Philip John » Plugins

WordPress plugin: Show blogroll links in a post or page with ease!

Philip John — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:00:22 +0000

I’ve decided to start blogging when I find or use a really good plugin that I think people should know about, this being the first!

WP Render Blogroll Links allows you to add a simple shortcode to a blog post or page to display a list of links. You can see an example of it in use on Journal Local.

The plugin has a wide range of customisation options including;

Show/hide category titles
Include/exclude categories
Show/hide descriptions
Customise order of links
Show descriptions alongside, or below, links
Add ‘rel’ attributes to links

All of these are detailed in the clear and comprehensive FAQs. You can download the plugin from WordPress.org.

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New hyperlocal Wordpress plugin: OpeningTimes.co.uk

Philip John — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:05:52 +0000

I received a tweet the other day from the wonderful Andy Mabbett. It read;

http://opening-times.co.uk/ is very #hyperlocal oriented. They’re on Twitter: @opening_times / @willperrin @getgood (widget, @philipjohn ?)

So I toddled over to the Opening Times web site and had a gander, found some XML there and thought to myself,

Hmm that’ll only take five minutes.

It took twenty but I created a very simple widget for Wordpress that displays search results for an area you specify. Here’s a screenshot:

A screenshot of the opening times widget

You can download it now although be aware that it’s in beta so it might throw up errors occasionally. I already know that it doesn’t handle postcodes very well, so be careful with using them.

If you have any thoughts/suggestions/comments/criticisms, add a comment below!

OpenAustralia plugin for Wordpress

Philip John — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:57:32 +0000

I’m delighted that after my release last week of my TheyWorkForYou.com plugin for Wordpress, Henare Degan has created an adaptation which provides the same functionality but using OpenAustralia, an Australian version of TheyWorkForyou.com.

You can download the plugin from Henare’s github, just click on “download” at the top and select “ZIP” then follow these instructions on how to install it.

Hopefully as I build more features onto my TheyWorkForYou plugin, Henare and I can apply them to the OpenAustralia one too. Fantastic!

GroupsNearYou.com Wordpress plugin

Philip John — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:00:29 +0000

This is the last one this week, I promise. For Talk About Local I have just developed a Wordpress plugin using the GroupsNearYou.com site. The plugin creates a simple widget which shows the groups in your area, based on a postcode that you provide.

I made a demo video and wrote instructions on how to set the plugin up which have been posted over on the Talk About Local blog, as well as instructions on installing the plugin.

All that’s left to do now is download the plugin (ZIP).

WriteToThem.com Wordpress plugin

Philip John — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:02:05 +0000

As if the TheyWorkForYou.com plugin wasn’t enough I’ve also created a plugin for WriteToThem.com as well!

The plugin adds a new widget which your blog readers can use to get in touch with their politicians from councillors to MEPs. There’s a demo video and instructions on how to set up over on the Talk About Local blog.

You can download the plugin now and subscribe for future updates.

TheyWorkForYou.com Wordpress plugin

Philip John — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:00:44 +0000

As part of some work for Talk About Local I have just developed a Wordpress plugin using the TheyWorkForYou.com API.

For this first version the plugin creates a single widget which shows the latest activity for your MP. I hope to add more in the future and if you have any suggestions, please add them to the comments below.

I made a demo video and wrote instructions on how to set the plugin up which have been posted over on the Talk About Local blog, as well as instructions on installing the plugin.

All that’s left to do now is download the plugin (ZIP).

Hyperlocal: Give me your ideas, I’ll (try and) make it happen.

Philip John — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:51:09 +0000

Some of you may be aware that I’ve begun writing a Wordpress plugin using OpenlyLocal. It’s not the only thing I’m working on though, and I have lots of ideas. However, I know that there’s plenty of hyperlocals out there that probably have their own ideas of what would make their life easier, or just more interesting.

