What I wanted was something that allowed me to control widget content from the post editor, so I wouldn’t have to worry about setting my widgets. This gave me the idea for the My Snippets plugin.

What this plugin does is add an extra meta box on the post editor that allows you to input custom content. This content is then displayed using the Snippet widget in any widget area you choose.

How the plugin works

First, you’d add the Snippet widget to the widget area of your choosing. You’ll need that to display your custom snippets.

When writing a post (or page), you’ll have an extra meta box labeled Snippet Post Settings. In this box, you can add text, HTML, and shortcodes.

Here’s an example of adding a video snippet:

Here’s the output of the snippet, which will only be displayed on the singular view of the post/page I added it to:

Don’t be fooled by the example though. You can add pretty much anything in your snippet meta box, so feel free to go wild.

Download the plugin

Before using the plugin, please take a moment to read through the readme.html file included with the plugin download.

• Version: 0.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.8+
• Support: Support forums
• Download (from WP.org)

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section below to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

I created this plugin because I wasn’t satisfied with the current user, role, and permissions plugins available. Yes, some of them are good, but nothing fit what I had in mind perfectly. Some offered few features. Some worked completely outside of the WordPress role and capability system. Others lacked an appropriate license.

This plugin is still a long way away from my goals, but it’ll get there eventually.

What does the plugin do?

Members has what I call “components.” Instead of normal plugin settings, you get a components-selection page that allows you to choose only the features that you want to use.

The current components are (more will come in future versions):

• Edit Roles: Edit your user roles and their capabilities.
• New Roles: Create new roles for use on your site.
• Content Permissions: Adds a meta box on your write post/page editor that allows you to restrict content to specific roles.
• Widgets: Adds a login form widget and user-listing widget that you can use in any widget area on your site.
• Shortcodes: Creates shortcodes that you can use to restrict or allow access to certain parts of your posts and pages (or any other shortcode-capable area).
• Template Tags: New functions for use within your WordPress theme for various things.
• Private Blog: Allows you to create a private blog that can only be accessed by users that are logged in (redirects them to the login page).

Screenshots of the plugin

I’ve uploaded a few screenshots so you can see what part of the plugin looks like:

• Select Components Screen
• Edit Roles Component
• New Roles Component
• Content Permissions Component

Ideas for future versions

Version 0.1 has been all about role and capability management, but that’s just the beginning. Version 0.2 will be about user management.

But, it’s not all about my ideas. I’ll be working through many of the ideas presented in my original post on this plugin. I’m also open to any new ideas you might have.

Download the plugin

Before using this plugin, please read the readme.html file included in the plugin download. It will guide you through everything you need to know about using it.

• Version: 0.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.8+
• Support: Support forums
• Download (from WP.org)

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section below to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

I had no idea how popular the idea would be, even warranting itself a blog post, a forum topic, and loads of emails and replies on Twitter. So, I thought it’d be best to get the feel of the community and see what everyone’s thoughts were.

Many were in the same boat as me — not quite satisfied.

I don’t mean to build my plugin up too much though. There’s an extremely long road ahead if I’m going to implement as many features as we all want. The first release is about building a solid foundation for future development. I want to get the essentials down first. Then, I can start building new things in.

What does this plugin do?

First and foremost, it’s a role management plugin. This is the foundation of everything. It will allow you to control each of your site’s roles and their accompanying capabilities.

But, it’s not only a role management plugin. It has a components-based system that allows you to only use the components you wish to use. The current components are:

• Edit Roles: Edit your user roles and their capabilities.
• New Roles: Create new roles for use on your site.
• Content Permissions: Adds a meta box on your write post/page editor that allows you to restrict content to specific roles.
• Widgets: Adds a login form widget and user-listing widget that you can use in any widget area on your site.
• Shortcodes: Creates shortcodes that you can use to restrict or allow access to certain parts of your posts and pages (or any other shortcode-capable area).
• Template Tags: New functions for use within your WordPress theme for various things.
• Private Blog: Allows you to create a private blog that can only be accessed by users that are logged in (redirects them to the login page).

