“My Tag Cloud” plugin

A few days back, Kim wrote a short post calling all readers on asking what plugin they would like to have coded, provided someone would code it for them. That was actually my part. This came after the successful co-operation between me and Mike for the YAFootnotes plugin. A few ideas have come up on the comments section but there were a couple that can actually be coded (at least for now). This plugin is one of them.

The request was made by “Yael K. Miller“. What she asked for is a plugin that can list post tags in a different way than a tag cloud. Specificaly, she wanted the first ten to be listed in an unordered list and the rest in a dropdown box. So, voila! This is exactly what this plugin can do. I won’t get into detail since i have a whole page for this plugin here.

Besides this plugin a small tweak on an existing one is coming and who knows what else. Please check out my plugins page for a full list. If you feel you want a plugin yourself leave a comment and let me know. If it is something i can do i’ll definitely try to!

Brand your Windows installation

When buying a new computer you must have all noticed that, on the “My computer” properties, there is a logo and technical support information of the vendor. On the left side of the system info, on the tab labeled “General”, there is the company’s logo. On the bottom there is a button called “Support information”. Clicking on it opens a new window with all the technical info about the vendor. Maybe a few phone numbers and addresses. These kind of information are called “OEM info” (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Have you ever wondered where is that info located? Have you ever wanted to do a similar thing on a pc you formated or assembled? Here is how…

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It’s the man my friend, not… WordPress!

You all know that lately i’ve been up to coding a few plugins and sharpening my WordPress coding skills. Besides mine, on the WordPress plugin directory you can find hundreds and hundreds of plugins doing just about anything. It’s actually thousands of hard worked coding lines by authors that, one time or another, needed something more out of their WordPress installation (i am not saying blog since WordPress is used for just about anything nowadays). So, they coded it for themselves and were kind enough to share it with the world for the ease of other people too. Others, me included, code for fun and just because every now and then, when i am reading blogs, i’d like to bump into something done by my plugin. You can’t imagine the overwhelming feeling that gets over me when i see that someone is actually using my code…

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Another plugin hits the world: YAFootnotes

You all must know that the other day there was some constructive critisism of my lolcats plugin. It was a good thing that happened because i had the opportunity to see new blogs and, most importantly, meet new people. In the author’s post, Mr. Mike Nichols had more than his say, he had a better suggestion for me. I already said i wanted to start simple but i couldn’t find anything that hasn’t been done yet.

So, Mr. Mike said, that a footnotes plugin is something that I could code and would be usefull. There are already a couple of plugins doing just that but he was not all that satisfied, so, we teamed up together. He sent me some suggestions and ideas on how and what to implement and, I coded. The outcome is a very very simple plugin. No options page is coded since, for one, it is a very simple thing that does not need it and, also, i am not that fluent with option pages on WordPress plugins.

But, what are those footnotes? I am sure that most of you must have read, one time or another, a scientific paper. You must have seen that, at the bottom of the document, there is a sometimes pretty big list with sources containing more info on the paper or sources that the author used to prepare it. Those are numbered and the numbers correspond to an anchor in the text itself. This is what the plugin does. I won’t get into more detail since the plugin’s page says it all (you can download it from there too).

If you use it and find any bugs, have any suggestions or anything at all please leave a comment and i’ll definitely look at it and get in touch with you!

So, what do you think about the plugin and about my work in general?

What was i thinking?

Today i read this article about my lolcats widget plugin. Before i say what i have to say, i would first want to note that i really appreciate any comment on my work, good or bad. I think that bad comments, when expressed in a nice and constructive way, are better than good. Also, what we call “feedback” is actually “bad” comments expressed in a nice way. So, thanks for mentioning. Now to the point of his question. What was i thinking?

First of all, you all must know i am a very new WordPress plugin coder (i am a fairly old php coder but new to WP). It’s obvious that when you start anything you start small. This is what i did. I found something that hasn’t been done yet and it’s very easy to do. I also thought, and i was right, that some people might find it nice and usefull. So i did it. A few lines of code and i was a step closer on understanding how WordPress works and how things come around. Moreover, I don’t see any harm on having a small section on your blog where your reader, scrolling down to read, would have a laugh. I don’t use it since my sidebar is pretty crowded and i am trying to keep it as small as i can. I would though if i had the space. As for the lolcats project and site, i also find it cute and some times very funny. There are some pets’ (cats mostly) moments that can bring a smile on your face. What’s so bad about it either? I am not a person that uses it on forums. I just visit it when i feel like having some fun. All in all i see his point but i don’t think it’s valid. Again, thanks for the comment.

In other news, I know i’ve been away lately but please bare with me since my hardware problems still haunt me.