I am a big fan of taking out clutter, focusing on what really matters and love to simplify both life and working environment. The WordPress dashboard is well thought out, and popular, but I am the first one to launch an external writing application such as OmmWriter or WriteRoom, helping me focus just on content, especially when writing longer entries. For many smaller projects I am involved in, I prefer ’simpler’ platforms than WordPress, platforms focusing more on blogging rather than on being the awesomest, most complete or extendable platform.

Enter Zen, a distraction free writing environment for WordPress by Mohammad Jangda.

If you’re a fan of ‘anti-clutter’ plugins such as simple email notifications, you’ll love Zen for WordPress. More even, if you would have been on the verge of switching to a more writing focused platform such as Habari but on could not decide to ditch WP yet, Zen might be what you are looking for.

If you’re a fan of WriteRoom, OmmWriter, or similar tools that help you focus on your words instead of the tools you’re using, this plugin will soon make your wildest dreams come true (and give you a simple clean environment within WordPress to write to your heart’s content)! While Zen does not replace the existing Edit Post/Page screen, it provides a layer on top that will help you focus more on the quality of your words and less on the distracting fine-tuning of minuscule details.

Zen does not replace your editor or change the look of your dashboard but in the post editor you now can activate Zen with one click and call up the new layer. You can even set ‘Always write in Zen mode’ as standard (in Your Profile).

Zen comes with several themes (which can be selected in Your Profile) making Zen a little more noisy again but you don’t have to use these.

All in all Zen’s a nice and agreeable addition to WordPress and a new recommended plugin for me. Download Zen from the plugins directory or install it within WordPress (search the plugins repo for Zen).

While lovers of the iDevice can get around this by using BlogPress and CellSpin, the videos are hosted upon YouTube or CellSpin’s servers respectively, which may not appeal to many bloggers.

This all may change thanks to the release of Google’s Nexus One, not to mention WordPress’s upcoming Android app (which has been in the works since last October) in which WordPress may finally embrace mobile video blogging via VideoPress.

Although VideoPress is a premium service that would leave one $60 poorer, it may be a viable option for professional bloggers who do not want their videos reposted all over cyberspace (via YouTube) or inherit high bandwidth bills.

While Automattic has yet to reveal anything regarding their upcoming plans in the world of mobile, with more smartphones boasting video camera’s with higher resolution, we may finally see WordPress embrace video support later on in 2010.

Anyone who has ever used one of MaxBlogPress’ plugins certainly knows to appreciate their value but also has been confronted with the compulsory email opt-in to activate these plugins and has subsequently received regular marketing emails, before unsubscribing.
There have been calls within the WordPress.org forums to ban MaxBlogPress plugins from the WordPress.org plugin repository and it looks as if the plugins have now been banned. I could not find any plugin developed by MaxBlogPress in the repository anymore, all links redirect to the plugins main page.

Let’s be clear up front and keep one can of worms closed: The GPL does allow this. Just like donation buttons in themes and plugins are allowed. Even plugins hosted in the official repository. And that’s entirely fine, it’s allowed by the GPL and a nice way to reward developers and designers. So a forced email opt-in to activate should also be possible or?

What makes a plugin a premium plugin?

Over the last two years the WordPress community has seen a massive shift towards paid, premium themes and slowly more and more premium plugins are available as well. There’s no doubt that the ban hammer used on the sponsored themes has helped this new market to emerge and grow.
A great, and probably the best known, example of premium plugins is the excellent Gravity forms. But in the case of Gravity Forms you do not pay for the plugin; the plugin itself can be used freely but you pay for the support license. Excellent and very fast support.

Are the MaxBlogPress plugins ‘premium’ plugins?

Keeping in mind that MaxBlogPress a marketing specialist is one could argue that every working email address a form of currency is and the plugins thus ‘premium’ are. We will leave the can other can of worms, whether this is ethical permission marketing or does border on spam, closed.

What do you think, do you use any of the MaxBlogPress plugins? Or did/does the forced opt-in activation put you off and should these plugin types be banned from the directory?

PS: I do think that if you want to install ‘unblockable popups’ on your blog, you might as well give your email address to a marketeer and stop whining. Both are just as unethical IMHO.

How to activate MaxBlogPress plugins without registration

Mac_Boy’s comment got me thinking:

I use the MaxBlogPress plugins by adding a record into the database. That allows me to use the plugin without having to opt-in. If there is a will, there is a way.

I went ahead and installed two MaxBlogPress plugins on my blog: MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer and MaxBlogPress Stripe Ad and who would have thought it, one trip to http://yoururl/options.php later both plugins were activated without giving out any email address and subsequent subscription to a marketing newsletter. Note that this can easily be changed by MaxBlogPress in future versions.

All you have to do is change the value of the [plugin-initials]_activate to 2 and save the new /options.php settings (note the initials I bolded out above the screencap and initials in the screenshot again).

Update: Chip Bennet has forked several MaxBlogPress plugins to circumvent the activation. Find them here in his WordPress Extend Profile.