This is just the beginning though. You’ve given me loads of ideas in my original post on this, and I plan on implementing as much as possible in later versions.

What I need from you all

Testing. Testing. Testing. And, feedback, of course.

This is one of the larger projects I’ve worked on, so a lot of the stuff is new terrain, even for me. With enough feedback and testing, this can be a great project for the WordPress community.

I know many of you will have ideas about new things to be added, but let’s try to hold those ideas until later. What you see here will be in version 0.1 of the plugin, but new things will come in later versions. Right now, I want to focus on making sure the current components work.

Some specific things I’m looking for:

• Is anything too hard to understand?
• Does something not work the way you expect it to?
• Do you recieve any error messages?
• Each component and each component’s options need to be tested.
• Testing on various browsers definitely needs to be done.
• Needs to be tested on the WordPress 2.8 branch and the current trunk.

Some questions:

• How should restricted pages (Content Permissions component) be handled? Remove from page lists if user isn’t allowed to view them?
• Will someone check to make sure content isn’t showing in feeds (Content Permissions component) unless it’s supposed to?
• Is there anything else you’d like to see done with the current widgets (Widgets component)?

I’m hoping to officially launch this plugin in another week or two (depending on what bugs are found).

How to use the plugin

I’ve written a fairly comprehensive guide, which is included within the plugin download. It is the readme.html file.

If you have questions about usage, please refer to that guide first. Also, I encourage you to read my guide on users, roles, and capabilities in Wordpress. It’ll give you a better understanding of how things work.

Beta test the plugin

Please do not use this plugin on a live site. It is for test environments only. If you use it on a live site and it breaks that site, you are responsible for fixing it.

Sorry for such a stern warning, but I’ve locked myself out of my test install on more than one occasion while developing this plugin. Let’s make sure it works before using it on live sites, okay?

• Download Version 0.1 Beta 1

Help me name the plugin

I’m currently calling it the Members plugin because I haven’t given a name to it yet. If you have ideas about what to call it, feel free to let me know.

The plugin is supposed to be a complete user, role, and content management plugin. While it’s not quite there yet, I hope that it’ll become the “must-install” plugin for all multi-user WordPress sites in the future.

After looking around and playing with some different plugins, I didn’t find anything that suited my goals. Of course, I decided I’d just make the plugin myself.

I posted about the plugin on Twitter a few days ago and was surprised at the responses I received. It seems many of you are looking for the same things. So, I’m going to ask for your help with this project.

The goal of this plugin is to be a complete management system for users, roles, and permissions. I want it to fit in with your administration panel and feel like it has always been there. It needs to work completely within the bounds of WordPress too. I’ve seen some plugins that don’t take advantage of WordPress’s roles and capabilities system.

In this post, I’ll list some of the things I’ve been working on and show you how they’re developing. Then, I’ll let you share your ideas.

The plugin components

Since this will be a massive plugin with loads of different features once it’s finished, I thought it’d be best to build a components system. Basically, what I’m doing is separating each feature into a unique component. Each can be turned on or off by the site administrator.

It’s a sort of use-only-what-you-need system. It’ll also allow me to more easily extend the plugin in the future with additional components. Plus, it’s easier to keep the plugin organized this way.

Plugin components settings

Role management

I think a lot of people will be excited about being able to manage user roles with an easy-to-use interface. This component will allow you to give users with specific roles only the capabilities you want them to have.

Management of each role's capabilities

In addition to being able to manage roles, you’ll be able to create them. The New Roles page will allow you to create new roles and attach specific capabilities to those roles that can later be managed through the Manage Roles panel.

Create new roles for your WordPress blog

User capabilities

This feature will no longer be a part of the plugin. WordPress is changing the the user/role/capability system. Users will only be able to have a single role and no additional capabilities. Thanks to James Collins for his comment on this.

