Recently in WordPress Category

Just found a nifty sidebar widget that makes getting to my live scanner stream simple, including an imbedded WMP for those who cannot install software at work (you are welcome, Dan!). The screenshot of the widget, aptly named SHOUTcast Sidebar Widget, looked super and filled every need that I had. I was troubled, though, to see a very recent post on the WordPress forums of someone having a problem getting it to work. I thought probably a WP install that falls outside the norm and that mine will work just fine. Well, it did not. The widget title showed up fine, but that was it. So, I opened the code up. Warning - I am not (repeat, not) a PHP expert. Perl yes, PHP, no. So, I did what any good programmer would do (other than RTFM) and sprinkled a few echo statements in the main script to see what it was (and was not) finding. It read my Shoutcast status page just fine, as well as parsed the results properly, but when it arrived at fetching the skeleton page, nothing was retrieved. I looked at the filename and it was correct. What was wrong were two things, one my fault, one the code:

1. In the README file, it says to extract all the files into wp-content/plugins/sc_widget. Problem is that the installation zip file has them in a directory called shoutcast-sidebar-widget. Most widget and plugin installations for WP do not change directory names in mid-installation, most are just drag 'em over. I will take the hit (did not RTFM), but left the directory name as is and changed the code.
2. Looking at the filenames in the script and the skeleton page, all the fully qualified references were to /wp-content/plugins/sc_widget/sc_running.htm, which works just dandy if your WP installation is at the root of the server. Removing the leading slash makes the script and resulting, edited skeleton file work just dandy in any level of the server. There are 6 occurrences in the two files, sc_widget.php and sc_running.htm. Easy enough edit.

I made those changes and it works like a champ, as you can see in the sidebar! I plan on sending the changes to the author next with a nice thank you for writing the original code!

Now that I have mod_rewrite installed and I attempted and succeeded on the main web site, I am adding prettier permalinks on the blog as well. Please stand by. :-) Update: Work complete! Now wasn't that easy!

I was over at the Yahoo Developers web site today to grab an application key for a new web site. I noticed that the featured video on the front page was about a new plug-in for Wordpress. It is used while you are writing a new post (or editing an old one) and what it does is scans the content for possible items of interest from Yahoo. Things like maps, graphics, photos and such. So, what the hell, being a tech toy whore, I decided to load it up and see what it yields from the wealth of Yahoo Maps, Search, Flickr, and whatever other goodies they have stored. So I will pause in writing and see the three shortcuts it found already! (pause) So far, it basically found the links you see in the post above, as well as putting a Flickr badge at the bottom of the post, using those three terms as the keyword search. Now, let us add West Chester, Pennsylvania and the West Whiteland Fire Company to the mix and see what else show up. (pause) So, I removed the links to the three obvious web sites and added in automatically a map of the borough. It did not find the fire company's web site Curious as to how precise the search is, possibly only related to map locations or Flickr-finds. Now going to enable everything and see how it looks in reality! Update: Well, after publishing the web page and bringing it up in both Firefox and IE, I was singularly unimpressed with what happened when you moused over a link. It came up with some skeletal-looking windows and was not until you actually clicked the link that a Yahoo box came up with several search results. While it is a cute way to find related maps and pictures on Flickr for your post, I find that its usability for the general (read: non-geek) reader is lacking greatly.

Yes, I have done it again. I have moved back to MovableType again. Not exactly a 180-degree turn since I have been on a wide variety of blog software - if someone writes it, I will try it. Started originally on Blogger right after it was first released (yes, that long ago). I tried GreyMatter, bloxsom (I really liked it, don't now why I just didn't stay with it), b2, WordPress, and MovableType. Of all of them, my favorite was WP. Yes, so why didn't I stay with it?

• php - Yes, first and foremost, it is because it is written, added-on, and hacked in a language that I personally do not feel comfortable with. My personal preference for programming has been, is, and always will be perl. Sorry, but I have been writing in it, professionally and personally, since I learned at the high temple of perl, Bell Labs, many years ago. Use all the arguments for php that you want, but the vast majority of the exploits against web site, whether it be spamming or hacking, are because of poorly written php scripts. If I had the time or the inclination, I would probably learn php better and take the time to go over the thousands of lines of code in WP and do some fixes. But time is not something I have a lot of and the inclination to get involved in a OS project is not either.
• perl - I can write perl code in my sleep. MT is written in perl so I can feel comfortable about mod'ing and debugging it.
• spammers - I think I'll just turn comments and pingbacks off. Farr too much useless traffic (and its associated cost) from the idiots who make it their business to trash other peoples' creative works.
• layout - I have always found the way that WP basically says use our wrapper, use kubrick, or spend a thousand hours developing your own. With MT, I can simply strip the shell, tweak my CSS, and it is done. No php mumbo-jumbo, no extensive testing. Then my blog fits right in with everything else on my web site. No, I never thought more than a few seconds about using the WP page creation routines. This facilty is rather stiff and allows little creativity and, again, you are stuck with the overall WP layout. My web site has a blog, not the other way around.

So, the next step later today and tomorrow is to blend this into the rest of the web site's layout. Again, if you want to comment, drop me a note or catch me online.

While changing the design, I am adding and subtracting in the bells and whistles department, too. Just added to the sidebar is a nice plug-in, Dates to Remember, part of a very nice collection of hacks by Owen.

The one (and only) thing I missed when I moved to WordPress from that other blogging package was the lack of a glimpse shot about the current state of my blog like recent posts and comments. I have been considering moving up to the 1.3 alpha version of WP, but I don't have time to deal with potential bugs, so I am staying with the more stable releases. Now, courtesy of a hack by Dan Hersam, I now have added his dashboard for WP 1.2.x and it works like a champ. Thanks Dan!