Using WordPress and P2 to Manage ALL THE THINGS!!

Posted on February 16, 2012 by trepmal

For the presentation I’m developing (which I may or may not actually give in public), I’m leaning toward discussing what I’ve learned about using WordPress and the P2 theme to coordinate interoffice communication.

“Using WordPress to Manage ~~Clients, Projects, News, KB~~ ALL THE THINGS!!”

Why?
Needed a system to reduce clogged inboxes, avoid long hard-to-follow email threads, keep the conversations open so info can be found again, even by those not originally involved in the conversation.
The Setup
Private team/dept blogs for discussion that would be irrelevant elsewhere. Multiple topical “public” (still private to the company) blogs (e.g. Company News, Ideas, Wiki, etc.). And CRM style functionality: managing clients and projects, which can be linked together.
The Plugins
Some from P2 functions.php, and cover the custom plugins (@mention notifications, Facebook-esque “liking”, post subscriptions, cross-site post linking, etc.
“The Future”
squash bugs, streamline the code, and maybe/hopefully release it

Of course, I still need to flesh things out, but I also need your help. I’d like to let the audience ask questions, but I don’t want to be caught completely off guard. Can you help me anticipate what questions might come up? From the obvious to the obscure, let me know what you might ask so I can better prepare.

WordPress Talk Ideas

Posted on February 9, 2012 by trepmal

Supposing I were to take the time to write up a talk on some WordPress subject (probably development related), and then supposing I were to actually give this talk in front of a group of people, what do you think it should be about?

I’m considering being prepared with a talk proposal for an upcoming WordCamp – but I need help with brainstorming. Please, please, please offer a recommendation in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter.

I can’t promise that I’ll actually end up giving a presentation – whether out of failure to submit a proposal or out of failure to bribe someone to accept mine – but I will choose a topic and make every effort to prepare a talk/tutorial/presentation and share it here on trepmal.com.

CapitalP.org WordPress Widget

Posted on December 30, 2011 by trepmal

Fetch a quote from capitalp.org and display it in a widget.

: CapitalP Widget Admin

: CapitalP Widget Front

Original Zip: CapitalP.org Quote Widget

capitalp-widget.php

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: CapitalP.org Quote Widget
*/

add_action( 'widgets_init', 'register_capitalp_widget' );
function register_capitalp_widget() {
	register_widget( 'CapitalP_Quote_Widget' );
}
class CapitalP_Quote_Widget extends WP_Widget {

	function __construct() {
		$widget_ops = array('classname' => 'capitalp-widget', 'description' => __( 'Retrieve quote from capitalp.org' ) );
		$control_ops = array( );
		parent::WP_Widget( 'capitalp', __( 'CapitalP.org Quote' ), $widget_ops, $control_ops );
	}

	function widget( $args, $instance ) {

		extract( $args, EXTR_SKIP );
		echo $before_widget;

		echo $instance['hide_title'] ? '' : $before_title . $instance['title'] . $after_title;
		
		echo self::get_capitalp_quote();
		
		echo $instance['hide_citation'] ? '' : '<p>&mdash; <a href="http://capitalP.org/">capitalP.org</a></p>';

		echo $after_widget;

	} //end widget()

	function update($new_instance, $old_instance) {

		$instance = $old_instance;
		$instance['title'] = esc_attr( $new_instance['title'] );
		$instance['hide_title'] = (bool) $new_instance['hide_title'] ? 1 : 0;
		$instance['hide_citation'] = (bool) $new_instance['hide_citation'] ? 1 : 0;
		return $instance;

