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WordPress Wednesday News: WordCamp South Africa, World of WordCamps, Blaming WordPress, and Crazyhorse Gallops

WordPress Wednesday News: WordCamp South Africa, World of WordCamps, Blaming WordPress, and Crazyhorse Gallops

WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco videos should be out any time. Lots of WordCamp News including last weekend’s WordCamp South Africa and upcoming WordCamps in Portland, Hawaii, Birmingham, Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, Utah, Philippines, and more. Jeffro asks you to stop blaming WordPress. Crazyhorse shakes the WordPress 2.7 trunk. How to switch from TypePad to WordPress with only a little stress. And more WordPress news.

WordPress News

Stop Blaming WordPress: In a daring post, Jeffro asks you to stop blaming the WordPress team for problems they have no control over, specifically, WordPress Plugins. I’ve written on this subject before and I agree. WordPress is an ongoing product in constant development and will undergo changes. For the most part, they are very good about announcing changes in code that will impact Plugins and Themes, and getting better all the time. If you support a WordPress Theme or Plugin, it’s your resonsibiilty to keep it updated. Thanks for reminding us, Jeffro.

Bleeding Edge Interface for WordPress 2.7: Ryan Boren announced that the new user interface from the Crazyhorse experimental version of WordPress 2.7 (we hope) is in the trunk. It is usable, but it will bite back, so only use it on your alfa testing blogs where it can do little harm.

Considering Switching from TypePad to WordPress: The never-ending battle between Lloyd Budd of and TypePad continues with his latest rant against TypePad, The TypePad Trap. Rant or not, this is a great article with tips you need to know about if you want to switch from TypePad to WordPress.

WordPress 2.6.1 Released: WordPress 2.6.1 has been released. They cleaned up the problems with the right-to-left languages and fixed over 60 things needing fixing. Ajay of Techtites has released a WordPress 2.6 to 2.6.1 Upgrade File to make the process of updating your blog easier.

Not Ready to Leave the WordPress Community: In “Why I’m not ready to leave the WordPress Community” Jacob Santos reminds all of us of why sticking with the WordPress Community is worth it:

WordPress is far to interesting to just leave…I know that eventually, WordPress will no longer have something to teach me and when that happens I’ll no longer have a purpose staying in the community. Right now, WordPress has too much that I can learn and people to learn from. I could learn from other projects, but there are enough masters in WordPress that I’ll do fine here. I think I can do more being in the WordPress community than I would be able to in other project communities.

…Leave now? And miss all of the great opportunities that are going to come up with learning, development, and supporting others? I think not. I think there should be enough to keep me interested in this shiny object called “WordPress”!

Having Trouble Publishing Code in Posts and Comment? If you publish code in your WordPress posts and comments, WordPress may think it is code. To prevent code acting like code, WordPress automatically filters it out of the posts and comments, as does many other blogging and CMS programs. To publish code as content, see Writing Code in Your WordPress Posts and Writing and Publishing Code in Your WordPress Blog Posts.

Last Week’s WordPress Wednesday News: Can’t get enough WordPress news and tips? There is so much news coming out about the latest version, so you can catch up with the past news in last week’s WordPress Wednesday News: WordCamp 2008, Copy and Paste in WordPress iPhone, Count Your Comments, WordCamp South Africa.

WordPress on Your Calendar

WordPress Events CalendarWordCamp South Africa: This past weekend was WordCamp SA 2008 and the Twitters and the reports so far is that it was a resounding success and everyone enjoyed meeting Matt Mullenweg, who arrived without his luggage as it was left behind in New York or somewhere enroute. No stress, the party went on. Here are a few of the highlights I dug up.

WordCamp San Francisco, Part of the World of WorCamps: Last week’s WordPress News covered a lot of the news from WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco, and WordCamp 2008 – Snapshot of the Changing Social of Conferences highlighted the social and virtual world that these blog conferences and web events cover. Check these posts out for links to WordCamp 2008 coverage and how to learn more about WordPress WordCamps.

WordCamp Israel: Tal Galili, the man behind the first WordCamp event in the Middle East, is working on WordCamp Israel 2009 (Hebrew) and looking for help. The event last year was amazing with a couple hundred eager WordPress and blogging fans in attendance. It should be even more exciting this year with some great speakers and events planned. You can reach him (in Hebrew or in English) through his site or through his Twitter account at @talgalili.

WordCamp for Educators: Wordcamp Ed(ucation) is a Twitter account just set up for a WordPress WordCamp event specifically geared towards educators. Oh, how I would love to be part of that. Twitter @wordcamped if you are interested.

WordCamp Portland: The WordCamp Portland Agenda and Speakers have been announced and include ome top notch folks, including me. Check out the The WordCamp Report and WordCamp Central for more news on upcoming WordCamps.

WordCamp Birmingham: WordCamp Birmingham, September 27, 2008, has announced that The Terminal will be an organizing sponsor for the event, and includes some interesting reasons for sponsoring the event, reasons you should read if you are considering attending or sponsoring or creating a WordCamp. WordCamp Birmingham is September 27 and 28th in Birmingham, Alabama, and proud that they are the first WordCamp in the Southeastern United States. They are looking for speakers, sponsorship opportunities, and volunteers.

WordCamp Indiana: WordCamp Indiana is looking for volunteers, sponsors, and participants to put together their event. See Watershed Studios to let them know if you are interested.

WordCamp New York Taking Registration: WordCamp New York in New York on October 5, 2008, is now accepting registrations. The location is set for Sun Microsystems Office at 101 Park Avenue, New York, and is now set for Sunday, not Saturday.

