Hauntingly Good WordPress Plugins
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Podcast (crusaders-for-nutemple): Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Hauntingly Good WordPress Plugins
It's Episode 532 – We have plugins for The Media Library, Tool Tips, Sitemaps, Admin Notices, Popups, Popups … and ClassicPress Options. It's all coming up on WordPress Plugins A-Z!
Tooltip CK, Enhanced Media Library, XML Sitemaps, Dobby, Popup Box – new WordPress popup plugin, Holler Box – Lightweight popup plugin……. and ClassicPress options on Episode 531.
John's Intro:
It's an all new season.. WP Plugins A to Z, 11 years and counting.. heading into our 12th year of doing this show. Oct 18 is the anniversary of the show. Throw back memory of the first show.
With great appreciation for the No Agenda Show for their inspiration of ideas and the occasional stolen sound clip.
This is a value for value show and I look forward to everyone providing some value back.
Before I get started, you will want to hang around to the end of the show for our Q & A segment with Amber…. and to those listening on the podcast, you may want to check out the YouTube version which has some great discussions before the show starts…
Producer Credits:
Executive producer:
Nobody this week. Maybe next week!
Show Art:
Greg's Graphics (Greg Holdsworth) — https://gregsgraphics.com
All the show notes can be found at: WPPluginsAtoZ.com
Check out all the art work at https://wppluginsatoz.com/show-art-submitted/
Amber's Rant:
This is #39 of 52 episodes for 2021! Starting to get exciting, what with Halloween drawing nearer and nearer – and if the old wives tales are to be believed, it looks like we will be having a rather chilly winter: The spiders are making HUGE webs with REALLY thick spider silk! That is supposed to mean the upcoming winter is gonna be really cold. There's another saying about squirrels going nuts with foraging – but I really haven't noticed anything different this year regarding squirrels… though I did come across this picture of a fella who had this squirrel stashing nuts in his car, and the squirrel had managed to completely fill up the entire inside of his car. That was kind of entertaining.
Remember: even when things are getting exciting and fun, you still need to give yourself a break! Too much of anything, even a good time, can be exhausting and have some negative effects on you! Be sure and get that sleep, down time, and that alone time. All of which can be done more easily without the constant barrage of any of that social media stuffs out there! It does wonders for the soul!
Rinse and repeat as often as needed.
We have some news from the world of WordPress for you today as well as some great plugins.
News this week:
Sent in by a listener:
Apple quietly fixes zero-day flaw in IOS 15.0.2, but didn't credit its finder – Denis Tokarev found this vulnerability 7 months before the release, and when he contacted Apple he was asked to keep the interaction on the topic confidential – and then was not given the credit for finding the issue. Tokarev reported a total of 4 vulnerabilities to Apple, and after the release there are still 2 that have not been fixed. Read the article to find out more!
Global Azure outage knocked out virtual machines, other VM-dependent services for nearly 8 hours – This outage affected Azure users globally – as well as all services with dependencies on Windows VM's. Azure DevOps was also affected. Microsoft has attributed the issue to “a required artifact version data could not be queried”. They are still investigating, and are looking to establish the full root cause of this in order to head off future occurrences.
Look at WordPress' upcoming Twenty Twenty-Two default theme – Coming in with WordPress 5.9! The design has full site editing and new customization capabilities. It's being developed on GitHub until it's ready to be merged into core. Good to take a look at what's coming!
Default Theme releases may become more frequent following WordPress 5.9 – “I hope these new tools allow us to create and release more frequently than we’ve been able to in the past,” Kjell Reigstad said regarding the releases of the default themes. So we can look forward to updating these default themes more frequently in the future it seems.
WordPress.org profiles now show activity for contributions made on GitHub – This could be both useful and not so useful. The use has to first authorize this in order for it to work, and if the person is rather private, than others might just think that the person never does updates – meanwhile the person is doing plenty of updates just not shouting it out to the world… good and bad to this I think.
WordPress Global Community Sponsorship Program will not include WordCamps for 2022. – The reasoning for this? The unpredictability in hosting ‘in person' events. I get that. A lot of wasted money to set it all up, just to be told ‘nope! Sorry, can't do that this month.'
