Verse-O-Matic 3.0 Beta

January 25, 2006 | Filed Under Verse-O-Matic | Leave a Comment

The Verse-O-Matic 3.0 Beta release is currently being tested on this site. The new version is fully compatible with the new WordPress 2.0. The changes were significant and will warranted moving to a new version number.
The new Verse-0-Matic begins to incorporate some of the features I have been wanting to add for some time. The verses are now all stored in the WordPress database. I also added an admin page to add and edit verses. Also in the admin is a feature to leave a verse in the Verse-O-Matic, but turn the display off.

So, I am finishing up beta testing on the site this week and should have the first release of 3.0 out this weekend. I still need to finish up new installation instructions and package the release. In the meantime, here is a screenshot of the new admin:

Verse-O-Matic 2.1.0

January 15, 2006 | Filed Under Verse-O-Matic | Leave a Comment

Following the update of the blog to WordPress 2.0, I have released an upgrade to the Verse-O-Matic Plugin. The new release, Verse-O-Matic 2.1.0, works with WordPress 2.0, 1.5, and should work with 1.2.

This update includes a slightly more versatile alternate translation bar.

I am working on a couple of new features that will be released in version 3:

Until then, check back for updates.

WordPress 2.0 Upgrade

January 15, 2006 | Filed Under WordPress | Leave a Comment

Well, I completed the upgrade to WordPress 2.0 last night.   Things went as smooth as can be expected.   No problems with the database, and most of my modifications since the last install were built into the theme pages so no problems there.

I did run into an issue that some folks seem to have had as well and that was with the wp-settings.php file at line 38.

//if ( strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'], 'php.cgi') == strlen($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']) - 7 )
//‚ ‚ ‚  $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] = $_SERVER['PATH_TRANSLATED'];

This line is a fix for php as cgi and doesn’t really effect me, so commenting it out fixes the problem.

So far so good.   I like the new admin interface as it has a nice wysiwig editor and some other on-the-fly editing tools.   One thing I have to get used to with the wysiwig editor is that I need to break the habit of hitting return twice for a double-spaced paragraph since the editor does that already with a singe carriage return.

Next step is working on the Verse-O-Matic.   Verse-O-Matic 2.0 seems to be working fine with WordPress 2.0 so upgrading doesn’t seem like it will be a requirement.   However, there are still some features I would like to implement into the plugin, including an admin interface, so I will be working on that for (hopefully) beta testing this weekend.

Date-O-Matic Javascript Day/Date Display

January 13, 2006 | Filed Under Web | Leave a Comment

This is a very simple date script that I wrote years ago. I have used it in some form or another on just about every site that I have worked on. It is a nice, simple, client-side javascript to display the day and the date.

To use it, place the following in the of your html document:


In the location that you want the date to display, place the following:

This will output the date. You can apply CSS to the output as necessary, or, for those lacking the necessary skills, you could wrap this with a (yuck!) tag.

Obviously (or maybe not so obvious), there are a number of changes one could make based on desired output. For example, the days or months could be abbreviated in the script if you wanted “Thurs, Jan 12, 2006″. Or, the more savvy could change it to an output of “Thursday – 1/12/2006″ by changing the month names to appropriate numbers and then changing the document.write section to:

document.write(d[today.getDay()]+" - ");
document.write(m[today.getMonth()]+"/");
document.write(today.getDate()+"/");
document.write(""+today.getFullYear());

Or, if you need scientific or European dating, switch the date and the month lines to get this:

document.write(d[today.getDay()]+" - ");
document.write(today.getDate()+"/");
document.write(m[today.getMonth()]+"/");
document.write(""+today.getFullYear());

If you are an old javascript hack, you probably had all that figured out (or already wrote your own), but if you are a js noob, tinkering with the output and maybe adding or subtracting from it, is a good way to “get under the hood” so-to-speak and learn how to use javascript.

Have fun!

WordPress 2.0

January 12, 2006 | Filed Under Web, WordPress | Leave a Comment

WordPress 2.0 is out. I will be attempting to upgrade the blog sometime this weekend. During this process, the blog may be unavailable.

Once that is complete, I will be upgrading the Verse-O-Matic to make sure that it works with WP 2.0. I may also further tinker with the gears a little to finish some of the upgrades that I’ve been wanting to add.