WordPress Wednesday News: WordCamps in Israel and Melbourne, Tag Troubles, Cell Blogging, WP-Cache and Comment troubles, and More

Lorelle VanFossen

Oct. 17, 2007
6 min read

WordPress new tags feature brings hope and confusion, and new WordPress Plugins. WordCamp Israel sold out. WordCamp Melbourne filling fast. News soon on WordCamp Hamburg in January. Cell blogging options improve with WordPress. A few problems with WP-Cache and comment template files, and news, updates, and more news on WordPress.

WordPress News

WordCamp Israel Sold Out: WordCamp Israel is filled with a long waiting list for the October 25 day long conference. I’m going to be there, talking about blogging and WordPress, along with some of the best of the best of Israeli bloggers.

WordCamp Melbourne: Australia, is the next international spot for WordCamp Melbourne for November 17. There is now an Upcoming Events page which list WordCamp Melbourne will be at the Watermark Bar. They are still setting the schedule of speakers up for the afternoon long conference, but expect to see some fantastic speakers and programs.

International WordCamps: Is there a WordCamp coming to your area? Volunteers are needed to help coordinate WordCamp conferences around the world. Below are some of the first, and they need your help to be a success, so pitch in and spread the news.

WordPress 2.3 Tags: While many are having trouble with their WordPress Themes and the new tag feature, others are embracing it and finding interesting ways of making it work for them. In Implementing WordPress 2.3’s New Tagging Feature, Tom Johnson explains how he is using the new tag feature in combination with the new Advanced Tag Entry, Structured Tag Library, Tag Managing Thing, and WordPress 2.3 Related Posts WordPress Plugins. Two other Plugins, Click Tags and Recommended Tags for WordPress Plugin, may also help improve your tag functionality.

WordPress 2.3 Released: WordPress 2.3 is available for download. For information on features and issues with WordPress 2.3, see:

WordPress 2.4 Digest: Peter reports that this week’s changes to WordPress 2.4 development includes more $wpdb methods, addition of new template function is_page_template() to allow theme authors to have conditional output dependenton the page template, and elimination of the remaining global variables caching data that should be stored in the object cache. There are some exciting improvements coming up in WordPress 2.4!

WordPress 2.3 Convert Categories to Tags: There continues to be some confusion over the convert categories to tags feature in WordPress 2.3. If you choose this option, the categories you convert to tags will be removed. The posts will fall back into another category, if one was selected for it, or the default category for your blog, which is usually “uncategorized”. To put that uncategorized post into a category, you will have to manually edit the post.

Post to WordPress from Nokia Lifeblog: Weblog Tools Collections uncovers script instructions from Phoneboy to post to your WordPress from Nokia Lifeblog, including videos.

Errors Reported with wp-comments template files: Quick Online Tips reports that Google is finding 405 Errors with the wp-comments-post.php. Comments post fine but the error code persists even after disabling comment WordPress Plugins. Others are reporting that they are having the same trouble with WordPress 2.3. If you’ve come up with an answer, check in and let them know.

WordPress on Your Calendar: Here are some WordPress-related dates and events to put on your calendar as found on the WordPress Roadmap and the WordPress Meetup Group Listings (subject to change):

The New York City WordPress October Meetup – October 20, 2007
WordCamp Israel – October 25, 2007 in Tel Aviv (English)
The Baltimore-Washington WordPress October Meetup – October 27, 2007
WordPress 2.3.1 – November 15, 2007
WordCamp Melbourne November 17, 2007
WordPress 2.0.+ – December 1, 2007
Blog Business Summit Now in Seattle – December 5-6, 2007
WordPress 2.4 – Decmeber 12, 2007
WordCamp Hamburg – January 26-27, 2008
WordCamp Dallas – March 29-30, 2008
WordPress 2.5 – April 1, 2008
WordPress 2.5 – May 5, 2008
WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco – July 2008 (waiting confirmation)

If you are having a WordPress-related event that isn’t on the calendar, post them below or via email.

Vote for WordPress Ideas: Did you know you could have your say in how WordPress works? You can add your idea and vote on any of the ideas to push them to the top in getting them added or removed from WordPress future versions. The WordPress Ideas section on WordPress is an open forum for you to have your say. Why not take advantage of it and add your voice to the vote.

WordPress.com News

The WordPress.com Debate Over Global Versus Local Tags: As mentioned last week, many WordPress.com bloggers are confused and frustrated with the new native tag feature. Some WordPress Themes feature global links, links to tags of all WordPress.com bloggers with the same tag, and others feature local links, posts on your own blog using the same tag. Most want local links and are requesting either being given a choice or making the links be local. You can read more about this in the WordPress.com Support Forum discussions on Why Do Some Themes Have Local Tags Instead Of Global Tags? and Any update on turning off global tags or letting users know they are not local?.

