Version 2.5 of the LDS Linker plugin for WordPress is now available from the WordPress plugin repository. Version 2.5 adds support for using en-dashes in passage references (hooray for typography!). Additionally, you can now cancel the linking of any passage reference by preceding it with an exclamation mark. This is mostly useful for when you accidentally trigger a reference link where you don’t want one, i.e., “the Omni 2 digital camera is an improvement over the popular Omni 1.” Lastly, you can now set the hyperlinks to open in a new window if you prefer. Version 2.5 also fixes a number of bugs related to how certain characters, such as ampersands, en-dashes, and em-dashes, can be encoded.
wordpress
WordPress upgrade script
I just upgraded Janene’s and my blog to the latest version of WordPress using a slick bash script created by one of my buddies, Aaron Toponce. If you’ve never upgraded WordPress before, I’d recommend doing it by hand at least once so you understand the process (instructions are here), but if you’re looking for something to automagically upgrade your blog with minimal fuss, check out the script on Aaron’s blog: WordPress Upgrade Script. Worked like a charm for both the blogs I used it on, and I’ll definitely continue using it in the future. Good work, Aaron! 
Sitenotice Generator
As far as I could tell, WordPress doesn’t have any kind of global sitenotice feature like MediaWiki, but I needed one to promote my upcoming ride in the 2007 MS Bike Tour, so I wrote my own quick-and-dirty plugin.
I’m in the process of submitting this to wp-plugins.org so I can start some more serious and stable development, but if you’d like to try it out in the meantime, feel free to download the alpha version:
* sitenotice-1.0alpha1.zip
* sitenotice-1.0alpha1.tar.gz
To use the plugin, you’ll need to add a new template tag to an appropriate place where you’d like the sitenotice to appear when it’s enabled (I have mine right at the end of my header.php template file). The new tag is . The plugin adds a new admin panel called “Sitenotice” to the WordPress options menu, from which you can edit the sitenotice message and configure other features.
This is alpha software, so if you install it, realize you’re using it at your own risk. If you do try it out, let me know if you have any feature requests or find any bugs I should squash!
Syzygized
My blogs have finally been combined into one. WordPress 2.1 was released a few days ago with a shiny new import/export feature (among other cool updates). Nothing could’ve been slicker about the migration. It was as easy as clicking a button on my other blog, then selecting the downloaded file and clicking a button on this blog. Not only are posts copied over, but complete comments, custom fields, and categories as well.
LDS Linker 2.0
LDS Linker is a WordPress plugin I created that changes any Latter-day Saint scripture reference into a hyperlink pointing to the Internet Edition of the LDS Scriptures. It recognizes references whether the book name is written out or shortened using the standard abbreviations.
LDS Linker 1.4
Notice: A newer version of LDS Linker has been released.
LDS Linker is a WordPress plugin I created that changes any Latter-day Saint scripture reference into a hyperlink pointing to the Internet Edition of the LDS Scriptures. It recognizes references whether the book name is written out or shortened using the standard abbreviations.
Here are some examples:
Moro. 10:3–5 is a scripture mastery verse. Other scripture mastery verses include Mosiah 4:30, D&C 130:22–23, and JS-H 1:15–20. I have Articles of Faith 1:1–13 memorized—how ’bout you?
Version 1.2.1 stopped working a few months ago when the LDS church made significant changes to the way search queries are performed against their scripture system. Version 1.3 attempts to address that issue but probably doesn’t go far enough. I’m aware that D&C references are broken in this version (because the & symbol isn’t being encoded properly before being passed to scriptures.lds.org). I’m sure there are other issues I’m not aware of, so please let me know if you find anything fishy. I plan to rework the whole system soon so it links directly to passages instead of to search queries (i.e. Moro. 10:3-5 instead of Moro. 10:3-5).
Version 1.4 comes hot on the heels of 1.3 and fixes the Doctrine and Covenants links issue. I found that using the urlencode() function around the book name tamed that pesky ampersand into submission and thus restored the Doctrine and Covenants to the list of books LDS Linker can handle.
- Download the plugin: lds-linker.1.4.zip
A big thanks to those who’ve helped me improve the code. Are you using LDS Linker? Please let me know what you think. 
Facelift
The new design looks downright crappy in Internet Explorer 7 and even worse in Internet Explorer 6, but I’m working on that. Actually, I may not attempt to make it compatible with IE6 at all, preferring visitors upgrade to IE7. I can get away with that because I’m not trying to please anybody or make any money here.
I’ve got my del.icio.us bookmarks populating as regular entries and I’m working on getting my Flickr photosets to do the same. Toward that end, the Flickr Photo Album for WordPress plugin looks promising. I’m still working on a way to bring all my Foundation content over here. That’s going to be more complicated than I hoped. I may simply have to hold out for WordPress 2.1, which is supposed to have a fancy new export/import feature.
Anyway, all this to say that a lot of stuff is broken right now. Hold on to your shorts.
Update: I’ve managed to get the site looking good in Internet Explorer 7 with only minor tweaks to the code. Amazingly, it didn’t require any IE conditional comments (or any other hacks for that matter). The exact same code is working in Firefox, Opera, and IE7, and all three browsers actually render the page as intended. This has got to be one for the record books.
New Secret Weapon
Partly on the recommendation from a friend, and partly because I already knew what I had done was pretty drastic, I’ve decided to re-open commenting by unregistered users.
Instead, I’ve installed a new-fangled WordPress plugin called Spam Karma 2. It’s an extremely complex, but hopefully effective, spam management solution. I’ve already seen it eat several dozen spams, so I know it works. One of the things that sold me is that the author claims the program throws virtually no false-positives. We’ll see about that. Let me know if your comment gets eaten.
Self-registration is still enabled if you’re interested, and I’d recommend it since apparently Spam Karma goes easier on registered users.
Pest Control
Since I’ve been inundated with blog spam in recent months, I’ve disabled commenting from unregistered users and opened up my blog so anyone can register. To register, either click the “log in” link in the comments section of any post or the “log in” link on the sidebar under “Administration”.
If any registered users start posting spam comments, they’ll have their account deleted. This should keep one step between me and the blog spammers, and hopefully annoy them enough that they’ll leave me alone.
I was really hoping this would also give users the ability to edit their own comments, but it doesn’t seem WordPress is smart enough to keep track of that. I’ve seen at least one hack along those lines that I’d like to investigate further, so stay tuned.
Nudge, Nudge
I’ve installed the excellent “Spread Firefox WordPress plugin”:http://www.martinet.nl/wp-site/spread-firefox-wordpress-plugin and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I’ve used it to add a fairly unobtrusive bar across the top of my site (it only appears in Internet Explorer) to alert IE users to the inferiority of their browser. It shouldn’t get in anyone’s way, though I hope it encourages a few folks to switch.