Wordpress today announced their newest update 2.6.3 post to a possible vulnerability detected with the current version.

As per their official release -

A vulnerability in the Snoopy library was announced today.  WordPress uses Snoopy to fetch the feeds shown in the Dashboard.   Although this seems to be a low risk vulnerability for WordPress users, we wanted to get an update out immediately.  2.6.3 is available for download right now.

Either use the automatic upgrade plugin to upgrade to the latest version or download the following two files to replace the existing files of your current version.

Class-snoopy.php
Version.php

Looks like Goog folks are inspired with the new Wordpress design. Or is it something else?

The old layout was pretty okay..I mean nothing drastically wrong to cut your usability there..still the folks at Goog plex have gone for a redesign of the Analytics dashboard.

Interestingly, the new layout and style looks strikingly similar to the Wordpress dashboard preview we had last time.

Check out the new looks compared.

Somebody tell  me this is just co-incidence or that I’m overly bothered. :-p

Why you ask ? Well….as a thanks may be. I know trackbacks does the same job but we need something more flexible and “configurable” I thought.

This is a wordpress plugin that lists down all the blogs that are linking to the current posts in a neat list below the post. It basically uses the Google backlinks feature on Blog Search.

I like this plugin for the following features.

• It has a more clean list displayed, more like the official Google blogs here.
• It’s not messy like the trackbacks where you might get all those spam sites listed. (Sometimes they do..)
• It lists the “filtered” results from Google Blogsearch, so I kinda prefer that to a trackback.
• It’s a way to acknowledge the backlinks, in a different way of course.

The plugin is in the first stage, so there might be glitches but I like the concept.

Get the plugin here.

From the buzz around, we can sense that Wordpress 2.7 is going to be one of the best upgrades ever. Bigger with all new interface and packed with all new features. Many bloggers are even holding back the current upgrade waiting for the 2.7 upgrade. That means, this is going to be very interesting. Let’s see what the wordpress community has to offer in Wordpress 2.7

What’s new in Wordpress 2.7 ?

According to the Wordpress community, these are the new features we can expect from Wordpress 2.7.

A more lively comments section

Wordpress 2.7 will be bringing in more functionality into the comments section with threaded comments, inline replies and pingback – comments sorting.
Right now, there are plugins available to accomplish these features like Brian’s threaded comments plugin, Pingback-Comments separator etc. but Wordpress 2.7 will integrate it all into the basic package so that they are part of the standard code.

A completely different Dashboard

This feature may sound scary if you are so used to the current dashboard. Because, it seems like there are some major changes you have to catch up to.

The new dashboard will feature more arranged layout where the more often accessed controls will be within one or two clicks while keeping away the un necessary and less used icons and menus.
 

A whole new feature packed Write/Edit Post page

The Write new post window will sport a complete new look with minimalistic menus and integrated features.

From the icons seen there I’m guessing that there would be option to add flickr images, Youtube videos and also a google service, this could be Google images or Google docs.

Canonical redirection of Feeds

Now requests for /index.php?feed=atom or /wp-atom.php will redirect to the correct location.

Automatic one-click plugin installation from the dashboard

If the news wine is right, there would be access to the Wordpress plugin repository right from the Dashboard, where from you can search and sort plugins based on any criteria. On finding the right plugin, you can install it right from the dashboard with a few clicks. No more uploading to the plugins folder through FTP.
Some part of this is accomplished by the One Click plugin by Anirudh at the moment on the current versions.

Version Upgrades option from the Dashboard

This feature will help you bypass the messy upgradation process, by letting you upgrade to the new versions with a few clicks within your dashboard.
At the moment, Keith’s Automatic Upgrade does the job for current Wordpress versions though.

Page Menu API

Not sure how useful this is going to be, but looks like there are some improvements with the wp_page_menu() function.
I’m hoping that they give some more flexibility with this function like enabling users to control the title attribute, page slug and even hiding pages from listing out.

Sticky Posts

This feature will enable us to feature a single post everytime on the top of the article listing in the homepage. Alright!

