the 2009 WordCamp also saw Mozilla and Automattic present both at the event and after, with Beau Lebens and Seth Bindernagel eating balut!
Grab the WordPress Persona for Firefox now.
WordPress Plugin: WordPress Loop widget
The WordPress Loop is a special widget that lets you create custom loops using over 35 different options, from post types and categories to custom fields and taxonomies.
The widget has over 35 options to choose from. Customize your WordPress loop by one or more post types, categories, tags, custom taxonomies, authors, dates, custom fields, and a whole lot more!
In addition, it has support for post thumbnails, sticky posts, pagination, offsetting, customizable content length (by word count), and you can change the ordering from a variety of options.
While this widget was created with non-PHP users in mind, it also comes with 4 action hooks using the WP_Query class. More details here.
The widget requires version WordPress 2.9 and higher. Once installed, you can configure the settings in the Widgets area. Download WordPress Loop
WordPress Foundation established
The WordPress Foundation has just been launched. It’s inspired by the likes of the Mozilla Foundation, and aims to preserve, protect, and educate with the WordPress platform and related projects.
The WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software.
Aside from this great milestone for WordPress and its community, it’s worth noting that the new site runs on a develoment version of WP 3.0 and the next default theme, 2010. Check it out!
Tips for speeding up WordPress
Michael Gray of Graywolf’s SEO Blog has compiled a comprehensive list of tips for optimizing load times with your WordPress site. Since Google has announced that it would include page loading time as a factor in its search results rankings, and launched its Let’s make the web faster microsite, site performance & optimization is now the hottest topic in the SEO world. (If you need something to blow up so everyone else follows suit, trust Google to get things done.)
The trick is to look at all the plugins and widgets you’ve added to your site and figure out which ones you can do without. Do you really need that fancy lightbox zooming script to display your larger images? How about opting for a more compact, all-in-one solution for your social media buttons? Or a lighter theme?
But whether or not you’re on WordPress, website analyzing tools and techniques such as gzipping and caching should come in handy. Yahoo! also has a great resource page on speeding up your website.
It seems this will be the year of optimized page loads, so don’t get left behind!
WordPress Theme: Herald
Herald is a three-column, dominantly gray WordPress theme originally created by Brian Gardner for The Blog Herald several years back. Now it’s being released as a free WP theme by Performancing Themes.
Sporting a grey-dominant color scheme, with red and blue highlights, the Herald Theme looks clean and crisp, with a wide main content area, and two sidebars to the right. The middle sidebar us wide enough to contain an ad block of 125×125 pixel buttons or a 250×250 banner, and supports featured posts, which will display only posts from a defined category or tag. Each sidebar block and footer column can be customized using widgets for easy drag-and-drop rearranging.
The theme was created with different ad dimensions and WordPress 2.8+ in mind. Download Herald
2010 is the year of open source design for WordPress
It’s no secret that a major design change is coming to this year’s WordPress development cycles in the form of a new default WordPress theme, but that’s not all. Jane Wells has announced plans for all things design—open source design, that is:
- Creation of the wp-ui mailing list for design-related updates
- Return of the design challenges that have determined the look and feel of the WordPress admin interface in the past
- Mobilization of a distributed Usability Testing group
- Creation of the #wordpress-ui chatroom on irc.freenode.com and setup of a weekly chat as with #wordpress-dev
- Launching of the WordPress UI/UX blog
While I’m surprised all these things haven’t been set up sooner, I’m excited that design and usability are finally getting the attention they deserve—makes you wonder how WordPress got to be so beautiful without all these in place yet.
Between this, WordPress 3.0, and WordPress Multi Site, it looks like 2010 is a packed year for WordPress! There are so many things to do and lots of volunteer work is needed, so if you can find your niche in the community, why not contribute?
WordPress Multi User becomes WordPress Multi Site
The road to the merger has begun. And the first step is a pretty major one: WordPress Multi User (WPMU) has now been renamed to WordPress Multi Site (WPMS). I mentioned in a previous post that the WPMU term “multi-user” in the context of a typical WordPress install could be confusing, so it’s great that they got this out of the way immediately. “Multi-site” is much better.
