Plugin is now using capabilities for admin menu instead of user levels. Only administrator has access to menus. Next Beta will have options to allow access to other user roles. Dashboard and plugin front panel have widget for quick search, by selecting Amazon website and adding keywords. Bookmarklet is now expanded with option to add product and create post from it. Several bugs are fixed.

Demo website

Demo website is in works and uses our lightScape theme, will use custom taxonomies and custom post types using our GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro. You can see it now, but expect updates as I update all the plugins used on the website. Website contains products (books, dvd, blu-ray, music) I purchased from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk over the years.

myCollection: Amazon Products:
http://my.gdragon.info/

Promo coupon

If you decide to purchase plugin now, while still in Beta phase, a coupon is available that will give you 25% discount. This coupon is: AZONFBETA. To purchase plugin, visit the plugin editions page listed bellow.

GD aZon Fusion, Plugin Information:
http://dv4p.com/10e
GD aZon Fusion, Editions & Purchase:
http://dv4p.com/10g
GD aZon Fusion, Screenshots:
http://dv4p.com/10j

Plugins dashboard widget has a new element displayed: Google Page Rank. It will be refreshed every week, since Google is not updating public values of Page Rank that often. For 4.0 plan is to get Page Rank for each page. Great deal of code is optimized and cleaned, old and unused code removed, some functions merged. All forms for all plugin panels are now secured using nonce protection. Maintenance mode is moved to separate class and improved.

Database panel is now split into two panels. One is still called Database and it can be used to review the database tables and database tools, including mySQL settings. Backup is now moved to a new panel called Backup. New backup will have only database backup moved, but with 4.0 you will be able to backup whole website (all or selected files and folders). Backup will be able to move files to CDN also. First CDN that will be supported with this version is RackspaceCloud. Until 4.0 is released, Amazon and VPS.NET will be supported also.

Old user levels used for displaying panels are replaced with capabilities, and defaults are added to administrator roles. There are options to add some of the capabilities to other user roles too. Both Pro and Lite will have this implemented.

GD Press Tools 3.8 Pro and GD Press Tools 2.6 Lite will be released on Monday September 13 2010.

Promo coupon

Starting now, and until the end of September, a coupon is available that will give you 20% discount. Coupon can be used with GD Press Tools and Dev4Press Bundle purchases. This coupon is: GDPT38PRO.

To avoid confusion with original plugin, my version is renamed to gdHeadSpace4. You can find it on the Free Downloads page, in the modded plugins section. New home page for this plugin is at the bottom of this post.

Plugin has a lot of differences from original. I removed some of the features because they were conflicted with some of my plugins (tags on the post edit panels and few other things). Plugin panels are a bit reorganized, icons changed, annoying support pages removed. Also, I removed annoying comments with license on top of each file, changed code layout to better fit to my editor (NetBeans). Several other obsolete modules, code that was causing problem on dashboard is also removed.

There are some new tags to be used for SEO elements, custom post types and custom taxonomies supported properly, I added filters allowing expanding of tags with custom tags. More changes will come as I need the make changes or find more problems. This is plugin version I am developing for myself, and I will not take ‘features requests’, but I will improve plugin from time to time and make it compatible with both WordPress and my plugins. If you find this version useful, please use it, if not try original version or some other SEO plugin.

Please, test new features and report problems in the forum or in comments.

gdHeadspace4:
http://www.dev4press.com/plugins/gd-headspace4/
Original Headspace2:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/headspace2/

xScape changes

For all themes there is a new function and new settings (Content tab) allowing to use either excerpts or post content on the archives and front page. xScape now uses roles and capabilities to display menus and panels, and only administrators have the new capability added. Old user levels system is no longer in use. Even more base xScape functions can be overridden by the individual themes (display of title and some other elements). If you use pre built menus (pages and categories), you can set the title of the Home page link.

xScape fixes

There were some problems with executing (and saving) PHP code on the advanced tab settings. This is now fixed, and any PHP there should be saved are run without problems. Widget with full ad code was also broken, now fixed. Same goes with some middle elements problems in layout manager.

Themes changes

All themes are updated with new framework, and changed to use some of the new features (excerpt/content). Each theme has some fixes to it, and some of them got new features. LightScape and photoScape got new option to control custom background, and both have fixes in tiling the custom background and few more things. Post exclusion was not working with some themes, but that should be fixed now.

More themes

Designer informed me that newsScape theme design is nearly done, and I hope to start working on it this week. 2 more themes are in the making, one of the being starScapeII, that will be rich with visuals and space themed. I hope that you like the pace new themes are done, I believe that it’s better to release less themes that will be done better and to improve on the framework where all themes can benefit.

Test all themes,and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end before deciding what is right for you:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

Here is the cover of this latest version of the book. Click on the cover to buy the PDF version for only $27,00.

Digging Into WordPress, Cover

A lot was changed from first version of the book, and now you will get several themes bundled with the book used as examples, code and screenshots are up to date with latest WordPress, and there is even a whole new chapter on WordPress 3.0.

This is a great resource for everything WordPress, regardless of your WordPress development experience. Even log time WP developers will find very useful things in this book. And unlike any other book, this one is always expanding. And if you buy it once, you will get new versions when they are released. Right now book has over 450 pages, almost 100 more than first version released last year.

So, go to the book website and get your copy. If you want to read my review from last year, you can do it here.