And there are a host of other features too. (As listed on the official site)

• New admin UI based on the crazyhorse experimental UI branch with new menus and navigation
• New edit post page that allows dragging and dropping of meta boxes. Boxes can be expanded and collapsed as before and now also completely hidden.
• Ability to hide columns on the content index pages
• Inline editing of posts and pages on the content index pages
• Comments XMLRPC API
• Reply to comments from the admin
• Keyboard hot keys for managing comments
• Threaded Comments and new wp_list_comments() API
• Sticky Posts
• Automatic plugin install and integrated plugin browser
• Automatic upgrade of WordPress
• HTTPOnly auth cookies
• New HTTP request API
• A new SSH2 filesystem abstraction for updates and installs over sftp

Is Wordpress 2.7 something to be excited about ?

Yes, for all reasons. And more for the reason that there has been triple fold improvement in the functionalities and look and feel of Wordpress. This is really good since post Wordpress 2.5, there have been updates but they were very minor. I hope the Wordpress community develops Wordpress more as a simple to use, CMS platform, from a “just a blog” shell as that’s where the web is heading.

Having said that, I have to admit that the advancements seen in Wordpress 2.7 are nothing extra ordinary. The new features are, already available on different wordpress plugins and can be incorporated in to a current 2.5 version with less effort.

So, if you don’t want to waste time in getting accustomed to the new dashboard, but want to enjoy the goodness of the new features (almost) , you might want to install al these plugins, and sit back enjoy.

Wordpress Plugins that will make your current version of Wordpress as close to as Wordpress 2.7

• Wordpress Automatic Upgrade Plugin
  Saves you time and effort, of upgrading to a newer version of Wordpress. No messy process involved, the plugin does it all in a seamless manner right from the Dashboard.
• One Click plugin installation from Dashboard
  No FTP uploads, no code edits. Just as simple s a drag and drop, right from the dashboard.
• Sticky posts
  Make any post a sticky post that stays right on the top of listed articles on the homepage.
• Feed redirection
  Redirects your feed URLs to feedburner. (Some glitches known to exist)
• Embed YouTube videos to your posts
• Photo Dropper Wordpress plugins
  Lets you add creative commons allowed flickr photos right from the Write Posts menu.
• Brian’s threaded comments
  Let’s users reply to individual comments in a threaded manner. (Known to have glitches)

More information on Wordpress 2.7 here.

You would’ve seen those cool “flash boxes” on certain sites that slides away featured articles and images with custom text on it right ? I think they are pretty good to show off your content to the five second visitor who may not otherwise notice it. It’s in fact a good way to increase page views all the while giving your blog that cool modern look.

If you’re wondering how to add that flash box that slides away articles and images in style, here is a cool new tool that will help do just that.

This plugin helps you to

- Place a custom Javascript enabled slideshow box anywhere on your blog (by adding a php code)
- Customize the length and width of the box.
- Add upto 10 number of articles to be featured on the slideshow that will slide away.
- Customize the screen time for which each article will be shown.
- Customize the colors of the text/box.

The installation and configuration is pretty simple, all you need to do is add the php code (single line) to the theme where you want the slideshow to appear. Just make sure you set the dimension settings right while you place it in the theme.

Well, the bad side is that it requires Javascript to run and needs Scriptaculous installed in your theme. Not all themes supports it. But if you have it you are good to go right away.

Download the plugin here.

Dinu, a fellow blogger from Cochin is pretty impressed with Amy Mahon’s  wordpress theme over here, and was wondering what’s that funky text doing at the post titles ?

Watch closely and you’ll find that the post titles are replaced with cool text effects rather than the plain text.

Right click on the title and you’ll find that it’s an image instead of text.

Well, this can be accomplished by using the Wordpress plugin called “Facelift Image Replacement” or FLIR.

Here’s what the plugin does.
The plugin re-generates selected text on the blog (like H1, H2) with images featuring the actual text in selected font.

FLIR for WordPress implements Facelift Image Replacement (FLIR) by Cory Mawhorter.  It is in rapid development and almost completely configurable from the admin panel.  Several freeware fonts are provided with FLIR for WordPress.

FLIR for WordPress is SEO friendly and only renders the image in the browser if JavaScript is enabled.  You HTML/XHTML code remains unchanged leaving your head tags readable by search engines and the page readable by those without JavaScript.

Facelift Image Replacement (or FLIR, pronounced fleer) is an image replacement script that dynamically generates image representations of text on your web page in fonts that otherwise might not be visible to your visitors. The generated image will be automatically inserted into your web page via Javascript and visible to all modern browsers. Any element with text can be replaced: from headers (<h1>, <h2>, etc.) to <span> elements and everything in between!