Another major change that’s been made: the old WPMU term “Site Admin” has also been renamed to “Super Admin”—again, to erase confusion between WordPress single-user and multi-site jargon.
These and other important topics were discussed in the January 7 WordPress Dev Chat on IRC, and WordPress Tavern has a fantastic report on it. Some tidbits:
- There is no ETA on WordPress 3.0 yet
- WordPress
MUMS 2.9.1 is just around the corner - Work on The Merge has begun
- Canonical plugins “need a community of developers like the core to survive”
- Priorities for WordPress 3.0 include: The Merge, menus, custom post types, the new default theme, core plugin integration; Media “will not happen” in said version
- WordPress.org will be redesigned starting “sometime in late February”
Exciting times for the future of WordPress, and it’s all happening this 2010!
BuddyPress can now run on WordPress single user
Great news for everybody itching to run BuddyPress but are still having second thoughts running WordPress MU: BP no longer requires WPMU! The latest trunk version can now run on single-user WordPress (that’s the original flavor of WP we all know and love) and these are all you have to remember:
- Install WP Single User.
- Make sure Pretty Permalinks are turned on.
- Download the BuddyPress Trunk here.
Scroll down to the bottom and grab the zip archive.- Unpack it and upload to your wp-plugins directory.
Make sure you move the bp-themes folder to the wp-content/themes directory and you should be good to go.The BP theme folder shows up automatically in the Appearance tab in WP 2.9.
I didn’t expect that this would happen before the WordPress-Wordpress MU merger, so this is a pleasant surprise. Read more details on this forum thread.
As an aside: this is the first time I’ve heard of WordPress being referred to as “single user”. Of course, this is just the counterpart to the term “multi-user” for WPMU, since we all know WordPress can have multiple users/authors in one installation.
The WordPress community sounds off on WPShout
WPShout.com has published answers from the most prominent members of the WordPress community to four big questions about WordPress:
- Why WordPress?
- What Would You Change In WordPress?
- What Problems Currently Face The WordPress Community?
- What Is The Future Of WordPress?
Fantastic reads which couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s the end of the year which means evaluating the year that was; then, between the latest WP release and the big 3.0 dropping next year, we’re also looking forward. Whether you’re new to WordPress or a veteran, there are a fair amount of insights to be had, and it’s a great glimpse into the state of WP and its community.
Discuss features you’d like to see in WordPress 3.0
Even during Christmastime the WordPress team is hard at work planning for the next version of WordPress. Version 3.0 will definitely be a big release with the merging of WordPress MU into the core, but they’d also like to map out as early as now other features to be included.
Easy blog menu management, dynamic image resize/crop, media upload UI redesign (begun in 2.9 but postponed for implementation due to technical issues), photo albums, custom content type UI and API, supercharging queries (cross-taxonomies), categories/tags for pages, auto-taxonomy UI, custom fields UI (possibly to be registered by themes or plugins for something to be displayed), settings UI redesign, improve the upgrade process (inc. distros for specific use types), SVN awareness, canonical plugins and a UI for displaying them, plugin page redesign, themes UI redesign, comments UI touchup, decouple language updates and files, new default theme, choose your own start page, caps lock detection, accessibility admin theme, mobile admin theme, synching custom fields > taxonomies, exif refresh, role management simplification, credits page in app, default custom types (microblog, galleries, asides), admin bar, front end comment moderation, front end posting (a la P2), better importers, widget installer, importer installer, more inline documentation, built-in “Welcome to WordPress” guide for 1st time admin use/checklist (set settings, add profiles, set up comment options, dashboard modules, add widgets, pick a theme, etc) with ability to dismiss as you move through, better help tab, more template tags, better zone selector, new code editor, XSL for RSS feeds (pretty feeds), bulk user creation (lazy load importer?), below post widgets, image importing, HTML validation, customizable comment form, Twitter and Flickr importers, WordPress capitalization catcher, configurable QuickPress configurable (add categories), more dashboard modules, easy linking to internal content when writing new content in editor, audit of error messages and updating them to be clearer revisions for custom fields and taxonomies… the list is endless, really, because there are so many cool things we could do. But which ones *should* we do? And specifically, which should we do in 3.0? Discuss!