It will take some time for me to change all plugins and xScape framework, but it will be done this month. xScape 1.4.7 will be updated to use roles (to be released on Sunday or Monday). GD Press Tools 3.8 is very, very important update that will also use roles and capabilities and add bunch of new things. It should be ready by the end of next week. Lite version 2.6 will be also released with same roles and capabilities update.

GD Simple Widget Lite will follow next week also. Next will be GD aZon FUSION (end of next week), and after that GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools (middle of September). GD Simple Widget 3.0 Pro should be ready by the end of the month along with GD Affiliate Center 1.1.

GD Star Rating will not be updated with this. GDSR 2.0 is in works, and I will rather use the little time I have for it to work on new versions instead of adding new things to old version.

My Collection

My Collection is my new website that is made as a demo for several of my plugins and one theme, and in the same time for tracking my collection of music, videos and books I got from Amazon. Here are some more details about the website and plugins used.

Website uses lightScape theme (based on xScape Themes Framework) with custom style. But, real power behind the website are two plugins. One is used to actually get products from Amazon and display them (GD aZon FUSION Pro) and other to set up custom post types and custom taxonomies, add widgets (GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro). Also, GD Press Tools Pro is there, universal “don’t go anywhere without it” plugin.

GD aZon FUSION

GD CPT Tools

GD Press Tools

Website has 4 custom post types (Books, Movies, TV Series and Music). Also, there are additional taxonomies for each of the post types. And all of them use categories. As you can see on the website menus made using xScape Menu Designer (native WordPress Menus are not used), support both post types and taxonomies, and also support filtering of terms, and support custom templates for post types archives.

Widgets from GD CPT Tools Pro are used extensively on the website. Also, new widget from GD aZon FUSION is there for single product in the sidebar. Amazon product templates are customized for the theme also.

Whatever new is added to each of these plugins will be added to this website. So, visit it and check out what you can do with these plugins.

myCollection, Amazon Products:
http://my.gdragon.info/

GD aZon FUSION promo coupon

If you decide to purchase plugin now, while still in Beta phase, a coupon is available that will give you 25% discount. This coupon is: AZONFBETA. To purchase plugin, visit the plugin editions page listed bellow.

GD aZon Fusion, Editions & Purchase:
http://dv4p.com/10g

GD aZon FUSION

Second major beta version of Amazon products integration plugin GD aZon FUSION is here. This time, rendering is converted into brand new T3 templates rendering system, added widget for a single post, fixed several bugs and added few new rendering tags.

Thanks to Vladan Vasic (Peexon Design: www.peexon.com) who also designed the rest of the icons for other products, Dev4Press and xScape logo, and 2 of the xScape themes (photoScape and eScape), we now how a new and official icon for the plugin.

gdT3: Templates System

New T3 templates system is not fully completed, but is usable right now. It has no UI at the moment, it will be added soon, but rendering is fully functional. GD aZon FUSION is converted to use it from this release.

What else is new

First widget is added, to display random single product from the database. Widget allows filters for locale, group and keyword. Two basic widget templates are included with current version of the plugin. Several bugs are fixed, code for getting data improved, and newer version of CloudFusion library is included.

Demo website

Demo website is in works and uses our lightScape theme, will use custom taxonomies and custom post types using our GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro. You can see it now, but expect updates as I update all the plugins used on the website. Website contains products (books, dvd, blu-ray, music) I purchased from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk over the years.

myCollection: Amazon Products:
http://my.gdragon.info/

Promo coupon

If you decide to purchase plugin now, while still in Beta phase, a coupon is available that will give you 25% discount. This coupon is: AZONFBETA. To purchase plugin, visit the plugin editions page listed bellow.

GD aZon Fusion, Plugin Information:
http://dv4p.com/10e
GD aZon Fusion, Editions & Purchase:
http://dv4p.com/10g
GD aZon Fusion, Screenshots:
http://dv4p.com/10j

I will publish a tutorial tomorrow on improving speed of WordPress post pages by removing links tags from the header that can cause lower website performance due to use of slow SQL queries. These filters now can be removed using this plugin. Options for this are on plugin Settings panel, Content tab. xScape themes also have these options.

If you notice any more problems, please leave a comment.

When you create new post type or taxonomy, plugin will check name against the list of restricted keywords to ensure that there will be no conflict with default WordPress features. I accidentally create taxonomy AUTHOR, and it wasn’t working properly because WP uses same word for rewriting author pages. With new version of the plugin, these things will not happen.

New panel Tools is added, and has one tool: Import Terms. From plain text file you can import terms for selected taxonomy. Taxonomy can be hierarchical. In the info folder with the plugin you have a two example files for both flat list and hierarchical list. List can contain existing terms, they will be skipped (or used to identify hierarchy). Some things in the interface are improved and cleaned up. There will be some more changes soon to change some of the strings and make the more consistent.

I got question from many user of Lite edition about adding some of the Pro edition features into Lite edition. I say one more time: that’s not going to happen. Lite version will be maintained, fixed when needed and updated to support new versions of WordPress. But no new features will be added. All that will be for Pro edition only.

Please, test new features and report problems in the forum or in comments.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

First on the agenda is GD Custom Post Types and Taxonomies Tools. All public functions are now documented. Next plugin on the list will be GD Press Tools and after that xScape theme framework and themes.

GD CP&T Tools Documentation: http://www.dev4press.com/docs/?nav=999

First plugin to use T3 is GD aZon FUSION (currently in beta). Beta 0.7 version to be released next week will use T3. After that, GD Simple Widgets 3.0 will go into development, and will use T3. GD Star Rating 2.0 will also use T3. So, here is what T3 will bring and improve over T2.

