Planet WordPress

The WordPress theme browser is back up and running again after ~48 hours of downtime. For those who are curious, here is what happened:

Last week, I had to rewrite the theme switcher plugin because it was killing the server it was running on. The original theme switcher code was traversing every directory in each of the 135+ theme directories looking for themes, which basically keeps the disk working way too hard. I’ve basically cached that information now, so the poor other folks on one.textdrive.com won’t have to suffer because of it.

Right after that change was made, the cookie domain got messed up in the code. That was at exactly the same time the servers were being moved to the new TextDrive data center, so I wrote it off as a migration bug that would probably get fixed. When it didn’t get fixed, I dug further and found the problem (now fixed).

Now you can go on and get your fix.

UPDATE: Strange, it works fine if you click on the theme links on the page, which use the same URL as the theme browser code, but it doesn’t seem to want to work in the frameset. Unfortunately, I can’t get into the server right now, so I’m not able to debug or fix it.

UPDATE #2: Finally got in and was able to “fix” the problem - commented out a header call that has been there since the theme browser was first brought online. No idea why it needed to be changed now, but it seems to work again.

I’ve posted a list of untested WordPress themes that have been submitted to me for addition to my list, but that I don’t have time to code review before posting.

As I previously posted, there are a few things I’d like to have looked for in each theme. Once one person approves the theme, it will be moved to the Final Review list for one more review.

Once a theme has been code reviewed twice (by 2 different reviewers), it will be added to the list.

Have fun!

I know the WordPress theme browser isn’t working properly right now. I believe it is due to the data center changes taking place at TextDrive right now and it will be back soon.

Matt took time out to update the feedback form in WordPress MU and WordPress.com today! Here’s a taster of what it looks like:

See the “Feedback” link above there? Hit that to send feedback to the admins of your WPMU site.

This is the feedback form that appears. It’s already being used on WordPress.com to great affect, reporting bugs and suggestions from users to the admins.

Thank you for your feedback. The great thing about this is that you can send feedback about the current page without disturbing what you’ve been doing. It’s sent to the server via an AJAX request and happens without refreshing the page!

I’ve updated my “plugged in” version of WordPress to 1.5.2. This includes the following additions to the standard WordPress install:

• WP Grins (new version, should validate now) - clickable smilies.
• WP Since Last Visit - shows new posts/comments since your last visist.
• WP Mobile - PDA friendly layout w/ auto-redirect.
• WP Photos (still not available separately) - add photos to blog posts.
• WP Unformatted - turn off default formatting on a per post basis.
• Theme Switcher - allow your visitors to pick their theme - works with all themes downloaded from my site.

Download it from my WordPress page.

Would you pay over $10 for a WordPress.com invite? Looks like someone will.
I need a new lens, who wants to trade a $700 Canon 10-22 lens for an invite?
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Ok, I lied. That wasn’t the last “personal-related” post.

In many many respects, life is good - definitely better than before. As someone told us recently (and I completely agree) we’re living in a secret paradise. Weather is great. Scenery is great. Lots of kid-friendly/family-friendly stuff here. Lots of outdoor activities. BUT (there’s always a but) don’t let anyone kid you - being a stay-at-home-mom in MANY ways is more work than GOING to work was. And then to make it all even more interesting (and busy, and overworked, and…), are the freelance gigs I’m trying to keep up with in the evenings and any spare time I have.

So, fortunately or unfortunately, I don’t see me getting more time any time soon. I’m not taking down the site or anything - but it will probably be months before I’m able to really start posting on here again. In many ways this is frustrating - because there are a lot of cool things going on with WordPress right now - and I would really like to be a part of it. But right now, there are more important things going on with my life and I’ll just have to try and catch up with blog-software-stuff at a later time.

Being that the last post I made was a couple of months ago - it’s pretty obvious I’m on a hiatus. So, I guess you can consider this the official word on that.