IntenseDebate reopens after Automattic acquisition, new WordPress plugin available
IntenseDebate reopens after going invite-only since its acquisition by Automattic. So for those who haven’t signed up for an account, now you can.
And of course, they’ve made it especially easy to use for WordPress users with a new beta plugin, with the following features:
- Two-Way Comment Sync (comments are saved both in your WordPress database and the IntenseDebate server)
- Admin Panel Integration
- Search Engine Optimization
- Trackbacks
- Profile Sync
- Post Settings
And more:
Can’t wait to get hold of all the great commenting features included in WordPress 2.7? Get IntenseDebate now!
Favorite Actions in WordPress 2.7
planetOzh writes about a neat little feature coming in WordPress 2.7 called “favorite actions”. It gives you quick access to sections of your admin panel that you frequent the most. This dropdown menu links to “Add New Post”, “Add New Page”, and “Manage Comments” but as mentioned in the blog entry, this can theoretically be modified with a plugin.
Yet another hint of what’s to come in November!
Is WordPress getting too “fat” and vulnerable?
Vladimir Prelovac has written a very insightful critique about the direction of WordPress development. He states several concerns with what this piece of blogging software is turning into. First we have bloat:
But more importantly, I have noticed that WordPress is not developing “far” anymore, and it started going “wide” instead. By this I mean there are less inventions and new technologies with every update. There is just more functionality that relies on current existing technologies.
[...]
WordPress started out like Google, but is now becoming more and more like Yahoo. It stopped going “far” and started becoming fat (”wide”). It is becoming slow and clumsy.
Second, we have security issues, most notably with WordPress plugins. Jeff Chandler at Performancing suggests the WordPress community could adopt phpBB’s plugin validation system.
All in all, Vladimir wants WordPress to focus on speed, simplicity, and security in future WordPress versions.
You’ll find Matt Mullenweg’s answers in the comments section. He mentions WP 2.3 is a lot more bloated and insecure than WP 2.6—better beware of this fact for those who haven’t upgraded! He also says he’s aware of speed issues, hence the integration with Google Gears, and the constant drive towards improving the backend:
I’m obsessed with speed. On the backend WP has done a ton to speed itself up, as evidenced by the fact that it now runs the largest blogs in the world. More than 1.6 billion pageviews a month are going through WordPress.
As for plugins, this is what Matt had to say:
There are some automated things we do to watch out for bad stuff but ultimately I think we need a human team of volunteers to keep an eye on plugin changesets. Is this something you’d be interested in helping out with?
What do you think? I think that as long as there is a strong community backing up WordPress, such issues will never go unnoticed. I can only hope that this same community continues to help out with new initiatives, such as plugin and theme inspection.
Winners of the WordPress Plugin Competition 2.5 announced
Download some highly useful WordPress plugins from the winners of the recently-concluded WordPress Plugin Competition 2.5 by Weblog Tools Collection:
Vote2Publish
Best WPMU compatible plugin, First Prize
WPWall
Best WPMU compatible plugin, Consolation Prize
Prelovac
Consolation Prize
WP Easy Uploader
Third Prize
Manageable
Second Prize
WP Comment Remix
Grand Prize
Congratulations to all the participants (who each received $10 for their efforts)!
Early preview of WordPress 2.7
Although WordPress is still a long way from being released, Weblog Tools Collection has posted several screenshots of WordPress 2.7 that reveal changes that improve upon the last major interface upgrade from WordPress 2.5. Here are some quotes from the blog post:
- “There is now a left hand side navigational column.”
- “The Write Panel in WordPress 2.7 has gone through an overhaul as well. I think you’ll really enjoy the fact that drag and drop elements are back.”
- “Browsing and installing plugins from the respository looks to become even more convenient now that you can do both from the WordPress back end.”
- “You can now configure a large image size, default image size, default image alignment, and default image links. Very nice, time saving options.”
Looks like another exciting release in the history of WordPress. Watch out for more developments at the WordPress Codex page dedicated to WordPress 2.7.
Pinoy WordPress Plugin: Daily Top 10 Posts
Daily Top 10 Posts is a plugin by Andrew dela Serna that tracks the how many hits each of your blog posts receive. It then lists the most popular for the day as well as the most popular overall.
Download Daily Top 10 Posts | Plugins by Andrew dela Serna
Manageable
Manageable is an excellent plugin that lets you edit attributes of WordPress posts and pages without having to load them one by one. People who need to mass edit entries will find this a godsend.
Simply double-click anywhere in the post or page row and when you’re done, press enter. Alternately, you can click the link in the new “Edit” column.
What’s coming in WordPress 2.7
The new features planned for WordPress 2.7 are spreading around in the blogosphere, so here’s what to expect:
Proposed New Features
This is a WordPress Codex article on what will “definitely be in 2.7″. Since it’s in the Codex, it must be pretty official.
Features Planned for WordPress 2.7
This is a report from Weblog Tools Collection based on the discussions at the Codex and informal meetings in the IRC. As WordPress Garage has noted, it appears that WP 2.7 will be “heavily based on existing plugins”. See also Quick Online Tips
WordPress 2.7 Theming May Change Everything
This is a project by Ian Stewart on Parent and Child Themes. He’s put up a Trac proposal and it seems to be working well with the bleeding edge version of WordPress.
WordPress Theme Directory moves to WordPress Extend
You might remember that the official repository of WordPress themes was once hosted at themes.wordpress.net, but unfortunately had to close down for several reasons. Today, WordPress Themes has reopened at a new location at WordPress Extend, a fitting parallel to the Plugins section.
Bringing the new theme directory under the WordPress “extend” umbrella allowed us to take advantage of all the infrastructure that has already been built up to support WordPress.org. If you’ve browsed through the plugin directory, you’ll feel right at home in the new theme directory.
Aside from having the privilege of being at the official site of WordPress, themes uploaded there will be more convenient to update for ordinary WordPress users, as they have done with the automatic plugin updater already built into the latest version of WP.
However, theme authors, keep in mind that you must meet several requirements to get your themes listed. As with the recent development on the old themes.wordpress.net, themes with hidden, paid, or sponsored links are not allowed.
In order to be added to the directory each theme must meet the following
requirements:
- A single zip file, with all of the files themes file included.
- There must be a style.css file containing:
- Name (which must be unique to the directory)
- Tags
- Version (in the format of x.x or x.x.x and must be unique to the theme)
- Image align classes: img.centered, img.alignright, img.alignleft,
.alignright, .alignleft- The screenshot file name must be
screenshot.png, and be a
real screenshot of the theme, not a splash screen.- Licensing must be GPL compatible.
- No hidden, paid or sponsored links in the theme. Links back to the
author’s site are fine.- The theme must be your own original work.
Upload your WordPress theme now!