Templates will be stored into files (T2 was using database). One of the problems with database approach was problems storing PHP code also and having templates combine HTML and PHP. This time T3 will have templates in files, and each template will be able to have PHP in it. This part is already done for GD aZon FUSION 0.6 and it works very well. Default templates will be stored in a folder, and there will be function and filter to add new templates from any location. In each template there will be some required elements to identify the template.

Special tags will be more powerful than in T2. Each template will allow for arguments to be passed. And there will be a special template for translations. This tag will allow for multi language templates display through default WP translation system.

Editor panel will be also created for editing templates from the control panel, with list of supported tags, similar to one used by T2.

If you have suggestion on what else to add to the system, please leave a comment.

lightScape is the only theme released with  new framework. Rest of the themes are not released, but you can upgrade them using new xScape. To do that right now you can use Dev4Press Updater plugin (minimal version to do this is 1.4.3). Updater will now show not only theme updates, but when there is no new theme version you will see new framework version (if available), and you can install only that. Please report problems with this new update method.

Many of the changes are for improved support for custom post types and taxonomies. Recent posts widget now can filter by post type, and it also supports templates to display results differently. Menu designer is improved to include post type filtering for taxonomies. Some of the features (like this last one) require GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro for custom post types rewriting rules.

Showcase of all new features, theme modifications, plugins GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro and GD aZon FUSION will be available over the weekend.

Test all themes,and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end before deciding what is right for you:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

Custom Post Types Widget

New widget is very simple, and result is on the image on the right. You can change widget title, display of posts counts and select post types to include in the list.

I am working on the demo website that will showcase changes and customization to a xScape based lightScape theme, this plugin and GD aZon FUSION. It will be ready by the end of this week.

Please, test new features and report problems in the forum or in comments.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

Control Panel: Settings

This is a random (and not so random) list of reasons why xScape Theme Framework for WordPress and themes based on it are deserving your attention.

1. Control Panel Settings: all theme options are divided into several panels allowing changes to design, typography, content, logo and title, footer and header options without changing a single line of code. Add tracking code for Woopra, Google or Clicky fast. Optimize WordPress header, upload default avatar and much, much more. AJAX powered, with interface using jQuery/jQueryUI for best user experience and rich controls for adding images, choosing colors and more.
2. Menu Designer: Create menus with many options to choose from with full support for custom post types, custom taxonomies, special menu items for admin or user pages, external links… Control menu items visibility with CSS, user/visitor switches and more. Themes can render drop down menus, menu lists or sitemaps from the menus designed with xScape Menu Designer. And you can still use built WordPress Menu, xScape supports that one too.
3. Framework Modules: Many features that are usually needed on the website are made into modules that can be enabled if needed. Add contact form on each page, integrate Google Maps into posts, add Facebook Like button or widgets, add links for sharing on the social networks websites. Modules are loaded when needed, and minimize the need for tons of plugins that you always need to additionally integrate into the theme. More modules are in development.
4. SEO options: Control title for pages, add descriptions and keyword tags to header the way you need it with many options to allow you control over it. Or, if you use specialized SEO plugin, set the theme to allow full SEO control to these plugins.
5. Images handling: Forget about slow and problematic TimThumb most themes use. Images handling is built in the framework and it doesn’t require use of PHP for each image request. Images are uploaded, resized and cached directly and rely on already built in functionalities in WordPress. Your website will not slow down if you have many images displayed in the same time.


Control Panel: Layouts

6. Layout Manager: Need to move sidebar to the right on a single page only? Or to change some settings on one page only? No more going through theme code, messing things up and forgetting what you changed in the first place. Use simple to use layouts manager and adjust settings and layout visually. Enable or disable some of the content blocks, create multiple widgets areas for different parts of the website and use the in sidebars, footer widgets areas and more or control menus on individual pages. Create new templates on the fly for taxonomies, or custom pages.
7. Integrated upgrade: Use our Dev4Press Updater plugin to stay up to date and always have latest version of the theme. Similar to WordPress built in upgrade, our plugin will check twice each day for new versions of our premium plugins and themes.
8. Backup before upgrade: If you have made some changes to the theme, or maybe added new files, custom templates or new style, simply make a list of files you want to be kept safe, and before auto upgrade starts, these files will be saved and restored after upgrade. That way you have latest version of the theme and your modifications. No other free or premium theme offers something like that.
9. Valid and optimized content: Minimzed JavaScript and CSS files, optimized use of images in layouts, clean HTML markup. Both CSS and HTML are compliant with W3C rules and validate 100%. All xScape themes use Blueprint CSS framework for better grid organization of page.
10. Focus on the content: Create WordPress templates without thinking about sidebars or where is the footer or where the menus go. xScape templates are for the content only, and framework will than use layouts settings and make a final page you can always change from control panel.
11. Built in widgets: xScape comes with many widgets built in and optimized. With widgets added by xScape modules, there is total of 12 widgets right now, with more to come. Widgets for Twitter, Flickr, website authors, easy to use tabbed widget, social network links, ads…
12. Export and import settings: If you run more than one website using same theme or even different themes on xScape, you can export settings from one and import into another. This includes settings, layouts, menus and everything else. Backup whole theme or only some files to transfer them to another location.
13. GD Star Rating integration: Already built in are some of the GD Star Rating features: integration with comments for review websites, improved styling specific for each theme. Also, all other of our plugins can be used directly: GD Custom Post Types and Taxonomies, GD Affiliate Center and all the others.
14. GPL: All our themes are 100% GPL licensed. No dual licensing for code and design, no worries about number of websites you can use a theme once you purchase it.
15. Premium Support: All themes are fully supported with fast response time in the forums, or even with email support for membership licenses. Many tutorials are available for all premium users, most of them videos explaining every aspect of the xScape.
16. Free Test Drive: Not sure if this is for you? Test drive each theme for free on our xScape.info test website. All latest versions of all xScape themes are there. You can sign up for a free blog, and for 48 hours test each theme. When you do that, be sure to check out our premium plugins also.

