Using WordPress.com App for Facebook

WordPress.com has come out with a new application, WordPress.com App for Facebook. I figured after I saw this post I would have to check it out. Currently I have my blog posts using the Notes feature, but the implementation isn’t very robust.

Signing Up

• The first thing you need to do, is add the WordPress.com App to your facebook account.

• Configure WordPress for Facebook

Know who I am and access my information

Put a box in my profile

Place a link in my left-hand navigation

Publish stories in my News Feed and Mini-Feed

Place a link below the profile picture on any profile

• You will be prompted to Log in to WordPress. I left the screen shot smaller, as there is not really much to see. Just typical Username / Password.

Configure

• Configure WordPress.com App for Facebook. On your profile page, click WordPress and you will be able to configure the WordPress.com App. Configuration has 5 tabs: Home, Post, Bookmark, Stats and Frinds.

Home – on the home tab, there are links to each of the tabs

Post – Create a post for your blog

 

How the post looks on WordPress

Bookmark – Bookmark a link – honestly I am not really sure what this is supposed to do . . .

Stats – Displays page views from Today and Yesterday

Friends – Recent WordPress blog posts from your Facebook friends

Facebook Profile Page

Your Profile page, will now display recent posts and comments from your blog

Overall I think the functionality of the WordPress.com application is good. Anyone who wants to cleanly display entries from their WordPress.com blog will be able to use this App.

Feature Requests

There are some features that this App needs:

• There is no link to get back from the WordPress configuration screen back to facebook. If this is a facebook app, I should be able to easily get back to facebook.
• There should be options that allow you to configure how many posts and comments are displayed on facebook.
• I had trouble editing options, I was unable to log back into the WordPress app.

Summary

Previously I have been using the Note App to display my blog entries on my facebook profile. I like it, but it displays more of a RSS feed.

The WordPress.com really highlights your blog entries and I think they look good on the page. If you are looking for a good application to display your WordPress blog, this would be it.

Technorati Tags: WordPress, Facebook, WordPress.com App, Walkthrough

Adding a Creative Commons License to Your WordPress Blog

I was reading Blog Copies Posts Verbatim and Passes Them Off as Their Own from Woman at Mile 0, and I realized it was probably time to add a license of some kind for my content. I have had a couple of sites copy link and summarize my content, but I notice that they have given proper credit that the original content was found on my blog.

So I was thinking, with all this wonderful content that I have been amassing, it might be time to add some type of License. Whenever I use content, I ensure that I give proper credit to the linking source and the original source if they are separate. I notice some bloggers will say they found <original content> [via], with the via containing a link to the source that where the found the original content. Personally this doesn’t work for me, the linking source where the content was found should receive full credit, not some type of [via] link that honestly I won’t click. I think giving credit to your sources is not only the proper thing to do, but is good karma. Not sullying your karma on an issue as lame as not not attributing your sources.

I looked at the Creative Commons License web site, and I found instructions to add the commons license to Blogger, Moveable Type and Typepad, but not WordPress. So I figured I would ‘get er done’ and just do it myself. Have additional questions, check the FAQ for the Creative Commons License. There is also some quick code and logos on the WordPrss site that can be added to your blog.

Add the Creative Commons License to blog hosted on WordPress.com

• Access the Creative Commons License Website with your Web browser – http://creativecommons.org/
• Click License Your Work in the Header on the front page of the Website.
• Select the options for the license you would like to create, and then click Select a License. If you would like more information about any of the options, click more info.

• Now you can select the logo that you would like to appear on your blog, and copy the appropriate code.

• After selecting the license to display on your blog, copy the code for the logo and the link. Click the cursor in the Copy the text below field, and enter <Ctrl> A to select all the text, and the <Ctrl> C to copy the text. You can also click emailed to yourself to have the content sent to an email address.
  After you have selected the text you will need to copy to your WordPress blog. You will add this to a text widget to display in one of the columns on your blog. For additional information on the text widget, you can check Using the text widget on WordPress.
• In your WordPress Dashboard, click the Presentation menu, and then click the Widgets tab.
  I highlighted the Widgets tab, and one of the Text widgets.