HacktoberFest adds GitLab Support, updates participation requirements to combat Open Source Project Spam – This is a great idea! I don't know why this didn't happen before now – from now on, pull requests will only count towards participation if they are in a repository with the ‘hacktoberfest' topic and once they have been merged and approved by a maintainer or labeled as ‘hacktoberfest-accepted'. Hopefully this slows down all the time wasting of maintainers'!
Scammers abusing Apple developer program steal millions from victims on Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, Facebook Dating – This is the kind of thing you need to be aware of when you are using these program's. Millions of dollars were stolen from people on these dating apps by people gaining people's trust, then having them download fake crypto apps, where they duped them into investing money before freezing the accounts.
The extras – for even more extra news, check out our Facebook, or Twitter page!
This is the extra news stuff that someone out there might find interesting. To read more, you can head on over to the show notes or newsletter and check it out! If you find something to add for next show, send me a link at amber@wppro.ca
Sent in by a listener:
- Vivaldi – the little known web browser that beats Chrome for Productivity – This seems like a pretty awesome web browser! I mean, I personally prefer FireFox Developer Edition, but this seems like it might worth checking out! Especially when compared with Chrome.
- How to send Disappearing Messages in Facebook Messenger – ‘Vanish Mode' is also available in Instagram and works by first of all using a tablet or phone. It doesn't seem to be an option on computers – which is interesting to me. You must use an iPhone, iPad, or Android in order to use Vanish Mode. If you are interested in trying this out, check out the article!
- Enabling/Disabling Safe Browsing in Google Chrome on Windows 11/10 – This is a great run down on how to enable safety precautions on Chrome if you are a regular user of Chrome – and also teaches you how to disable the safety precautions if they are stopping you from accessing sites or downloading data that you need/want. Read on for more info!
- It will soon be possible to make satellite phone calls with your regular phone! – How cool is that?!? Lynk, formerly known as Ubiquitilink and founded a few years ago by Nanoracks founder Charles Miller – these guys have been able to prove that using typical smartphones you can text message off a low -earth-orbiting satellite. And they don't plan on stopping there! Read the article for more information!
HeroPress Network Launches as a multi-project portal – This is a collection of content from various sites they are working on in a centralized location! It's pretty cool, and it will display the newest items from around the HeroPress Network, as well as news from the community. Worth taking a look at if this is the kind of thing that interests you!
Window's has shrunk their update sizes by 40% – Good news for people who do the updates when they are supposed to! Does make me wonder though if they are going to actually shrink their Window's 11 at all since most of the people out there don't even have a good enough computer to both upgrading…
Apple: Forcing app sideloading would turn iPhones into virus-prone ‘pocket PCs' – iPad and iPhone maker published a new paper on sideloading, a process allowed by other mobile OS developers – such as Google, albeit with some friction – to install apps on devices outside of official app repositories. This may have some serious consequences, as by going round the official app sites you are also going around the security set in place for the apps.
Dynamic Social Images for Plugins, Themes, and Patterns! -Giving this option to developers I think will help to get things out there and known a little easier!
Scientists use AI, X-rays, and 3D printing to reveal a hidden Picasso! – This is just awesome! I love art, and the fact that we can use the AI to help bring out the hidden paintings beneath the art that is already there is just wonderful!
A brain teaser – Imagine that the universe just always was, that the Big Bang was just another thing that happened in the eternal existence of the universe – no beginning, no end! When did time start? Was it always there, or does it still not exist, therefore we exist within the Doctor's statement of ‘wibbly, wobbly, timey, wimey' kind of world… Great brain tease!
A telescope that can see into the Dark Ages of the universe – Now thats neat!
To Kill A Mogwai – Why Mogwai's would actually be the most dangerous creatures on earth if they really existed, and how they compare to today's social media.
The hall of shame via Automattic:
transparency.automattic.com/tag/hall-of-shame/
Matt's Famous Quotes
https://www.idrlabs.com/quotes/matt-mullenweg.php
Support the show
This Show will not work without you, the producers, as it is a Value for Value model, meaning if you're getting any value out of it then give some value back and help the show out.
Start by subscribing to the newsletter for additional information and get out there round them up and rope them all in, belly up to the bar and enjoy. Spread the word about WP Plugins A to Z and catch it live every Thursday at noon PST on our YouTube Channel.