I am sure that there are more reasons, but these 14 are enough for now. xScape is always in development, with new versions released weekly, with new features and long list of planned features yet to come.

List of xScape Themes:
http://www.dev4press.com/themes/
Buy xScape Themes or Club Membership:
http://www.dev4press.com/themes/xscape/purchase/
xScape Test Drive Website:
http://xscape.info/

Custom Post Types

Updated support for custom post types requires GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro (read more on 2.2 released yesterday). Plugin adds and control rewrite rules for custom post types and enables WordPress to use new templates. All xScape themes now have new base template called type.php that is default for custom post types (only if GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro is used). Also, for each custom post type you can add new templates: type-$post_type.php. In Menu Designer you can see new menu items for adding custom post type archive pages.

Theme Upgrade and Backup

One of the biggest problems with any theme that you end up customizing, add files and so on, is that when new version is released, you can’t upgrade it without loosing changes. I decided to do the best that can be done to fix that issue. All themes now have Theme Upgrade panel. Here you can specify files and folders you want protected from upgrade. Upgrade as before is done using Dev4Press Updater plugin (1.4.2 or newer is required for this to work).

xScape will make backup of the files and folders you set to keep on this panel, and (if enabled) make full backup of the theme. Files will be stored in the xScape storage location (usually xscape folder in wp-content). New sub-folder backup is added there and it will be used for things like this. When Dev4Press Updater attempts to make update, theme will first try to make a backup. If that fails, upgrade will be aborted. If backup is done, upgrade is performed and files than restored. Backups can be made manually from the Tools panel also.

Tutorials

Four new tutorials are in works to be released today and tomorrow. One is for lightScape (long overdue, sorry for the delay), two are for the new upgrade/backup feature and the fourth one is for the new custom post type archive feature.

Test all themes,and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end before deciding what is right for you:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

All the changes bellow are only for Pro version. As I said before, Lite version will only get maintenance releases, and will be updated when new WP is released if there are changes in custom post types or taxonomies.

Custom post type URL rewrite

WordPress custom post types implementation has 2 major flaws: there is no template for custom post type archive and rewrite rules are incomplete to support all needed elements like feeds. Maybe we will see this fixed in WP 3.1, but until that happens, our plugin implements that now. For archive, you have new template called: type-$post_type.php. If you have post type named book, you will get (if the rewrite slug is also set to book):

Archive page: http://www.website.com/book/
Paged archive: http://www.website.com/book/page/3
Feed: http://www.website.com/book/feed/

Feed link will be added into page HTML header also (if supported by the theme). xScape Theme Framework now also supports this (new version will be released in a day or two), and if the GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools Pro is installed, you can generate and use archive template and you can add these pages to menus through menu designer.

This features are activated automatically, if the custom post type you created is set to allow rewriting (it’s on by default). You can disable this if you want from plugin settings panel.

Improved widgets

Taxonomies widget now have very important new option to set post type. This will get you only terms for a taxonomy belonging to posts for a selected post  type (or you can still choose to see all). To make this happen, I made a new function to replace default get_terms(), and to add new post_type parameter to it.

And more to come

Few bugs are fixed, some functions and files rearranged. And, in the next day or two new tutorials will be released to cover new features. Demo website that will showcase power of GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools Pro and GD aZon FUSION Pro plugins is coming, powered by lightScape theme.

Please, test new features and report problems in the forum or in comments.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

Some changes in WP 3.0 and 3.0.1 caused problems with some of the filters, and displaying ID’s on categories and tags panels was not working. This is now fixed. I did some more code reorganizations to the code to prepare things for next major version.

If you notice any more problems, please leave a comment.

Current list of planned features will be soon completed, code stabilized and ready for everyday use. Here you can read about what plugin can do now and what’s yet to be done for stable release. Plugin is now also available for download to all users with Dev4Press Bundle license. You can buy individual plugin license also and than download it. Plugin will be available with both Standard and Developer license. Purchase is with recurring payments once a year.

Bookmarklet

CloudFusion

Data is retrieved using amazing PHP library called CloudFusion. It support cache, and different cache methods can be set on the plugin Settings panel.

But, even with such a great library, there are limitations imposed by Amazon Product Advertising API on what data is included for products, images and other things. More on that will coming soon.

Implemented features

Plugin supports all Amazon websites. Depending on the website some features will adapt, because not every one supports the same things. You can search using product groups and keywords, browse nodes and keywords, you can add products by using different product ID’s or you can use more direct approach with Bookmarklet you can add to browser toolbar, and when you get to Amazon product on any of the Amazon websites, click on the Bookmarklet and send the product to your website.

Products Search Results

There is a limitation in support for different Amazon websites: you must have Amazon Web Service account, and you must be signed up as Affiliate for Amazon websites you plan to use. You must set all this on the plugin Settings panel before you will be able to use any of the features. Affiliate accounts will be used to generate product links you might use on the website. You will earn from each purchase made though these links.