• Click Configure in the Text widget. This will display the text box.
• Click in the text box, and enter <Ctrl> V to add the Creative Comments License to this box.

• After you have added the license content, close the box, and then click Save Changes on the Widget Tab.
• Now click View Site, to verify that your page displays correctly.

 

Note that the heading is ‘teh statement,’ the misspelling of ‘the’ is intentional, and is an inside joke to the technically elite crowd. This shows that I too am in the know, and not just a bad speller.

• You are now licensed using the Creative Commons License, pat yourself on the back and feel the satisfaction of a job well done.

Additional Information

I am using a three column format for my blog, and I added the license to the bottom left column. I also have the statement:

All postings on this blog are provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confer no rights. All entries in this blog are my opinion and don’t necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer.

To ensure that readers understand that although I work for Microsoft, I do not speak for Microsoft.

When it comes time to add a license, you might want to take a look at the Creative Commons License. This allows others to use your content, but states they must give you credit.

Technorati Tags: Woman at mile 0, Plagarism, Leeching, Creative Commons License, WordPress

Windows Live Writer – Embed Video for WordPress

I wrote about embedding a video to display in your WordPress post. In this post I document trying using Scøtt of Scottisafooldev Insert Video plug-in.

It turns out that WordPress displays video in their post in a different format than usual. Using the WordPress online editor, you convert the http link to the video into a format that WordPress can use.

So the link to the video from misheardlyrics guy on Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU

gets converted to

[ you tube=http: // http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU ]

I added spaces to enable the code to show.

Which will display in the post as follows:

[YouTube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU”%5D
YouTube – MISHEARD LYRICS – Pearl Jam – Yellow Ledbetter

Scott has created a new plug-in to Insert Video for WordPress that I will try out in this post.

I will try to embed the Any Given Sunday – Peace by Inches that Robert Scoble referenced in his post Zooomr next big “inch”

[YouTube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rFx6OFooCs”%5D
YouTube – Any Given Sunday – Peace by Inches – Pacino

If the test was successful, you should see the embedded video above.

We will find out if the post was successful.

Update – The post was successful, and the Insert Video for WordPress plug-in works.

Here is a screen shot of the Insert Video for WordPress plug-in in action. Add the URL to the video in the text box.

Click ok, and the appropriate code is added to your post in WordPress. The embedded video will not display in the editor, but it will post correctly.

Good job Scøtt!

Update 06.14.07 – Scøtt has uploaded the Insert Video for Hosted WordPress plug-in, additional details can be found here. 

Technorati tags: Windows Live Writer, Insert Video, Plugin, Video, Embedded Video, YouTube, Mishearlyrics Guy, Inch by Inch

Windows Live Writer and WordPress

I have noticed when I create a post using Windows Live Writer and upload it to WordPress I get the entry posted twice in WordPress Dashboard.

When I use Live Writer I see a New Post, and then immediately after an Updated Post entry.

Using some file migration utilities or backup and restores I know that this process can touch the file twice.  Once to write the file, and then a second time to set any attributes or permissions.

I wonder if Windows Live Writer is doing something similar, touching the file once to create it (New Post), and then touching the file again to associate categories and time stamps (Updated Post).

Not a huge deal, and it doesn’t seem to have any negative impact, but it was something that I have noticed after a couple of my posts.

Disappearing Posts and Time Zone Configuration

Last night I created a couple of posts on WordPress using Windows Live Writer (Beta).

Problem

After I created the posts, I configured my time zone on WordPress to reflect the fact that I am in the PST time zone GMT -8 in case you are interested.

After changing my timezone, my posts disappeared from my blog. I was unable to see the posts in the WordPress Dashboard, but I could see the posts in Manage / Posts.

My initial thought was there was a problem editing posts created using Windows Live Writer and then editing using the WordPress Tools.

Resolution

It turns out that changing the time zone, changed the times of the posts.  The posts kept their same time referenced using GMT, and the new time stamp reflected the next day.

I changed the time zone of the posts to reflect the actual posting time in PST, and viola the posts are now visible, and the problem is now gone.

It turns out I was the one that created this problem, so the fault is mine – it is interesting how recent posts are treated when changing the time zone. It is always interesting what trips you up as you learn to use new tools.