The wp.me shorturls domain was introduced earlier this year for WordPress.com hosted blogs. As of Release Candidate 1 for WordPress 2.9 the URL shortener is now also available for your self-hosted blogs.

As soon as you have entered a title for a new entry the Get Shortlink button will become visible and give you a WP.me URL for your entry.

There are no stats available for the shorturl itself, but it will be a surprise if this option will not be implemented in the future.

The great thing about WPML is the ease to set the plugin up and stat using it, contrarily to other plugins. All you need to do is upload the plugin and fill in the settings.

Configuring WPML

The first settings panel after activating the plugin allows you to set the main language, this is the language an entry will be published in if you do not select an other language for that post. Note that this setting will not change the language of your WordPress admin backend, you still need to localize your WP install for this (more info on localization at the WordPress codex).

When using the basic settings, you now only have to opt what other languages you want to add to your site. Once you have selected the additional languages you only have to decide where you want the widget with the language switcher. If your theme does not use widgets, use <?php do_action('icl_language_selector'); ?> in your theme. You can customize the display/colors of the language selector in the advanced settings.

Now your site is prepared to deal with multi-lingual content.

Publish Different Languages On Different Subdomains Or Domains

With WPML it is easy to set your blog up to display every language on a sub-domain or different domain for other language content. To set this up you must dive in the ‘Advanced settings’. The settings to make or change are rather obvious and self-explanatory and the plugin provides ample information when a setting can not be made (see second screenshot)

Adding sub-domains or new domains for other languages is simple. Note that these must have been setup prior to configuring WPML as WPML does not change any DNS entries. If you have not set the domains up, uncheck ‘Validate on save’. Tip: first set your (sub) domains up. ;)

Publishing Your Blog In Several Languages

Whenever you write an entry you can now select in what language this post has to be published and WPML will do the hard work for you. If you have a look at your entries in /post.php or /edit.php you will notice that there is a new column.

Next to every entry you can now see if posts have also published in the other language(s). Clicking on + for any post/language now shows a new option on the writing editor page: ‘This is a translation of with a drop-down menu of all your entries.

This concludes the main part of using WPML in an all-day situation. I need to mention that WPML has many more options such as translating plugin and theme strings or breadcrumb navigation. You can even change the CSS. An extensive documentation is available.

What I like most about WPML is how the plugin can be used for more than just multi-language sites. With a little creative thinking you could use it for different purposes and use the plugin as a ‘mini WPMU’ for large multi-authored sites.

A good example of this would be to use WPML to create a gaming site with similar structure to Joystiq: a sub-domain for every platform. With some minor tweaks you could change the name of languages and replace with the name of gaming platforms. Do the same for the flags and attribute every author a certain platform (language) in their profile and without any supplementary effort you now have a multi-gaming-platform with an easy way to review games with their own entry for each platform they have been released for without cluttering your main feed.

Read more about the plugin at the WPML website.

Anyone who has ever looked at integrating forums with their WordPress blog knows that right at the moment bbPress an underpowered option is. Integrating other forums can be a real headache (Vanilla 2 Beta has a one way integration add-on, from WP to Vanilla) and bridges can break when changes to the database are made with new releases.

The first reaction of several people in IRC and on Twitter was that they prefer bbPress to be a standalone option but possible advantages of bbPress as a plugin largely outweigh here:

• User database integration;
• The possibility of an improved role management system to deal with the roles for integrated boards (extra admins, moderators)
• Site wide plugin interoperability;
• Site wide theme interoperability;
• Easy media upload and the new image editor in WP2.9;

Most of al I liked the possible [bbpress] shortcodes Matt hinted at:

[13:11] <Ryan_> There’s a lot of stuff in WordPress which would automatically become available with no effort if the two were combined.
[13:11] <photomatt_sf> that’s more along the lines of my [bbpress] shortcode idea
[13:11] <hajii> shortcodes for bbpress would be great
[13:11] <photomatt_sf> [bbpress tag="akismet-plugin"]
[13:11] <benhuson> @hajii – Yes, I think being able to benefit from existing wordpress theme would be a huge asset
[13:11] <photomatt_sf> [bbpress forum="newbies"]

The WordPress Shortcode API is very powerful and can be used to eliminate many plugins (related posts, Adsense in posts, send to Twitter, image galleries, image captions to mention only a few) and there is no doubt that this shortcode integration could lead to new possibilities, both for developers/designers and users. It would also be very nice to be able to post to your forum from the regular post page in the dashboard.

For those who prefer bbPress to be used as a standalone option, you could always set your forums as home page while still benefitting all the advantages which come with the WP integration.

One last thought: could it be that Matt’s motivation to convert bbPress to a plugin would make bbPress the first canonical plugin?

Once installed, your blog will be adorned with falling flakes of snow similar to the one seen on Wordpress.com and its blogs. The falling snowflakes look great as they are rendered realistically and come in different sizes.

