jonathan stegall

I’ve made my first, hopefully useful for public consumption, plugin for WordPress. I’ve made a few other plugins, but none of them seemed to be really useful or customizable to benefit others.

About this plugin

This plugin uses the same data as the WordPress function wp_list_authors();. This function lists all of the authors that have posts associated with their accounts. See the Codex for more information about this function.

Note that you cannot use this function outside the WordPress Loop. There is another plugin that creates a list of authors outside the loop, and it works very well for this purpose.

My plugin, which is a widget that can be used in any widgetized theme, allows you to pick users and list them by inserting the widget into your theme. If you have users with posts who should not be listed, simply do not check their names.

If there is interest, I’ll expand this so that it can be used inside the Loop as well, but it seems to me that it is most practical for sidebars.

Why make this plugin?

This plugin is not an attempt to compete with any of the methods listed above, although certainly it does have some of the same functionality and could easily be expanded to have all of the same functionality. Its difference is that it allows for users with posts to be excluded from the list. There are a couple of situations where this could be useful.

• You have a blog with a large number of authors, and would like to feature a few of them. Maybe they are more popular, or have more posts, or are more regular posters. You can check these to be included in the list.
• On the flip side, you could have a blog with certain authors that you do not want to feature. You can simply leave these authors out of the list.
• You use your user pages to include users that have comments, instead of just users that have posts. The configuration of this plugin shows all users, regardless of whether or not they have posted or are assigned a certain role.

Download

Without further ado, feel free to download and try out this plugin.

Plugin:

Choose Authors From Registered Users (maybe it needs a better name).

Version:

0.5

Download

wp-chooseauthors.zip

WordPress has officially released version 2.6, with some nice changes.

In my various work and ministry endeavors, I have varying degrees of responsibility for several WordPress blogs (in addition to this one), and have thus upgraded several installations from 2.5.1 to 2.6.

Apparently, an issue that is at least relatively common in this particular upgrade experience is that, after upgrading, one is unable to log back in to the admin system. I encountered this issue in one of the upgrades I performed, and then saw it mentioned on Twitter.

In the hopes that anyone else who encounters the issue can resolve it quickly, here are the steps that worked for me:

1. Return to the main (not admin) page of the website.
2. If there is a status indicator there (depending on the theme), click the Logout link.
3. If there is not a status indicator, visit http://sitename.com/wp-login.php?action=logout.
4. Go back to the admin login page, and log in.

So, if you run into this issue, try the above steps. Feel free to post comments, if it does or does not work for your installation.

Update

While I’m thinking about WordPress upgrades, I’d like to put in a plug for some great ways to ease your upgrade experience.

First of all, I would be amiss if I did not recommend my current webhost, DreamHost. For as affordable as they are, they are a solid host with lots of freedom and even more disk space. In addition, if you use the promo code JSTEGALLBLOG, you will receive $25 off if you buy a year of hosting. If you host your WordPress blog with DreamHost, there is an easy one-click installation and upgrade process. Also, there are frequent backups in the event that something does go wrong.

If you do not host your blog at DreamHost, there are two plugins that can make your upgrade experience go much more smoothly.

WordPress Database Backup

This plugin will prove invaluable, should your upgrade run into any issues. Back up your database, and save it to your hard drive. All of your posts, comments, etc. will be stored there, and you can restore them if necessary.

If you have a host that does not backup your database for you, you should use this plugin and set it to email you backups on a regular basis (perhaps weekly, or twice a month)

Instant Upgrade

This plugin is just like it sounds. You click a button, and it does all the upgrade work for you. You will need to change some of the permissions that are on the files on your host server, but this is very easy and there are good instructions for how to do so included with the plugin.

It is possible that there are hosts on which this plugin will not work, due to the permission change requirement. However, I have been forced to use Godaddy for a few work-related projects, and it even works there. I suspect there are very few hosts where it will not work.

I wanted to announce that my dad has started blogging. I’ve told him for some time that he should do so. Feel free to stop by and give him encouragement in his new adventure, as he learns WordPress and the various things one must know in order to blog with it (categories, tags, posts and pages, linking to external sites, and so on will be entirely new things to him, for a little while).

My dad is an interesting guy. He and I disagree on a myriad of issues and have for a long time, but we typically have healthy disagreement. I don’t have to be afraid to tell him what I think, and vice versa. We also agree on some very important things. In any case, I think he has things to say, and should say them. Plus, blogging is fun.

As an aside, recently my wife and I attempted to take him to his first Yankees game at Yankee Stadium, since this is the last season it will be open. Various issues occurred, and he only got to see the 9th inning, but he did at least make it into the original Yankee Stadium before it closed. We’ll go to the new one another time.

My dad and I have a great relationship, and have tried to do things like that for each other. In any case, here is my welcome to the world of blogging.

Josh Brown recently posted the last call for the Indian Taxi Fund.

This will all run for two more weeks, after which time the loan will be given as it is. Ideally, we could raise additional money in that time. I again want to encourage any of you to read further about it, and think about the possibilites.

You can join Revolution Money Exchange via the link below, or by the link Josh has on his own site. This will help add to any contribution you may be able to make. You can, of course, also use PayPal.

Recently, I’ve become acquainted with Josh Brown (and Anna). Kiera and I, I think, resonate strongly with them. I’d easily put them among the favorite people I’ve met since being in Atlanta. To follow his precedent, I raise a glass to them.

Anyway. Recently, Josh wrote about Revolution Money Exchange as part of the Indian Taxi Fund. At the moment, we are not able to offer a whole lot to this, but I want to encourage you to learn about it, and do what you can to get involved.

