The feeds were served by the standard [...]]]> Apart from its own Ice Tea tech blog, Dipot.com also displays two external feeds relating to Optimization and Standards. I needed to optimize the post titles of these two feeds by getting rid of their long suffixes, both for better looks and for more content within the same space.

The feeds were served by the standard RSS WordPress 2.7.1 widget, which is fine, except it does not support much customization. After some search, I found Advanced RSS 1.0.1 WordPress plugin and KB Advanced RSS 2.1.3 WordPress plugin. Smart RSS only works until WP 2.7.0 and I didn’t want to tweak with that. Advanced RSS only works until WP 2.6.2 and requires PHP5, DOM and XSL extensions loaded on the server and I don’t want to depend on those if I don’t need to, so the choice was easy.

Installation of KB Advanced RSS worked flawlessly right from within wp-admin. Then, on my first attempt to configure it, I came across a problem which could very well had been a show stopper: for some reason, except for the feed’s URL and Title, the widget would not commit any of the other parameters to the “Options” table of the database. Troubleshooting this issue, I ended up reading all the users’ comments on the plugin’s site. As usual, I was not alone; this is a common issue. Thankfully, Wesley of  http://www.improvingtheweb.com had already posted the solution to PHP4 not committing widget field changes in WordPress. The solution worked like a charm. And, as expected, when I later upgraded to PHP5 the problem wasn’t even there to begin with.

KB Advanced RSS is well thought-out, very straight forward with good documentation and examples. It supports all the features of the standard widget (including multiple instances) plus formatting and full support of all the feed’s fields to display or not (including the debugging tool to show which these fields are)! It further supports two modifiers to optionally manipulate the string before display, by taking out a number of characters from the start (ltrim) and/or trimming it to a specific length (trim).

Alas, what I actually needed was to take out a number of characters from the end of the string. Fortunately, as it turned out, KB Advanced RSS’s code is pretty straight-forward and extending it with my own modifier (rtrim) to do just that was only a matter of 3 lines of PHP code added to the version of the plugin that runs by my version of Wordpress; there’s one for versions up to 2.7 (pre-wp-2-7.php) and one for versions after that (post-wp-2-7.php). Here is the PHP code from the modified post-wp-2-7.php (my rtrim extension is in blue):

///////////////////////////////// CUSTOMIZATIONS /////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// If you want to write customizations, put them here. The variable to modify is $text. See the FAQ.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// right trimming
// cuts $rtrim characters from the right
// by ageor, April 9, 2009
$rtrim = (is_numeric($rtrim) && 0<$rtrim) ? (int) $rtrim : null;
if (is_int($rtrim))
$text = substr( $text, 0, strlen($string)-$rtrim );

// left trimming:
$ltrim = (is_numeric($ltrim) && 0<$ltrim) ? (int) $ltrim : null;
if (is_int($ltrim))
$text = substr( $text, $ltrim );

// length trimming (do after left trimming)
$trim = (is_numeric($trim) && 0<$trim) ? (int) $trim : null;
if (is_int($trim))
$text = substr( $text, 0, $trim );

return $text;

The way this is written, the string in question can undergo any mix of all three trimming types necessary.

All setting up and troubleshooting took place by adding one instance of the widget and configuring it, then a second instance. When all was done and I had what I wanted, I removed the original two instances of the original RSS widget, positioned the new ones on top and saved, certain I was done. However, as the resulting “Widgets” Wordpress admin page suggested after saving, something was very wrorg. It displayed the message ‘You are using 3 widgets in the “Left Sidebar” sidebar’ but not the widgets themselves, nor the “Save Changes” button. Sure enough, I ended up with an unworkable site, as these where the first 2 widgets on the left column of Ice Tea tech and the page that appeared ended with the title banner. Disaster!

To cut a long story short, plenty of “trial and error”s later and with the help of Vicki of neTWire, here is my conclusion: For KB Advanced RSS widget to work with WP 2.7.1 and the Atahualpa WordPress theme, the WordPress RSS widget needs to be activated and positioned above it. That’s how I temporarily solved my problem, until (if ever) I have the time to look deeper into the code involved or newer versions of  the theme and/or the plugin solve it for good.

Just to be clear, none of the problems and troubleshooting it took to solve them can be traced back ato KB Advanced RSS alone. Atahualpa is a great but complex theme and it is their combination that turned out to be problematic. It’s not the first example of a bad mix and it won’t be the last. On the flip side, with each such incident we get to learn something new that will potentially save others and ourselves some frusrtation and time in the future.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• WordPress Optimization: Compatibility between Themes & Plugins (0)
• Feeds to Content & Categories Optimization in WordPress (1)
• Apologies for last days’ posts flood (0)
• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (0)
• Athens Startup Weekend 2008 (0)

This bookmark links to http://personalmba.com/value-optimization-paradox/

This bookmark links to http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1467261

This bookmark links to http://www.perfect-optimization.com/website-optimization-ebook.htm

This bookmark links to http://social-media-optimization.com/2009/03/10-ways-to-measure-a-social-media-campaign/

This bookmark links to http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/03/02/12-techniques-to-increase-white-paper-leads/

This bookmark links to http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

This bookmark links to http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2009/02/twitter-optimization-part-4-10-tools-you-need-for-business.html

As I mention from time to time, I never have enough of a good thing. FriendFeed is more than good, it’s great. Greatness has a tencency to increase expectations. These are a few optimization suggestions to raise the experience from “great” to “near perfect” (as new requests will probably always exist):

During my early days as an IT support person (well before USB flash drives, external hard disks and recordable CDs), I picked up the habit to not be dependent on anything not included in Windows (v. 3.0, at the time) if I could help it. So I got used to working on the setups my [...]]]>

During my early days as an IT support person (well before USB flash drives, external hard disks and recordable CDs), I picked up the habit to not be dependent on anything not included in Windows (v. 3.0, at the time) if I could help it. So I got used to working on the setups my clients did.

