CTC – Version 4.1 Released

Just a quick release to add a feature and fix one. The new feature is the ability to randomly sort the tag cloud. This option will show a completely different order of the tags to each visitor to your site. Not really earth-shattering, but it was asked for, so there it is.

The fix is in relation to the use of categories in the cloud. Due to laziness on my part, I released version 4.0 before thoroughly testing this aspect of the plugin. The problem was, your category links were being treated as tags, and therefore not getting a valid link created for them. This has now been fixed.

As always, you can find the download and comment on the plugin on the CTC page.

CTC – Version 4.0 Released

Hot on the heels of version 3.1 (and the very minor 3.2) comes the all new version 4.0 of my configurable tag cloud widget for WordPress 2.3+. What makes it new, you ask? Well, how about the ability to include your WordPress categories in your tag cloud? It’s a feature that people have been (erroneously) assuming CTC supports for a while, but I never could get it to work…well, now I have. It’s as simple as adding another parameter to your template tag, or clicking a radio button in the widget admin. Give it a try, I’m sure you’ll like it!

Also new in this release is some tweaks to the color functions. Prior to this version, if you wanted your tag cloud links to use the same color as the rest of the links in your site or sidebar, you had to manually enter the color definition in both the min and max color fields or parameters. No more. Now, if you leave both colors blank, your tags will be the same color as the rest of your links. If you only use one of the two fields, your tag links will all be that color.

As always, you can find more info and the download (and leave your comments) on the CTC page.

CTC – Version 3.1 Released

Just a quick note to let everyone know I have released version 3.1 of my Configurable Tag Cloud plugin. This isn’t a major update, it just adds the ability to output the links for the cloud to an array for further processing. I have included a simple example over on the CTC as well as the new version for download.

As always, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly should you have any problems or questions.

New WordPress Plugin: CMS-Like Admin Menu

Want to run a simple website using WordPress Pages as a CMS, but don’t want (or need) the Post functionality? Want to do the same thing, but have Posts secondary to pages? This is the plugin for you. This plugin rewrites the Admin menu links for Write and Manage to default to using Pages instead of posts, while leaving the ability to deal with posts intact.

You can find more information (and the download) on the CMS-Like Admin Menu page.

New WordPress plugin: Post Links Redux

I’m working on a theme for a well-known webcomic (sorry, can’t say which yet), and needed the post navigation template tags in WordPress to behave differently. No one could point to an easy way to get them to work the way I needed them to, so I whipped up a quick plugin that changes the way these tags work. For more information and to download a copy, please visit the Post Links Redux page.

Also, I added a new menu entry to the navigation links at the top of the page. If you’ll notice, there’s now an entry for “wordpress” up there. If you click on this link, it will take you to a page that lists all my publicly-released WordPress extensions (plugins, widgets, themes, etc). There are only two entries on that page at the present (CTC and PLR), but there are more to come (including my first public theme for WordPress)…stay tuned… 🙂

CTC – 1,000 Downloads and Counting!

Many thanks to the WordPress community for pushing my humble little widget/plugin past the 1,000 downloads mark since I added it to the official WordPress plugins browser. As of this morning, it has been downloaded 1,002 times since November 28th. YOU GUYS ROCK! 🙂

CTC – Version 3.0 Released!

I’m proud to announce the third major revision of my configurable tag cloud widget has been released this afternoon. The biggest change (and one of the most requested) is the ability to use the plugin without using widgets. It’s been a long time coming, and now it’s here. the other big addition is the ability to show the number of posts for a tag after the tag itself (similar to the archive and categories options).

As always, you can find more information and the download link on the CTC page.

CTC Update

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up on the status of CTC. I’m still working on it when I can, but I gotta pay the bills. I’m hoping for a 3.0 release just after the first of the year. The big new feature in 3.0 is going to be (hopefully) implementing the tag cloud as a normal WordPress plugin, so it can be used by those who don’t use widgets.

In a bit of better news, I finally got confirmation for my entry at the WordPress Plugins browser, so you will be notified in the plugins menu when I update CTC…it’s something that a lot of people have asked for, and I’m happy to give it to you guys (and girls 🙂 ).

So yeah, that’s where I am. More news as it develops. As always, feel free to post comments on the CTC page.

Design Vitality WordPress Theme Competition

So I decided to enter Design Vitality’s WP theme competition. Even if I don’t win any of the prizes (and they’re some doozies…first prize is $1,000 and second is your choice of an iPhone or a Wii), it still gets my name a little farther out into the world.

The winners are chosen by votes at the contest website, which is linked below, so give me some vote love if you like my entry. My theme is called “Blue Shift”. Voting opens on or around November 30, but he’s got a lot of good info on his site for designers.

Go here to vote: WordPress Theme Design Competition