Show Producers
We'd like to acknowledge all the producers who have supported the show in the various ways over the last week.
This weeks show Art Work comes from:
Greg's Graphics (Greg Holdsworth) — https://gregsgraphics.com
Check out all the art work at https://wppluginsatoz.com/show-art-submitted/
This week's Executive Producer/'s are:
Nobody this week. Maybe next week!
A big thank you to all the Producers who came in under $50 and to those who have set up weekly subscriptions they will remain anonymous and I thank you very much.
All these small subscriptions really help the show out.
A big thank you to those who have hired me because of the Podcast, thank you that is as good as donating to the show.
You can Support the Show by:
Donating money to help the show Donations of $50 and over are credited with an Executive Producer Credit in the Show Notes, and their note is read out on the show.
Submitting art work at the WP Plugins Art generator,
Submit articles news and information
Submit plugin suggestions for reviews
You can also create a monthly donation at Patreon
Or something I may not have thought of.
If you would like to send something to WP Plugins A to Z you can send to the following address:
WP Plugins A to Z
C/O John Overall
20-754 E Fairview Rd.
Victoria, BC V9A 5T9
Canada
Off we go into the meat and potatoes, Into the depths of plugin depravity…..
ClassicPress Options
ClassicPress is growing really well, but I just don't have the time to add reviews on ClassicPress myself. I am always open to reviews sent in by listeners; though unless there is a review sent into me on ClassicPress, I am not going to do more than mention that ClassicPress is a thing, and here are some resources. I hope some listeners out there find this information useful!
One thing I am looking forward to in the ClassicPress World is the expansion of the number of ClassicPress specific plugins and their own repository. There are a few plugins specifically for ClassicPress and all plugins for WordPress 4.9.9 work well on it. I do believe it has a future, I just have not time to help them in getting it out there.
ClassicPress News:
New tutorial posted on ClassicPress
https://www.classicpress.net/how-to-use-github-desktop-and-xampp-to-review-prs/
For some up to date news on ClassicPress check out the ClassicPress Blog.
ClassicPress Resources:
“Must Have” Plugins List
https://forums.classicpress.net/t/must-have-plugins-list/1163
It seems ClassicPress now has it own repository you can check it here https://directory.classicpress.net/plugins they now have 83 plugins available.
CodePotent's plugin directory
https://codepotent.com/classicpress/plugins/
WordPress Plugins
Are you looking for some great newly released plugins? Check this link!
https://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/new/
——————————–
John's Plugin
XML Sitemaps
https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/
The Lowdown:
It has been a while since I mentioned a plugin like this, since the major SEO plugins generate a sitemap. This plugin operates outside of SEO plugins, and generates an XML sitemap that search engines can index for your site. This plugin has been around for a while, and it does a great job.
Rating 4 Dragons
——————————–
Amber's Plugin
Holler Box – Lightweight popup plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/holler-box/
The Lowdown:
This is a very lightweight plugin that allows you to connect MailChimp, Convertkit, mailPoet, Drip, Active Campaign, or Custom Form.
You can limit it to pages or make it appear on all pages, delay time, play with the fonts and colours, and you have a few different ones to choose from in the free version! You get the Notification Box, Popup Box, and Faux Chat designs to choose from. If you prefer, you also have the option to create custom designs via HTML and ShortCodes.
Really easy to use, very simple, and the ability to connect to so many things like MailChimp is a great addition.
The Pro Version offers a lot more templates, and a lot more options to expand your popups.
Rating 4 Dragons
——————————–
John's Plugin
10 Years ago today on WP Plugins A to Z
I was going to do a plugin for exact date, but it seems I was covering plugins that helped you to determine if visitors where using a smart phone or not.
Enhanced Media Library
https://wordpress.org/plugins/enhanced-media-library/
The Lowdown:
If your site has been around for a while and has lots of images in the media library, you may want to have a look at this plugin to help you manage that. This plugin will allow you to create categories, tags, and filters for them. It has sort options, you can reorder the items, and you can create dynamic galleries. The pro version offers even more.
