I've just noticed a further flaw in the Show Top Commentators Plugin (original by Nate Sanden) where despite forming the list by author email instead of name, the URL was still being retrieved using the author name. I've now fixed this as well and have uploaded the new version of the plugin. Anyone using this is recommended to upgrade to the latest version. Sorry I didn't spot this sooner!

Download the upgraded Top Commentators plugin.

You may remember a while back I wrote about my broken trackbacks and my attempts to fix them. I noticed last month or so that a trackback had appeared on my AIS Blog but didn't want to mention it in case it was a one off. However I've seen a few more appearing so now feel safe to say they're back!

What's different? I honestly don't know! They appeared on a version of WordPress 2.3.2 (I think, or 2.3.3) and have been working since. I can only assume that perhaps it was an issue with one of the core WordPress files, however I presumed it was my own fault as other sites running the same WP version seemed to receive trackbacks without a problem. However, that's not an issue any more as my trackbacks are back. Most are getting caught in Akismet but I check this a few times a week so can dig any out before emptying the spam.

It's nice to have some trackbacks, and luckily the theme I'm running already separates them, saves me the time of implementing Gary's method.

I've been working on setting up my new site and decided to try out the WP e-Commerce plugin on it for dealing with selling the products. I would have used Secure Delivery however I need to give the option of a shopping cart to visitors as most will hopefully purchase two products, the main product and an upgrade license (more on this another time).

WP e-Commerce is just like any other plugin for the installation. Just unzip the files and upload the directory to your plugins directory, and activate it in the WordPress admin. You then get an extra menu for it, where you can set your shop settings, other preferences, and start adding categories, brands and product information. It can deal with physical products or digital products, the latter was what I was interested in. You can also easily select which fields to have in the form on the front end, and which of these fields to send PayPal so that they're prefilled. As I'm only looking to sell digital products I took the address details out as these are not needed.

The lite version of this plugin allows you to sell products via PayPal only. Whilst it's called 'lite' it's not that simple as such. You can have your products in categories, there's a shopping basket and it uses the PayPal IPN for instant notification. I've not gone through the whole process but I would assume that if you're selling a digital product it will also then provide a download link to the buyer to download the product, as I've had the option to set how many times the product can be downloaded by the buyer.

There are optional extras that cost a little extra (very little to be honest!) which I may look at in the future if the site gets busy enough to need them. Whilst I could have coded this all myself I figured that it was worth looking at the plugin and to be honest it's a good plugin to use. I may also convert one of our other product selling sites over to it as that's been needing a shopping basket for months but I've just not had the time to sit down and really finish the coding myself. With this plugin I could probably get everything added over a couple of days (100+ products) and convert the site to WordPress and hopefully, if my thinking is right, see the sales rocket

So if you're after a free, light, product selling script then this is a good option to look at.

Owwww I ache! An afternoon of Dave and I playing baseball on the Wii and my arms are aching and I've done something to my back (exercise is what I've done!). However, aches and pains aside, must admit I'm having fun with my new exercise toy. I've also preordered the new Wii Fit which I should hopefully get in a weeks time.

This week otherwise has pretty much been work, work and more work. Despite that I don't feel like I've got much done at all! We're currently working on updating a couple of client sites and making some final updates to a client's new site before it goes live. I've also done a little work on our new WordPress plugins site, trying out the WP eCommerce plugin and working out how I can deal with the pricing structure.

We took a walk up the hill behind where we live on Monday evening and witnessed a fantastic sunset. Sitting and watching something like that makes you forget all your worries that's for sure. This week a few of my chilli seeds have also started to germinate and seedlings have popped up. Plus my two tomato plants are almost forming flowers which means it'll soon be time to put up my tomato greenhouse and get them outdoors, leaving more space on the kitchen window sill for the chill plants, when they're ready to be repotted.

However I'm now absolutely shattered. I think I need another holiday!

For those who want to understand the secure PHP contact form that I wrote and released last month, here is part 1 of the dissection of the code with the whys and hows.

I was planning to just do one post with a complete dissection but I've had this sitting here for a couple of weeks and am just a little pushed for time right now, so I'll get the parts out as and when I've got a chance! I'll link all of the posts together once they're all done.

Continue Reading