Plugins 026 – RSSCloud WordPress Plugin

Today we’re covering the RSSCloud WordPress Plugin.

The RSSCloud WordPress Plugin is written by Joseph Scott, a heavy WordPress developer who focuses his efforts with the blogging API in WordPress. I’ve been following his blog for years now, his knowledge in these areas of blogging are of the highest caliber.

RSSCloud (rsscloud.org) is a specification and protocol written by Dave Winer to provide instant notifications of new blog content to subscribers. It allows for a service or web application to add itself to a list on your blog that you later notify when you publish new content. It is similar to the Update Services / Ping feature in WordPress except that the blog author does not need to manage the list of services he/she needs to notify. The following sketch explains the process quite well.

Sketch of RSSCloud

One myth is that this replaces feeds. In reality, RSSCloud only enforces the standardization of using RSS 2.0 specification for feeds as it is the only feed specification that allows for the RSSCloud protocol (namespace) to be added. The use of RSSCloud also eliminates unnecessary network traffic, as the subscription service would no longer need to pull your feed on a regular basis, Only pulling your feed when there is new content.

The RSSCloud WordPress Plugin enables WordPress to become RSSCloud aware, adding the cloud tag to your blogs RSS 2.0 feed, accepting requests from feed subscription services, and sending notifications to such feed subscription services when you publish new blog posts.

You can learn more about the RSSCloud specification at rsscloud.org and download the new RSSCloud WordPress plugin at WordPress.org/extend/plugins/rsscloud/

Please feel free to leave comments or feedback for the show either by using our contact form or calling  (614) 859-9007.

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Plugins 025 – Ohio Linux Fest This September!

In this episode, we speak with Beth Lynn Eicher, one of the organizers of the Ohio Linux Fest coming this September 25-27, 2009 in Columbus, OH.

Talking with Beth Lynn, we discuss Linux User Groups (LUGs) in the region as well as other Linux Fests that are taking place in other parts of the country. We also learn about what bug 1 (bug number one) is.

Later on in our conversation with Beth Lynn, we discuss her WordPress blog What Will We Use and some of the plugins she is using.  Beth Lynn highly recommends the W3Counter WordPress plugin and service to track web visitors. It can be used together or as an alternative to Google Analytics. From the looks of W3Counter, this would provide ideal web statistics if your interested in knowing the platforms your visitors are using.

Beth Lynn also goes into detail with her experience with poorly written themes and outdated plugins. This is a common problem with WordPress that many of us have dealt with at one time or another using WordPress.

I spoke with Beth Lynn for over an hour on a variety of Linux topics. The complete interview is available at the TechPodcasts.com Weekly Podcast avaialble at blog.techpodcasts.com.

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HTML Page Sitemap plugin Now Available

The Plugins Podcast is pleased to announce the availability of the new HTML Page Sitemap WordPress plugin.

This simple plugin adds an HTML (Not XML) sitemap of your blog pages (not posts) by entering the shortcode [html-sitemap] in the page content. This simple plugin is configured from the shortcode. Settings include the sort_column, sort_order, exclude, include, depth, child_of, meta_key, meta_value, authors, number, and offset. You can set essentially everything you can set in the wp_list_pages function.

This plugins is perfect for those who use WordPress as a CMS.

Please see the Template Documentation for the wp_list_pages function for detailed documentation of the available attributes and their values.

HTML Page Sitemap

The plugin may be downloaded from the WordPress Plugins Directory or by the following link: Download version 1.0.

Plugins 024 – Interview Mitcho author of Yet Another Related Posts Plugin YARPP and HookPress WordPress Plugins

In this episode we continue our conversation with Mitcho, the author of the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) and HookPress plugin.

Mitcho and I talk about jQuery, plugin development and plugin translation in WordPress. Mitcho goes into detail of the problems that come up that you cannot anticipate when creating plugins.

Further into our conversation we talk about providing translation support in plugins and the challenges with it. Mitcho recommended the CodeStyling Localization WordPress plugin to allow translators to translate plugins. Mitcho explains how to add code around your strings in your plugin to support translation. e.g. __(‘your string here’). The translation is performed using GetText, which is a very popular translation method and is very popular for software translation.

Mitcho goes on to suggest that a repository of translations be created and hosted at WordPress.org so translations can be managed and distributed independently of the plugins. I completely agree with Mitcho and think this is a great idea.

Near the end of the interview we talk more about YARPP features and how it can be added to themes.

Thank you so much Mitcho for taking the time to come on the  show and discussing your WordPress plugins and thoughts on translation.

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Plugins 023 – Interview Mitcho author of Yet Another Related Posts Plugin YARPP and HookPress WordPress Plugins

In this episode we speak with Mitcho, the author of the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) and HookPress plugin.

Mitcho goes into detail why he created YARPP and HookPress, where the plugins originated and and why he made them.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to the current entry, introducing the reader to other relevant content on your site. YARPP includes many features and can be used by novice and advanced users. WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg recently recommended YARPP as on of his favorite plugins.

HookPress plugin demonstrates how actions that occur in WordPress can be tied to external web sites via passing on information, similar to how pings work. It allows for push notifications to other web pages for custom development. HookPress uses WebHooks as its inspiration, so if you’re interested in learning more about WebHooks, check out WebHooks.org. It is important to note that HookPress is intended for developers, average users may be confused by the plugin and how to use it.

Part two will be available next week, stay tuned.

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