Introducing the Showdown Plugin, a brand spanking new WordPress plugin that lets you create games on your blog and use your content in a new and interesting way. The plugin has two modes, a Battle mode that lets you present users with two bits of content and allows them to vote on the one they prefer, and a “Hot or Not” mode that lets users show just how much they like a piece of content. It works with pictures, videos, text and any other content type you might be hosting on your blog.

Want to see how the plugin works? Check out the Showdown demo video or check out my Joke Showdown or our Cute Kitten Showdown. Check out the demos and if you feel your site could benefit from a bit of fun, go ahead and download Showdown. It only costs a few dollars but can make a real difference to how engaging your site can be.

Image via Wikipedia

A new version of WordPress (codenamed Gershwin) is finally out in the wild. It’s been ages in coming and loads of people have been using the test versions to try and iron out as many bugs as possible. Here’s the blurb on the new release:

The focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter. The first thing you’ll notice when you log in to 3.2 is a refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typography, design, and code behind the admin. (Rhapsody in Grey?) If you’re starting a new blog, you’ll also appreciate the fully HTML5 new Twenty Eleven theme, fulfilling our plan to replace the default theme every year. Start writing your first post in our redesigned post editor and venture to the full-screen button in the editing toolbar to enter the new distraction-free writing or zen mode, my personal favorite feature of the release. All of the widgets, menus, buttons, and interface elements fade away to allow you to compose and edit your thoughts in a completely clean environment conducive to writing, but when your mouse strays to the top of the screen your most-used shortcuts are right there where you need them. (I like to press F11 to take my browser full-screen, getting rid of even the OS chrome.)

Under the hood there have been a number of improvements, not the least of which is the streamlining enabled by our previously announced plan of retiring support for PHP4, older versions of MySQL, and legacy browsers like IE6, which allows us to take advantage of more features enabled by new technologies. The admin bar has a few more shortcuts to your most commonly-used actions. On the comment moderation screen, the new approve & reply feature speeds up your conversation management. You’ll notice in your first update after 3.2 that we’ll only be updating the files that have changed with each new release instead of every file in your WordPress installation, which makes updates significantly faster on all hosting platforms. There are also some fun new theme features shown off by Twenty Eleven, like the ability to have multiple rotating header images to highlight all of your favorite photos.

Awesome stuff. I’ve just rolled it out on this blog and the admin is looking just fine! If you’re running WordPress, go ahead and upgrade as soon as you can!

Do you have a website you need to host? If you do, then you’ll find a great offer down at Nexx, where you can learn more about their Unlimited Web Hosting offer. They have a new service offering which they’re trying to promote, which consists of domain name and 12 months unlimited hosting for the pricely cost of $10.

The great thing about unlimited packages is that you don’t need to worry about hitting any limits in terms of bandwidth, space or even number of email addresses you host. They’re all included in the price of the package and you can focus on putting your site together and working on your content. Nexx even allow you to deploy a number of popular open source packages at the touch of a button. These include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Zen Cart.

Nexx Hosting seem really confident about their service, in fact the $10 offer is meant to give you a taste of the level of service you can expect from their servers and their staff. They’re hoping that you try it out, find it awesome and decide to stay. The good thing is that $10 is really cheap, so you do ge to try out the service for a very small premium.

Oh yes, remember to use the code SPARK10 if you sign up.

I just received an email from the WordPress Development mailing list outlining some of the major developments in WordPress 2.9. Here’s what to it says:

WordPress 2.9 is currently in beta and is expected to be ready in several weeks.

Major new features for developers:
- comments meta table
- improved support for custom post types
- register_theme_directory() for additional theme locations
- back-ported JSON encode/decode for both PHP and JavaScript

and for users:
- oEmbed support
- “Trash” for posts, pages and comments
- post thumbnails support
- basic image editor

More details are available in the Codex http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.9 and on trac.

Some great stuff. Looking forward to it.