It looks even better in action. Check it out here.

The plugin has an options page where you can change the speed and the number of falling flakes that appear on screen. You can have the snow fall lazily across your blog or even simulate a blizzard if you fancy.

As an added visual effect, you can have the snowfall follow the movement of your mouse and have the snow remain on the bottom of your screen. No need to worry about the snow piling up though, as the plugin automatically limits the number of flakes that appear on screen.

“Let it snow!” is compatible up to Wordpress version 2.8.6 (Editor’s note: Also works with most recent 2.9 nightly build and 2.9 Beta2). Created by Aen Tan of COMA blog. You can download this really “cool” plugin by going here.

What are ‘canonical plugins’?

The first question which comes to mind is ‘What are canonical plugins?‘. The team has provided the following definition:

Canonical plugins would be plugins that are community developed (multiple developers, not just one person) and address the most popular functionality requests with superlative execution. These plugins would be GPL and live in the WordPress.org repo, and would be developed in close connection with WordPress core. There would be a very strong relationship between core and these plugins that ensured that a) the plugin code would be secure and the best possible example of coding standards, and b) that new versions of WordPress would be tested against these plugins prior to release to ensure compatibility.

Canonical plugins will not be developed by one plugin developer anymore but by the community. They will also have their official web presence on the wordpress.org plugin repository instead of on website of the (original) developer.
What does this mean for several plugin developers? If you have a popular plugin and your plugin contains a ‘Donate’ button, be prepared to ditch this button if you want your plugin to be taken in consideration. This would be the case for example for. Arne Brachold’s Google (XML) Sitemap Generator and Donncha’s WP Super Cache plugin.

How to name ‘canonical plugins’?

The team clearly identified that the term canonical rather niche is and asks the community to vote on how these ’super plugins’ should be categorised/labelled. The entry on the develop blog offers some names for canonical plugins:

Standard – Implies that these are the standard by which all other plugins should be judged, as well as the idea of them being the default plugins.
Core – Makes the close relationship to core WordPress development very clear, and has the implication of bundled plugins (even though we don’t need to actually bundle them now that the installer is right in the admin tool).
Premium – Identifies these officially-supported plugins as best-in-class and of the highest value, and could potentially disambiguate the word Premium as it is currently being used in the community (to refer to anything from commercial support to licensing terms to actual code quality).
Validated – Focuses on the fact that the code is reviewed for compatibility with core and for security.
Official – Makes it plain that these are the plugins officially endorsed by the core team as being the best at their functions.
Canonical – Maybe once people get used to it, canonical wouldn’t confuse so many people?

I know that when browsing the download section at Apple’s website I am usually tempted to first check the Staff Pick labelled downloads so there’s no doubt that a great name, label would highly increase the popularity of these plugins. But I do have some concerns with some of the proposed names.

• Core : I do not think that any plugin should be called core unless it is added to the core code of WordPress itself and thus not a plugin anymore;
• Standard : To me this somehow implies that they will be wrapped up together with the download. Similar to Askimet and Hello Dolly. Is this the way forward? Maybe and it would be great to immediately provide the user with a great selection of plugins without making WordPress itself bloatware. But if the name Standard is chosen and they are included in the download, this would certainly restrict the number of canonical plugins… unless you see no issue in adding 100 plugins to the download;
• Premium : I think Premium has become standard for commercial themes and to avoid confusion this status quo should be maintained;
• Official : What happens to the other plugins, non-canonical plugins? Are they unofficial? This is bound to create a big divide in the plugin community and I would rather not see this name become… well official;

Personally I have not been able to come with an alternative name but I think that canonical the best of the proposed ones is. Otherwise I would lean to something along the lines of Community Maintained or Community Pick.

Can you think of another more appropriate name for canonical plugins? Go cast your vote.

Last but not least, what about Askimet? Matt has more than once said, and I defend this decision, that Askimet works best if the secret juice is not open sourced. Would this exclude Askimet and should this exclusion have an impact on Askimet’s inclusion?

Canonical plugins, have you gotten used to canonical already, would also require to have excellent community support and have a Trac system, but more about what this could imply and how this could improve wordpress.org in another entry. Right now, my vote goes to ‘canonical‘.

PodPress was supposed to have resumed development back in August but two months has already passed and no news about its progress has been revealed at all.

Supporters of the plugin have been trying to contact the author for confirmation but to no avail. Rumors are circulating that podPress might not continue its development but some argue that this is not possible as there are already sponsors backing it.

Whatever the reason for the lack of updates on the plugin, I guess we have no choice but to wait for Dan to reveal any news. I’ll be sure to post updates regarding the progress of podPress here on BloggingPro so be sure to tune in.

Anyone else excited about podPress’ return? Be sure to leave your comments!

The contest aims to encourage the creation of plugins for Wordpress MU and BuddyPress. Winners will get the chance to win cash prizes as well as recognition from the WPMU.org community.

The deadline for the competition is October 16. Check out their blog post for more details.