Download/Description/Information Link: iFrame Plug-In - http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/pageview/

Expectation: To embed another website within the blog post or blog page without the need to fiddle around much with some strange code. Some options expected as well.

How to use it: Once the plugin is downloaded, installed and activated type in-

<-- pageview url "some title" description -->

and replace url with the link to the website, “some title” with the website title and description with some description of the website or whatever you want.

Samples/Screenshot: Modiplates website inside Syed’s Digital Lab-

Title:	Modiplates
Description:	Flash Template Collection

Reality:

Pros:

• The need to have a page within a page quickly without having to fiddle too much of the code.

Cons:

• There is no clear and easy explanation on the creator’s website, caused me some problem in the beginning on how to use this plugin
• If you don’t have CSS knowledge, then styling your PageView might be quite challenging (Mine hasn’t been properly tune yet)
• No options to choose from

Download/Description/Information Link: wp-Table at alex. rabe

Expectation: To be able to have a nice table without the fuss of using the messy table code.

Samples/Screenshot: Check out 2 pages that I’ve created-

1. Wordpress Plugin Showdown List
2. Wordpress Theme Collection

Here’s an embed table that I’ve created:

Snap Shot Class Identifier

Reality:

Pros:

• If you have an expanding list that you need to manage in wordpress, this tool is a must for a more manageable and easier to navigate table
• You can can change the colours of the table to whatever colours you want
• The CSS styling sheet is seperated so there is no need to do a manual embed for the page
• Installation is easy and similar to AJAX-Contact page
• Import feature
• The end result would have a source page looks neat and easier to read

Cons:

• Limited view when inputting data into the tables
• Confusing and not so friendly import table

Overall, it’s a handy tool to have if you deal a lot with table and need it to be displayed in Wordpress.

Two of our websites that we have implemented with LightWindow v.1.2.1 are:

and

Other interesting features that we have added on is the Kaccordian. I’ll write about that later.

So far our frustation is on making flash template to work in iframe. We are not alone, someone from stickmanlabs Forum (the LightWindow developer) shares the same experience. Link: Cannot load from an iframe.

Sample of other website that has implemented LightWindow:

• DocShop.com -Click on the Watch a Video Summary. The site use Flash Video for the LightWindow feature. The title page and the animated loading icon will displayed first before the video shows up. Really nice! How the code are positioned is describe here.
• One of stickmanlabs forum member nicknamed runningwithscissors made this page Standard Flash Movie and flv content. I just love The Simpson animated series.

Well, got to get back to and find solutions for our problem. Syed from the TheBlogCom development team, signing off.

Download Link/Description/ Installation information: Snap Shots Plugin (formerly known as Snap Preview Anywhere Plugin)

Expectation: Awesome preview pop up with some control over which external links. Head over to Shot Central to install it on your own blog/website.

Samples/Screenshot:

This is a screenshot of how snap works with this blog:

Here’s a few links that show other stuff by just hovering you mouse over at links on the page (update: the mouse needs to hover on the caption for it to produce the preview image). Try it out! It’s awesome!:

PreviewShot™: http://www.ni-limits.com

MovieShot™: http://imdb.com/name/nm0424060

StockShot™: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl

WikiShot™: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordpress

VideoShot™: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbgVW_dMMIM

ProductShot™: http://www.amazon.com/Lword../dp/B00003CXS7/…

AudioShot™: http://wiredset.com/…/How-Bout-I-Love-You-More.mp3

Reality: I’m no big fan of this Snap thing. It did impress me at first but in the long run, I kind of get annoyed by these unblockable small pop-ups. Still, it was easy to install despite the fact that you might get confused over finding the key that was given to you when you first installed the plugins. Overall, it’s a nice feature for blog/website owner’s for your visitors, if you don’t mind of pop ups of course.

This theme is available for download here.

It also comes with a Wordpress Plugin that will add something an icon just next to the comments link. I’m new to this but I think I’m going to try it anyhow.

TwitThis WP Plugin

I’ve been using AJAX Contact for a while, it’s an easy way to add a contact form on your wordpress blog. The only downside is it requires some effort in customizing it. Anyway, it’s an awesome plugin to have on your wordpress blog.

AJAX Contact WP Plugin

Powered by ScribeFire.

In a nutshell, here is what this plugin do. It can be a replacement for your Wordpress navigation. You know, the one that says, about, contact us and those other text related widgets on the sidebar. We can now save space by making it, a drop down menu. Here, let me show you:

I’m using the default Wordpress layout to demonstrate. This is before I stuff in the plugin and the PHP scripts on the header PHP file:

I now go to edit the template header.php and drop the script given to me. I forgot to mention that I’ve already activated the plugin already.

You can place the PHP/HTML snippets anywhere as long as you know where to put it. Now, I hit the update file and save it:

Now a drop down menu appears. Looks simple right? The truth might hurt a little bit. If you are comfortable dealing with HTML, CSS or PHP, you find it a great feature to add on. For those who are new or have little experience, I don’t recommend that much but if you insist, it would make a great learning curve for your future web/blog design.

Here is the link again to Webdezine Pure CSS Dropdown Menu Wordpress (WP) plugin.

I didn’t like what I see and further search for solution. Zooltechnology has wrote a solution on how to tackle this problem. You can read about it here. Hope that helps!

Among 15 WP plugins, here are 5 chosen plugins which works for me:

1. WP-Ban 1.10- To ban user that you don’t like from visiting your blog
2. WP-DBManager 2.10- To manage your Wordpress database, backup, restore, delete backup and drop/empty tables. An alternative of using PHPmyadmin.
3. WP-PostViews 1.10- Counts every time your post had been viewed.
4. WP-Print 2.10- To display a printable version of your WP blog post/page.
5. WP-UserOnline 2.10- If you run a busy WP blog. This is an awesome tool to see how many people are actually online on your blog at the moment.

For more complete listing of Lester Chan’s WP Plugin, visit his GaMerZ HomePage Version 2.0; It Is Not Just About Design.