Shiny New WordPress Embossed Moleskine

Shiny New WordPress Embossed Moleskine, originally uploaded by digitalthom.

- cameraphone upload by ShoZu

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WordCamp Utah 2008 Wrap Up

Had a great time at WordCamp Utah on Saturday. The Open Source Technology Center at Novell was great. There was plenty of water and snacks. And there were plenty of people in attendance.

I have to give thanks to Joseph Scott for pulling off such a great event.

Here are some pictures I took at WordCamp. I'm using the NextGen Gallery plug-in instead of Flickr. While I use the gallery feature to store pictures, audio and video, I didn't use it to actually show a gallery of photos.

After some struggle to get the gallery manager to work right, I think I finally have it figured out. I think the issue was more user error than application error.

[album=1,extend]

And a link to my presentation video from Ustream. Thanks to RockyMountainVoices.com and Jake Spurlock for the video.

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Speaking At WordCamp Utah 2008

I'm excited that WordCamp has been scheduled for Utah. I'm an avid WordPress fan, developer, hack, and bigot. OK, I love other software too, but I really do use WordPress for a lot of projects.

Joseph Scott of Automattic has worked really hard to get this WordCamp going, and I think there is a fantatic lineup of speakers. You will be rocked by Cameraon Moll, Ash Buckles, Alex King, Richard Miller, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, and myself. I'll be talking about using WordPress with podcasts, video and other media.

The event will take place September 27th, at the Novell Open Source Technology Center in Provo, UT. Registration is cheap, includes a t-shirt and lunch. It's on a Saturday so there shouldn't be an excuse for not coming.

If you want to learn more about WordPress, its future, and some of the really cool things that can be done with the tool, please come.

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Could This Be A Hot Solution To My Flickr Post Problem?

If you're a Flickr user, and want to post photos to your blog, you know there is no way to add categories or tags to the post. There could be a plug-in solution, but I couldn't find it. Seriously, I looked for a long time. If there is one that does what I'm proposing, please let me know and I will update this post and back out what I've done.

This solution isn't for the faint of heart. And I'm not 100% sure how secure it is. But I know for a fact it works just like I want. Here is the scenario and my hack:

1. Create a new WordPress user for Flickr posts. Doesn't matter what you call it. Just make sure it has posting rights.
2. Add you blog, or modify and existing entry, in your Flickr account. How to do this is beyond the scope of my explanation.
3. Use the new WordPress user you created in step one in your Flickr blog settings.
4. Modify you xmlrpc.php file that sits in your WordPress root folder, with the below code. It would be in the same place as wp-config.php.

Here is where it gets a little hairy. Find the line which has this code snippet. Mine starts on line 1578, but yours may differ. It's in the function mw_newPost($args):

if (is_array($catnames)) {

foreach ($catnames as $cat) {

$post_category[] = get_cat_ID($cat);

}

}

Just above the code on line 1578, add this code snippet:

if ( $user_login == '*NEW_USER_NAME*' ) {

$catnames[] = '*CATEGORY*';

$tags_input[] = '*TAG1*';

$tags_input[] = '*TAG2*';

}

Save the file. Flickr gives you the ability to create a test post. I would recommend you do that before calling it good. Make SURE to remove any entries in the Settings/Writing/Update Services box before testing or your test post will show up in your RSS feed and anywhere else that you ping a new post.

Now, when you post from Flickr, using the correct WordPress user, you should have an entry in the category you choose, with the tags you want. You can add as many tags, or even categories as you like.

Again, there may be a more elegant solution that I haven't found, but for now this solves my problem. I suppose you could use this for any outside service that uses XMLRPC to post to your blog.

I'm also interested in hearing about potential security issues with this solution.

Photo courtesy of poolie.

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WordCamp Coming To Utah

Joseph Scott mentioned to me at PodCampSLC that he was interested in having a WordCamp here in Utah. I thought it was a fantastic idea. So over the past few weeks we've talked about it and it looks like the event is going forward.

Because this is a community event, it's important that everyone get involved early. We only have a few months to put a great camp together. Please join us on April 10th at 6:30, Applebees in Draper, for a first draft WordCamp Utah meet-up. There's a lot to cover and we need as many people as possible to help out. Let us know you're coming on upcoming.org.