Typically, a user gets a certain role. That user can then only do the things allowed within the scope of that role. What happens when you want an editor of your blog to have more control but not be an administrator?

You grant (or deny) that user additional capabilities from his or her profile screen. This allows the user to work outside of their role’s capabilities if you want them to.

Capabilities management for individual users

Other components

The above components are what I’ve spent the most time working on thus far, which is why they’ve been highlighted. I also have a few other features I’d like to add before releasing this plugin in any form:

• Content Permissions
  Adds an additional meta box for the post/page editor that allows you to grant permissions for who can read the content based on the the user’s capabilities or role.
• Login Widget
  Creates a widget that you can place in any widget area for users to log in from the front of your site by entering their username and password.
• Shortcodes
  Provides a set of shortcodes that may be used to restrict or provide access to certain areas of your site from within the post editor (like the shortcodes I posted in Using shortcodes to show members-only content).
• Template Tags
  Provides additional template tags for use within your WordPress theme for restricting or providing access to certain content.

What are your ideas?

I’ve given you a bit of what I have in mind for the initial release, but I’m not the only person that’ll be using this plugin. If you run a multi-user site, now’s the time to chime in. Tell me what you hate about the current system. Tell me what you’d like to see.

If you’re confused about anything in the post, feel free to ask me about it. I’ll try my best to explain.

Time frame? I hope to have some sort of beta out within the next week or two (I’ll definitely need some beta testers), but that depends on a lot of different factors. In short, it’ll be ready when it’s ready.

Typically, I’d point people to the Web Kreation article on integrating a sliding panel into WordPress. Unfortunately, this proved to be a tough task for the average end user. Not to say anything bad about the great tutorial, but there are some problems with integrating it cleanly with WordPress. Without the ideas generated there, we wouldn’t have this plugin.

So, I decided to build a sliding panel from the ground up. I wanted something that would be easy for the average end user to implement. This plugin is a jQuery-based, fully-widgetized sliding panel for use on your WordPress-powered site.

What is a sliding panel?

Quite simply, it is a panel that can be opened and closed with a click of a mouse that will allow you to house additional content on your site without it getting in the way.

Here’s a view of it in its closed (normal) state:

Sliding panel in its closed state

Once a reader clicks on the Open button, the panel slides down the page, showing the content of the panel:

Sliding panel in its open state

What does the plugin do?

Sliding Panel comes with some neat features:

• Uses widgets, so you can add any content to the panel you want.
• Makes use of the jQuery packaged with WordPress to avoid plugin conflicts.
• Auto-inserts itself into a few themes:
  • Hybrid
  • Thematic
  • Prodigy (not yet released)
• Provides the get_sliding_panel() template tag for use in other themes.

Download the plugin

This plugin will only work with WordPress 2.8+. If you’re using an older version, you’ll have to wait until you’ve updated.

• Version: 0.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.8+
• Support: Support forums
• Download (from WP.org)

Instructions on how to use the plugin are in the plugin’s readme.html file, which is included within the plugin download.

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section below to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

So, it only seems right that I introduce my first taxonomy-based plugin: Series.

Series allows you to string together posts by using the built-in taxonomy system in WordPress. I’ve packaged several extra goodies with this plugin such as widgets, shortcodes, and template tags to allow you to easily control how display data on your blog.

Right now, the plugin is still in its early stages, but I hope with the help of your ideas and feedback, it’ll become even greater.

Features of the Series plugin

Series extends the current taxonomy system by creating a new taxonomy called “series.” Here’s the current feature list:

• Series: List Posts widget
  Allows you to lists posts from a specific series and order them how you like.
• Series: Related Posts widget
  Lists posts related to the current post on single-post views (not displayed otherwise).
• Shortcodes
  Shortcodes to use within the post editor to display series-related things.
• Template tags
  Template tags to show things like a series RSS feed and to check whether a post is within a given series (and more, of course).
• Automation
  Much of the process is completely automated using WordPress 2.8’s new taxonomy system.
• taxonomy-series.php templates
  Example series archive templates for use with the WordPress Default theme and the Hybrid theme.