	} //end update()

	function form( $instance ) {
		$instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, array( 'title' => 'CapitalP.org Quote', 'hide_title' => 0, 'hide_citation' => 0 ) );
		extract( $instance );
		?>
		<p>
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Title:' );?>
				<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('title'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo $title; ?>" />
			</label>
		</p>
		<p style="width:50%;float:left;height:20px;">
			<input type="checkbox" class="checkbox" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('hide_title'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('hide_title'); ?>"<?php checked( $hide_title ); ?> />
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('hide_title'); ?>"><?php _e('Hide Title?' );?></label>
		</p>
		<p style="width:50%;float:right;height:20px;">
			<input type="checkbox" class="checkbox" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('hide_citation'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('hide_citation'); ?>"<?php checked( $hide_citation ); ?> />
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('hide_citation'); ?>"><?php _e('Hide Citation?' );?></label>
		</p>
		<br style="clear:both;" />
		<?php		
	} //end form()
	
	function get_capitalp_quote() {
		$r = wp_remote_get('http://capitalp.org');
		$b = $r['body'];
		$b = explode('<div>', $b );
		$b = explode('</div>', $b[1] );
		$b = str_replace( '<p><img src=e.png>P</p>', 'P', $b[0] );
		return $b;
	}
}

Using WordPress, MultiSite, P2 and More

Posted on June 24, 2011 by trepmal

Expanding on this tweet.

My department at work has been using WordPress with the P2 theme for discussion recently. It has helped ~~manage~~ stop bulky reply-all emails between the 4 of us.

Besides limiting email, it’s encouraged more discussion. Before, we knew email was annoying, so we limited what we contributed, and certain things went unsaid – and some discussions were never even started. But now we can quickly comment on posts, even if it’s just “+1,” and start new topics on a whim.

We really like what P2 has done for us, so we decided that this would be great to use with the entire office. And not just for general discussion, but for planning bigger projects, keeping track of tasks, asking for help, sharing news, and anything else we can think of. We’re working in some CRM features, but we’re still planning that part (using the P2 of course).

Continue reading →

Change Footer Text in the Admin

Posted on December 11, 2010 by trepmal

Sometimes the admin area of WordPress needs to be customized. One way to start is to change the text in the footer.

Continue reading →

Fetch the User-Agent String and Save as User Meta

Posted on December 9, 2010 by trepmal

Some times a client will complain that their site doesn’t look right or something equally as vague. Inevitable we ask “What browser are you using?” but getting the answer can be tricky. So, let’s just automatically get their user-agent and save it where we can access it.

Granted, this isn’t perfect. The client could have just logged in from someone else’s computer, and it is possible to fake the user-agent… but I’m counting on this being rare.

Continue reading →

Swap Color Schemes When in the Network Admin

Posted on December 7, 2010 by trepmal

In WordPress 3.1, the network-wide options being moved to their own area in WordPress to make it easier on network administrators.

To take a just a bit further, I put together this script that will switch color schemes when you’re in the Network Admin.

Continue reading →

Confirm Email Address

Posted on December 6, 2010 by trepmal

If you’re running a WordPress network, and depending on how you’re using it, you may need to get users to confirm or update their email address.

In my situation, I build a lot of sites for clients, and during development I use an email address of my own so they don’t get bombarded with emails they don’t need. But I don’t always change it back when I’m done, or maybe there’s a typo. Or maybe it’s the client that has changed their email address.

Whatever the cause, sometimes these things just need to be double-checked and confirmed. So here’s a small plugin that can be dropped in your mu-plugins folder:

Continue reading →

Remove WordPress Plugin Update Count From the Menu

Posted on September 2, 2010 by trepmal

My office has a big WordPress multisite installation, so we are careful about updating plugins. As a result, there are ofter a number of plugins begging to be updated. It was getting annoying to see that all the time, so this little snippet gets rid of the notice. Continue reading →

Customize WordPress “Favorites” Menu

Posted on August 31, 2010 by trepmal

Toss this into your functions.php file to add or remove items from the favorites menu (dropdown by Howdy greeting) in WordPress. Continue reading →

trepmal's things

(things I make when I'm bored)

Category Archives: WordPress Bits

Using WordPress and P2 to Manage ALL THE THINGS!!

WordPress Talk Ideas

CapitalP.org WordPress Widget

Original Zip: CapitalP.org Quote Widget

capitalp-widget.php

Using WordPress, MultiSite, P2 and More

Change Footer Text in the Admin

Fetch the User-Agent String and Save as User Meta

Swap Color Schemes When in the Network Admin

Confirm Email Address

Remove WordPress Plugin Update Count From the Menu

Customize WordPress “Favorites” Menu