trash-can So, almost a month after Yoast.com’s plugin contest I finally heard a response concerning my plugin submission—no. Actually, it wasn’t quite so direct, below is the response:

“Hi Guys,
apologies for the delay! Joost and I decided to make the eventual winner work harder for their prize, so we asked a couple of the entrants to go back and take their ideas to the point where we can release them. If we haven’t contacted you yet, I’m afraid you are out of the running, but many thanks for having a go! We expect to announce the winner and launch the plugin/theme in a week or so.”

wordpress-plugin DOWNLOAD WORDTRAVEL
Compatible with WordPress 2.5 through 2.7.1

WordTravel was built with the sunPress plugin in mind. The sunPress plugin helps manage holiday websites by utilizing sunshine.co.uk’s travel affiliate program. Basically, by combining both plugins you have a powerful holiday website that also has the ability to highlight special deals like no other travel website on the web.

Even though WordTravel was built as a supporting plugin for sunPress you can also use WordTravel independently from all plugins for your own purposes. We wanted WordTravel to be a nice compliment for any travel blog or site.

WordTravel One of my favorite bloggers, Joost de Valk, launched a wordpress plugin contest for Sunshine.co.uk, a travel booking company. The prize he is offering is a MacBook Air, and I must admit that I have been thinking of converting to a Mac for sometime (sorry Bill, I don’t want to be a PC).

The plugin I finally decided to create focuses on the marketing side of travel. Why do you go to a travel/vacation website in the first place? Most of my friends I asked shared that they were looking for either a good deal or a particular vacation package.

The plugin I devised (with the programming help of Milan Kaneria) gives a traveling website the power to focus on their most important call to actions with their users. Whether it is cheap airfare, a vacation package, or just information about different locations around the world, this plugin offers a visual but unobtrusive solution to keeping in touch with the user while on the site.

spam When I first started blogging my friend Janet helped setup my blog. One thing she did for me was to create my wordpress comment blacklist. I really appreciated this, because it is never fun to have to write all the filthy words that you can think of. However, over the years, I had to add to her list and create more words that she didn’t think of. I also added spam websites that were found on other comment blacklists.

All this effort has given me a list of 300+ words and sites that don’t ever make it to my blog. I thought I would pass on Janet’s kindness and offer you my list to download. One thing to know about WordPress’s Comment Blacklist is that it will match your blacklisted words inside other words. So, if you put “sex” on the list it will also block “sexy.” Since, I never want to discourage my readers in expressing how sexy they find my writing I don’t add that word to my black list =).

If you have any words to add to the list let me know. Happy spam fighting. ~Paul

WordPress is an amazing software but who ever built their search function on their dot org should be fired! You cannot find anything you are really looking for. I actually complained to Matt Mullenweg about it at WordCamp. It’s so bad that people like Joost de Valk at Yoast.com built his own google search engine for wordpress plugins. He says he is going to build a wordpress theme search engine for us, but until he does I have compiled a brief list of free wp themes you can use. If you know any other theme directories let me know. Cheers! ~Paul W.

WordPress Theme Directory List
fresheezy.com
ithemes.org
themeboss.com
themes.iwebnet.org
themesjunction.com
themes-wp.com
web2feel.com
webfrap.com
welovewp.com
widgetreadythemes.com
wordpress.mu
wordpressgallery.com
wordpressthemebase.com
wp-layout.com
wpskins.org wpsnap.com
wptemplates.org
wptheme.net
wpthemes.us
wpthemesarchive.com
wpthemesfree.com

Right now I am listening to the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, speak at the Novell campus in Provo, Utah (You can see the stream video here: ustream.tv). He has just modelled wordpress 2.7 and we are in for a treat when it launches. I have been hesitant to upgrade after the 2.6 fiasco, but I am really looking forward to 2.7! I will post more of my notes and pictures from WordCamp Utah shortly.

UPDATED NOTES
Why WordPress Updates So Often
Matt began his presentation asking if we were tired of constantly updating our wordpress blogs. The reason why Automattic (Matt’s company) is continually upgrading wordpress is to stay abreast with all the issues that they are faced with. One thing Matt learned from the update of 2.1 to 2.3 was that when he waited too long to launch (he waited a year and half) that he faced a strong user back lash.

Public [Spam] Service Announcement
One thing I found fascinating was how efficient wordpress has become in fighting spam. Matt showed that 99% of all spam to wordpress blogs have been stopped by Akismet. I find this interesting since I loath Akismet, but that is still impressive number to vouch for the validity of Akismet. Matt did say that there are three types of spam which are slipping through:

wordpress_logo01.gif I admit I am an addict—I absolutely love wordpress plugins! I actually have one client who pays me to know everything there is to know about plugins. Though, I have to be careful, because once I start hunting for a plugin I generally lose an entire day just searching and playing with them.

Recently, my good friend Ryan from IOVentures Inc. asked if I had written a blog post on my favorite plugins. I have been avoiding this post because it seems that everyone has their top 10 favorite plugins. However, Ryan isn’t the first to ask me, so I guess I will follow the blogosphere crowd and give you my favorite plugins. Hope these help! ~Paul W.

My Top Favority Plugins