Category: Software

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Software

Distraction-free writing

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Having trouble focusing on your blogging with various distractions all around you? Maybe you should consider disconnecting and simply just writing. And while you’re at it, how about using a full–screen text editor? You’ve probably heard of the Mac–only WriteRoom, which simply works great for that purpose. For Windows, Dark Room was among the first to offer the same experience for Windows users. And now, we have Q10. Taking the same essential ideas from WriteRoom and Dark Room, Q10 offers a few more helpful features, like writing statistics and the like. Try it!

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Software WordPress

Fake WordPress version

By now you’ve heard about the recent fake WordPress 2.6.4 that included backdoored code, be sure to take precautions about your install. And to avoid problems, try to follow some tips I’ve given on securing your WordPress blog.

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News Problogging Tools Software WordPress

WordPress 2.6 now available

You’ve heard this news from everyone else so I won’t be doing more damage if I tell you that WordPress 2.6 is now officially available. There are lots of features to love about this one, but more importantly getting the latest version ensures that you are also using the most secure release available. And you need that, it’s a scary place out there.

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Software WordPress

Hacked WordPress themes

Do you frequently download new WordPress themes for testing and use in your various problogs? Please be aware of this issue and take caution. Various exploitative sites have been “re–publishing” popular themes but with unwelcome additions that may cause unwanted results in your blog.

Derek Punsalan wrote about the problem after some of his themes were redistributed with malicious code added.

For now, the best solution is to get your themes from reputable publishers, directly from the theme authors themselves. The WP Theme Viewer is a good resource for finding quality themes. Another option would be to get PHP/WordPress developers knowledgeable with the platform to audit themes you intend to use to make sure they’re free of malicious code.

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News Software

WordPress 2.2 released

I’m sure you’ve heard about the release of WordPress 2.2, codenamed “Getz.” This latest version brings some new features for the userbase, mostly under the hood. As stated in the development weblog’s announcement:

  • WordPress Widgets allow you to easily rearrange and customize areas of your weblog (usually sidebars) with drag-and-drop simplicity. This functionality was originally available as a plugin Widgets are now included by default in the core code, significantly cleaned up, and enabled for the default themes.
  • Full Atom support, including updating our Atom feeds to use the 1.0 standard spec and including an implementation of the Atom Publishing API to complement our XML-RPC interface.
  • A new Blogger importer that is able to handle the latest version of Google’s Blogger product and seamlessly import posts and comments without any user interaction beyond entering your login.
  • Infinite comment stream, meaning that on your Edit Comments page when you delete or spam a comment using the AJAX links under each comment it will bring in another comment in the background so you always have 20 items on the page. (I know it sounds geeky, but try it!)
  • We now protect you from activating a plugin or editing a file that will break your blog.
  • Core plugin and filter speed optimizations should make everything feel a bit more snappy and lighter on your server.
  • We’ve added a hook for WYSIWYG support in a future version of Safari.

Now aside from that official list, Technosailor lists 10 Things You Should Know About WordPress 2.2 which should provide you an idea on what to expect from the latest WordPress.

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Software Statistics

Better WordPress Stats

There are many competitors in the traffic analysis field with services popping left and right, though not one service has dominated the market in a major way. This is mostly because not everyone looks at their data in the same way as others, and we all have our own personal preferences in their presentation. Since most probloggers use WordPress as their weapon of choice for publishing their various niche weblogs, Automattic Stats might work for some of us. This plugin used to be available for wordpress.com users only, but now released for use by anyone self–hosting their WordPress blogs.

Have a look at it and evaluate if this is the stat tracking package you’ve always waited for.