In this tutorial I will show you how easy it is to add a screenshot to each submission just like Digg.

There are only 2 files to edit for this hack, link_summary.tpl and style.css.

Open link_summary.tpl and find:

change it to:

Save.

Open style.css and add anywhere:


.storythumb {
float:right;
border: 1px solid #b7cce0;
padding: 3px;
}


That’s it, I have websnapr as default screenshot supplier, though I always recommend using Shrink the Web.

You can see a demo over at Web Link Depot.

As always, post your thoughts and questions below.

You can also follow me on Twitter, where I will always help one on one.

In this tutorial I will show you how to have your stories sent to the published page automatically Tweeted to Twitter using whatever Twitter account you want.

I have already shown you how to use Twitterfeed and Bit.ly to auto publish your published submissions, now lets cut out the middleman, Twitterfeed.

The following code was sent to us by Jorge from the good folks at Bierzeame.

Open your libs/link.php file and find:
function publish() {
if(!$this->read) $this->read_basic();
$this->published_date = time();

$this->status = 'published';
$this->store_basic();
}
change it to:
function publish() {
if(!$this->read) $this->read_basic();
$this->published_date = time();

$this->status = 'published';
$this->twitter();
$this->store_basic();
}
find:

function username() {
just before it add:
function twitter(){
global $db;

return true;
}
}
Save.

That’s it. Now every story that is sent to the published page will auto Tweet, giving your members another reason to submit.

Make sure you edit your Twitter login details and your Bit.ly details.

It will shorten the submission URL using Bit.ly and send the user when clicked on Twitter to your story page. This will also track how many clicks each one gets which you can check when you login to Bit.ly.

In this tutorial I will show you how to add the popular Wordpress plugin SexyBookmarks to your Pligg install, adding that extra something to your story pages.

Sexy Bookmarks which I first saw used on a Wordpress blog is one of the best methods to ask your users to share something on social networking sites. It uses the power of jQuery for that added flair.

My good friend Brian over at Blog Engage managed to get his site added to Sexy Bookmarks and I will soon be attempting to have one of my own sites added, so I thought I would try to use it on a test Pligg.

Luckily, I came across a post by Naeem Noor over at CSS Reflex where he had successfully added it to Blogger using 3 chunks of code.

For this tutorial I simply took what Naeem used and adapted it to work in Pligg.

Open pligg.tpl:

add the following just before the closing head tag:

Save.

add the following anywhere you want the buttons to appear:

Save.

I added them just before:

in the wistie template for the latest build of Pligg.

There are 2 images for this work as well, download them and upload to your images directory.

In the chunk of code you added to link_summary.tpl, the images are called, you will need to edit those 2 lines for the location of the images for your site.

I have them working on test Pligg site at Weblink Depot

Again, a big thanks to Josh at Sexy Bookmarks for creating it in the first place, and to Naeem Noor for giving me a starting place.

And finally, big congrats to Brian at Blog Engage on this milestone, make sure you check out his site.

In this post, we look at a simple tool to help monitor all of your backlinks, which is especially good for links you have purchased, and it also lets you make sure those links stay.

There a few things that all websites need in order to succeed, one of those things are backlinks. Backlinks create a source of traffic and can also help with increasing your Google Pagerank.

You can acquire backlinks naturally, or by purchasing them. In order to acquire natural backlinks, you will need to write some killer content or by using linkbait, and then just wait until people link to that content. The other way is by purchasing banner spots or text link ads, this way typically will show results a lot quicker, but it can get costly.

One issue with backlinks is keeping track of them and ensuring they stay active. While there are tools out there that can help you find backlinks to your site, there is only one that monitor backlinks for you, and did I mention it is FREE.

Backlink Monitor

One of the other advantages of this tool, is it helps you determine which keywords you are getting links for, this as you know is key for search engine placement.

Since this service is FREE, they require a link to them on your site.

Give it a try, it’s FREE.

Back in May I showed you how to display a thumbshot of the story submitted using a jQuery hover, now, let’s make it better by only using CSS.

Why not use jQuery? By itself, there is no reason.  However, removing the need for it will cut down on load time.

Another issue with Pligg and jQuery is they do not always get along.  There are too many conflicts with the scriptaculous effects and prototype, which does not like jQuery.

The following is so simple, there is no reason not to use it.

Open, link_summary.tpl and find:

change to:

Save.

Open your main CSS file and add:

Save.

You can change the image provider to whatever you like, I personally use Shrink the Web, as they seem to be the quickest.

This method will show the thumbshot immediately upon hover of the story title, the previous method, had a time delay.

Would love your opinion, leave me a comment below. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I will always help one on one.

You can see it in action at FAQPAL.

We rarely feature templates here at Pliggs.com, but when we do, it’s usually because we have come across a template that is simply FANTASTIC!

We introduce:

Mystique is another fantastic design from the folks at Digital Nature, it is built for the latest build of Pligg and is one of the best layouts we have seen thusfar.

