New Plugins, New Feautures

December 1, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | by Casey | Leave a comment

Since the start of PSU blogs we’ve used the Akismet anti-spam plugin, but we’ve recently implemented a few other plugins offering new features:

  • bSuite gives you stats about how many hits your blog has received and what stories are most popular. Available widgets allow you to put a list of those popular posts in your sidebar, and shortcodes make it easier to manage your pages.
  • Video Quicktags makes it easy to embed videos from YouTube, Facebook, and other sites. To embed a YouTube video click the YouTube button and follow the simple instructions. Other sites are just as easy. video quicktags toolbar
  • Syntax Highlighter allows you to paste programming code in PHP, C++, and other languages with convenient highlighting. Simply wrap your code with shorttags like this: [sourcecode language='css']code here[/sourcecode]
  • Latex is a strange name for a very useful little plugin. Useful if you’re into mathematics, physics, or engineering, anyway. It allows you to display sophisticated formulae in your blog using LaTeX syntax. Here’s an example:
    \Large f(x)=\int_{-\infty}^x e^{-t^2}dt

These plugins are all active and available for you to use now.

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Even Newer and More Improved PSU Blogs (yes, we upgraded again)

August 27, 2008 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | by Casey | Leave a comment

A new year means another bunch of upgrades. You may have already seen the news about “dial 5” and password expiration, but this upgrade should be a little easier to make sense of. The most exciting part may be the new features. We’re now using WordPress 2.6, which allows you to track your changes in posts and go back to previous versions. We also have a bundle of new themes, and you can now preview them before going live with the change. While you’re looking at the themes, don’t miss the widgets — that’s how you can customize your sidebars and other areas of the pages. Some themes also allow you to change the header image, take some time to explore.

In addition to the track changes feature, you’ll see a number of other new features when you’re writing posts. The WYSIWYG editor is better and easier to use. The buttons on this version really work as simply as those on your favorite word processor (though, hopefully this becomes your new favorite word processor). And adding images to your posts is now, perhaps, even easier than it is with your desktop word processor. Click the link above the editor to “add media,” and upload your image. And you can easily wrap text around the image, or add a caption. The video below demonstrates a number of the new features, including PressThis:

Other changes include hugely easier and faster blog creation. If you don’t have a blog you should try it now. Your blog will be ready in the blink of an eye. Also in the “we should have done it long ago” category is how you sign in to your blog’s dashboard: it’s now integrated with myPlymouth and more secure. Go ahead, sign in and take a look.

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