I got a response from the WordPress Plugin Directory today. Positive! They approved the new plugin’s home so I officialy let the plugin go public this morning. Of course I set up a page on my blog with the complete description, screenshots, feedback section (feature requests are welcome). Check it out – Technical Support for WordPress!
Thank you for your support and voting at WordPress.org ;)
Here’s a way for you to show what you’ve been tweeting about lately. Right on your blog, in the sidebar. No Twitter passwords required, cause this thing works via the Foller.me API. This is the first ever app (widget, gadget, or whatever you wanna call that) based on our Foller.me API, so I hope we have a great start here, and you young developers out there, dig through this widget’s source code (which is GPL btw) and play around with the API. Perhaps your app’s the next, and please DO write to us if you do, cause you don’t wanna miss all the credit we offer ;)
The plugin’s located here: Foller.me Widget and hosted at the WordPress.org plugin directory right over here. Thank you for all your votes ;)
Hey, there’s a new widget that can display user pics of people you follow (and people who follow you) on Twitter. It updates whenever you gain a new follower.
That’s a new widget for WordPress I wrote a few days ago, and received aproval from the WordPress.org plugin directory today, so it’s the official launch. Go get yours right over here: Twitter Followers Widgets and don’t forget about the feedback! Yup, themes are cool, but widgets are way cooler! Also, as announced on the Foller.me blog today, we’ve finally released the public version of the Foller.me API so we’re gonna have more Twitter widgets developed next month, wohoo!
You may also dive into the development of your own stuff using the Foller.me API, it’s pretty simple, seriously, check out the API wiki and start making your own widgets! Because widgets are sexy ;)
Finally, version 1.2.4 is public! Can you belive this? I managed to get Thickbox running with the widget! No, it wasn’t that difficult at all. Here are the two tricks:
In the plugin init:
$options = get_option("pluginname"); if ($options["thickbox"] == "checked") { wp_enqueue_script("thickbox"); add_action("wp_head", "pluginname_thickbox_inject", 10); }
And the thickbox inject function:
function pluginname_thickbox_inject() {
?>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?= get_option("siteurl"); ?>/<?= WPINC; ?>/js/thickbox/thickbox.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<script type="text/javascript">
var tb_pathToImage = "<?= get_option("siteurl"); ?>/<?= WPINC; ?>/js/thickbox/loadingAnimation.gif";
var tb_closeImage = "<?= get_option("siteurl"); ?>/<?= WPINC; ?>/js/thickbox/tb-close.png"
</script>
<?php
}That’s all. Then use Thickbox the ordinary way you would. Oh and don’t forget to check out the Quick Flickr Widget page for more info on the plugin and once again thank you for all your feedback. It really helps a lot!
Hope you remember the Quick Flickr Widget plugin for WordPress. Well, since version 1.2 I’ve changed the way it works. Prior to 1.2, as Donncha suggested in his Flickr plugin, I used a public Flickr RSS feed to display the items, using WordPress’ RSS functions to move around the feed. Anyways I thought that I couldn’t take the plugin far enough, so I decided to use the Flickr API Services which is way more extended.
Still not sure about the consequences of sharing my Flickr API key. I’ve got a Flickr call for converting a Flickr screen name to a Flickr NSID which requires a valid API key. I thought that asking everyone to sign up for an API key would be a loss of plugin users so I provided my own key. Hope they don’t get me killed ;)
Now, to the user interface and experience. I’m not sure why, but some people are still confused about the new way and there are those, who cannot manage to find out their Flickr screen name (thinking that it’s their Flickr username or Yahoo ID). Anyways I hope to get this all sorted out and solved by 1.3 (maybe I should feed from Flickr by user e-mail?). Tiny bug in 1.2 was the inability to use a Flickr screen name with spaces. Thanks to Tung’s comments I sorted it all out by 1.2.1 – I had no idea people would use spaces in their screen names.
Now, for all the geeks out there. The Flickr API Explorer is the most fabulous thing that makes the Flickr API so easy to use. And the JSON Validator really helped me out there (I use JSON because I like it and also looking forward to adding some Javascript features to the plugin). So keep your comments and suggestions coming on the Quick Flickr Widget page.
Also, I’d like to recommend a book called Pro Web 2.0 Mashups which helped me out with Flickr API usage.
P.S. The Apps & Hats show launched on Friday 20th. The first episode is so cool. Girls with iPhones are so cute! Check them out: Apps & Hats – Your Quirky iPhone Application Review Show.
