WordPress asides
I wanted to run some briefs in the sidebar on The Border Watch website. I was originally posting to Twitter and used a plugin to import the Twitter RSS feed.
I then decided to use Twitter differently and post headlines there, which meant I needed another solution for the sidebar briefs.
There are several WordPress plugins for asides. I tried a couple, but they didn’t work easily for me.
I then discovered some good practical advice on Blogger Camp regarding how to insert code for asides. Read more
Wordpress 2.6 RC1
I’m using Wordpress 2.6 Release Candidate 1. A new feature is the ability to add image captions.
I got this to work, but the styling was non-existent and I’m not smart enough with CSS to code it myself, so I might have to wait until it comes up as an issue with the theme designer.
In the meantime, I discovered the Image Caption plugin which does the job, transforming “alt” tags into captions. Read more
Three underrated WordPress plugins
John Lamansky asked WordPress bloggers to name three underrated plugins and Jeff Chandler picked up the idea at Weblog Tools Collection.
I mentioned two plugins at John’s site which I don’t think get as much attention as they deserve.
1) Javascript in posts: WordPress allows Javascript in php files and sidebar widgets, but not in posts. This plugin fixes that.
2) Exclude pages: This plugin adds a checkbox, “include this page in menus”, which is checked by default. If you uncheck it, the page will not appear in any listings of pages (which includes, and is usually limited to, your page navigation menus. And I will add:
3) My page order: Saves a lot of time if you want pages to appear in alphabetical order. It gives you control over how pages are displayed in menus.
WordPress 2.5
Like much of the WordPress community I’m waiting to hear some user feedback on the upcoming 2.5 version. So far I’m aware of changes to the admin section and the database, but not much else.
WordPress is free, of course, and any development work is highly appreciated.
I’m wondering though if I should upgrade immediately, as I normally do, or let the dust settle and see what issues might arise, if any.
I’m not concerned about the core WordPress application, but rather the various plugins I use. Plugin troubles caused me to change the blog theme and I’ve probably got too may extras functioning right now, if you consider they may slow down the site and cause compatibility problems.
So this time round I might just wait and see.
Yakedi! and Frog CMS
I haven’t written much tech/web stuff here lately and I don’t plan to change that. I still experiment with various so-called web 2.0 services and site design, but nothing has really grabbed my attention lately with two exceptions.
Yakedi! is a free Australian service for sending SMS messages from the web. There are no strings attached as far as I can tell: “No catch, no spam, no limits and no annoying (and expensive) premium sms sent to your phone,” they proclaim and deliver.
I hate typing text messages on a mobile phone. I’m slow and can’t bring myself to abbreviate anything. I had been using Skype to send messages, but they charge normal rates.
I looked at some other free providers and their web sites were too trashy. The Yakedi! site is clean and easy to navigate.
Frog CMS is a lightweight content management system using PHP5 and SQL. It’s a PHP version of Radiant, a ruby on rails application.
I’m currently using it for Gorey Media. It only took a few minutes to set up and get running.
It doesn’t have the bells and whistles of WordPress or larger portal systems, but for a small site it’s ideal, in my opinion. it can be used as a blog with optional reader comments. There is no search function at the moment though.
New blog millennium
I indicated a few days ago, in my 1001st archived post, that I was coming up for my 2000th actual article.
I had some vague idea that I might do something special for the double millennium. As it was, I completely forgot about it. I made a post which I deleted, then added a couple of family history articles, the second of which was post number 2000!
Anyhow, this is the 2001st entry I’ve made in WordPress and the 1004th archived article. So what happened to the other 997?
Sometimes I have second thoughts about a post and delete it. I tend not to do that if the post has comments, but hey it’s my site and I’ll do what I want to. That only accounts for a dozen or so of the lost posts.
Boringly, the rest were mostly weather updates. I used to record daily weather observations at Porepunkah and post them to my blog. I deleted them when I moved to Kalgoorlie and switched servers.
I’ve probably written closer to 3000 articles since July 2003. I used two different blog scripts before crossing to WordPress.
Rendering problem
I was perplexed and irritated today to discover this web site doesn’t render properly in IE6. I was using the kids’ computer when I found the problem. If I’m not using Linux or Firefox, my home computer has IE7, which I use at work as well.
Basically, the right sidebar appears below the footer. I’ve tried dozens of things to fix it, so far without success.
I need to fix it, because stats show that nearly 42 percent of my visitors use IE6.
Something is definitely wrong, because in Opera the body text shows all in blue. I can’t think what I’ve done in the past few days to trigger this. Please let me know if the site renders wrongly for you.
UPDATE: I fixed it by adding overflow:hidden to the CSS sidebar and content sections. Thanks to the WordPress forum and IE NetRenderer.
UPDATE 2: Thanks to Delmer for pointing out a continuing problem. I think it’s repaired now. There was a problem with the footer, which I’ve removed for the time being.
Get a gravatar
A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is an image that follows you from blog to blog, appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar-enabled sites.
You can see them in action here on posts that have comments. Sign up here to get your own gravatar.
Yesterday I installed a new WordPress plugin, aptly called Easy Gravatars, which makes the service simple to install on any WordPress site.
The previous plugin enabled special coding of the comments template file.
I also updated the generic image for non-gravatar users, so it’s no longer a sheep!
Blog backup service
I had some minor irritations with the forum part of this web site. A stray piece of code was being inserted with no logical explanation.
It annoyed me so much I tried different forum programs, but none integrated with WordPress as well as this one or had as many features and I didn’t want to lose the data.
By trial and error I eventually removed the offending tag. In the meantime, I messed up the database and had to reinstall it. In doing so I lost several posts.
Enter BlogBackupOnline. This free service backs up your blog entries and makes them easy to reinstall. I only needed three posts and I was able to select these in isolation. Very neat.
OzComments web site
I’ve revamped the OzComments web site using the commercial WordPress Revolution theme.
I don’t really know where I’m heading with this site. It’s largely an experiment in progress. One possibility is it might attract other authors and become a community site for Australian issues.
It’s not getting many hits yet, but the election might kick things along, and despite that I think it looks good!
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