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New version of WP Auction Lite

Owen — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:51:50 +0000

I’ve just dropped another version of WP Auctions Lite, to correct a small bug that was displaying a warning message whenever a page is loaded. It’s quite fortunate that Wordpress supports the ability to tell you automatically if there’s a new drop of a plugin you’re using. It’s easy for me to push out a new version regardless of whether it’s a feature change or a bug fix.

It’s a great little plugin that lets you sell anything you like, from coconuts all the way to Lipovox. Give it a try if you want to turn your blog into a fully fledged auction machine. If you like it, you may even want to consider purchasing WP Auctions Pro, the premium version with a bunch more features.

Upgraded to WordPress 3.0 Beta 2

Owen — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:04:14 +0000

I’ve upgraded to Wordpress 3.0 Beta 2 and I must say, there are a couple of great improvements in this new feature. I haven’t tried out all the new features, but the ones I tried are working very nicely. So far I’ve tried custom posts (new plugin in the pipeline) and I’ve also converted Arthur’s First Steps into a WordPress Multisite installation down at The Owenson Kids.

It’s great when you get new features like that free. A software upgrade can open the door to a whole bunch of functionality you get for free. It doesn’t matter if you have a website dedicated to your family, or to apidexin reviews, you get all this stuff for free when you upgrade to the next version.

We’re almost up to WordPress 3.0

Owen — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:30:44 +0000

Ist looks like we’re on a final sprint to get Wordpress 3.0 Beta 2 out. There’s a call for developers to come and make a final push to sort out some bugs. The second Beta is slated for next Monday, and it’s worth testing it out on your blog just to make sure everything works as you expect. It doesn’t matter if your blog is all about jokes or focused on lipofuze reviews, you always need to keep it running on the latest version of the platform, and 3.0 has some major changes in it.

Did you know, for example that you can turn your blog into a multi-blog platform with WordPress 3.0. Must be some major changes in there, so wait for Beta 2 and try it out on your blog.

Get your Persona on – Wordpress style

Owen — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:56:39 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

If you use Firefox you may have noticed that in the latest versions they introduced Personas, a way to skin your browser with a theme that you can also carry to Thunderbird. Well, the boys down at Wordpress are drawing our attention to a couple of Wordpress inspired personas that would fit just great on the desktop of all your Wordpress designers, plugin authors or general geek. So put away your sat prep material, pump up the volume and party on with your new Wordpress personas for Firefox.

If you’re not on Firefox yet, than it’s a must have: get Firefox

A WordPress guru with an MBA

Owen — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:28:59 +0000

You might now know this about me, but a few months ago I got my MBA and it’s been interesting combining it with my technical (including WordPress) skills. The great thing nowadays is that you can do the whole thing online, which is how I did mine, seeing my university only when I actually graduated.

One please you can do this in the US is Western Governers University, where you can get an online degree in a variety of subjects including a masters degree online. They offer courses in business, IT, health and education and seem to have a great track record. I haven’t done anything with them, but I can vouch that studying online is an extremely effective way of meeting your educational goals without too much impact on your daily life.

Using WordPress as a CMS

Owen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:30:55 +0000

Just came across a great post that goes into some excellent detail about using WordPress as a CMS. It goes into some detail about how you should use Pages and Posts for this purpose but the gem is the checklist at the end. Here’s the advice:

Is there even a need for a CMS for the client?
Is WordPress the correct CMS? Will it fit the needs? Is the translations available for the WordPress backend good enough? How will it be upgraded?
Will I need to extend WordPress using plugins? Are any hacks to the core necessary, because if they are, how will I make sure that these won’t break when the core is upgraded?
What types of content will there be, and what should be deemed static (i.e. use Pages), and what is flowing updates (i.e. Posts)? How will I present this, and what is the main type of content?
How will the permalink structure be? Should it really say “category”, why not “view” or “updates” or something else?
Will the menu be static (i.e. coded into the theme) or controlled by WordPress (i.e. listing using WordPress tags for Pages and categories)? How could this go wrong in the future?
What hierarchy will the Pages have? This is important for the URL, since it should be coherent with the menu hierarchy after all.
How will I present sub-pages (i.e. Pages having a mother Page)? Should there be any at all?
Do I need Page templates for various sections? How will these work with sub-pages?
What categories will I use? Should the client be allowed to create new categories?
How will I present Posts content?
Do I need category templates for the various categories?

It’s a great checklist to work through and can help you structure what you’re about to do. A number of blogs are echoing how successful they’ve been using WordPress in this way, though really it should be a tool you consider rather than jumping straight into it.