Rating 4 Dragons
——————————–
Amber's Plugin
Popup Box – new WordPress popup plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/popup-box/
The Lowdown:
One of the best parts of this one is that they give you a live preview right above where you are working as you build it. I really like that!
They don't have the ability to put in a map on the free version unfortunately, though you can link media and videos.
You have a lot of basic control with this plugin, you are able to put in your own wording, your own pictures and colours, place it wherever you want, decide where it shows up on your site – but that is really it. You have basic control in the free version, in order to use the truly useful bits of this you need to upgrade.
Rating 4 Dragons
——————————–
John's Plugin
Tooltip CK
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tooltip-ck/
The Lowdown:
This is a great little plugin that will allow you to add tool tips, or other popup information with the text into your posts.
Rating 5 Dragons
——————————–
Amber's Plugin
Dobby
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-dobby/
The Lowdown:
Dobby the friendly Admin Elf! There to take care of all your (unwanted) admin notices!
I can see this being both very helpful, and a bit irritating – there are sometimes admin notices that you actually need to be able to see – and this sort of wipes them all out for you.
Though there was one rather important notice that I did see while this was activated – so I think that anything that is declared ‘important' will still show, just removing all of those pesky, irritating, unimportant notices.
I really like this one!! Totally free, open source, and just makes me feel like a fancy wizard.
Rating 5 Dragons
——————————–
Random links for plugins
WordPress plugins crafted from love and experience
https://codeat.co/
Listener Feedback / Audio Clips
Feel free to send in your thoughts to us – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – we'll take them all!
Listener Questions
If you have any you would like to have asked, please feel free to send them in! Remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question!
Contest:
Our Contests are on Hiatus for a little while…
You will be the first to hear about our next contest coming up though!!!
Couple of notes around the contests:
Contests Powered by Simple Giveaways who kindly provides us with the premium version for our contests.
Steve Goodtime & Brant Matthews created a new jingle for us for contests.
I do want to thank Charlie for coming to the aid of the show and getting our contests all organized. I also want to thank all the developers again for supporting our show with their plugin donations! Please check them out.
The plugins we covered were:
John’s Plugins: Tooltip CK – 5, Enhanced Media Library – 4, XML Sitemaps 4
Amber's Plugins: Dobby – 5, Popup Box – new WordPress popup plugin – 4, Holler Box – Lightweight popup plugin – 4
Matt's Famous Quotes
https://www.idrlabs.com/quotes/matt-mullenweg.php
Reminders / Commercial / Promotions:
Next Week:
No meetup planned at the moment but you can keep tabs on this at https://wppluginsatoz.com/meetup
Would you like to be on an interview show? Simply connect at https://wppluginsatoz.com/interview
If you have suggestions on plugins you would like to have reviewed please submit them on the website at https://wppluginsatoz.com/submit-plugin-review/
Q & A Time with Amber ——– Catch this info on our YouTube Channel!
If you have questions you would like to have asked on the show, send them in to me at Amber@WPPro.ca and we will answer to the best of our ability!
- We all have a cord box – even people who don't really do computery things. But when we move, we have to downsize – so my question is:
- What are the most important cords to keep in your cord box?
- Why those cords?
- What are the most important cords to keep in your cord box?
- Can you create your own VPN?
- how?
- Step one to learning developing: learn coding. What if you've only learned the bare basics of coding, and you have an opportunity to learn to white-hatting? Should you just go ahead and dive in, or should you keep yourself paced, and stick with the coding until you have fully learned that?
- Why?
Closing out this Episode
Just some reminders:
Be sure and subscribe to our Newsletter.
You can support the show at wppluginsatoz.com/donate
All the show notes can be found at: WPPluginsAtoZ.com
Subscribe and review the show at:
Stitcher Radio, Google Play and in the iTunes Store
Follow the show on Twitter @wppluginsatoz
Join Us on Our Facebook Page
Subscribe and Check out our Training Videos, Screencasts and Watch us Live on YouTube every Thursday at Noon PDT
How to Contact Us:
John can be contacted at:
- on my website @ http://www.johnoverall.com/
- WordPress Emergency Support http://wppro.ca/wpemergency
- email: john@wppro.ca
Amber can be contacted at:
- email: amber@wppro.ca