Metabox

Data retrieved from Amazon will be stored in the database. 3 tables will be added to store products, different product attributes, links and images as meta data and table for reviews. Each product can be used in different ways on the website, and ways for use will improve over time. You can create posts from products, and with that product will be assigned to a post. You can assign more than one product for each post so you can access them easier, but it’s not required.

Amazon product is encapsulated by a base product class. For rendering the product, there is another class. And for each products group there is extended base class for product and rendering. Extended classes are used to give functions specific to some of the product groups. Not every group needs such class, so only few of theme will have own classes to begin with. If needed, more will be added.

Demo Template

Rendering is template based. Few templates and sample CSS will be included with plugin, but you can make your own templates. They will use brand new tags concept that will support settings within tags, and HTML markup. Template files can also contain PHP code. Render class can be expanded to support any number of tags, and specific product render classes can have additional functions and tags specific to a product group.

Stable 1.0 release

Right now plugin is not saving customers reviews each Amazon product has. This is slow process due to limit of 5 reviews per request (Amazon API limitation), and there will options available to control the process. Auto update of data is also coming. Cron, background job will be available to update data, so that you always have latest prices for products. First widget to display single product leading to a post with it will be added.

Future features

Many things will be added, and to be honest I don’t have a full list of what that is. Future releases depend on the plugin users, so if you decide to purchase the plugin, you can drive the plugin development and you can get features you need for your website.

One major feature that will be added is getting data from bestseller lists for any group or browse node on Amazon. These lists will be updated periodically to maintain the latest list of product. Cleanup of data will be added also allowing to remove products you don’t need anymore. More widgets, more types of rendering for products, list of products are also coming. Better support for browse nodes, storing the nodes is also planned.

If you have any more problems, please report them in the forum or in comments. If you have suggestions, feature requests, leave a comment.

Demo website and more

Demo website is in works and will use our lightScape theme, will use custom taxonomies and custom post types using our GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools. It should be up in the next 2-3 days. Few tutorials are also coming, showcase videos and more.

If you decide to purchase plugin now, while still in Beta phase, a coupon is available that will give you 25% discount. This coupon is: AZONFBETA. To purchase plugin, visit the plugin editions page listed bellow.

GD aZon Fusion, Plugin Information:
http://dv4p.com/10e
GD aZon Fusion, Editions & Purchase:
http://dv4p.com/10g
GD aZon Fusion, Screenshots:
http://dv4p.com/10j

Right now all parameters are fully up to specification and everything should work fine. Usually problems are caused with some other plugins that use taxonomies that can cause problems with getting taxonomies. But, right now I am 100% sure that  GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools is 100% compliant to registration procedure for custom posts and taxonomies.

If you have any more problems, please report them in the forum or in comments.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

Most important part for displaying the product is rendering. To render a product, plugin has a main render class, and also can utilize classes than extend the main class and are specific for the different product groups. This will allow great flexibility in displaying data, because Amazon data is not as organized as one might think. Render will rely on the template. Template is a mix of HTML and PHP code with addition of special tags. These tags are unlike anything seen for this kind of use, and will allow specifying settings. Allowing for PHP code to be added is very important step, and will give much greater flexibility.

Plugin has support for shortcodes. First release will have few shortcode and semi-manual inserting them into the content, but that will improve once we get closer to 1.0 release.

And, by the time first version is released, I will have a website to server as a demo for the plugin. So, only 2-3 days until plugin is released. And if you decide to purchase the plugin, there will be a 25% discount coupon available for the whole Beta period.

xScape 1.4.5 will be released next week with new panel called Theme Upgrade. This will allow you to specify what files to keep safe from upgrade. If you added something to functions.php, or you added custom page templates, new style or anything else, you can mark it for backup. When Dev4Press Updater attempts to upgrade the theme, theme will first perform backup of selected files. If that goes OK, theme will be upgraded, and than files you selected for backup will be restored.

Dev4Press Updater now can display update as a admin notice on the top of the screen. Both notice and dashboard Right now message can be not disabled from updater Settings panel.

Next major release of Updater will have several new features: it will allow update for framework only for all themes, it will add new update notification methods (email and number in the menu like the WP does) and install new plugin page (it can find all plugins your license supports and will be able to download them and install directly.

If you have any more problems, please report them in the forum or in comments.

Dev4Press Updater:
This plugin is only for user with valid licenses for Dev4Press plugins and xScape themes
http://www.dev4press.com/user/updater/

Interface for custom post type and custom taxonomy editor is improved and looks the same for both. Custom post type have option to deactivate post type (for testing or something like that). And custom taxonomies got special features (only in Pro version, similar to custom post types). Currently there is only one special feature: to add custom taxonomy as a column on post edit grid.

If you have any more problems, please report them in the forum or in comments.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

xScape 1.4.5 is in works with one major new option, called Theme Upgrade. Theme will still be updatable only through Dev4Press Updater, but this new Upgrade panel will allow you to set folders and files you want to keep after upgrade. This way you can add templates or whole folders with code and after upgrade all will be safe.

