DKF – Digital Knowledge Factory

分类： Application

  • FeatPlug – The Way Your Featured Posts Are Meant to Be Displayed

    It’s been a while since my last post, er…, quite a while. Being busy is not an excuse, I just don’t feel like writing, or am simply getting lazier. Anyway, I see blogging constantly as a way of exercising my patience, so I’ll keep doing it.

    Today’s highlight is cast on FeatPlug, which is

    “a WordPress plugin that can mine your blog’s content and generate ‘featured content’ section for your site using the suitable stories”.

    Anyone ever tried a magazine-style WordPress theme knows what the “featured content” is – a section that makes some of your posts distinguished from the rest and your blog to be more appealing. The only problem with this, is instead of getting everything done automatically, you have to add the custom fields manually. I’ve tried some scripts that will do the job, such as TimThumb, but still, there’re limitations (like, the path to the image must be relative).

    And for now, those problems are in the past, because we have this fantastic plugin FeatPlug (see the RiWiA homepage for a demo). To get the featured content section, just upload and activate the plugin, and put the function call in a proper place among your codes. It then searches the very posts for images and display them in the format you indicate. All you have to do, is to compose the posts as usual, and that’s it, nothing more. The jobs after that are taken care of by this amazing plugin. FeatPlug also brings along 3 completely different templates to show your featured posts: imagemenu, slideshow and banners. And there’s more, you can even create template of your own.

    The features FeatPlug provides include: image caching, template support, layered architecture, image enlarging, broken image checking and WordPress MU support. Check this page for more info about it.

  • Tiny Post URL

    TinyURL

    Image via Wikipedia

    Just found a WordPress Plugin for GO.6.CN written by fairyfish , which generates a shorter URL for every post using service provided by go.6.cn . I started to think that, hey, why not make a similar one using TinyURL? That must be fun. The problem was, I couldn’t find the API on TinyURL’s homepage. Google did help at that time. Surprisingly, TinyURL has a really simple API, which is too simple to describe. Scripting News gave the detail info here .

    Description

    Finally, here it is. A WordPress Plugin named "Tiny Post URL", which adds a TinyURL at the end of the post. Share it, enjoy it, have fun!

    DOWNLOAD

    Installation

    1. Unzip the tiny-post-url.zip file.
    2. Upload the the tiny-post-url.php file to your wp-content/plugins folder. If you’re using FTP, use binary mode.
    3. In your WordPress administration, go to the Plugins page and activate this plugin.
    4. That’s it! No configuration needed.

    Any suggestions or advice, feel free to contact me.

    Zemanta Pixie

  • Zemanta – Blogging in a Brand New Way

    Preface

    Once I thought I could not write without Windows Live Writer, but I was wrong. I would not give up WLW just because I did not have the reason to. And now, here comes the very reason: zemanta. Since zemanta only works in a browser, I have to stop using WLW.

    What is zemanta?

    Zemanta is a browser-based extension which makes your blogging easy and creative. There are 2 types of it available: a Firefox extension or a WordPress (or other blogging platforms) plugin. Zemanta will help you blog in so many ways, including automatically searches for the related links, tags, pictures and articles according to what you’re writing currently. Using zemanta to blog

    • saves time – relevant content from around the web brought to you as you’re typing.
    • drives traffic – search engines love better tagged content. Plus, Zemanta links your posts to others across the web having related conversations.
    • works everywhere – you can use Zemanta on any popular blogging platform or browser

    screenshot

    For more info read the FAQ or watch the screencast.

    Pros and cons?

    We do everything based on some counting nowadays. Usually, the list becomes long and the decision is hard to make, but not for this one.

    • Pros: Everything you need is provided automatically. That’s amazing and convenient.
    • Cons: The number of pictures inserted to your post can only be 1 for the moment. And the position of the picture is fixed to top left or top right. If you ever want to insert a 2nd picture, you’ll have to copy the one present and paste it somewhere else. Then select another image.

    Where can I get it?

    Zemanta Pixie

  • Stop Hotlinking with htaccess in WordPress


    I didn’t store any images in my site before, because I don’t want to see any of my bandwidth consumed by others who are hotlinking my files. Even when I started to use magazine-style themes, which require a lot of images, I didn’t upload images here.