Moving to the place where design and business meet theology and ministry to help make the world a better place, as Josh is doing, represents the best of what I see happening in activism. And you could, of course, change design to some other discipline, or even change theology and ministry to something else. People who follow Jesus need not be afraid to join up with people who don’t, in attempting to change the world.

There is no limit to the possibilities that can come out of these kinds of combinations. Several years ago, I was driving from Tampa to Lakeland on I-4 when I heard an NPR story about Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Foundation, when he was about to win the Nobel Peace Prize. I learned of his efforts to empower the disenfranchised through micro-lending, and set people free from poverty. Immediately I thought, “The heart of God is in that.”

This concept of micro-lending began with people like Muhammad Yunus. It is continuing and expanding with the concepts of people like Josh and the power of things like blogging.

If you are able to join with Josh at this time, please do. If you are not, consider creating an account through Revolution Money Exchange at the button below, or at the button Josh has on his own site. When you do so, you give me (or Josh) $10, and receive $25 for yourself. You could then, of course, get your own referrals. This alone could give you something to contribute, which is the purpose of a post like this.

Now that it’s been a while since I started allowing del.icio.us to post links to my blog each day, I want to consider what effects it has had.

Certainly, it makes my blog look more active (more active than it is, really). I’m not sure, though, that that is a good thing. These link posts are getting a small amount of traffic, but my guess is that it’s mostly from people who see that there is a link to their blog post, or their site, or whatever. Maybe it benefits the people who run those blogs, or those sites. Hopefully it does, but I’m not sure. It might make me look like nothing but a link farm.

In any case, I’d like to invite any comments on the link postings. Are they useful? Are they appreciated? Should they continue?

Note: In all likelihood, when the coming redesign occurs (right after I stop being so busy with random things), the format of the daily link post will change. Perhaps there will be a sidebar item where the last daily link post is displayed. Certainly, though, it will not be displayed in the main content like it is now. Thus, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll leave it in the RSS feed.

Anyway. Thoughts are welcomed.

I have had an account with del.icio.us for a long time; a couple of years or so. Typically, I very rarely use it. I would import all of my Firefox bookmarks into it, and then forget about it for a while. I would come back a few months, or a year later, and realize that the entire thing was different than my bookmarks currently were.

Interestingly enough, del.icio.us does not give users the ability to delete all of the bookmarks at once. So, to avoid having to go through over 1,000 deletions manually, I would just delete the account and start it over again with the same username.

The other day, I decided to start over again. But this time, I intend to use it to store things that are of interest to me on a daily basis. For example, the presidential typography article. Good blog posts, inspirational designs, interesting news, and so on. You can see my del.icio.us bookmarks.

Each day, at least for now, I will have the links of the day posted automatically. If there is any interest in this, or if I find it enjoyable, I’ll keep doing it.

As I’ve said before, I read a lot of blogs. At this time, I use Google Reader to aggregate my feeds, and thoroughly enjoy it. I typically mark the blogs I actually like to visit from an aesthetic perspective with a different tag, so that I can go and look at the site itself when time allows. In any case, the blogs I read are typically about faith/spirituality, art, business, or the web (anything from design to development to cool stuff and beyond). And I like that. But some of these blogs mix some or more of these categories.

As it is developing, my blog does and will probably increasingly mix the world of faith/spirituality/theology with the world of the web/design/development. It is a core belief of mine that the two worlds have much to say to each other, and much to learn from each other. This brings up some interesting thoughts and questions. Is it appropriate for me, as a web professional, to blog about, for example, theology? What if someone, from either world, doesn’t like the mixture? Does the mixture hurt me professionally? Can it help me professionally?

“Conventional wisdom,” as much of it as there can be with the relatively small age of blogging, says that professional bloggers should stay away from things that could be controversial, or too personal. Especially if they are freelancers, or searching for a job. Meaning, of course, religion and politics, among other things. I talk about both. I’m not freelancing at the moment, or searching for a job, but the idea still gives me pause. In searching the web, one finds people on both sides of this question. Many web professionals who blog are quite open about their personal lives (just to list a few), and for a more specific reference, the Godbit Project exists to merge theology and technology. Others have almost nothing to say about their personal lives, whether from lack of time or other reasons.

While I’m not sure what I think about this question, I intend to continue blogging about the things I want to blog about. I want to observe what effect, if any, it has on my professional life, specifically freelance as time allows.

Welcome to my first post. I have finally taken the leap, and gotten rid of my old portfolio site that I created for a Flash class. I have been intending to replace it forever for a very long time, with something more applicable to the things I’m passionate about on the web; and to include blogging. Plus, I don’t urgently need the portfolio, as I’m very happy in my current job situation and don’t really have time for freelance. I would like that to change, but I think by the time it does hell may have frozen over I’ll have the portfolio integrated with this blog.

So I’ve converted to the root of the site to WordPress. I have a bit of experience with WordPress, and have for the most part enjoyed it. In the near future, I’ll be making a theme, as it’s fairly pathetic for a web designer to go out and pick a prebuilt theme for his blog. Hopefully, the new theme will be arriving shortly.

In any case, this blog will be several things. I’m a web professional, and I love what I do. Much of what is said here will be indirectly or directly related to design, programming, culture, theory, etc. about new media in general and the web in particular… in it’s current state, past state, and/or what I see for its future state. And, obviously, it’ll have a portfolio of relevant work that I’ve done.

Plus, I attempt to be a follower of Jesus. Thus, this blog will also relate to spirituality, issues of faith and culture, media and faith, experience and theology, and ministry; and how these things occur in emerging and underground culture.

Anyway. I’m not a huge fan of lists, so I’ll also say that this blog is a record of my journey. I hope to be faithful with it, learn from it, and if possible, contribute something worthwhile to the web.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…