To see themes and framework in action, visit the WordPress 3 MultiSite powered demo website and get your own blog to see who the framework back-end works:

Demo Site:
http://xscape.info/
lightScape:
http://xscape.info/lightscape/

Partial Post Integration

As of today, plugin has number of features implemented:

• searching for products on Amazon,
• lookup by any number of codes (including Amazon ASIN),
• browse nodes search method,
• storing products in database,
• creating post drafts for products,
• support for custom post types,
• integration into post edit page,
• attaching more than one product to a post,
• getting attached product as object,
• product object supports number of formating options for price and images (for now).

Full list of planned features is not yet done, and features will be expanded all the time, so if you need something specific for this plugin, please leave a comment. List of features for 1.0.0 release will be announced once the Beta is released this week. Also, preliminary list of features for plugin after 1.0.0 will be added and updated periodically.

Plugin will be officially available from Thursday, August 12 2010. There will be no free version. Purchases are membership only with recurring payments once a year. Standard license will be 60,00 Euro, with 40,00 Euro recurring each year. Developer license (includes SVN/TRAC access and email support) will be 80,00 Euro with 50,00 Euro recurring each year. There is no limit in number of websites you can use plugin on, and as usual standard support and auto update policies and rules apply. For users that have Dev4Press Bundle licenses, this plugin is already included. Once the plugin gets released as Beta, for the whole Beta development period, coupon for discount of 20% will be available.

All comments about new plugin are welcome.

Operating Systems

MS Windows is the most used OS in the world, and this chart shows the same for visits on this website. These 5 OS here made up 96.2% of all OS tracked. Different Linux distributions and mobile phones tracked the rest 3.8%.

OS Charts for visits on Dev4Press: may 1 2010 - aug 1 2010

Browsers

There are 2 browsers charts. First one shows browsers regardless of the browser version. Firefox browsers dominate, with Google Chrome in second position.

Browsers for visits on Dev4Press: may 1 2010 - aug 1 2010

If we take a look at browser versions, chart shows that Firefox 3.6 and Chrome 5 are most popular choices.

Browsers for visits on Dev4Press: may 1 2010 - aug 1 2010

MS Internet Explorer is still most used browsers in the world, but for individual websites and websites that are specialized as Dev4Press is, you see that visitors are more informed and are using browsers that are leading in the web standards implementation. I prefer using Opera, but these charts don’t include data from my visits to the website.

Conclusion

In November, I will post another overview and compare it to this.

For individual plugins and themes, your commission is 20% and for bundles is 25%. Also, you earn commission for recurring payments for all subscription, membership based purchases. This will ensure that you get payed as long as the subscription license purchased of your affiliate links are active. Affiliate program is handled by ShareIt (all sales on this site go through them also). They will be responsible for sales tracking and sending earned money to you.

We have prepared many banners for Dev4Press and all individual plugins in different sizes: 125×125, 120×240, 200×125, 234×60, 468×60 and 300×250. If you need some other size, please use affiliates contact form and ask for specific banner sizes, and we will make them for you.

To get more info on the program and to get started, visit the page bellow for step by step instructions.

Affiliate Program
http://www.dev4press.com/affiliates/
Affiliate FAQ
http://www.dev4press.com/affiliates/faq/
Affiliate Guidelines
http://www.dev4press.com/affiliates/guidelines/
Affiliate Payments
http://www.dev4press.com/affiliates/payments/

Special features selection is expanded to include 2 more. One is to add custom post type posts into RSS feeds, and other to do the same for home page. With this you can avoid adding custom code into your theme to modify the normal behavior. More such small features will be included as special features trying to minimize the need for custom code in use of custom post types.

If you have any problems with plugin, please report them in the forum or in comments.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

Themes are updated, and reached new major numbers: baseScape 1.4, photoScape 1.3, eScape 1.1 and airScape 1.1. And for the most part, these themes are not going to change anymore. They will be updated with new frameworks from time to time, fixed if needed, but nothing new will be added to them. To avoid releasing new versions each time xScape is updated, xScape will be download-able separately, so you can only get the framework and upgrade the theme with it. I will also try to build that into Dev4Press Updater.

lightScape is now 2 sidebars theme. Also, it features many updates and fixes to styling, blueprint grid model, updated POT translation file. Next lightScape update will be to improve the slider and few other things. There is no ETA on the next version right now. For users that got developer license for this theme, I must apologize about being late with releasing the PSD sources for this theme. It will be released on Tuesday.

What’s next? Well, new module called Translate This is in works. Also, I am working on several new tutorials. First new tutorial is released yesterday: Adding custom page Templates. Work has resumed on newsScape theme and I hope that it will completed soon, but I can’t give any more info right now. And with new plugin to be released soon (GD Amazon Fusion), framework will have full support for it to display data for Amazon products.

Test all themes,and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end before deciding what is right for you:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

First screenshot shows search form integrated into post edit panel. This is full details layout and you see both basic info and attribute details for each item found. Search on the left has a help tips, displayed on hover over the blue I icon.

Full details preview

Second preview are results in compact form with smaller thumbnail and no attribute details. Popup is done using Colorbox library with more flexibility than WordPress built in Thickbox.

Compact details preview

More settings are added to control what data for products is added to database and settings to control interface.

All comments on new plugin are welcome.

Amazon Web Services Settings

Plugin uses CloudFusion library to make all Amazon requests and to get the data. Also, this library implements cache methods, plugin also uses.

First thing with this plugin are settings. Amazon Web Services keys and other access settings must be set before plugin can be used at all. Plugin can work with any Amazon available, but you need Associate ID’s to make it work, due to requirements for using Amazon API. Sign up for any Amazon service is free.