So I’m asking: what tools do you want for your hyperlocal? Try and think about the things that you don’t find it so easy doing as well as the ‘wouldn’t it be cool if…’ ideas. Here are some of mine;

OpenlyLocal
- Upcoming meetings widget
- Councillor information attached to posts
- Meeting information attached to posts (e.g. links to minutes, those in attendance)
- Councillor profiles
- Contact the council widget
TheyWorkForYou widget (showing recent activity by your MP)
WriteToThem widget (i.e. a button for direct access to e-mail your MP/councillors)
FixMyStreet alerts widget
Weather widget (including flood warnings – and Andy Mabbett suggested tide times for coastal locations and pollen counts)
Recent investigations (powered by Help Me Investigate)
FoI requests widget (powered by WhatDoTheyKnow)
Upcoming blood donation sessions (thanks to John Cronin)
Schools (I don’t know what but something with schools)
Hospitals, doctors surgeries, dentists (actually, this is leading onto an Uber Map)
Police information (such as recent arrests, appeals, upcoming surgeries)
Travel news; including public transport (thanks Martin)
Planning applications (hat-tip to Martin again)
Food safety ratings (e.g. through the excellent RateMyPlace)
Eating out guide, including integration with RateMyPlace
Health services, such as comments from NHS Choices (thanks to Will Perrin for this one)
Early Day Motions signed by your MP, using EDMs.org.uk
Local sports club results & league tables (thanks Ed)
‘Tell us what’s going on locally’ like on Berkamsted People (via Josh)
A Groups Near You widget
Petrol prices (cheers Ed!)
Yoosk! …I don’t know what, but something needs to be done with Yoosk.
Tweetminster widget showing councillors/MPs who tweet, maybe aggregate their tweets.
Schools closures (e.g. when there’s a tiny smattering of snow)
Bin collections (and warnings when the torrent of snowfall comes)
Bus routes/timetables/announcements
School holiday dates

I’m thinking all those will also be available in the Wordpress admin for blog owners to use them to generate stories. I’ve probably missed something too, so suggest away!

Tools for hyperlocals: OpenlyLocal Wordpress plugin

Philip John — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:52:09 +0000

I’m starting to develop a range of tools for hyperlocal sites, taking advantage of the extensibility of blogging platform, Wordpress. My first effort is using the fantastic OpenlyLocal site and all the data provided in raw XML.

So far, I’ve built the bare bones of the plugin, an admin page to select the local authority and then a simple widget which displays upcoming council meetings.

Very simple widget.

There is a big list of ideas in my head of what I could do with this but I’m not sure what would be most desirable to the masses (I want it all, now) so I’ve set up a Get Satisfaction page and added a few ideas just to get the ball rolling. Please go there and do at least one of two things;

‘Like’ an existing idea. This helps decide where I should focus my efforts.
Suggest a new idea. If there’s something I haven’t thought of, please tell me!

It’d be great if you could just leave your general thoughts about ideas too. The more collective knowledge I get the better the plugin will be and that’s only going to be good for hyperlocal sites everywhere!

Thanks!

Ratemyplace Wordpress Widget

Philip John — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:20:59 +0000

I’m a massive fan of Wordpress and like what Stuart Harrison has done with Ratemyplace so I thought I’d get my hands dirty and write my first Wordpress plugin.

It’s really rather simple – I didn’t wanna get too in depth on my first plugin outing. It creates a Wordpress widget for showing the Latest Inspections javascript badge that you can grab from the Ratemyplace site.

There’s also an options page so you can decide which local authority you want to show from the ones available, or if you want to show all of them.

I’ve tested it with a standard installation of Wordpress v2.8 and it seems to work okay. It’s ready for localisation so if you fancy translating it, please do.

It’s released under the GPL and you can download it here.

*It will be available on the Wordpress.org site in time.

Philip John » Plugins

WordPress plugin: Show blogroll links in a post or page with ease!

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New hyperlocal Wordpress plugin: OpeningTimes.co.uk

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OpenAustralia plugin for Wordpress

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GroupsNearYou.com Wordpress plugin

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WriteToThem.com Wordpress plugin

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TheyWorkForYou.com Wordpress plugin

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Hyperlocal: Give me your ideas, I’ll (try and) make it happen.

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Tools for hyperlocals: OpenlyLocal Wordpress plugin

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Ratemyplace Wordpress Widget

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