Design by JellyBeen » plugins

BNS Featured Tag 1.5

Edward Caissie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:36:10 +0000

I just uploaded a short while ago the most recent update to the WordPress plugin BNS Featured Tag now at version 1.5.

Here is the recent changelog:

== Changelog ==

= 1.5 =
* added option to set the quantity of the first words of the post to display instead of the default excerpt.
* modified description to reflect new functionality
* slightly increased the size of option panel to better display controls

BNS Featured Tag functions essentially the same as BNS Featured Category. There are a few minor code differences, and the obvious tag versus category selectors. It is usually just a matter of clearing my schedule enough to update the code of one after adding the new functionality to the other. This time it took a few days … busy is good.

Three Plugins to Update

Edward Caissie — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:10:10 +0000

We have finished a review of the current versions of the last three of our plugins and made minor updates to all of them.

BNS Featured Category (version 1.4)
BNS Featured Tag (version 1.4)
BNS Corner Logo (version 1.1)

The modifications added a simple version check against the global $wp_version variable that holds the installed WordPress version number. Currently each plugin will only verify the installed version meets the minimum requirements based on functions being used.

There are future possibilities in creating an incentive for users to upgrade to the most current stable version of WordPress. We will be using this “check” method in all our themes and plugins. This verification process has been added to our BNS Login plugin and will be implemented in all of our existing themes with their next updates.

Sample code snippet for (current as of this writing) version checking:

global $wp_version;
$exit_message='This BuyNowShop theme/plugin recommends the use of WordPress 2.8.4, Please Update!';
if (version_compare($wp_version, "2.8.4", "<"))
	{
		exit ($exit_message);
	}

NB: Current version versus minimum version checks will be added at appropriate times.

BNS Corner Logo 1.0 Live

Edward Caissie — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:28:44 +0000

Our latest free WordPress plugin BNS Corner Logo is now live at WordPress.org. The code was checked in to the repository this morning and is now freely available to be downloaded and/or installed on your WordPress self-hosted blog.

Enjoy!

New Home

Edward Caissie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:38:36 +0000

We have just moved to a more flexible home. This is a sub-domain of one of our longest standing web sites, BuyNowShop.com.

Our former home at WordPress.com was a great place to start, but the lack of Plugin and widget access provided the impetus to move to a self-hosted WordPress blog.

We finally decided to go with the Desk Mess theme, below are some notes taken directly from the original authors details. We found a few corrections were needed, and will be making further modifications as we grow.

Original Theme Name: Desk Mess
Original Theme URI: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/desk-mess-wordpress-theme
Original Description: Casual work-desk theme for a different blogging experience. Brought to you Geek with Laptop
Original Version: 1.4
Original Author: Geek With Laptop
Original Author URL: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com
The CSS/XHTML is released under GPL: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php

Some fonts used in this theme that may or may not be installed on the reader’s computer:

Lucida Grande – general text (an Apple font – Windows emulation font package as Googled from this site)
Lucida Sans Unicode – general text
Copperplate Gothic Bold – the header text (one of our computers needed this font)

A final note, buyer beware: This theme was originally downloaded from www.ThemesPreview.com where we found they are adding an encoded “relay.php” file to most every theme they have available to be downloaded for free. This file is included in the “footer.php” file and creates a link to ad sites of one sort or another. I was disappointed.

I searched out the original author’s web site to download a clean and current version. I have no idea what else may be in these relay.php files but please, as a matter of peace of mind, be aware and check each file (line-by-line) in a text editor of any theme you acquire to make sure you are hopefully not getting something you did not want.

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WordPress MU 2.7 Out of the Box

Edward Caissie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:15:51 +0000

Just recently Donncha O Caoimh posted on his blog that WordPress Mu (2.7) was available. We have not had a great deal of time lately to stay on the bleeding edge of its development so this announcement was all we were waiting for to push two MU installations updates.

A quick review and some brief observations:

The combined time to update both WordPress Mu installations was slightly less than 20 minutes. An additional five minutes were needed to “fix” the “home” theme on the first installation. It was not a theme issue in as much as an installer issue. We are embarrassed to say we missed not over writing the theme folders during the update. We have a complete backup of all our active MU themes so the correction was made with a quick upload.

The general layout is very similar to a single user version of WordPress 2.7, with the exception of the newly included Admin bar by Viper007Bond at the top of the Dashboard screen. An unexpectedly nice touch that should be easily put to good use.

A job well done to all the developers and testers to get this to the public, we are looking forward to working more with this version of WordPress MU in the near future.

A curious question: how will you be using the new WordPress MU version 2.7?

WordPress MU Free Themes

WP e-Commerce Installation Fix

Edward Caissie — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:15:10 +0000

We have been reviewing various e-Commerce plugins recently and found issues with installing WP e-Commerce version 3.6.9 by Instinct Entertainment.

The problem, in its simplest form, is the zip file packaging. The WordPress automated Plugin installation program perpetuates this problem by not installing the Plugin correctly.

If you have already tried to install the WP e-Commerce Plugin prior to this you will need to remove it from you WordPress installation, just to make sure everything is tidy.

The solution to this problem is very easy to do. Its the old school approach: download the Plugin; unzip/extract to a location you will be able to access on your computer; upload the correct (see images below) folder to your Plugin (../wp-content/plugins/) directory. There, you are done. Go activate the Plugin and give it a try … we may add additional review details later.

Not this folder (wp-e-commerce)

Upload this folder (wp-shopping-cart)

If you do not have an FTP program to do this with, a very easy to use free program can be found under our Tools links.

Feel free to leave a comment with your solution to this problem; or, if you need additional help with your WordPress installation.

NB: This solution worked for our purposes. We cannot guarantee it will work under every circumstance. Please contact the author of the WP e-Commerce Plugin for more in depth support if required for this specific Plugin.

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