Archive for July, 2008

A Mandala style design.
First one available here: Propagating

Edit June 16, 2009 – The plugins are WordPress 2.9 compatible.

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I’ve already reported about WordPress revisions and autosave problem yesterday.

I was thinking about a quite different solution and then I found that it’s really trivial to prepare three WordPress plugins that can disable Revisions, Autosave or both of them at the same time.

disable-autosave.zip (Right Click – Save As) – Disable Autosave function
disable-revisions.zip (Right Click – Save As) – Disable Revisions function
disable-revisions-and-autosave.zip (Right Click – Save As) – Disable Revisions and Autosave at the same time.

Using a plugin is far faster and easier than editing the wp-config file; plus everyone can Activate or Deactive them whenever is needed.
I’ve got very limited time to test them, but I’m actually using the “disable-revisions-and-autosave” on this blog and as far as I can say it works flawlessly.
Every comment or hint is very welcome!

The disabling Autosave plugin was already online yesterday, but I’ve slightly modify it to report the original code author.

EDIT 11 Sept. 2008
Some comments are not visible (removed) due to DB problems.
During the last weeks an hacking attempt led against the ISP on which Exper Chaotic Flow is currently running forced me to switch to a temporary server which trashed the last automatic DB recovers.
I’ll updated this post’s comments by hand as soon as I’ll have some spare time; some of the vanished ones are still there on my local backup.
Sorry for the setback.

Edit 25 July 2008
I’ve prepared three plugins that can disable Revisions, Autosave or both of them at the same time.
Access here: Disable Revisions and Autosave plugins

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I’ve recently updated my blog to the last WordPress 2.6 version.
The new version is very bold and I want generally suggest everyone to upgrade to it.

But I’ve also got to say that all the new version goods are mined by a major new introduced feature, a big problem to me and some other users out there: I’m talking about the Revisions and the new AutoSave function.
Revisions simply save the posts many times: WP will add a new row in the DB every time an user change a post; this could be good when the blog is maintained by different editors, cos they can track the various versions/revisions of every post, but it’s actually totally resources wasting to all the single editors ones.
AutoSave now create a second copy of the post that is stored and used to keep the post up-to-date when a subsequent AutoSave is executed on the same one. This is quite annoying too. I never liked much the AutoSave and the new implementation is even worser to me.

I’ve started roaming around the net looking for a solution.
I’ve found a couple of workarounds that can completely solve the problem when used at the same time.

STEP 1 – by me

I’ve found that clearing all the cookies relative to your Wp’s domain installation is always a good start when you make an update.
This is good too on 2.6 especially if you’re going to use the new SSL ones.

STEP 2 – Stop the Revisions scheme – Lester Chan article

To turn off the revisions edit the wp-config file adding this following code after the DB settings lines.

define(‘WP_POST_REVISIONS’, false);

You can also delete all post revisions by running this query in phpMyAdmin:
Be sure to backup your database first before performing any queries in phpMyAdmin.

DELETE FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = ‘revision’;

STEP 3 – Stop the AutoSave – Untwisted Vortex article

Lester reports that AutoSave doesn’t create a revision.
This is not completely true cos some users (I’m on the same boat) have reported that one revision is created by AutoSave too; it’s actually not clear if this is a behavior resulting from a WP’s bug/problem or a particular provider’s systems configuration.

The solution is to create a plugin that stops the AutoSave function.

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Disable Autosave
*/
function disable_autosave() {
wp_deregister_script('autosave');
}
add_action( 'wp_print_scripts', 'disable_autosave' );
?>

Select the above reported code, copy it and paste it into a new blank text document.
Save it as “disable-autosave.php”, upload it to the WP’s plugins directory and then activate the plugin.

I’ve also prepared the plugin version here: disable-autosave.zip (Right Click, Save As)

How many years I’ve spent thinking I was going to do something well-advised, useful or at least generative – a sort of small contribution.
It’s just another idiocy of mine. Only idiocy out of this life; no wisdom in yesterday, today or tomorrow.
So let me celebrate the big discover shedding the disguise… here I’ll go… into An Idiocy of Mine.

I’ve got finally had some free cpu to render a short preview sequence out of the 12 Temper those Fiery Particles designs.
Here it is; the final sequence will be a bit longer (currently working on it).
Hope you’ll like it.

You awoke in a burning paperhouse
from the infinite fields
of dreamless sleep
You return to Tienanmen
an eyewitness in a shroud
to see them fall, feel them yield
reliving the terror of the crowd
Hold the whirlwind, don’t let it blow
just for a moment I seemed to know
Hold the whirlwind, don’t let it blow
I seemed to know the ghost in you

The whisper of your scream
sighed through the air
and faith-the flag is torn and frayed
inferno heat, glory in flame
love was beaten and betrayed

In every step I hear your sobbing
dare I break the shade with one caress?
dare I trespass to lift the veil
to touch the lips so soft and frail?

Hold the whirlwind, don’t let it blow
I seemed to know the ghost in you

Your captive heart, the belief you share
with a kiss eternal, the spirits of the square

Hold the whirlwind, don’t let it blow
hope remains with the ghost in you
Hold the whirlwind, don’t let it blow
I seemed to know the ghost in you

don’t let it blow
the ghost in you
the ghost in you
Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Ghost in You, Superstition

I’ve done some small blog’s UI changes during the last days.
The Category now is posted directly the post’s title/date then I’ve move the Comments before the Tags.

I’ve also introduced the Announcement posts to keep at the top one or more posts than I retain important or persistent during a certain number of days.
Announcement posts are done using the very good WP-Sticky plugin by Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan.
Thanks a lot Lester!

Hope these small updates will give better navigation to the users.
Comments are welcome, as always!