Below are some screenshots:

Story page:

Msytique is fully Ajaxed and performs well.

In the saidebar there is a tabbed box that features:

• categories
• most popular
• tags
• recent comments

The categories tab features an Ajaxed RSS feed icon.

Each post comes with an Ajaxed share function, once you hover over the “Share” button:

We highly recommend this template and thank the good folks at Digital Nature for taking the time to put this template together.

You can view the demo here…

You can download the template Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.…

So I have been on this Twitter kick lately, sorry. But, let’s face it, Twitter is where the action is. So let’s looks at how to have the built-in RSS feature work for you.

In this post, I will show you how to have your RSS feed automatically post to Twitter at a time interval you set.

For this to happen, you will need to visit and sign-up at TwitterFeed.  Let’s begin.

Step 1:

Add a feed to your Twitter account:

Allow TwitterFeed to access your Twitter account:

Enter a feed name and RSS feed address:

Click “Test RSS Feed”, you should get this:

Now, click on Advanced:

In here you will want the following settings:

• Update Frequency – make this want you want, don’t Tweet too often though
• Post Content – make this title only
• Check “Post Link” and determine your URL shortener service
• Post Sorting – change to GUID and uncheck “Feed is sorted”
• For the remaining settings, this is up to you, I have these blank.

Your feed is now setup:

Depending on the URL shortening service you provided, you will be asked for API login details, for example Bit.ly will provide you with this.  When you select this service you will be presented with 2 fields asking for this info which is used for analytics only.

Here’s how Bit.ly shows yours analytics:

This will simply take posts from your published RSS so you will not be posting spam.  The address that the clicker will be sent to will be the story page.  For this reason, you will want to be careful how many you post and you will also want to post general Tweets in between to not be labeled a SPAMMER or get your “Followers” upset with you.

Will you use this method?

For a live example follow @FAQPAL

Leave your opinion below.

Like most of you, I have had more than enough SPAM on my sites. One of the biggest sources is in the comments section. Let’s put an end to them now.

I have already shown you how to prevent spam bots from submitting stories by using the fabulous tool, reCaptcha, now let’s add it to the comment form as well.

To add it to your comment form, just do the following steps:

Download the latest reCaptcha library from here and upload to your “root”.

You will also need reCaptcha keys for your site, you will need to register and add your site to reCaptcha. Register for reCaptcha keys here.

Open comment_form.tpl, find:

After, add:

save. Thats it.

Here is the updated comment_form.tpl file with the reCaptcha code added. – Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

This will eliminate all comments being left by spam bots and will also make human spamming less atractive as well.

If you use this module, leave me a comment below or perhaps think of linking back to http://www.pliggs.com

Be sure to follow me on Twitter as well for one on one help and news.

The biggest social media site right now, is probably Twitter, and the best plugin for it has to be Tweetmeme.

So, let’s put the both of them to work for you.  Most Wordpress blogs, including this one, use the plugin Tweetmeme.  It simply allows people to Tweet your posts and it shows a count of how many times the post has been Tweeted.

Let’s put this to work on Pligg and hopefully add to your traffic and exposure.  It’s actually quite simple.

Open, link_summary.tpl, add where you want the button to appear:

That’s it.

In the example above it will appear like this:

Tweetmeme for Pligg

If you want the full size button, remove this line:

which will give you this:

Tweetmeme and Pligg Fullsize

You can see a working example at FAQPAL.

Hopefully you found this tutorial helpful.   If you are not following us yet, you can follow us at @Pliggs.

Will you be using this?

The hottest things online right now is social media, namely Digg style websites and Twitter.  With so many Digg style websites going up these days, it’s important to try and stand out from the pact and your niche.

So, why not put the power of Twitter to work for you?  A friend of mine suggested perhaps a Twitter stream in the sidebar.  This sounded great, but let’s make it even better.  I have one setup on FAQPAL, I decided to use as a reward for active members.  On FAQPAL, for each member that submits 3 tutorials their name is added, as long as the submissions are recent.

You can use whatever requirements you want, but you get the idea.  By using the method I have, this offers my users one more reason to submit, not only will the submission be promoted, but everything they tweet will also be promoted in my sidebar.

Here’s how to add it to your Pligg install:

Download and upload the following to your /js folder:

Open pligg.tpl, locate /body and add the following before:

make sure you change the domain.com to whatever your url is.  The values for “username” can be changed to whatever Twitter id’s you want to display.

Open sidebar.tpl and add the following line where you want the stream to appear:

Save and close.

Now, create a file called twitterstream.tpl and add the following to it:

Again, be sure to change domain.com to whatever your url is.

Save and upload to your sidebar_modules directory.

That’s it.

Notes:

Because of Twitter’s API limitations on the number of API calls in one hour, the stream may appear blank after a while, depending on the traffic to your site, if it does, you will need to wait until the hour is up.  I am hoping to have a cache feature added it to soon to prevent time outs.

The original idea came from our friends at Ronak Patel

If you haven’t added us on Twitter, you can find us at @Pliggs