Whew, what a huge (and not so readable) list! The important thing is to figure out what should go into the core and what can be better served as a plugin. Discuss it in this thread. And if you’re interested in joining the weekly IRC chat, the topic for the next one will be the same. It’s great to see that no time is wasted looking ahead and to the next iteration of WordPress.
TypeKit for WordPress.com, WordPress.org, and WordPress MU
Good news for WordPress users looking to unleash the typography aficionado within: custom font embedding service TypeKit has released support for all flavors of WordPress.
For WordPress.com, it’s already built in:
Log into your WordPress dashboard and click on Appearance in the left-hand navbar. There, you’ll find “Typekit Fonts” with a place to add your Kit ID (available under “Embed Code” in the Typekit Editor). That’s it — you’re ready to go. You can choose fonts from our rapidly growing library to add them to any of the WordPress themes to give your blog a distinct look.
For WordPress.org, there are a couple of plugins you can use from the official directory.
For WordPress MU, there’s a special plugin you can use as well.
This is great news for both the web design and blogging communities: through plugins and integration with TypeKit it’s now a lot easier to incorporate the next big thing in creating more beautiful websites.
Discuss the future of the new Default WordPress theme
There’s been talk about changing the Default WordPress theme (called Kubrick, for those who aren’t aware) when WordPress 3.0 comes out, around the middle of 2010. It’s gotten a lot of people excited, but the details aren’t set in stone yet. As with most things in the WordPress development timeline, Jane Wells and the rest of the team are asking the community to sound off on what the next Default WordPress theme should be like.
Should it be a new framework? Should it be an updated Kubrick? Should it have two sidebars or three? Should it come with a boatload of customization options? Should it stay minimal? There are a lot of questions to ask and answer.
Already there are a lot of ideas in the forum thread, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to chime in. Eventually there probably will be more structure to the decision making process such as the community polls we had for various WP features, but this free-for-all is a great way to get started, to get all the ideas out there. Jump in, the water’s great!
How to use the WP.me URL shortener for self-hosted WordPress
WordPress.com users have enjoyed the WP.me URL shortener since August, but here’s a neat discovery for self-hosted WordPress users, courtesy of the folks at WP Tavern: if you upgrade to WordPress 2.9 and install the WordPress.com Stats plugin, you can get to use WP.me too. Once you type in a post title, a “Get Shortlink” button will appear right beside the “Edit” button for the post permalink. For example, the clicking on said button gives us the shortlink http://wp.me/pely2-Aq.
What do you think of the requirements? Stats buffs probably won’t mind grabbing yet another analytics plugin if they haven’t already. But upgrading to WordPress 2.9 this early might still be discouraging.
What exactly is more attractive about choosing to use WP.me over, say, native post ID-based permalinks instead? Probably the number of characters you can save with a much shorter URL.
But take note that both Google and Facebook have just rolled out their own URL shorteners in goo.gl and fb.me. Seems like the URL shortening arena is getting more serious competition than ever.
WordPress 2.9
WordPress 2.9 is finally here! Just days after the first release candidate comes out, the final version of the much-awaited WordPress upgrade has arrived. Looks like Christmas came early this year.
WP 2.9 been dubbed “Carmen” after jazz vocalist Carmen McRae, and is the most feature-packed upgrade to date. The most popular mentioned are: the Trash, a built-in image editor, batch plugin updating and compatibility checking, and easier video embeds using oEmbed. The whole list is detailed in the Trac, of course.
Backup and upgrade now!
The WordPress core team meetup
Here’s an introductory video that tells the tale of the recently held WordPress core team meetup, which lasted for 3 days. Some of the biggest names in the WP community are featured: Andrew Ozz, Mark Jaquith, Jane Wells, Peter Westwood, Ryan Boren, Matt Mullenweg.
