After posting the Latest Posts by Category Archive tutorial, I’ve received requests to transform the code into a WordPress plugin.

Update: Version 1.2 has been released. Read about the changes below, in the “Version History” section.

The Features of ‘Latest Posts by Category Archive’ WP Plugin

Here’s the list of features currently available:

• Can be used via hard-coding inside page templates;
• Can be used as a widget in your widget-ready areas;
• Can be used via shortcodes inside pages’ or posts’ content;
• Can be used either inside or outside the loop;
• Can limit the archive to certain categories, or exclude certain categories;
• Can display or hide post dates;
• Can display or hide post excerpts and adjust their length in words;
• Can set the number of listed post from 1 to ‘all’.

Version history

Version 1.2

• The plugin is now available as a widget for your blog’s widget ready areas;
• The widget’s output can be easily customized using a few newly added CSS classes. Information about the widget is available in the plugin documentation, which is also included in the download package;
• Fixed the dashboard area that notifies WP 2.7+ users on the latest plugin version available.

Version 1.1

• Added option to display post dates;
• Added dashboard widget for plugin version tracking (Only available for WP 2.7+ users).

Documentation

The plugin documentation is available for download in PDF format: LPBC Documentation (5754)

For further information and plugin updates, please refer to this page, as it will be edited with further improvements.
Click here to read the full blog post!

The flexibility of WordPress has always been its strong point. The fact that you can tweak and twist it to your own will with just a bit of knowledge and an extraordinary support from a large community of developers and blogger transformed what initially was a blogging tool into a powerful website CMS, may it be a blog, photoblog, portfolio or simple presentation website.

And since its flexibility is undisputed, the folks at Instinct, a New Zealand development company, took it a little further with their WP e-Commerce plugin.

Here’s what they have to say about their plugin:

The WordPress e-Commerce plugin is a state-of-the-art e-Commerce platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards and usability. It is both free and priceless at the same time.

Let’s see about that!
Click here to read the full blog post!

Everyone gets all excited about WordPress when they find that nearly any feature they could want can be added through a plugin system, but there are issues with depending on plugins that people should consider before loading up on additional features.

Delays in Releases

One of the biggest issues that occurs in the WordPress plugin world is that the plugin developers can’t keep up with the developments in the WordPress core. A great example of this is PodPress, a very popular podcasting plugin for WordPress that still, after two months, does not have a new release to work with WordPress 2.6.

Dropping support

One day the plugin that you enjoy using might just disappear. The developer giving up on supporting it, and if it isn’t very popular in the wider circles, then there will most likely not be anyone there to pick up where they left off. This looked like it was going to happen to the very popular All in One SEO plugin, but at the last minute, someone else committed themselves to furthering the plugin.
Click here to read the full blog post!

As you might remember, a while ago I’ve recommended you the plugins developed by GeekyWeekly: My Link Order, My Page Order and My Category Order.

I’d still recommend them to everyone how wants to organize his blog easier and better, even if recently I’ve found out that the My Link Order plugin generates an XHTML validation error, specifically: it creates an ID duplicate for each blog roll category that you add.

The validation error could look like:

ID "mylinkorder" already defined

or

anchor "mylinkorder" already defined

My Link Order Fix

So, how to fix this? Actually it’s pretty simple.

1. Navigate to your plugins folder and open for editing the mylinkorder.php file;

2. Find this line of code:

'category_before' => $before_widget, 'category_after' => $after_widget,

Depending on the plugin version, it should be between lines 180 and 200.

3. Comment the like by adding 2 slashes at the beginning, so the end result would look like:

//'category_before' => $before_widget, 'category_after' => $after_widget,

4. That’s it! Upload the file and enjoy your valid ordered blog.