• Change color styles with a single click
• Choose a featured category via the theme options area
• Integrate Feedburner and Email link subscriptions
• Integrate TweetRoll widget with one click
• Simple and clean design
• jQuery sidebar
• Supports threaded comments
• Drop down categories at a glance
• Prominent search area
• Easily integrate “Recent Comments With Avatars” plugin
• Compatible with WordPress 2.8+
• Easy access to admin area for logged in users
• Optimized for search engine traffic

I find WordPress an excellent platform for blogging, as you can change the look and feel of your blog anytime you wish, without losing any of your content. And I use it for non-blogs too. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional Orange County web design firm or just a sole developer building websites in his free time (i.e. me), but it’s always a great asset having a platform you can build on easily.

What do you think of it? What would you change?

Word of the new release has already started spreading, but most people will find out about it when they log into WordPress and it tells them there’s a new version. I’ve uploaded two blogs using the in-built upgrade mechanism and everything was smooth, thought I had to restart the process a couple of times till it completed. Presumably users on faster servers won’t have the same issue.

Most of the changes are a step in the right direction I think, faster admin UI and better handling of widgets are among those. I’m a bit unsure about the theme uploader/upgrader as I think some people may lose theme customisations this way and I don’t think I like the new plugin interface, but all in all I’ve been looking forward to this drop.

One interesting thing to report. The WordPress admin interface was broken with Firefox 3.5b99, but this new drop of WordPress has resolved that issue because of an upgrade in the Javascript components used by the admin interface. So go ahead and upgrade to the latest versions of stuff, things seem to be working nicely!

(P.S. I’ve noticed that the upgrade has disabled one of my plugins that provided paged comments, but seeing that this is now a built-in feature of WordPress, I was quite happy for it to deactivate it)

I came across a good post that outlines the main differences between using Joomla and WordPress as a CMS. It’s not too long, and goes into what it considers the main differences between the two platforms, notably that Joomla is designed for more complex multi-user content managed sites; when WordPress is more streamlined and lets you come up with something more quickly. Here’s the conclusion that the post reaches:

If your goals call for a blog or even a more interactive website, WordPress could be a viable option.  This platform is highly regarded as the most streamlined publishing tool available, allowing you to get online fast with little to no technical knowledge.  Joomla is better for managing a larger amount of more complex content.  In the end, an expert user should be able to make the most of both solutions.  With all the available plugins, WordPress can be extended to the point where you wouldn’t know the site was power by a blogging tool.  If this platform can’t deliver the functionality you need, a genuine CMS such as Joomla makes a great choice.  The key is knowing what you need to get the job done and making the right choice from the start.

I think I quite agree with that; I’ve used WordPress a number of times, but none of the sites I’ve needed to deliver have had the complexity that would require something more than WordPress. The right choice of software is probably the most important thing to keep in mind; as starting down the wrong route can add time and cost to a project.

The post above is taken from the web hosting blog on Web Hosting Geeks which contains lots of information for anyone looking to learn about hosting their own websites. They have lots of reviews on different services and a collection of great articles that can give you all the information you need to get started.

Clicking on TweetRoll Me give you your widget:

Thanks go out to @sherrilynne and @cpierret for the translations. You can tailor the captions to say anything you like too, you’re not just restricted to different languages. And you can also change colours and choose from one of the different sizes.

So, what else would you like to see in TweetRoll?

If you’re interested in learning more about WordPress, check out http://wordpress.tv. It’s a collection of videos about WordPress, how to do different things, how to implement different functions and snippets from presentations that people have given.

It’s a great resource that will grow with time, but already have a number of interesting things to watch. Check it out, you can never learn too much about a platform you are using. And if you’re not using WordPress, it’s an opportunity to see what the package can offer you. Much recommended.

The other thing I liked about the theme is the fact that it actually comes with a comprehensive set of instructions in PDF format, which a lot of themes don’t supply. It’s also backed with a support forum that looks pretty busy.

Before you rush off an grab it, you’ll need to know that this is a premium wordpress theme which costs $75 for a single site license. This license still obliges you to keep a link back to their website, but you can remove this for an additional $20. If you want to use it on more than one website, you’ll need to purchase the Multiple Use license, which retails for $275. If you’re interested in reselling the theme, they have an affiliate scheme which returns a 50% payout to anyone selling the theme for them.