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FacebookSection Widget and Advanced XML Export — WordPress Plugin Winner and Runner Up
September 30th, 2009 | Posted in WordPress 5 Comments »
Section Widget
The winner of the latest WordPress plugin competition is the Section Widget by Godfrey Chan. I was exploring it yesterday, and I’ve got to say, it’s one super cool widget. Look in the lower-right corner of my sidebar to see it in action.
The Section Widget provides a tabbed widget, first of all. On each of the tabs, you can type your own text or code. You can also choose from one of about 20 different styles. And you can apply logic to the widget’s appearance in your blog, so you can set it to display only on certain categories, pages, or sections.
I like the tabbed widget because it allows me to display content in a compressed way — content that would otherwise be buried in my archives. I chose to add two custom bookmark lists and one list of random posts. (I chose the posts in my bookmark lists rather quickly — one tab shows my top 10 or so, another contains posts oriented for students.)
I did have a little trouble getting the Section Widget installed. It seems to take a lot of memory, so you may have to disable your other plugins first (if you run into trouble).
The two runner up plugins are Advanced Export for WP and WPMU, and Live Blogging. The Advanced Export is quite useful as well because although you can export your posts from WordPress using the built-in exporter (Tools > Export), the file is usually larger than 2 MB, which is problematic. When you try importing an XML file larger than 2 MB into another WordPress installation, the PHP rules block it because of a standard 2 MB limit.
To get around the limit, you have to install a php.ini file (which controls how your server’s PHP handles scripts) in your file directory, and then tweak a few limits within that file. In my experience, tweaking the php.ini file is anything but intuitive and sometimes doesn’t work. It’s much easier to just export about 7-8 separate XML files (broken up by date) and then upload them individually.
As for the Live Blogging plugin, I don’t have a use for it, but if you’re attending a live event or updating scores for a football game, it might be useful.
I wonder how that will work in the real world. Most people I think sit in the car and look at the manual so they can try out the features they are trying to figure out. How does this work when you have to go inside to watch the dvd? Or do you bring your laptop out to the car?
They have quick ref guides for the car. If you have a larger task, something that you wouldn’t be able to do beside the highway, I presume, then you go online and consult the larger reference DVD.
That widget is sweet. I think it’s a better solution for my blog than changing themes so I have two sidebars. This will allow me to put more in the one sidebar without it running vertically forever. Thanks for announcing it.
One note about the Section Widget plugin — if you want to run PHP in the tabs, such as the wp_lists_bookmark () code, then you need to also install PHP Exec or some other plugin that allows you to run PHP in text widgets.
I wonder how that will work in the real world. Most people I think sit in the car and look at the manual so they can try out the features they are trying to figure out. How does this work when you have to go inside to watch the dvd? Or do you bring your laptop out to the car?