I rarely support people this way any more. Although old habits die hard, I increasingly get used to my own, optimized setup. I am a Windows person wishing for a Linux future, so, I keep trying to use software also available for it in an effort to prepare for the switch at some point. I also prefer portable applications, ones that can run fully configured from a flash disk. Firefox is my browserfits these specs plus there is a plethora of great, value-adding add-ons to optimize it.

This is the list of the Add-ons I can’t live without (in alphabetical order):

1. Better GReader

As the name implies, Better GReader is a collection of scripts (also available for GreaseMonkey) that improve the Google Reader experience. I use the ones that bypass the GReader-iGoogle choice, color-code the list items, massively mark the items above the current one as read, show the feeds’ favicons and make better use of the window real estate to fit more items in each page. Among other choices, there’s also the preview item within GReader choice I know people like, but I don’t use it. Better GReader does not require GreaseMonkey to work.

2. DownThemAll!

“The mass downloader for Fireox”. GetRight is better, but it’s not free. The only item in my wishlish for DownThemAll is ability to change the saved name of the document.

3. FireFTP

Not everyone uses FTP any more. If you do, FireFTP covers all the bascis: local and remote “explorer” windows, permissions change, synchronization, initial folders after logon etc.

4. Google Toolbar for Firefox

Firefox does support several search engines out of the box and a lot more by customization. The Google Toolbar is very versatile and Google is my search engine of choice. I don’t use all of its features but those I do use save me a lot of clicks and data entry.

5. IE Tab

IE Tab is still one of the first add-ons I install, as it allows use of Internet Explorer’s rendering engine within a Firefox Tab. Furthermore it can remember IE-specific sites and kick-in automatically. I would prefer such sites did not exist (and they do tend to become extinct) but if you are a web developer, you need it anyway.

6. PDF Download

Earlier versions of Firefox did not work very well with acrobat documents. I think both Firefox and the acrobat plug-in have now improved but I’m still used to choosing whether to save or to just view a .pdf up front.

7. PlainOldFavorites

Windows and IE Favorites are not as compact as Firefox Bookmarks. I don’t like importing them, though; I prefer using PlainOldFavorites that adds a “Favorites” menu entry that works almost exactly like (Internet) Explorer’s. If only Shift Organize worked the same, it would be perfect! This is a must-have for people whose primary browser is IE.

8. Shareaholic

If you like to post sites you visit on an extensive list of supported services (including my favorites Delicious, Facebook, FriendFeed, Google Reader, Twitter and many more), this is the tool of choice. Many sites use widgets for that but why not be prepared?

9. Split Browser

I can live without Split Browser, except when I can’t. Like on US election day and Obama’s inauguration, when I had a tab split into 3 or 4 panes to follow several video etc. streams at once. If you need it, you need it.

• Adblock Plus

Due to the debate whether blocking ads is hurting the Internet, I scruple about such add-0ns. Having said that, I asked about the most valuable Firefox add-on in Twitter and FriendFeed and the answer I got was Adblock. I am presenting Adblock Plus, which knows how to block many ads and is easily further configurable. Additionaly, four expansions, Adblock Plus Filter Uploader, Adblock Filterset.G Updater, Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper and Adblock Plus Watcher help share our filters, update them automatically, hide text ads and debug Adblock Plus for even better results.

There go my most valuable of around 35 Firefox add-ons I use. Which browser do you use and how do you optimize it? Please do share!

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• Firefox 3 Add-ons Updates Wishlist (0)
• News Reading Thoughts (2)
• FriendFeed Optimization Feature Requests (0)
• Clipmarks :: Firefox Add-ons (0)
• 7 Favorite, Value Adding FriendFeed Applications (0)

DiPot, short for Digital Pot, was founded in 2001 to push Digital Convergence, then in its infancy, and Communication. Now that our everyday life is digital and lots of communication means are at our disposal, DiPot is still here to help enhance, improve and optimize both in the user’s level.

To that extend, the Ice Tea [...]]]>

DiPot, short for Digital Pot, was founded in 2001 to push Digital Convergence, then in its infancy, and Communication. Now that our everyday life is digital and lots of communication means are at our disposal, DiPot is still here to help enhance, improve and optimize both in the user’s level.

To that extend, the Ice Tea tech blog focuses on the digital age tools, improvement and enhancement of the user’s experience. Additional feeds focus on Optimization and Standards, which we perceive to be the cornerstones of further technology improvement and penetration.

Based on researching the reality & trends, many forms of feedback and our own needs and dreams, DiPot strives to catch the pulse of and assist those out there who, like us, never have enough of a good thing.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (5)
• Feeds to Content & Categories Optimization in WordPress (1)
• WordPress Optimization: Compatibility between Themes & Plugins (0)
• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (0)
• News Reading Thoughts (2)