WordPress Weekly - Episode 2

I really apologize for this weeks show. I wasn’t as prepared as I should of been and overall, it’s just been one hell of a week. There will be no WordPress Weekly Episode Three for the week of January 13th. However, the next episode of WordPress Weekly will be on Friday, January 25th, 2008. If you end up taking a listen to the show, I thank you for putting up with it. Next time, I will be well prepared and take the proper precautions to ensure that the next episode will be a good one. Thanks to Ronald, Brad and Andrew Rickmann for appearing on the show, I really appreciate it.

Show Notes:

Here are the stories we will discuss in Episode 2.

Matt Mullenweg Turns 24 Matt Mullenweg, one of the WordPress founders turns 24 years old. Happy birthday man.

WordPress Weekly Digest for Dec 31st 2007 - Jan 6th 2008. Peter Westwood lets us know what has been changed and or fixed within the WordPress core throughout this time period. There quite a few things that are worth sharing in this update such as, the integration of the functions that the Optimal Title plugin was known for, the introduction of auto-suggest for tags, a new sidebar interface to choose which widgets you want on which sidebar, and last but not least, changes to the dual/visual code editors to remember which one you used last.

Smashing Magazines 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes Smashing Magazine has done it again by publishing an article which highlights 100 different high quality WordPress Themes. Some of these I’ve seen before while there are also a few new ones in this pack.

Uninstall - Is There Such A Thing? Earlier this week, I posted an article that took a hard look as to what uninstall actually means when you look at WordPress plugins. This has been a hot topic of debate during the week and I feel it will probably take up most of the show.

General Motors Using WordPress - One of the new General Motors community websites has elected to use WordPress as their publishing platform of choice. Personally, I don’t like the design and they are already a version behind.

WordPress Tips Of The Week:

Jeffro2pt0 - How To: Blocking Your WordPress Categories and Archives From Google Kyle Eslick has posted a small guide which explains how to cut down on the internal duplicate content issue. As it turns out, the biggest culprit for duplicate content is the Archive pages.

Ronald - Separate trackbacks from comments. Click here for a tutorial from DBT. While you’re at it, allow users to comment without having to register.

Here’s a bonus tip: If you are releasing something that you expect to get a lot of trackbacks from (such as a plugin), turn trackbacks off. Trackbacks usually only benefit the blog author anyway.

Brad - Our To Do List Plugin A simple todo list plugin to share ideas/todos with blog members. All members work together to manage the todo list under “Manage” section in Wordpress administration interface.

Andrew Rickmann - An Uninstall tool that adds an uninstallation option on the plugins page. The uninstall option will only show up if the plugin has been deactivated and if the plugin author has created an uninstall file. Check out the second iteration of his tool, here.

Listener Participation:

So how can you be a part of the show? Well, there are a number of ways. The easiest way is to create an account on Talkshoe.com. Then, download and install their client software. The Talkshoe software serves as a bridge of communication between the host, and his/her listeners. The software contains a chat room as well as phone number information to call into the show.

However, you do not need to install the software in order to listen to the show live. Friday at 9PM EST, look on the front page of Talkshoe.com or click on the LIVE NOW button and look for the Wordpress Weekly show. Instead of clicking on the JOIN IN button, click underneath where it says LISTEN ONLY. This will tune you into the live stream.

If you want to call in to the show via telephone, Skype, etc., use your phone to call 724-444-7444 and follow the audio instructions. *Note* In one of the recent updates to Talkshoe, anonymous calling is now supported. This means you can call in and participate without the need to create a Talkshoe account. However, if you have a Talkshoe account, your registered name will show up within the Talkshoe client letting others know who is speaking.

You can also use SIP clients such as ProjectGizmo or X-Lite. For example, when I use X-Lite to dial in, I type in 123@66.212.134.192 and then follow the audio directions.

Remember this information as it will be required when you want to dial into the show.

Talkcast Name: WordPress Weekly

Talkcast ID: 34224

Phone Number: 724-444-7444