Another thing we want is bloggers to present topics at WordCamp. There will be a spot on the WordCamp Utah site to register and sign up to present.

This is a great opportunity to meet other WordPress bloggers, learn more about the platform, network, and get some great ideas to succeed.

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Great Meetup With Matt Mullenweg Of Automattic

Had the great opportunity to meet with Matt Mullenweg of Automattic (creators of Wordpress) today. He was in Salt Lake City and was kind enough to attend a lunch. There were about 40 people there and I met a lot of new local Salt Lake bloggers. I hope these new found friends will attend future events. Building a strong blogger community is important for everyone. Thanks for the fun.

Thanks to Joseph Scott for getting this lunch put together.

Pictures from the lunch on Flickr.

(P.S. Sorry Matt for spelling your last name wrong, what a moron I am.)

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Matt Mullenweg In Utah For WordPress Meetup

I'm sure that's not the only reason Matt Mullenweg will be in Utah, but he was kind enough to extend his stay to meet with the locals, at a great Indian food place called Taj India. If you're going to be in Salt Lake City on February 2nd, you should join us.

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WordPress Plug-ins I Use And Why

My WordPress blog uses several plug-ins, and I thought I would share with you what they are and why I use them.

• Akismet: Comment spam prevention. This is an essential plug-in for any blog.
• All in One SEO Pack: This plug-in helps me build SEO friendly links.
• Comment Referrers: This give me additional information when someone posts a comment. Its sent to me via the notification email and doesn't appear any where on the blog.
• Comment Timeout: I use this to lock comments on posts so many days after I post them.
• Counterize II: This is a great statistics plug-in. I'm using this because I'm trying to find a really statistics program for WordPress.
• Dunstan-style Error Page: This plug-in allows me to create a custom 404 error page.
• Easy Tube: This plug-in helps me embed YouTube videos in a post.
• Enforce www. Preference: I like my blog URL to be www.digitalthom.com. When someone enters digitalthom.com it basically prepends www to incoming URL.
• Exec-PHP: This plug-in allows me to add PHP code top posts or widgets.
• Executable PHP widget: This is a plug-in that lets me add PHP specific widgets to the sidebar.
• Feed Locations: This plug-in allows me to change the default location of my RSS feed.
• Fotobook: Small plug-in that allows me to integrate my Facebook Photos. It integrates right into my blog and works better than the Flickr photo albums I've tried.
• Full Feed: This plug-in creates full posts in my RSS feed.
• Gravatar: Some themes require this plug-in to allow users avatars show in comments.
• iWPhone: This is a plug-in/theme specifically for the iPhone. I use this for all my iPhone readers.
• Link Harvest: I'm testing this plug-in to see of it has any value to my readers. It basically takes all links referenced in posts and pages and creates a collapsible list.
• Most Commented: This plug-in creates a small list of the most commented on posts.
• Popularity Contest: This plug-in shows a popularity percentage on each post.
• Recent Comments: This plug-in shows the last number of comments made.
• Recent Posts: This plug-in shows me the last number of posts.
• Related Entries: This plug-in displays 5 links that relate to the current post.
• Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form: This plug-in allows me to create a secure comments form.
• Spam Karma 2: This plug-in eats spam for lunch.
• SpotMilk: This plug-in changes how the administrative tool looks, like a skin, well, it is a skin.
• Subscribe To Comments: This plug-in gives my readers the ability to subscribe to comments via email. I use this so readers can track comments on a post.
• WordPress Heat Map: this plug-in creates a heat map collection of post tags.
• WordPress Mobile: This plug-in makes my blog mobile accessible. I use this plug-in for all my PDA users.
• WP-ShortStat: This is a statistics plug-in.
• WP-UserOnline: This plug-in shows me who's online reader in real time.
• WP-UserOnline Widget: This is the widget that actually shows who's online.
• WPhone: This plug-in allows me to manage my blog from a mobile phone.
• WP lightbox 2: This plug-in blows up images in a blog post making them easier to see.

That's it. Not too many but they really help me keep this blog running.

What do you use on your blog, WordPress or not?

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