And here’s the list of topics they covered in the meetup:
Topics: Direction for the coming year(s), canonical plugins, social i18n for plugins, plugin salvage (like UDRP for abandoned plugins), WordPress/MU merge, default themes, CMS functionality (custom taxonomies, types, statuses, queries), cross-content taxonomy, media functions and UI, community “levels” based on activity, defining scope of releases, site menu management, communications within the community, lessons learned from past releases, mentorship programs, Trac issues, wordpress.org redesign, documentation, community code of conduct.
As you can see from above, there are tons of exciting things going on with the WordPress project right now, not just with developing new features for future versions, but also on improving the WordPress community as a whole. More than talk of new features, it’s even better to know that one of the strongest aspects that makes WordPress what it is today is not forgotten but brought to the forefront. Onward with the community, WP!
WordCamp Philippines 2010: save the date; Matt is back!
WordCamp Philippines organizer Ria Jose announced over the weekend that a date has been set: August 28. And even more exciting is that Matt Mullenweg will be returning to next year’s event.
There are no further details other than that, but those are the two most important ones right now, don’t you think? Kudos to Avatar Media and the rest of the WordCamp PH crew for starting the buzz this early.
Will bbPress turn into a canonical WordPress plugin?
BloggingPro reports that sister software for forums bbPress might become the first WordPress canonical plugin after the first IRC meetup for new direction.
Between the integrating of WPMU into the WordPress core and this development, it seems that the Automattic and the rest of the development team is pushing WordPress as the end-all, be-all publishing platform on the web. It will definitely be much easier to persuade site owners to choose bbPress as their forum software over third-party brands like vBulletin, or third-party plugins like SimplePress. And of course, it will also be exciting to see how bbPress can tap into the core features of WordPress.
Tip: editing post permalinks is easier than you think!
WPLover shares a neat discovery about editing WordPress permalinks: you can type your custom link text as you would your post title, spaces and all, and it will fill in the hyphens and change the text case for you.
Usually, since permalinks are written in this-kind-of-format-with-dashes, I would have to write that way manually: must carefully keep them lowercased and dashed properly.
However, I just found out that you could simply write your title normally there (with alternating cases and spaces, even)
It’s a tiny little thing but can save you a lot of time customizing those permalinks for readability and search engine optimization. Have you discovered some other time-saving feature built into WordPress?
Rise of the WordPress “canonical” plugins
Over at the WordPress Development blog, a poll is being held to see which term the community prefers to call “canonical” plugins, which are developed closely with the WordPress core.
Canonical plugins would be plugins that are community developed (multiple developers, not just one person) and address the most popular functionality requests with superlative execution. These plugins would be GPL and live in the WordPress.org repo, and would be developed in close connection with WordPress core. There would be a very strong relationship between core and these plugins that ensured that a) the plugin code would be secure and the best possible example of coding standards, and b) that new versions of WordPress would be tested against these plugins prior to release to ensure compatibility. There would be a screen within the Plugins section of the WordPress admin to feature these canonical plugins as a kind of Editor’s Choice or Verified guarantee. These plugins would be a true extension of core WordPress in terms of compatibility, security and support.
The issue is that the term “canonical” may be confusing for a lot of people, so the development team would like to know if there’s a better suited name for this class of plugins. Voting ends on December 10 at 11:59pm UTC time.
I’m more excited, though, about the actual existence of these plugins because they’re setting high standards for the WordPress project. More importantly, they address the issue of how many features should go into the WordPress core before it succumbs to bloat, if it hasn’t already.
I’d love to see examples of such plugins in the coming days. They could be things we’ve already installed on our WordPress sites, or cool new ideas we’d find useful all the same.
24 days of WordPress during the holidays
The lovely folks at WPEngineer have started a WP Advent Calendar—a WordPress-themed countdown of sorts in line with the holiday season. It’s like 24 ways but for WordPress, or perhaps a winter counterpart to Summer of Code.
Here’s something from Day 3:
Imagine that it is possible to break into the blog, or potentially damage the entire web space of the server. I wouldn’t like to pay the invoice of your provider for the damage and surely don’t want to lose my whole website and files. And all this because you wanted to save $59!