Here’s a screenshot of the available widgets for use:

Screenshot of the Series plugin widgets

Download the Series plugin

This plugin will only work with WordPress 2.8+. If you’re using an older version, you’ll have to wait until you’ve updated. I just wanted to go ahead and get the initial release out.

If you have ideas on how to make this a better plugin, feel free to share them.

• Version: 0.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.8+
• Support: Support forums
• Download (from WP.org)

Instructions on how to use the plugin are in the plugin’s readme.html file, which is included within the plugin download.

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section below to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

I figured it was about time to release it to everyone else.

I realize there’s quite a few other plugins out there that provide breadcrumb menus, so I’m not going to try and convince you why my plugin is better than any of the others. I’ll just let you test drive it yourself. Of course, if you’re using one of my themes, you don’t have to worry about installing it because it’s already built in for you.

What does this plugin do?

It gives you a new template tag called breadcrumb_trail() that you can place anywhere in your theme. Once that’s done, it’ll display a hierarchical menu of where the current visitor is on your site. It’s quite useful if you have more than a few pages or posts.

It’s a navigational tool that outputs something like this: Browse: Home / Page / Sub-page.

Of course, you can change the output and style it however you want. Full instructions on how to use the plugin are located in the readme.html file, which is in the plugin download.

If you’re a theme developer, a couple of extra filter hooks have been provided for you: breadcrumb_trail_args and breadcrumb_trail. This way, you can add support for the plugin to your theme and have a lot more control over its output.

Download the plugin

If you’re using one of my WordPress themes, do not install this plugin. It is already built into your theme.

• Version: 0.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.5+
• Support: Support forums
• Download
• Download (WP.org plugin repository)

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

To continue working on my mission to create new WordPress widgets, fulfill my obsession with shortcodes, and release my fourth plugin this month, I present to you Quote This, a plugin to display quotes on your blog.

I didn’t set out to break the mold with this plugin. I’m well aware of several other plugins that display quotes, some which probably do it far better than this plugin does.

I’ve been using this on my blog for several years now, and I figured I might as well turn it into a plugin. I actually mentioned creating it in a comment just over a year ago. So, it’s been lying around, gathering dust.

You can see it in action on my Writing page.

What does the Quote This plugin do?

It is my personal collection of quotes that can be randomly displayed on your blog. There are three ways to use it:

• Call the quote_this() function in your theme template files.
• Type the [quote-this] shortcode in your posts and pages.
• Use the Quote This widget in your widget areas.

You can display quotes from several categories:

• Art
• Film
• Friendship
• Individual
• Life
• Literature

Future features of the Quote This plugin

Right now, the plugin is nothing special. It doesn’t have a ton of quotes or 100 features to choose from. It’s just a simple plugin.

I’d like to add in more formatting options. Maybe even throw in an option to grab quotes by author. Add in various ways to display quotes. I’m open to suggestions.

The main thing is to add more quotes to the Quote This collection. I’ll probably periodically update it with new quotes when I’m bored (I like to collect quotes). Of course, you all are welcome to submit quotes as well. Just send me an email if you’d like with the quotes (include quote authors). I’ll be happy to add them to the plugin.

Download the plugin

Take a look at the readme.html file for full instructions on how to use this plugin.

• Version: 0.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.5+
• Support: Support forums
• Download
• Download (WP.org plugin repository)

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

What I’ve always thought would be a neat plugin would be something that gave users the ability to insert WordPress template tags from within the Write Post/Page screen. I’ve also gotten a few requests for this type of functionality.

