Plugging Twitter into WordPress

Shak’s Twitter use has been reluctant and moderate.  However, it’s convenient to connect it to Facebook and automate the updating of a status & tweet, simultaneously with a single effort.  Today seemed ripe for integration with Daniel.Shakhmundes.Net / Shak.Be / Shak.WS / Shak.TV / Shak.Biz (in order of acquisition), now that some time is being spent on Shak’s own web-presence.

From some brief Googling of WordPress Twitter Widget, we opted to read a couple best/top lists:

  1. 10 Best Twitter Tools, Plugins, Widgets for WordPress Blogs
  2. Top Twitter WordPress Widgets

From there and some further research of compatibility and rating on the WordPress Plugin Directory the following two plugins have been selected and implemented into the right sidebar:

  1. Twitter Widget Pro
  2. TwitterCounter by TwitterCounter[.com]

Sign into my TwitterRemote on http://twittercounter.com/DaShak?t=t so I know when you check my stats!

Shak.TV Website Updates

In all the commotion, we put up a rather default WordPress website for Shak.TV, but little customization was done. Practically the only work put into this website has been content and functionality through plug-ins. It was a good demonstration of what you can get out-of-the-box with WordPress, while showcasing implementation of some key functionality that every website should have.

This year it’s time to move forward! Daniel Shakhmundes actually wants to hear from you now, and this fact is exemplified in the return of a contact page! While we’ve routinely implemented such things on clients’ websites, it’s been years since one was available here. We used the cformsII plug-in by delicious:days, which provides anti-spam verification, robust field checking, and many more features that no form (contact or otherwise) should be without.

We’ve also fixed & improved the Photos page, which bears content from Daniel Shakhmundes’ Facebook profile.  Like the web in general, the Facebook system is changing & updating periodically.  A new Fotobook plug-in for WordPress was finally released, accounting for the functional/API changes while also providing new functionality itself.

In keeping up with WordPress updates, we also upgraded to the latest stable version (2.9.1), which was a breeze as always.  It’s a great feeling to know you have the cutting-edge functionality expected in a website, while having no known security vulnerabilities, and a world-wide community keeping things that way!

Cheers,
D.Shak & associates