If you want to have a special theme, buy it! The theme developer also provide support within the $59, also many developer help with customization, updates and much more. A pretty good deal in my opinion.
So take the advice and rather buy a premium theme than download it for “free” somewhere else. The same applies also for premium Plugins.
What a great way to spend Christmas, if I do say so myself!
WordPress MU merging with WordPress in version 3.0
Donncha O’Caoimh writes about what might be the last merging of code from WordPress (2.9 beta 1) to the WordPress MU (2.8.6) Trunk. He writes later on in a comment that WP MU will merge with WP in version 3.0:
It’s probably the last big merge because WP and MU will be merged in WordPress 3.0
He’s talked about it before but now another confirmation of the WP version to look forward to when this merge happens. Since we’re still waiting for version 2.9 to come out though, the date for the next release will take a while. In any case, a good heads-up for those running WP MU or planning to.
WordPress 2.9 Beta 2
Round two of the WordPress 2.9 betas is out. Grab it here, and check out the changes at the Trac. As usual, download and install only if you’re fine with potentially unstable software.
If you’re running beta 1 already, just auto-upgrade from with your WP admin panel.
WordPress upgrade notifications from Google Analytics?
If you’ve been blogging for a while now you’ll know that Google Analytics is an indispensable part of your website, so perhaps it’s not surprising that the service has this new feature: software version notifications for your CMS.
One of the great things about working at Google is that we get to take advantage of an enormous amount of computing power to do some really cool things. One idea we tried out was to let webmasters know about their potentially hackable websites. [...] This time, however, our goal is not just to isolate vulnerable or hackable software packages, but to also notify webmasters about newer versions of the software packages or plugins they’re running on their website. [..] This is where we think we can help. We hope to let webmasters know about new versions of their software by sending them a message via Webmaster Tools. This way they can make an informed decision about whether or not they would like to upgrade.
I’m not sure this is any better than installing a plugin such as Update Notifier that sends emails whenever your WP installation or WP plugins need updating. After all, it still depends on the generated version meta tag which both WordPress and hackers use to check.
The upside here, though, is that at least Google is now looking into ways they can help with website maintenance, particularly security. And not just for WordPress, but for all other content management systems out there. Both CMS developers and webmasters stand to gain from the knowledge and resources Google can spend on this.
In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled as this new feature will be rolling out “soon”.
An “ultimate” WP 2.8 optimization guide
Still on the subject of keeping your WordPress site in tip-top shape, StoreCrowd has compiled the Ultimate WordPress 2.8 Optimization Guide. It’s a long list of code snippets, plugins, tools, and tips to improve the performance of your blog. For example:
Use a CDN or Subdomain for Static Files
Serving all your images from the same domain can means that your browser is waiting to download all the items one after the other. Lets say you have 12 items, if you split these out across 3 subdomains then they can be downloaded concurrently (as there’s 3 sources), instead of the browser waiting to download them from one source.
Pinoy WordPress Theme: Ulap
Ulap is a 3-column black and white theme created by Val Villar and Dan Matutina. It’s a release of the current design of their Philippine design blog, Plus63.net.
Ulap is the theme used over at the Filipino Design & Creativity Blog: Plus63.net. Ulap is “cloud” in Filipino, it’s a fitting name for a theme that believes content is king. Whites, light greys and blacks are the main swatches of the theme – a take on Cirrus, Cumulus and Nimbus clouds. The basic blue for the links represents the sky. The theme was created by Val Villar & Dan Matutina, with an Attribution Creative Commons License.
WordCamp Philippines 2009 talk: WordPress in the Wild
Markku Seguerra just blogged about his talk in this year’s WordCamp Philippines called “WordPress in the Wild”:
WordPress used to simply be a blogging app and not much more. It’s growth in the past few years though has pushed it to adapt a more extensible structure to allow for other uses beyond blogging as well as various other customizations. These changes made it more appealing to a wider range of users, but at the same time it also introduced some performance bottlenecks that become apparent when your blog rises to be just a bit too popular. Ah, the price of success.