Cache Settings

If you plan to add many products and perform many search and lookup operations, it’s recommended to use cache to store results from all the requests. Right now, plugin supports use of file system, APC and XCache methods.

Most important form made right now is for searching. Image bellow shows the search/lookup form with results of the search. Form can work as search as on image, or as lookup where you specify Amazon ASIN number to get the product directly, if you know the ID. Results display is not yet completed, and will include more details. Search form will also be expanded as needed.

Search Results

When the Alpha version gets released, it will have saving products in database completed, and also attaching the products to posts via meta box on the post/custom post type editors.

Once the plugin is ready for testing, I will create a demo website that will be used as showcase with my collection of books, DVD and Blu-Ray discs I purchased of Amazon. Same website will be a showcase of another upcoming feature that will be added to GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools, that will be available in the next 2-3 weeks.

All comments on new plugin are welcome.

In both versions, plugin was triggering loading of unneeded jQueryUI and Thickbox files on all admin pages, that is now fixed. Estimated size of database in Pro version is also fixed.

xScape 1.4.3 features new set of icons for ShareThis module, and also new widget. Facebook module is expanded with LikeBox widget allowing customization of page to like, and all settings supported by Facebook widget control. Rest of the themes will be updated in the next couple of days.

lightScape theme had some styling issues, problems with ad in the header and problems with displaying widgets with the front page layout template.

To see themes and framework in action, visit the WordPressMU powered demo website and get your own blog to see who the framework back-end works:

Demo Site:
http://xscape.info/
lightScape:
http://xscape.info/lightscape/
airScape:
http://xscape.info/airscape/

Front Page: Lights Style

Theme number 5 is now released. This is feature packed theme called lightScape, with 14 color styles, different footer configurations, features posts sliders, top header with another menu, adjustable content background transparency and much more.

Dev4Press website will be soon redesigned and will use variation of this theme with custom styling.

You can see full long list of features and screenshots on theme pages, or try it for yourself on the xScape.info website. In the next 2 days you can expect videos explaining theme features and exploring the procedure of setting and using the theme. Until then, you can check out many existing videos for xScape framework or previously released themes.

To see the theme features and read more about it check the main theme page:

lightScape Info:
http://www.dev4press.com/themes/lightscape/

lightScape Screenshots:
http://www.dev4press.com/themes/lightscape/screenshots/

To see the theme and framework in action, visit the WordPressMU powered demo website and get your own blog to see who the framework back-end works:

Demo Site:
http://xscape.info/

lightScape:
http://xscape.info/lightscape/

Plugin will, basically, allow you to add Amazon products to your WordPress powered website. Here is a list of features that will be part of the first beta version:

• Search for Amazon products by keyword or by ASIN code and add them to database.
• Attach product to a post (post, page or any custom post types).
• Update products data periodically to get latest prices, info updates.
• Data classes for each product group supported by Amazon.
• Integration functions to display products in the theme templates.

Major problem with Amazon integration is the fact that they have many product groups, and each one has own set of attributes that are subject to constant changes, making it very hard to universally use taxonomies. But, database tables used for products will be flexible, and with wide selection of functions to perform all kinds of operations, we will try to make use of Amazon products as easy as possible.

If you have any suggestions on features for this plugin, please leave a comment. Beta versions of the plugin will be available for testing to all users with Dev4Press Plugins Bundle licenses. It will be available for testing through xScape.info also.

DropDown Examples

Each element in the dropdown now has classes added (LI tags are used). With this you can style individually each element. Also, options is added to expand these classes (it’s on by default), adding number item classes, odd/even classes and first/last classes.

Default styling is improved, and more default styles will come with next versions.

Also, examples page is different showing jQuery code used to display each example, and number of examples will also grow with each new version.

Homepage:
http://www.dev4press.com/jquery/jgd-dropdown/
Examples:
http://www.dev4press.com/jgd/dropdown/

Media Button

On all images controls in all xScape panels, you will see a new icon (image on the right) with folder on it. This will open well known media manager and you can use it to add images, upload images or use existing images from manager. This can be used for post specific images also. This will simplify use of images and allow you to use existing images without reuploading.

Avatar is global setting. Once you upload it and activate it, it will automatically override WP avatar settings. This will be used as default avatar for users that don’t have own Gravatar set. New xScape has some bugs fixed and improved Blueprint support for some very interesting things used in lightScape theme.

Test all themes, including the beta version of upcoming lightScape, and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

From now on, all themes will go through Beta phase before theme is released here. This will help to better test the theme and make it more stable. Also, we can use this period to make new default styles, so you can also suggest color palettes or enhancements.

lightScape Beta features new version of xScape and several new features: Use of WP media dialog to upload or use images from media library, Upload and use default avatar, global settings and improvements to Blueprint support and implementation. Also, several bugs are fixed, mostly with Menu Designer.

xScape.info Demo Website:
http://xscape.info/
lightScape Beta Demo:
http://xscape.info/load/?theme=lightscape

Also, this theme will replace current one on Dev4Press. Dev4Press version of the theme will not be available for public, and the mod will include different color styles, overrides for front page and some other elements.

If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment.

lightScape Front Page

jGD DropDown

This plugin is made out of necessity because I couldn’t find any plugin that was usable for what I needed. Plugin is based on the tutorials article written by Janko at Warp Speed. Plugin is easy to style, and more default styles will be added in future versions.