Template Tag Shortcodes comes loaded with 40 shortcodes that represent their equivalent template tags.

For example, a commonly used template tag is wp_list_pages(). But, it’s a PHP function and can’t be used within the post editor (without a PHP plugin). With this plugin, you could simply type in [wp_list_pages] and let the plugin do all the work.

The available shortcodes

If you know me, you know I can’t stop at one or two shortcodes. That’s why I made 40.

Several shortcodes have additional parameters, which are listed in the plugin’s readme.html file. Here’s the list of what’s currently available in the plugin.

• [wp_list_authors]
• [the_author]
• [the_author_description]
• [the_author_login]
• [the_author_firstname]
• [the_author_lastname]
• [the_author_nickname]
• [the_author_ID]
• [the_author_url]
• [the_author_email]
• [the_author_link]
• [the_author_aim]
• [the_author_yim]
• [the_author_posts]
• [the_author_posts_link]
• [the_modified_author]
• [wp_list_categories]
• [wp_dropdown_categories]
• [the_category]
• [get_category_link]
• [the_date]
• [the_time]
• [the_modified_date]
• [the_modified_time]
• [wp_tag_cloud]
• [the_tags]
• [get_tag_link]
• [wp_list_bookmarks]
• [the_title]
• [the_title_attribute]
• [the_ID]
• [the_permalink]
• [get_permalink]
• [wp_list_pages]
• [wp_dropdown_pages]
• [wp_get_archives]
• [bloginfo]
• [allowed_tags]
• [wp_logout_url]
• [wp_login_url]
• [comments_link]
• [category_description]
• [tag_description]
• [term_description]
• [the_terms]
• [the_author_meta]

I’m sure more will be added over time. If you have a particular template tag you’d like to see as a shortcode, just let me know in the comments.

Some important notes

These shortcodes don’t provide additional XHTML formatting. For example, [wp_list_pages] won’t be wrapped with the <ul> tag. This is because its equivalent template tag wp_list_pages() does not do this. So, you’ll want to add any additional formatting from within the post editor.

I struggled with this decision but thought it was the best route. The goal was to adhere to the same rules as the WordPress template tags.

Download the Template Tag Shortcodes plugin

Get the plugin. Enjoy. Let me know how it works out for you. For full instructions, see the readme.html file included with the plugin download.

• Version: 0.1.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.5+
• Support: Support forums
• Download (WP.org plugin repository)

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section below to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

If you run across any bugs or want to share ideas about how to make this plugin better, feel free to post in the comments below.

This widget has everything you’ll ever need to show posts on your site without touching code. It’s like having a WordPress developer ready to do your bidding all wrapped up in a widget. All you need is a theme that’s widgetized, which I believe is pretty standard these days.

What does the Query Posts widget do?

It lets you displays posts by nearly any criteria you can imagine using the query_posts() function, except you don’t need to know anything about PHP to use it. You can do all kinds of neat things:

• Posts by tag.
• Posts by category.
• Posts by author.
• Posts by time/date.
• Posts by custom field key and/or value.
• Choose any number.
• Order by various terms.
• Show pages.
• Show the full post, excerpt, or even order them in a list.
• And much more…

Nearly 40 options are available in this widget, which you can use any number of times. Just check out the screenshot:

Download the Query Posts widget

If you need more detailed instructions on how to use the plugin or don’t understand the settings, see the readme.html file included with the plugin download.

• Version: 0.1
• Requires: WordPress 2.8+
• Support: Support forums
• Download
• Download (from WP.org)

Tutorials:

• Basic instructions included in the readme.html file.
• Video Overview by Adam Warner
• Query Posts + Widgetized Page Template + Widget Logic video by Adam Warner

Please don’t use my contact page or the comments section below to ask support questions. Use my support forums at Theme Hybrid, which is where I handle all support questions for my WordPress projects.

If you run across any bugs or want to share ideas about how to make this plugin better, feel free to post in the comments below.