WordCamp Charlotte, North Carolina, Coming Soon: There is a new WordCamp site up on WordPress.com for WordCamp Charlotte. They don’t have a location or date, but they do have a Participants page you can sign up for to volunteer, sponsor, speak or attend. That’s great faith. WordCamp RDU is scheduled for October 4, 2008, in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, which is exciting. This could be the first time there are two WordCamps in one state.

WordPress Meetup or WordCamp Near You? If you are putting together a WordPress event, please email me so I can publicize it here. If there is a WordCamp near you, go. If you are interested in setting up a WordCamp, stay tuned for news and information on to bring a WordCamp event near you.

Here are some WordPress-related dates and events to put on your calendar as found on the WordPress Roadmap and the WordPress Meetup Group Listings (subject to change).

Upcoming WordCamps not scheduled or confirmed:

WordCamps and WordPress Meetups Everywhere: A WordPress Meetup is a frequent meeting of WordPress fans. A WordCamp is a day or two long event with sponsors and dozens if not hundreds of WordPress fans gathering annually. If you would like to sponsor or host a WordCamp, check out the new official site for tracking WordCamps is WordCamp Central, which includes instructions and guidelines for running a WordCamp. If you would like to start a WordPress Meetup group, find a meeting place and announce it among your friends, and add a listing to the Yahoo Upcoming events for WordPress, as many track WordPress event announcements there.

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

WordPress Plugins DatabaseOver 2,700 WordPress Plugins to Choose From: The WordPress Plugin Directory reports it has 2,794 WordPress Plugins and Widgets with 10,946,839 downloads. That’s an impressive number of free WordPress Plugins to put on your blog.

Ozh Offers the First WordPress Plugin API for the Admin Drop Down Menu WordPress Plugin: Planet Ozh updated the popular Admin Drop Down Menu WordPress Plugin with localization, fun icons, and an API that will allow others to hook into the Plugin with their Plugins. This is the first time a Plugin has had its own API that I know of. Think of the possibilities!

Most Desired WordPress Hacks: Noupe has started a new series on the Most Desired WordPress Hacks: 11 Common Requests and Fixes.

Comment Counter WordPress Plugin: The Liz Strauss Comment Counter by Ozh WordPress Plugin is getting a lot of attention as a simple way to tell the world your blog is a social blog and welcomes comments by showcasing the number of comments on your blog. On the Plugin’s Panel, it also offers some statistics as to the ration of comments to blog posts, a new way of looking at your blog’s metrics. Check it out.

WordPress Constants: Nerdaphernalia has created WordPress Constants, a listing of every defined constant in the latest WordPress version – specifically WordPress 2.7. If you are working on the WordPress core or WordPress Plugins, this could be invaluable.

Write Better Plugins: PlanetOzh offers How, And Why, Keeping Plugin Sources Clean, a great tutorial to help improve your Plugin writing. See also Safest Way to Include Plugin Code in Themes for more ways to help you with your Plugins.

Interesting WordPress Plugins:

See Also
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Finding WordPress Plugins: For more WordPress Plugins see the official WordPress Plugin Directory, the WordPress Plugins Database, and Weblog Tools Collection Plugin and Theme announcements.

WordPress Techniques and Tips

Here are some interesting WordPress tips I’ve uncovered:

Want to Write a WordPress Tip and See It Here? If you would like your WordPress tip and technique included in this list, see Tips For Writing Good WordPress Tips and Writing and Publishing Code In Your WordPress Blog Posts. When its ready, contact me at lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com.

WordPress.com News

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Tabular Stats for WordPress.com Users: Andy Skelton announced “Tabular Stats” for WordPress.com users to enhance their blog statistics with some columns and rows of data on your web traffic. Currently, you can see months and years, average per day, and recent weeks. More are on the way. WordPress users using the WordPress.com Stats Plugin which connects to the Global Stats of WordPress.com will be automatically upgraded to the new version features.

WordPress.com FAQs: Have you checked out the WordPress.com FAQs lately. This is a great resource for answers to many of your questions about how to use WordPress and troubleshooting common problems. Here are some examples:

WordPress Community News

WordPress Community graphicWordPress Facebook: Fan of WordPress? Check out the WordPress on Facebook fan page and join the fun!

Get Your WordPress Mug: I love my new WordPress mug. Go get yours at the along with t-shirts and hoodies. Don’t want to buy one?

Found a Bug in WordPress? If you find a bug in WordPress, report it by following the instructions in Reporting Bugs on the , the online manual for WordPress Users.

Vote for WordPress Ideas: Want to have your say in what happens with WordPress. Vote for ideas on upcoming versions of WordPress in the section.

Looking for a WordPress Expert? If you are looking for a WordPress expert, try the WordPress Consultants list from , the WordPress Jobs listings, and the WP-Pro mailing list.

WordPress Installed For Free: Installing WordPress for Free (aka Install4Free WordPress) is a free, volunteer-driven service is limited to personal blogs only, and they help only with installations, not upgrades.

Don’t Use WordPress in Your Blog’s Name: It’s about respect. Please use WordPress names right because WordPress is a trademark and you are not allowed to use WordPress in your blog’s domain name or URL unless you have permission of and . Also, remember, it’s spelled “WordPress” not “WordPress”. Oh, and Plugin is Plugin, not plug-in (what you put into a wall electrical socket).

Past WordPress Wednesday News Reports

WordPress News Sources

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Each Wednesday on is WordPress Wednesday, featuring the news around the WordPress Community. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact me at this special email address: lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com

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