WordPress.com Offers Category to Tag Converter: WordPress.com now offers the ability to convert your categories to tags using the new WordPress 2.3 built-in tag feature. The converter allows users to convert specific categories, not all of them, to tags. This is great for those who have too many categories and want to remove them and make them tags, but beware. You cannot undo this. Once the posts have been removed from those categories and the tags applied, they will drop into the uncategorized or your default category, or in the other categories associated with that post. If you make a mistake, you will have to manually re-categorize those posts again.

What’s Hot on WordPress.com? The hottest blogs on WordPress.com were:

The hottest blog posts on WordPress.com were:

WordPress Plugins and Themes News

Template Tags You May Want to Remove: 13 Tags to Delete From Your Theme by Pro Blog Design identifies code you can remove or make static on your WordPress Theme, if you are Theme-wise. These are in there for a reason, but if you know what you are doing, you can see the value in removing these codes to save a little bandwidth and database load. Take care and test your Theme thoroughly before doing so and always have plenty of backups.

WordPress Prefix Changer: Blog Security reports updating WP Prefix Changer WordPress Plugin which allows you to change your database table prefix to mitigate “new and automated vulnerabilities that attackers may use to gain access to your blog.”

WPhone WordPress Plugin: Viper007Bond presents the WPhone WordPress Plugin with a custom Administration Panel interface to interact with your WordPress blog via any mobile device.

WP-Cache Bug: Many are reporting on the WP-Cache Bug which can shut your site down when using the popular WP-Cache WordPress Plugin. It seems to happen when the cached pages equals the expired pages, fairly consistently. Currently, the only fix is to turn off the Plugin, clear your cache files, and then activate it again – until it happens again. I’m looking for more on this. Do you know a better fix?

Fix for the Flickr Photo Album WordPress Plugin: Ajay D. Souza has the fix for the Flickr Photo Album WordPress Plugin so it will work with WordPress 2.3.

New Plugins for WordPress 2.3: Two new WordPress Plugins for WordPress 2.3 deal with disabling the new update features for checking for new versions of WordPress and WordPress Plugins: Disable WordPress Core Update WordPress Plugin and Disable WordPress Plugin Updates WordPress Plugin.

WordPress Comment Ninja Greasemonkey Script: Engtech of Internet Duct Tape presents WordPress Comment Ninja Greasemonkey Script to speed up and improve the handling of your blog’s comments.

Finding WordPress Plugins: For more WordPress Plugins see the official WordPress Plugin Directory, which now lists 1,025 plugins and 1,599,562 downloads, the WordPress Plugins Database, and Weblog Tools Collection of WordPress Plugins released daily.

Most Popular WordPress Themes: The WordPress Theme Viewer lists the most popular WordPress Themes:

WordPress Techniques and Tips

Here are some featured articles and videos from around the WordPress Community and the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress Users, the source to turn to first for your WordPress help.

Using Yahoo Pipes to Mix and Mash Multiple RSS Feeds: Quick Online Tips explains how to join, split, cut, sort, mix, mash multiple RSS feeds on your WordPress blog with Yahoo! Pipes.

NOTE: If you would like your WordPress tip and technique included in this list, see Tips For Writing Good WordPress Tips.

WordPress Community News

Want a Job with WordPress and Automattic? Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, is hiring. Interested?

WordPress Jobs: WordPress Jobs is a new “service” announced by Weblog Tools Collection. It features jobs for WordPress experts and WordPress experts looking for work. Currently, the service is free as it is still in beta testing. Give it try.

Looking for a WordPress Expert? Do you want a custom WordPress blog? Want to convert your website into a WordPress blog or use WordPress as a CMS? If you are looking for an expert in WordPress Themes, WordPress development, WordPress Plugins, or other WordPress-related expertise, check out the list of WordPress Consultants on Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, the WordPress Jobs listings, and the WP-Pro mailing list.

WordPress Installed For Free: If you have problems installing the full version of WordPress, visit Installing WordPress for Free (aka Install4Free WordPress). This free, volunteer-driven service is limited to personal blogs only, and they help only with installations, not upgrades.

Using WordPress in Your Blog’s Name: Just a reminder. WordPress is a trademark and you are not allowed to use WordPress in your blog’s name or URL unless you have permission of Automattic and WordPress. Currently, they are lax about enforcing this, but why run the risk of being forced to change your blog’s name and URL? Get permission or don’t use it. Also, remember, it’s spelled “WordPress” not “Wordpress”. Oh, and Plugin is Plugin, not plug-in (what you put into a wall electrical socket).

Even More WordPress News?

Past WordPress Wednesday News Reports

WordPress News Sources

Each Wednesday on Blog Herald is WordPress Wednesday, featuring the news around the WordPress Community. If you have a WordPress news item or tip to suggest, please contact me at this special email address: lorelleonwordpress@gmail.com

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Lorelle VanFossen

The author of Lorelle on WordPress and the fast-selling book, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging, as well as several other blogs, Lorelle VanFossen has been blogging for over 15 years, covering blogging, WordPress, travel, nature and travel photography, web design, web theory and development extensively as web technologies developed.