techniQal support

I finally got the lijit wijit hosted on wordpress.org.

What this means:
Adds a new distribution channel where hosted, or self hosted wordpress users can find the Lijit Wijit.
Sorry wordpress.com users—we’re not quite there yet.
If any updates or changes happen to the wordpress widget, I will update them on the official wordpress lijit wijit page, and on our new home at wordpress.org.

So head on over to http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-lijit-wijit/.
If you have used the plugin already, and you like it, create a wordpress.org account and rate the widget.

If you happen to be out on the internets looking for the best Lijit wordpress plugin, go there, download it, and rate it. Add a feedback comment while you’re at it.

So I am just about to complete my second week working for the best search company on the planet. I am now working for Lijit Networks in beautiful Louisville, Colorado. Although my previous development on the Lijit Wijit plugin for wordpress, was pre-lijit, I will continue to update and work on it via my blog. So if you are looking for instructions and download details on the Lijit wordpress plugin, just click the link “Lijit Wordpress Wijit” . All further updates will live there from now on.

Feel free to send an email if you have any problems, and make sure you head over to Lijit.com to make sure you are signed up, and that your blog is wijitized.

As part of playing with the widget system in the newer versions of wordpress, I decided to take some of my sidebar content and widgetize it.
My first try is a widget that allows you to add the Lijit Search Wijit to your sidebar.

1. Simply download the file below and unzip the plugin
2. Upload the myLijit.php file to your /wp-content/plugins directory
3. Login to your wordpress admin console and activate the plugin
4. Go to Presentation management, click on the Widgets tab, and you can drag it to any location on your sidebar
5. Edit the widget by clicking , select the title for the widget block, and specify your Lijit username.
6. Enjoy

Download the code

If you want to learn how to build your own wordpress widget, I followed the code and the tutorial at Blue-Anvil .

UPDATE:
Something I should have mentioned about this plugin. This is built to work with Wordpress 2.2.* automatically . The latest version of WP contains a built-in sidebar widget plugin.
For earlier 2.* versions, you need to install the Wordpress Widgets plugin before your sidebar will be “widget” enabled.

A full tutorial and links to download the plugin, are available at http://automattic.com/code/widgets/use/ .
It should be fairly easy to install , if you have access to your wordpress installation, and use either the Classic, or Kubrick themes.

Some things to remember when following the tutorial:

1. Backup your default theme files before copying the new theme files to your wp-content/themes folder.
2. Activate the Wordpress Widgets plugin

If you really want a widget enabled sidebar, you can also go the route of upgrading to 2.2.

Check out this simple, approachable startup tutorial for Ruby on Rails. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of some of the structure of Ruby, and how to implement your first ROR project.

betterexplained.com ROR Tutorial

My favorite distro has just released a brand spanking new version.
Some release highlights:

• GNOME 2.18 and KDE 3.5.6
• New desktop theme - “Flying High”
• Wireless firmware improvements, and new GUI NetworkManager for managing your wired and wireless connections
• Hot plugging display devices due to inclusion of Xorg Server 1.3
• Performance enhancements for yum
• Python 2.5, and all Python repo software uses it!

They have also introduced new Spins(fedora install types).

1. GNOME and KDE bootable live images
2. Normal desktop,workstation,server images
3. DVD images that include entire Fedora repository

I will definitely be installing this once I can find the time.

Check out the Fedora home page here –>Fedora Project

Or go to release notes here –> Release Notes

Really neat example of how to use python and pygame to make a game in less than 200 lines of code.

read more | digg story

So Seth Godin seems to have his hands on almost anything “web 2.0″. This is yet another example, but I really like this one. Check the link for a list of web 2.0 sites ranked by traffic. The actual value of this list to me, is not the traffic patterns. It does’nt matter to me if myspace is #1 or not. I think the true value of this list is the consolidation of so many cool sites.
In the top 50 I have already found a few I didn’t know existed.
For instance check out tt-rss.spb.ru - Tiny Tiny RSS, for a neat web based RSS reader.
The list just has tons of goodies on it. This one is definitely making it into my del.icio.us bookmarks.
Seth Godins Web 2.0 Traffic Watch List

Opera Software today announced a new version of it micro HTML-browser for non-smartphones, Opera Mini 2.0. There are some text entry bugs on the Treo 650, but otherwise, page scrolling, and image scaling are fantasatic.
I urge you to try it out if you have a compatible phone.

Digg description:
Lots of new features like: change browser’s visual skin, search engine improvements, speed dial for bookmarks, and quick horizontal and vertical panning when browsing backwards or forwards.

read more | digg story

I ran into this great article over on Digg .
This is one of the best design tutorials I have seen that really covers building a true Ajax web app,and how to implement it. The example uses php and and the Dojo library, so those are obvious pre-reqs. I think this would be helpful for any newbie ajax developer trying to get their feet wet, while at the same time enforcing good coding practices. This particular tutorial starts out with a basic site design, but promises future modules such as a user forum . Check it out at http://snyke.net/blog/2006/02/05/ajax-design-patterns/

Yahoo has done something nice for web world ! Surprised? I know some people don’t think they are very nice, since they will give your private search info to the government at the drop of a hat.
But Yahoo is trying to tell you it cares. The tools being released, are a pretty neat UI toolkit with features such as:

• Animation
• XMLHttpRequest library
• Dom tools (CSS)
• Drag and Drop
• Event Manager
• UI “Widgets” such as a Calendar,Slider, and Tree view

I have yet to really take an in-depth look at the code, but I expect a little more bloat than some of the other open source js toolkits out there.
Either way, it is released with a BSD license and is free to use. Give it a try–

Yahoo! UI Library