So, you can use this plugin to make the your post titles more fancy with any text that you like while keeping the SEO metrics in place. I’m not completely sure if this is SEP proof,  but it’s a commendable effort from Cory and he’s done all that he can to keep the HTML code in tact.

The plugins technical requirements are not common and might sound confusing but there’s a forum out here to help you with.

If you wanna have some fun with the title and bring that “awe” factor on first time visitors , just like Amy did, go for it.

Plugin description and features here.
Download plugin here.
Samples here.

One way to increase the page views and user participation on your wordpress blog is to introduce a discussion board. Of course, you should have a good reader base for the discussion board to function well. And there are theories that a discussion board will take the limelight from the blog and that it could harm your reader base.

I think it might be a good idea to add a forum/discussion board to your blog,

- if the topic of your blog is “discussion based” and

- if there are lot of people asking questions frequently on the comments section.

Of course, with the Threaded comments plugin it is easier to continue discussion on the blog itself but there are a few advantages to having an  exclusive forum.

• Unique content
  With every new thread, you open the opportunity to having exclusive and unique content, which is good food for the search engines.
• SEO
  With optimizing the forums (like PhpBB and Vanilla), you have a higher chance to target more terms on the search engines.
• Owner – User interaction
  What if Seth Godin and John Chow had forums? Or Matt Cutts ? There would be a lot of interaction with them and the readers right? Of course they might not have the time, but yes forums are necessary for discussions.

So how do you integrate a PhpBB forum with your wordpress blog?

1. Install a PhpBB forum at a convenient location. (Free installation available on most popular hosts)
2. Download and install this cool  Wordpress-PhpBB integration plugin.
3. Configure it and add the widgets.

Yea, no messy db integration and stuff. It’s a fairly simple process providing some very basic integration like when posting new content/article on the blog, it also creates a thread in the PhpBB installation. You can also add a widget featuring the latest posts on the wordpress blog.

A complete customizable, slick twitter plugin that auto refreshes without page reload. If that’s what you’ve been looking for then head over to Kishore Asokan’s blog. He has released a Wordpress plugin that does just that.

Here are it’s features, and I’m sure you’ll love it.

1. Update twitter status from your blog
2. Update twitter status from your blog
3. View and display public updates on your blog
4. View and display your followers updates on your blog
5. Simple installation
6. Widget Ready, just need to enable to use
7. Can be displayed anywhere on your blog, if not widgets
8. Fully customizable, size, font, font size, colour, number of updates, number of followers, etc
9. Regular Updates

It looks pretty much interesting, at least for the Twitter enthusiasts out there. If you didn’t like those boring non-customizable twitter boxes, try this.

Just to let you know that there are some minor yet noticeable changes in the DSB design right now.

Apart from this, there are some major design changes coming up soon, where there will be lot more cool things happening. This is a minor change, however.

I am in talks with a couple of Wordpress theme designers to finalize things. There are some promising entries, and exciting things ahead.

Why post this ?

I’m looking for feedback on the design from the readers. Simple.

To be honest I had a hard time trying to zero in on decisions, because every time I found a good thing, another one would replace it soon.
So I thought, since the colors and typography most affect the readers, why not ask them?

Please let me know your thoughts on the colors, design and the like. Also, please tell me what would you like to see on DSB?

There are suggestions on -

1. Grid based homepage design
2. More focus on content
3. Use of more soothing to eye colors
4. Use of more icons and images to help navigation easy

Of course, my eye will be to ensure a “content rich” feel to the website so that both new comers and loyal readers both benefit. After all, you are not here to discuss the new gadget review but to take home some practical SEO tips. So anything that will help better navigation, access to more content and ensures a “pleasant to the eye” feel is welcome.

Now, that you and your friends are tweeting more these days, it’s not alarming to see someone come up with the plugin.

And that someone is - Richard X Thripp, and the plugin in a simple wordpress one, that adds a cute twitter bird image on top right corner of all of your posts, which when users click takes them to their twitter homepage with a shortened URL for the post.

Essentially, it enables them to tweet the posts on your blog with ..hmmm…well two clicks !

And it has a cute roll over effect, where by, when you mouse over the little birdy takes color. (Just wish if there were some configurations available for changing the picture, it’s a bit smudgy, you know..)

Do you see the image on the top right corner of this post ? It’s already up there, and so far haven’t given me any errors or compatibility issues with other plugins.

Plugin details here and Download here.