His slides on WordPress deployment, performance, optimization, and security are embedded in the post, but scroll down for all the important links and points covered by his presentation. A bit on the technical side, but definitely a must-read for everyone running a WordPress website.
P2 Theme updated
The minimal, no-fuss microblogging theme P2 (descendant of Prologue) has been updated, which now has easier customization (including child theme support) and accommodates post types (ala Tumblr).
One of the first areas we thought could be improved was the ease of customization. Most people like to add their own personal touch to a theme, currently P2 is hard to customize beyond the standard design. We’ve added new options to allow you to hide the sidebar and even set a unique header image. All these options allow you to personalize your own P2 to match your tastes.
We’ve also introduced post types into P2. Now you can post different types of content and have them formatted and displayed in a way that fits the content beautifully. There are settings for standard posts, single images and galleries, as well as links and quotes. Selecting which post type to use is as simple as clicking the correct tab above the post box.
WordPress.com users can now enjoy the new version while self-hosted WordPress.org users can grab it here, while its page at WordPress Extend hasn’t been updated yet.
WordPress is Best Overall Open Source CMS
WordPress has won the Best Overall Open Source CMS award in this year’s Open Source CMS Awards. It was also named first runner-up after Drupal in the Best PHP Open Source CMS category.
This is a landmark for us, as it is the first time we’ve won this award, and it marks a shift in the public perception of WordPress, from blog software to full-featured CMS. No small contest, the Open Source CMS Awards received over 12,000 nominations and more than 23,000 votes across five categories.
That makes for a very good point, seeing as how there are oodles of “WordPress as CMS” articles out there. WordPress has proven despite its very strong reputation as blog software, it’s now ahead of the content management system pack. Plus we, the members of the WordPress community, are a big part in making it this big.
WordPress 2.9 Beta 1
And the road to WordPress 2.9 begins. WP 2.9 beta 1 is out.
It’s also the best way to check out what’s new, but if you can’t be bothered with a mere beta version yet, at least take this as an early heads up that you’ll be upgrading soon enough. So get ready!
WordPress.com adds geotagging on posts and profiles
Going local is one of the hottest technologies on the Web today, and on WordPress.com, you can now geotag your blog posts and profile.
Interested in reading blogs by other people in your area? A quick search will find them, and in the future could even be used to organize local WordPress.com user meetups. [...] Geotagged posts get marked up with the geo microformat, geo.position and ICBM meta tags, and GeoRSS and W3C geodata in feeds.
The featureset is pretty modest right now but Jane Wells spells out the possibilities coming near you:
This is just the beginning. Building on this platform, we’ll gradually roll out more geotagging features, such as showing the location of your commenters, the location of poll votes, a live map view of blog updates on WordPress.com, or an annual report showing you where your posts were written and where your comments came from — kind of a blogger’s version of the Dopplr annual travel report.
That will definitely up the WordPress coolness factor even more. For more information, visit the geotagging support page. Using a self-hosted WordPress version? There are plenty of plugins out there for geotagging.
Include child themes in the WordPress Themes Directory?
Patrick Daly examines the possibility of including child themes into the official WordPress Themes Directory, including previous discussions on it.
The inclusion of child themes in the official WordPress Themes directory is good idea because it gives themes greater flexibility and makes theme management easier for users. There’s a few problems to overcome before allowing child theme submissions into the directory, but nothing a little more brainstorming can’t resolve. I think with enough support from the community we could get this implemented rather quickly (who can even know what that means though?).
It will definitely mean modifications to the way to integrate them alongside the usual parent themes, but that’s what child themes are doing anyway—they’re changing the way we look at themes. If WordPress can officially push for this feature by way of the official theme directory, it’s a great step in easily developing themes on already available theme frameworks.
Meantime, check out Themelets, a site that features everything on WordPress child themes.
Download the WordPress Visual Cheat Sheet
The WordPress Visual Cheat Sheet was created by Antonio Lupetti of Woork Up for all you hard core WP developers. This PDF file contains 5 pages worth of template tags and corresponding code examples, which should be a more convenient to look them up compared to the Codex.
A preview of the PDF is also up at Scribd. Check it out here!
