Keir Whitaker - Publishing occasionally since 2008

Thanks to everyone who got back to me about WP-Blocks. I have fixed a couple of showstopping issues and have packaged it back up for Beta 0.3.

What’s Changed

• Show/Hide now works – I forgot a simple SQL flag!
• Slashes were appearing in the main content block output – Now fixed
• I had used the PHP short tag quite a lot. It was pointed out that many hosts turn this off – These are all now gone

Incidentally it is entirely my intention to get this on the WordPress Codex, I really just want it to be as spot on as possible before submitting it. Thanks again for all the feedback.

Download WP-Blocks Beta 0.3 »

Update: Thanks to Mr. Boag a couple of showstopping bugs have been fixed. Show/Hide now works and URL’s are displayed properly in the content block itself. The .zip below has the changes included.

Following on from my post last week announcing WP-Blocks I have spent some time tidying up the code and am pleased to provide a beta release for download and feedback.

About WP-Blocks

• WP-Blocks can be accessed via the Settings menu (I may move this in time)
• The plugin requires PHP5 (apologies to those on PHP4)
• I have developed and tested this plugin on WordPress Version 3.0 and above
• It “should” work on earlier versions, as far as I know I haven’t used any brand spanking new API calls
• Every “block”, whether visible or not, will incur a database query so use of a caching plugin is encouraged

The To-Do List

• Add in delete block “are you sure” confirmation
• Add “copy template code” button to index page for ease of use
• Add in notification to alert of a change of block name as this will require a template code change

If you have any feedback or encounter any bugs please get in touch, my contact e-mail address is in the notes.txt file in the plugin directory.

Download WP-Blocks Beta 0.3 »

Iridesco, the NYC based web company, recently hired Squared Eye to design a style for the client view for their invoicing web app Harvest. I am a big fan of Matthew and co’s aesthetic and this is a great example of their work.

Related: Check out CO-OP by Iridesco, “Team Collaboration: The Business Casual Way”

Nice, and free, downloadable PDFs from the team at FontShop for lovers of type. Here’s the pitch:

FontShop is more than a shop that sells fonts — we want to help you do great work too. Improve your design skills with typography tips and tutorials. FontShop Education docs are formatted for easy downloading and printing, perfect for the classroom or studio.

Link: Direct link to the 4 PDFs Zip File

I am currently putting the finishing touches to a new WordPress plugin called “WP-Blocks”. It’s a simple idea but one that I hope WordPress users will find useful.

The Problem

For most situations the WordPress “post” or “page” is sufficient for our content needs. They allow us to create and edit, via the admin interface, our content easily. However sometimes I find myself wanting to edit text or images that I have “hard coded” into the actual WordPress template, content that doesn’t easily fit into the “post” or “page” paradigm.

In order to keep my source “controlled” this involved editing my template, committing it to Git and then uploading the template to my server. For a small text change it’s a heavy process. Enter “WP-Blocks”. Read More »