Google have released the Google Web Toolkit — “Build AJAX apps in the Java language”. At first I thought this might just be their version of the Yahoo UI Library, but it turns out to be a completely different approach to the same problem. The YUI Library (and most other Ajax libraries) allow you to build a Web UI directly, using HTML and JavaScript. With GWT, you write a GUI application in Java, and GWT translates it into JavaScript and HTML for web deployment. It’s a less flexible approach, but could make it easier for Java developers to develop web applications with desktop-style GUIs — if this is what they really want. Continue reading “Google Web Toolkit” →
Ajax: How to do it
Ajax and “Web 2.0” have been getting more and more exposure over the last year or so. It may not be quite the revolution it’s cracked up to be, but behind the hype there are useful techniques for building better applications. When people start asking you what you’re doing with Ajax/Web 2.0, you should have a good answer — so here are some thoughts on what you can do about Ajax. Continue reading “Ajax: How to do it” →
Plaintext WordPress plugin version 1.4
I have updated my Plaintext WordPress plugin to version 1.4. Plaintext allows you to distribute web source code (such as PHP or HTML) as plain text files, without being processed by your web server. This makes it easier for users to download your code. This new version has two important new features: Continue reading “Plaintext WordPress plugin version 1.4” →
Evermore WordPress plugin version 2
I have finally released the next generation of Evermore, my WordPress plugin for automatically displaying post previews on your homepage. Version 2 (formerly known as “More Evermore”) behaves very much like version 1 by default, but its behaviour can be adjusted through the new Options page.
The most exciting option is the ability to display more than one paragraph in the preview. You can also add special handling for very short paragraphs, and control the position of the “read more” link in the preview.
For details and download, see the main Evermore page.
Evermore WordPress plugin version 1.0.1
I have updated Evermore, my WordPress plugin for automatically displaying just the first paragraph of posts on your homepage. I fixed an obscure problem that could cause Evermore to misbehave if a post contained a line break in its first paragraph.
And I hope shortly to bow to popular demand and release Evermore’s sequel, More Evermore. This adds a few more options, such as ignoring very short paragraphs; displaying more than one paragraph; and attaching the “more” link to the end of the paragraph rather than on a line by itself.
Code Markup WordPress plugin version 1.1
My Code Markup WordPress plugin has been updated to version 1.1. Code Markup makes it easy to include program code samples in your posts. You can even include HTML markup in the code sample; Code Markup magically knows which characters should be displayed as code and which should be rendered as HTML. This new version has a few nice new features: Continue reading “Code Markup WordPress plugin version 1.1” →
WordPress 2 plugins
WordPress 2 was released a couple of weeks ago, and I have now had the chance to test my plugins to see if they are compatible with the new version. Here’s the list of current plugins. All the pages for the various plugins now have compatibility information — all future plugin pages will have this information also. Continue reading “WordPress 2 plugins” →
Search Meter WordPress plugin updated
I have updated my Search Meter WordPress plugin, based on feedback from its many thousands of satisfied users. (That figure is an estimate based on the half-dozen users that I actually know about.) The new version has the following new features. Continue reading “Search Meter WordPress plugin updated” →
Plaintext: a WordPress plugin
When you click one of my PHP code download links (for example, the Less WordPress plugin), you see the PHP source code on your screen, even though the file is a .php file. How do I stop the server executing the PHP code? With a WordPress plugin, of course. Continue reading “Plaintext: a WordPress plugin” →
Popularity Contest for Pages
I’ve been enjoying Alex King’s excellent Popularity Contest plugin for several weeks now. It’s fascinating to see which posts are being viewed, commented, tracked and pinged, all through the one interface. After using it for a while, I thought of a useful way to extend it and also found and fixed a wee problem. Perhaps these changes will make their way into the next version of Alex’s plugin, but till then you can always download my version from here. Continue reading “Popularity Contest for Pages” →