    Everything changed when I found a script called timthumb by Darren Hoyt. You can utilize this script to display custom-field image in whatever size you want. The only handcuff of the script is, you’ll have to upload your own image or it won’t work. It is so convenient that I decide to obey the rule.

    Then the hotlinking protection problem comes into my sight. Most of the online articles talk about how to add some rewrite rules into your .htaccess file to stop hotlinking, but they don’t take WordPress into account, neither do they explain the meaning of the rules. Now that WordPress also uses the .htaccess file to achieve the permanent link function, if you don’t put those rules in the proper order, either the protection doesn’t function or the permanent links are not reachable.

    So, if you happen to run into the same problem as I do, let’s figure it out now. Here’s how: simply put these lines below into your .htaccess file and everything is under control. I’ll explain the codes later.

    # BEGIN WordPress
    <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?ralphdunn\.com/ [NC]
    RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif|bmp|png)$ – [F]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
    </IfModule>
    # END WordPress

    EXPLANATIONS

    1. The line “RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$” means allow empty referrals, that is, an image could be shown by opening its link in the address bar.
    2. The line “RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?ralphdunn\.com/ [NC]” matches any requests from ralphdunn.com URL. Just replace “ralphdunn” with your own domain name.
    3. The line “RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif|bmp|png)$ – [F]” matches any files ending with the extension jpeg, jpg, gif, bmp, or png. A 403 Forbidden error code will be displayed instead of an image.
    4. The rest of lines are used to get the permanent link to work.
    5. “NC” in square braces means Not Case-sensitive, while “F” means 403 Forbidden.

    MORE INFO

    • For detail information and alternatives, visit altlab. There is also a strong hotlinking testing tool located at coldlink.
    FOOTNOTES

    Playboy

    Image by delunita via Flickr

    1. Hotlinking protection is implemented through judging the HTTP_REFERER sent by your browser, and if you’re using Firefox, you may simply modify some configuration in about:config or install a certain plugin to hack it. Because it is way out of the current topic, I don’t think further discussion should be made here. Go google it yourself, and you’ll find it’s easy.
    2. The Greek codes are regular expressions. If you plan to get an in-depth understanding of them, here’s a book you may refer to: Mastering Regular Expressions.
    3. For those who have done reading this long post, the photo is your reward. ^^
    Zemanta Pixie

  • Snippely – Adobe AIR application to organize snippets

    Snippely is an Adobe AIR based app. I don’t know how this app came into my sight, it’s just there, awaiting me to explore its advantages. It does help, especially when you have lots of code snippets to organize.

    As you can see, the UI is simple and easy to use. The snippets are organized in groups. Code highlight is also supported if you choose the right type of your content. Actually, I install the Adobe AIR platform all because of Snippely. Below is the description by the author:

    Description

    Snippely is a basic text and code organizational tool. Instead of storing bits of code, quick notes, and memos in text files all over your hard drive, this application will let you save and organize "snippets" in one convenient location. A snippet is a collection of one or more pieces of code and notes. Snippets are stored in groups for organization and quick retrieval.

    A snippet is composed of a title, description, and one or more ‘snips’. You can add any number of note and code snips in a variety of different languages (more to be added). When not being edited, the snip will be syntax highlighted according to the language selected. Snips are also sortable so you can organize your snippet however you want. Since everything is saved to a local database as you work, there’s no need to worry about pressing the save button or submitting a form.

    Visit its project page for everything you need.

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  • Vista系统下为Firefox手动安装Flash插件

    当你在Vista系统下装好了Firefox，却发现似乎flash插件装不上……点击“安装缺失的插件”按钮、按照向导提示操作、重启Firefox，但是插件仍然没装上。烦死啦！

    多次重复上述步骤根本没用，其实你可以通过简单几步来手动安装插件。

    注：这个方法是通用的，可用于安装其它任何插件。

    在Vista系统下手动安装Flash插件

    首先你需要下载插件文件，可以右键点击以下链接然后“另存为”。

    http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/xpi/current/flashplayer-win.xpi

