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In previous lesson we discussed how to create Wordpress multi-widget. In the version 2.8 Wordpress developers implemented new Widgets API that allows you to register widget in a few simple steps and it becomes multiple by default. We want to review these steps and to show how it works. But unfortunately this method works in Wordpress 2.8+ and is not compatible with earlier Wordpress versions.

First of all Wordpress coders implemented Class model for Widgets. In order to create a widget you need to create new class and extend it from default one. Basic syntax is the … read more

With this article we continue to share our experience of implementation the websites with free popular engines like WordPress , Drupal , Joomla etc. After delivering hundreds of such projects to the clients we collected number of tips/solutions which we think may be useful for other developers or clients. If you are interested in solutions to some problems you faced with please feel free to contact us - we’ll try to cover them as well.

If you ever tried to develop the WordPress sites you most probably faced with the problem we are describing. When you develop a WordPress site there is 99,9% chance that after development you need to move it from one server to another and even not just once. At the first glance there are no issues for more or less experienced developer - you … read more

Wordpress team is going to release a new version to the public on May 2009. Let’s download beta version and look a bit closer at Wordpress 2.8.

Features List

• The main features are new Theme Installer routines, Theme Search routines and new Widgets API.
• Another very nice feature (from our standpoint) is CodePress syntax highlighting in Theme and Plugin editors.
• Improved Plugin search (this was in 2.7.1) on Administration > Plugins > Add New
• Autosave post/page when pressing Control/Command+S
• Permalink editor changes and fix for pages
• Wordpress 2.8 have new TinyMCE 3.2.3 and pclzip has been updated to 2.8
• JS script loader Improvements: Wordpress 2.8 now uses jQuery 1.3.2.
• Also Wordpress developers want to add Menu editor!!! But for now it’s not included in the beta package.

Video Review

The following video (thanks to eduChalk.org) shows a couple of nice improvements … read more

Wordpress has already become a very popular free blog engine mostly thanks to the extensibility with the help of plug-ins. Since version 2.1 famous Wordpress Widgets were integrated. This mechanism allows to manage blocks in sidebar. In more difficult sites which are built with WP often there is a need of using different sidebars on different pages. Here come troubles with using widgets. The majority of widgets can be added only once. You can easily find articles on how to create widgets in the Internet. The main article is on Wordpress codex site (read wordpress widgets API article).

The article ends on section “Widgets - One or many ” with such words: “… Wordpress is doing the work for you to instantiate your Widget multiple times if you follow some rules.”. Actually in this article we want to describe these rules, because we can’t find them … read more

Free 3d-party CMS.
Official site: http://drupal.org .
Advantages: templates control; system architecture; API; taxonomy; community.
Disadvantages: difficulty of working without preparation.

If you wish to completely control appearance and functionality of your site (level of control depends only on your desire), and thus not using dirty methods (like hacks of initial code of the core and modules) and to work only through API and extremely flexible template system – Drupal is for you.

In general, Drupal is first of all a constructor. The core contains only the most necessary — the lowest level which functions will be used in various modules. Basic Drupal installation already has many modules inside (such as blog, forum, search etc.). All is arranged very reasonably and smartly, and there are at least two ways to make what is necessary almost always. Sometimes this choice itself is a problem — it is possible to make … read more

We had no time to get used to one WordPress as the next was released. Still it is rather good than bad. Let’s look at the new WordPress numbered 2.7.

I would like to draw your attention to Turbo button in Tools. The developers took care of the admin area cache using Google Gears. Google Gears is already in use in such Google services as Google Docs, Google Reader. The main objective of this technology is the use of this service offline, and synchronizing of the local version with online when there you are online again. It is easier to explain this way: when you are offline, you can use the services, and when you are online again, all the changes will be written into the service.

Unfortunately caching (with the help gears) it is not realized completely in WordPress 2.7, you can visit all those admin pages without the Internet which … read more

Drupal, Joomla and WordPress are management systems. It is possible to create functional and easy manageable sites without serious financial expenses on their basis. We have decided to compare these systems among themselves and to tell about it in comprehensible language. We have chosen the most important aspects which most likely will interest the ordinary user.

Versions/Security

Drupal

The 7th version is now prepared for release. It is available for testing as beta version. Now 6.6 and 5.12 versions are used. The line of the 5th version hasn’t died as fast as the 4th one because a lot of exterior modules had been written and some of them hadn’t been adapted for the 6th version. New versions are tested for a long time. A core is stable. Bugs in demanded modules usually get fixed operatively. Now a variety of large corporate sites of the world names companies work on Drupal, … read more

The final results of the Open Source CMS Award 2007 competition, hosted by the famous British publishing house Packt Publishing were announced.

According to the results of three months voting Drupal won against Joomla, the winner of last year which was recognized as the best CMS with open source in the main competition category. 18 thousand users voted for it on the Packt Publishing Web site, expert committee also supported this decision.

Netbridge developer Cristian Darie, author of the CMSReport.com project Bryan Ruby and OpenAdvantage analyst (the first British open sourse Development Center which is not under the influence of any vendor) Elliot Smith were in the jury last year.

We would like to remind that Joomla and Drupal occupied first and second place respectively on the basis of a similar contest in 2006. Joomla has remained in the top three, but this time ranked the second place, Made Simple CMS occupied the … read more

Joomla is known for not simple user interface.

It is almost impossible to start working without reading the documentation.

Compatible in different browsers.

Site structure is logically divided into several parts, which also makes it difficult to understand the processes at the site.

Very functional visual editor, works well in different browsers, the best in IE6. Supports files downloads.

The design is not separated from the content, templates are the mixture of html and php which is very inconvenient sometimes.

However Joomla is openSource which partly justifies the creators of this cms. You can provide any changes to the system. But I do not think that someone would choose CMS to start changing it. But adding small scripts (PHP for example) is not implemented.

Provides serious overloads on the server when a number of visitors is large, although there is cache.
There is no clear users division.

But a huge advantage, thanks to which this system has gained such … read more

We had no time to get used to one WordPress as the next was released. Still it is rather good than bad. Let’s look at the new WordPress numbered 2.7.
I would like to draw your attention to Turbo button in Tools. The developers took care of the admin area cache using Google Gears. Google Gears is already in use in such Google services as Google Docs, Google Reader. The main objective of this technology is the use of this service offline, and synchronizing of the local version with online when there you are online again. It is easier to explain this way: when you are offline, you can use the services, and when you are online again, all the changes will be written into the service.
Unfortunately caching (with the help gears) it is not realized completely in WordPress 2.7, you can visit all those admin pages without the Internet … read more