Tag Archives: WordPress

What’s Coming in WordPress 2.8

Mar 5, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress 2 Comments

Want to have a sneak peek at what’s coming in version 2.8 of WordPress? You may have noticed that each version of WordPress has it’s own page in the Codex. WP 2.7’s is http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.7. If you increment the version number up to the next upcoming release, currently 2.8, you can look at the unfinished wiki article for the version, and see what’s being added, thus http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.8.

Just a few highlights from 2.8 are:

  • SimplePie for RSS parsing in areas such as the Dashboard and Widgets
  • Option to show absolute date instead of relative date for scheduled posts
  • Performance improvements all over the place
  • Improvements to PressThis bookmarklet
  • Improved Widget UI

14 More Professional WordPress Themes

Feb 27, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Featured, WordPress 16 Comments

Following up the hugely popular (and still relevant) 31 Professional WordPress Themes, Webmaster-Source brings you fourteen more high-quality, professional themes for WordPress blogs.

Pick one out, customize it, and get back to blogging.

Agregado

Agregado Theme

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Best WordPress Design Award

Feb 24, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Design 5 Comments

WordPress Design Award: Clean & MinimalistWPWebHost is currently running the Best WordPress Design Award. The wp-centric hosting company will choose their top 10 picks from the five categories, and then let people vote for the final results. The winners will recieve (in addition to the oft-cited glory and publicity) $200 apiece, and if you’re not already a customer, “a life-time hosting sponsorship offer.”

It sounded like a neat idea, and I’m always up for a bit of glory and cash. :) So, I am entering under the “Best Clean & Minimalist” category.

If you’d like a bit of recognition for your mad design skills, click over to WPWebHost and enter.

Why the Whining About WordPress Updates?

Feb 20, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress One Comment
Photo by ttkgeek.

Photo by ttkgeek.

It seems that whenever a new WordPress update is released people complain about it. They moan about it being a pain to put in a few minutes of maintenance time, and they whine about the updates coming too often.

You would think that the automatic updater introduced in 2.7 would put a stop to that, but no. Apparently it’s too hard to click a couple of buttons and wait 20-40 seconds for the server to transfer, unzip, and install the new version. The complaints seem to be fewer now, but they haven’t disappeared.

I don’t know about you, but I think the WordPress release schedule is good. They put out bug fixes quickly, and major releases aren’t too far apart. Why do people criticize WordPress for putting out releases too fast? I like my blogs to be secure and bug-free, and I like trying out new features when they are released.

If there were fewer WordPress updates, I would bet that people would complain that there weren’t enough, and that the developers weren’t doing enough to keep things secure and stable.

Quit complaining. If you’re not already on WordPress 2.7, install it. Then you can can forget all about updating until the little orange bar appears at the top of the screen every now and again. Then you can click it and install the update in under three minutes and get back to work.

WP_Redirect()

Feb 19, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress 3 Comments

WordPress has a handy function, wp_redirect(), for sending a user to a different page. It’s an easier way to handle redirects than to invoce the header() function on your own.

To do a 301 redirect, it’s as simple as this:

wp_redirect('http://www.example.com/', 301);

Just make sure that the function is called before any output is sent to the browser, otherwise you will get a “headers already sent” error.

It’s a bit easier than the normal way to go about redirecting:

header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location: http://www.example.com/");

The 301-type redirect means that the URL that the request is being forwarded to is the “real” URL, and that the client should recognize that. A 302, the default for both methods, is less preferable, designating a “temporary” redirect. Generally you should use a 301.

WP125 1.3.0 Released

Feb 17, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress 3 Comments

The WordPress 125×125 ad management plugin has just got better, with yet another release. Version 1.3.0 fixes a few bugs, and adds some useful new features.

New features in 1.3.0:

  • iCalendar subscription – Want to keep tabs on ad expirations better? Subscribe to them through Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, or any other major calendaring application.
  • Localization support – Now you can have WP125 in French or Spanish, should you have your WordPress installation set to display one of the two languages. (I am responsible for the Spanish translation, so feel free to criticize my most likely poor grammar…) If you wish to help translate WP125 into a language that you know well, the .POT files are in the /translations directory.
  • Dashboard widget – A WP 2.7-compatible Dashboard widget is now supported. It shows a table of the current active ads. You can hide/show it like any other Dashboard widget.

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WordPress Dashboard Widgets API

Feb 5, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress No Comments

Starting in WordPress 2.7, the Dashboard is totally customizable. You can drag the Dashboard widgets (not to be confused with sidebar widgets) around, and hide/show them.

Now what if you want to add your own widgets? Maybe your plugin could use one, or you simply want to use the functions.php file to put a custom widget on your own blog.

There is a simple function, and accompanying hook, allowing you to add widgets to the Dashboard. It’s not exactly easy to find documentation for the functions, but it exists. You just need to look in the right place (in the WordPress Codex, of all places…).

WordPress Dashboard Widgets API

There you will find a nice overview and some code samples. Have fun. ;)

All in One SEO Pack

Feb 2, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress 8 Comments

Did you know there is an easy way to dramatically improve your WordPress blog’s search rankings? Try installing the All in One SEO Pack, one of the most popular WordPress plugins.

The plugin

  • Prevents duplicate content issues
  • Rewrites page titles to be more search engine-friendly.
  • Generates dynamic meta tags for permalink pages. A short snippet from the article is used for the meta description, and the post’s tags are used for the keywords.
  • Allows you to manually override the meta tags and title tag on a post-by-post basis as well.

These things can really help out your rankings. The <title> tag is a major point of focus for Google and other search engines, and it’s the part of a result that searchers pay the most attention to. It pays to have good titles.

Meta tags may not have the weight they once did, but they are still considered, and are worth paying attention to all the same.

As with all matters of SEO, your mileage will vary. This plugin will definitely do more good than harm though.

WordPress Theme of the Month: Too Newsy

Feb 1, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress No Comments

Too Newsy Theme

This month’s featured WordPress theme is “Too Newsy” by Performancing Themes. It is a nice lightweight theme with a professional and journalistic feel to it. The minimalism and color scheme work well together, creating a nice overall look.

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Why They’re Wrong: WordPress Plugins Shouldn’t Have to be GPL

Jan 29, 2009 by Matt | Posted in WordPress 48 Comments

In the past year or so there has been a lot of talk about “premium” WordPress themes and plugins, and the GPL. There have been many arguments over whether or not plugins and themes should be able to be licensed under other, non-GPL, licenses. The short answer is yes, they can.

When Joost de Valk, a notable plugin developer, tweeted recently, this issue was brought to my attention again.

I’m getting tired of the discussions. Plugins for WordPress are GPL because WordPress IS GPL, there’s no question about it being otherwise.

Actually, if you look at the plugin repository guidelines, they only require that a plugin be “GPL-compatible.” The page links to a list of alternate licenses, many of which are compatible with the GPL. And that’s just to get into the repository….

Things really get interesting if you look at the GPL license in the WordPress Codex:

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