WordPress 2.7 - A few of my favorite things

December 9, 2008 · Filed Under Technology, blogging, wordpress · Comments 

Today WordPress 2.7 Release Candidate 2 was released. For those that don’t speak geek, a release candidate, or RC for short, is a version of software that, assuming nobody finds any bugs, what you see is what you get for the final released version. Though I have been testing out the beta versions since they first started being released, I had been waiting for a second RC version prior to updating several of the blogs I manage. Tonight was that night and the upgrades were flying!

Since I have been staring at the interface for the past 3 hours, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite aspects of the new WordPress release.

The Dashboard
The dashboard has matured in to a page that provides information and quick navigation rather than in previous versions where it was simply a page you stopped on for a second before immediately looking for a way to leave. Inside the dashboard alone there are several new features to be found before you even leave the page.

  • The “Right Now” section is an “At a Glance” look at your website as a whole. It tells you how many posts, pages, categories, etc.. you have on your site. Best of all, you can click the number next to each item and it will take you directly to the “manage” page for the selected section.
  • The “QuickPress” section allows you to write a blog post directly from the dashboard. It is a stripped down version of the new blog post page, but I’m sure there are thousands of bloggers who need nothing more than what is available.
  • The “Screen Options” menu is tucked away in the top right hand corner. Click on it and you’ll get a fly-out menu showing you a list of each section of the dashboard available to you. Simply click the checkbox next to a section’s name and that section is removed from the dashboard. This will unclutter your dashboard and make sure you are only seeing the sections you want/need to see.
  • This last feature is something that I’m sure is going to be missed by most users. The drag and drop organization of the dashboard may be one of my favorite features. I didn’t want to remove any of the sections from the main page, but, for me, I didn’t need to see my inbound links “above the fold” as they say. So, I simply drug that section to the bottom of the left hand column. Now, it’s there any time I want to see it, I only need to scroll down to get to it.

The Navigation
The only thing more deserving of an overhaul than the dashboard was the navigation. I’d say they really hit it out of the park with the new layout. There are several key ingredients that went in to making a better nav system.

  • Left hand nav Vs. Top nav. It seems like such a small thing, but really it’s not. When the menu was along the top, it would take up valuable North/South screen real estate. Plus, with the new left hand nav, you now have access to all the menu items at once (if you choose) rather than being forced to be on the plugins page to click the link to edit settings for a specific plugin. Now you only need to open the settings menu section and you have instant access to the config page for any active plugin.
  • In 2.7 you now have access to all the menu items and sub-menu items from any page you are on. For some, this may be information overload. For those people they have introduced the collapsible menu. First you can expand/collapse any specific section and it’s options. If that’s not enough, you can collapse the entire menu. Doing this will leave you with icons for each individual section. Hovering over those icons will give you the same access you had before for each individual section.
  • Instant Access to Everything!! Assuming you have expanded all the menus (like I have), you now have direct access to just about every page in your WordPress install. This means no more clicking two or three times to get to a specific page. This may sound trivial, but since WordPress loads up a new page from your server every time you click a page, you are now saving 5-30 seconds each time you log in to WordPress.

What is your favorite part of the new WordPress?

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What the Flock?

December 3, 2008 · Filed Under Ranting, Technology · Comments 

I’ve been a strong supporter of Mozilla’s Firefox browser for quite a while now. Once I switched over to it, it has been hard to even consider using a different browser. Sure, I’ve tried them all to see what features they are going to give me, but I always end up going back to Firefox because of the amount of plug-ins I have become accustomed to using daily. As much as I love Google and I really do love the Google browser, without support for the plug-ins I use, I’m sorry but you just can’t be my default browser.

With that said, today I decided I was going to give Flock another shot. I had installed it shortly after it came out, ran through my normal routine of testing it out for 2 days and then rushing back to Firefox. But with the expansive growth of Social Media, I figured it was time to grab an update and see what’s new. What followed where 3 gigantic no-nos that left a sour taste in my mouth before I even started to check out any new features.

I loaded up Flock and went to the help menu and chose “Check for Updates.” No surprise there was one available and I told it to download the 16MB file and install it for me. When it was done I started Flock and was redirected to a page that said, “But wait, version 2.0.2 is available. Download now.” Wait a second! I just uploaded one minute ago. Why did the “Check for Updates” feature update me to a version that was already out of date?

Undeterred I upgraded to the latest version and started kicking the tires. A minute later I received an email in my 3rd party email application that contained a link. When I clicked the link, Flock opens up a new tab and starts loading the page. Wait just a second again! Without asking me (2 installs in 5 minutes and I don’t recall being asked) if I wanted Flock to be my default browser, they took it upon themselves to make Flock the default. This is monumentally NOT COOL. Don’t hide it in the terms and say “but you agreed to the terms.” Do not change settings on my computer without asking me first. Period!

When Firefox didn’t open up as my default, I went to my quick launch bar to start it up. The Firefox logo was no longer in it’s customary spot and it took me a second to realize what happened. During the install process for Flock my Firefox icon was replaced by a Flock icon. Clicking the link started Flock, not Firefox. This is inexcusable. I’m curious if they do the same thing to the Internet Explorer icon if that is your default browser. I’m betting not since Microsoft would likely reign down legal armageddon on them in 2.367 seconds.

Now, I know what you are going to say, “But Flock is now powered by Mozilla so it’s fine.” No, no it’s not. Until such a time that Flock and Firefox merge in to 1 product, they should treat my computer accordingly and not mess with settings that should be mutually exclusive.

