Pressing matters
I think it’s about time I dedicated a post to the power behind half of darrenalawi.com, Wordpress. I have used Wordpress since I started blogging and although it’s not perfect, it is absolutely amazing for an open source platform. The latest version, 2.5.1, is such a step up from previous versions both in terms of design and scalability. The admin area of version 2.5.1 has had a new fresh redesign, simplifying tasks making everything easier to use and keeping all your posts, users, comments and media organised.
As Wordpress is open source the developers all work closely with real users so it is spot on when it comes to what users want from a blogging platform. Wordpress as a ‘movement’ has been around for 5 years so they have been there from the start of the blogosphere. If you haven’t upgraded to the latest version I highly recommend it.
Wordpress is very flexible thanks to being ‘pluggable’. OK, what does that mean geekboy, I hear you ask, it basically means the developers of Wordpress have built in a number of functions that developers wishing to extend the functionality of Wordpress can utilise to develop ‘plugins’ that can make the platform do more. For example this blog uses 6 plugins within its overall design and functionality. Plugins are often available from the Wordpress Plugin Directory and are one of the main reasons why Wordpress is so successful. Here’s a list of the plugins I make use of:
AJAX Comments Not free this one but really worth the $1.00 requested as payment. This allows users to post comments without the page refreshing, using AJAX and some nice Javascript effects, you type, click and it’s there, no timely page reloads, slick.
Akismet World famous spam protection. Anyone running or starting a blog will soon become aware of comment spam. Spam bots automatically enter spam into your comments to attract traffic, they can really start to clutter up your posts and can lead to virus ridden web pages which your readers may visit. Not a problem with Akismet, say goodbye to comment spam.
Configure SMTP If your web host doesn’t support PHP Sendmail or disables it for security reasons, and you have a secure SMTP setup, you will need this. It allows you to configure Wordpress to use your secure SMTP server to send automatic Wordpress emails to you or your readers.
Google XML Sitemaps Superb plugin that generates new XML sitemaps every time you write a new post or change categories and submits them to Google and Yahoo etc. Saves you time and keeps the search engines up to date with all your posts.
Post Thumb Revisited This is my newest plugin, it creates thumbnails automatically from images in your posts and allows you to organise them in your design and link them to your posts allowing visitors to get around in a visual way. You will see them on my right hand menu and in any search results on this site.
Themed Login & Registration One of the annoying features of Wordpress is the Login and Registration page design. They are designed like the admin area with no function to change the design without substantial hacking of the core files so they never look like your theme. This plugin changes all that and allows additional formatting with CSS.
My last word on Wordpress has to be about hacking the core files. With a little of knowledge and a willingness to learn PHP, hacking the core of Wordpress is very tempting, especially if you are a perfectionist like me. So what does ‘hacking the core’ actually mean? Wordpress comes with a core of files that run the platform and these are files that are upgraded when ever new versions are released. When you change these ‘core files’ you are ‘hacking’ them because the platform was built based on the fact these files won’t be edited. This is why plugins were developed so the core could remain, but when you start hacking you suddenly find you have changed 20 or so of the core files and not kept track, so when it comes time to upgrade for whatever reason (security usually) whatever hacks you made will be lost. You can take your plugins with you to new version so these are the best way to extend Wordpress. I have stopped changing the core files and I just use plugins to get my blog to work the way I want, using Wordpress the way nature intended, sort of.
Update: This list has now changed based on a redesign of my site. If you want to know how anything in particular works, email me and ask.
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