    下载完成后重命名文件的扩展名为zip：

    双击解压该文件，因为xpi文件实际上就是zip文件重命名后得到的。

    现在你需要从解压所得的文件中拷贝两个，到另外两个目录中的一个，选择哪个目录取决于你想为本机所有用户安装该插件，还是只为当前用户安装。

    需要拷贝的文件是这两个：

    • flashplayer.xpt
    • NPSWF32.dll

    为所有用户安装

    在到下面的路径中找到Firefox的插件安装目录：

    C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins

    注：如果你使用的是64位Vista系统，路径中会包含(x86)字样（如下图）；若你使用的是便携版的Firefox，插件目录的具体路径会有所区别，但目录结构是一样的，所以你可以自行查找确定位置。

    粘贴上述两个文件至该目录下（其间会有UAC提示），然后重启Firefox即可。

    仅为当前用户安装

    如果你没有当前所用机器的管理权限，或者你只想为当前账号安装插件，那么找到下面的路径：

    %APPDATA%\Mozilla

    在Mozilla目录下创建名为“Plugins”的目录（如果该目录不存在）：

    然后粘贴上述两个文件至Plugins目录并重启Firefox即可。

    验证安装效果

    你可以在地址栏输入about:plugins以查看插件是否被正确加载：

    当然，最简单的验证方法是查看之前无法正常观看的页面。 =)

    原作者：The Geek

    翻译：Ralph “RAL” Dunn

    原文链接：http://feeds.howtogeek.com/~r/HowToGeek/~3/297649543/

    HowToGeek.com版权所有并授权翻译，如需转载，请保留上述信息。

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  • 最新发布的WordPress插件（2008年6月5日）

    is_human()

    is_human()是WorPress中最简洁扩展性最强的身份验证系统，有3种验证类型可供用户选择，其脚本也可以在每次页面载入的时候调用。

    WP Comment Remix

    WP Comment Remix允许你回复和引用评论者的链接，同时也在后台提供了一个功能更强的评论编辑页面。

    WP-Help

    WP Help让你可以在WordPress后台创建一个简单的帮助或指引页面，以显示你所选择的特定信息。

    Image Upload HTTP Error Fix

    该插件可以修复WordPress（2.5以上版本）在文件上传中出现的HTTP错误。

    Photo Galleria

    Photo Galleria是一个为影友、设计者打造的简洁优雅的插件，它通过调用jQuery framework生成漂亮的照片展示相册。

    WP Movie Ratings

    WP Movie Ratings使电影评分变得简单，其核心是一个与imdb相连的书签，借助AJAX技术实现一键点击给电影打分的功能。

    Widgetized Admin Dashboard

    Widgetized Admin Dashboard是一个供2.5以上版本WordPress使用的插件，通过它你可以在“设计”-“Widgets”里编辑Wordpress Dashboard的内容。

    原作者：Keith Dsouza

    翻译：Ralph “RAL” Dunn

    原文链接：http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2008/06/04/wordpress-plugin-releases-for-64/

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  • New Version of WLW Available

    Update:
    It is most likely that I found a bug in this version. I checked the option “check spelling before publishing” in Options – Spelling. It seems to work but the final article posted on my weblog is the same. All the error spellings are left untouched. That’s strange.

    Writer Zone released the latest technical preview of Windows Live Writer.

    I’ve been looking forward to it for so long, cos WLW is like the most convenient blog-writing tool I’ve ever used.

    Here are the new features with snapshots:

    Video and Image Publishing Enhancements
    • Upload videos to Soapbox (It’s kinda weird that I can’t find the related-option…)
    • Image cropping and tilting (still, only for local pictures)
    • Additional border styles (same as above)
    • Support for LightBox and other image previewing effects (like Slimbox, Smoothbox, and others) (local files only)
    • Support for centering images (oh yeah, that’s it! I’m wondering why it is not supported in former versions)

    Editing Enhancements
    • Auto Linking (really useful)
    • Smart quotes/typographic characters
    • Word count (helpful for serious writer ^^)

    UI Improvements
    • Revised main toolbar
    • Tabs for view switching
    • Improved category control with search/filtering

    this handy tool to make your blogging easy!

  • 在Firefox 3中找回丢失或误删的智能书签

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  • Several Firefox Features You Should Know

     

    To be honest, I’m new to Firefox. Through plenty of IE-cored browsers and Opera (which is a powerful browser too, but does not have as many extensions as Firefox do. And that’s why I have to give it away), I got here eventually. Although I’m not using it for long, it doesn’t keep me from loving this amazing browser, since there’re a lot of ready-to-be-used extensions for us to make customizations. Or, maybe I should say "way to many". ^^

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