And now that I’ve got this off my chest, I’m going to go back and test out Flock’s ability to run Firefox plugins as it says it can.

</rant>

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Dealing with Twitter Spam

October 16, 2008 · Filed Under Ranting, Technology, social media · Comments 

I’m not even close to being surprised, but the amount of Twitter Spam I’ve been getting lately is on the rise. Sure, it’s nice to have your follower count go up, but when the only messages coming from them are for you to come check out their poker site and receive $50 in bonus cash, the trade off is just not worth it. Besides, letting these spammers stick around only makes the place a little worse for everybody.

So how should you deal with spammers? Easy; block them.

Ya see, Twitter has a nice set of rules that is designed to keep the spammers out. Of course that’s just not going to happen entirely since any time you have access to a large number of people, the spammers want to come piss in that pool. But, by taking the 10 seconds to go an block the spammer on twitter, you are actively being part of the solution.

Twitter’s software is getting pretty good at catching the spammers. Twice this week I have received notices that I have a new follower. An hour later when I went to check out their account, they had already been blocked. I call that efficient!

I’m one of those guys who leaves the email notifications turned on so that every time I get a new follower, I receive an email. I do this because I usually will go and follow the people who follow me. I read the incoming email, click the link to go check out the person’s twitter profile and I decide if they are a spammer.

What is considered spam?
When I view the person’s twitter account, I look at the following:
1) How many followers do they have?
2) How many people are they following?
3) How many tweets do they send out?
4) How many tweets include a link or some sort of offer?

If they have 8 or 10 (or more) times less followers than they are following, this is a good indication that they are using external software to follow mass quantities of people hoping that they will reciprocate by following them. They are getting blocked.

If they are following more than 100 people and they have less than 10 tweets, I’ll check the content of their tweets to see if they look “spammy.” I usually just give it the sniff test. If something smells funny, for example, 5 tweets and 3 of them have a link back to the same site, I’ll block them.

If somebody has sent 5000 or more tweets, I won’t block these ones, but I’m less likely to follow them, too. Typically I find that these guys are responding to EVERY tweet they see come in. That’s totally fine. I have no problem with that. I’m just not going to follow them back as I don’t need to read all their response messages.

Twitter’s software looks for all of these things as well, so it won’t be too long before your spammy follwers end up getting the proverbial boot by Twitter. But, it’s such a nice feeling to think that you’ve helped get them kicked off the site. Well, I know it works for me.

Not sure how to block somebody on twitter? Check out this post here.

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Blog Tip: Clean Your Blog

October 10, 2008 · Filed Under General, Technology, blogging · Comments 

I just set a reminder in my phone to repeat every 2 months. It says 3 simple words; CLEAN YOUR BLOG!

I logged in to the admin section of JohnHawkinsUnrated the other night and was checking the plugin page when I realized I had to scroll down a page and a half to get to the plugin I was looking for. I then scrolled back up slowly and realized that there are quite a few plugins that I have installed that I just don’t use/need any longer. I went through and deactivated at least 7 plugins that were no longer being used. I’m sure there are more that I can remove, but was trying not to go overboard on my first pass.

Wigets, this is another area that I need to be careful with. They are so easy to install, but you really need to evaluate their value to your site. Are they worth the space they are taking up on your site? Are they worth the extra load time it puts on your blog? If not, kill ‘em.

Take 5 minutes and go through your WordPress plugin page and remove any plugins that aren’t being used and then remove any widgets that are taking up space on your blog and are not adding value to your readers. Your blog should be lean and mean. There is no bonus for having the most plugins running at once.

Remember, lean and mean.

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iPhone App Review: Evernote

October 8, 2008 · Filed Under Technology, iphone apps · Comments 

I’m always on the lookout for iPhone Apps that are useful across multiple platforms. Sure, it’s nice if you find a really great iPhone App, but if it’s only useful on the iPhone itself, I consider that a limiting factor. One of the programs that best exemplifies cross platform usability is Evernote.

As the name implies, Evernote is for taking notes. I’ll bet you didn’t see that one coming. But the trick is this, you can create several types of notes (Text, Snapshot, Voice or Saved Photo) and upload them from your iPhone to your account on evernote.com where your notes are stored for easy access. You can now access your notes from your iPhone, or from any computer with an internet connection. You simply log in to your evernote account and you have access to a fully searchable repository of your notes.

Screenshots from the iPhone App:

The iPhone App is free and the website offers a free account and service for people who don’t upload a ton of notes. A paid subscription won’t cost you but $5 per month or $45 per year and the amount of notes you can save with a paid account is pretty ridiculous. I wouldn’t expect to be filling it up too quickly.

Evernote also has a desktop application for both Mac and Windows users that lets you create and view notes. However, I’ve found that I’m way more fond of the Firefox plugin that lets you highlight some text or graphics on a page, click the “Clip to Evernote” button and have the information saved to your evernote account. I’ve found this feature particularly handy for when I’m at work and want to save a URL for viewing at home.

Evernote is one of the Apps that takes the iPhone to the next level. The user interface is clean, clear, easy to understand and easy to use. Other Apps that are listed in the productivity category should take a look at Evernote and take note of it’s simplicity and power. It has healthy doses of both.

Next time you are in the App store, download Evernote and give it a shot. You’ll be glad you did.

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