Also, there are some plans for the future release:

• select multiple items
• support for jQueryUI
• more styling options
• AJAX support
• linked dropdown lists

I have no idea when all that will be done, it’s not really my priority, but I use this control in many projects, so it will grow and more features will be added. For now, try it out, use it in your projects and report any problems or leave suggestions.

Homepage:
http://www.dev4press.com/jquery/jgd-dropdown/
Examples:
http://www.dev4press.com/jgd/dropdown/

Real Capital P filter uses regular expression to find and later replace all the instances of ‘WordPress’ eligible for replacement. This will include all occurrences of the ‘WordPress’ regardless of case, but will not match it if it appears in the links such as HREF or SRC attributes for A, IMG, SCRIPT or LINK tags. If you have suggestions on what else should be excluded from filtering, please leave a suggestion and I will update and improve the function.

Function is available in both Lite and Pro versions, and it works with any WordPress version supported by the plugin. Removal of Matt’s filter is still available, and both these are part of the Content tab on the plugins Settings panel.

Please report any problems you might have with the new version(s).

Lowercase p, dangit!:
http://justintadlock.com/archives/2010/07/08/lowercase-p-dangit
Fun with the Capital P:
http://capitalp.org/

xScape 1.4.2 will have several new features:

• Use of WordPress media manager. With this you can use images you might have in media manager already. This will work for all images used by theme.
• Upload of Gravatar default image to replace default images in WordPress.

lightScape detail

As for lightScape, image on the right shows a detail from one of the current two color styles. This one is called Autumn. You can see transparent content area (this will be used for some styles, not all), and there are two menus. Top header area for now can have menu and search box, and I plan to add rss feeds, twitter and similar links there.

There will be slider on the page, and layout supports one sidebar and one widgets footer area.

So, very soon, all current themes will get new framework, and demo of lightScape goes on xScape by the end of the week.

Without going too deep into the problem with filter of capital P, check the link at the bottom of this post. But, Matt wrote a very simple filter (without anyone approving it or any discussion in community) that searches for ‘WordPress’ in the text and replaces it with ‘WordPress’. And since search/replace is not content aware at all, this will replace in text but also in URL’s and that will break URL in most cases (images especially). Filter removal option is on plugins Settings panel, on Administration tab.

Pro version got new options for setting CHMOD default values, function to determine if the user is online (uses plugins tracking data of users latest activity) and features several new registration filtering rules. Also, some problems with domain filtering is fixed as well as some styling issues on plugin panesl.

Please report any problems you might have with the new version(s).

Lowercase p, dangit!:
http://justintadlock.com/archives/2010/07/08/lowercase-p-dangit

Name for taxonomy and custom post type has messages explaining the required format for a name. I have changed this and it’s now the same message only in bold red letters. Plugin will also attempt to clean the name when saving: remove illegal characters and make the name lower case.

If you have any more problems, please report them in the forum or in comments.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

Articles panel is expanded with different filter for custom post types. Some of integration functions are improved. Readme file is updated with more FAQ entries. Database Tools panel got one more tool you need to be very, very careful about because it will remove all stored rating data from database.

TinyMCE button and plugin are fixed to support taxonomies changes in WP 3.0 and custom post types. Same goes for Builder panel, and for the widgets that had problems with grouping by taxonomies. Few more problems with the meta boxes integration on post edit page are also fixed.

If you find anymore bugs, please report them via comments or in the forums.

GD Star Rating: http://www.gdstarrating.com/

To check the results from first part of the benchmark, go the this post. There you have test setup and results for memory usage, page generation speed and executed SQL queries. Second part of the admin test is in this post.

Tests results presented here are average values from 20 measurements. Also, only active plugin in all tests was GD Press Tools Pro. Adding more plugins have no effect on the overall difference in terms of memory use or execution time. Showing more tests that have the same result in the end is not needed.

Test 6: PHP Used memory on site

Similar to the admin side, WP 3.0 uses more memory on the site side. Difference is about 1.6MB, and it’s not much in this normal setup with no plugins active (expect for GD Press Tools).

Used Memory: Again WP 3.0 uses more memory as expected

Adding plugins to the mix will have as a result more or less the same difference in used memory, or slight increase to 2MB of more memory. But even with more than 20 plugins on site side WP will still use much less memory than admin side. Still, 32MB for 20 or more plugins is not enough.

Also, used memory with Kubrick and 2010 themes in WP 3.0 is almost the same, with new theme needed a bit more memory, considering new features added in it, this difference is not important.

Test 7: SQL queries executed on site

Code optimizations in WP 3.0 were beneficial on site, and WP 3.0 will run less SQL queries for same result from WP 2.9.2. This is only couple of queries, but from server point of view, very important.

SQL Queries: Once again WP 3.0 is better than WP 2.9.2

With less queries, SQL execution time is lower, but that didn’t help WP 3.0 in the next test, with overall time needed to make a page increased.

Test 8: Page rendering server side on site

With both themes WP 3.0 is slower than WP 2.9.2 by 10-15%, in all the tests. This difference is just about the same as on the admin side. And it’s to be expected, more code is added to each execution (more memory is needed), and PHP needs more time to run all that.

Server side execution: WP 3.0 is slower than WP 2.9.2

Due to some added features new Twenty Ten themes is slower than Kubirck. Surprising result is on the single post page where WP 3.0 with Twenty Ten was faster than with Kubrick. Getting post data seams to be optimized better in WP 3.0 and that shows here.

More tests: Client Side?

Results for both WP versions would be the same (with the difference in JavaScript, since they use different versions of jQuery). So, these tests will not show much here, results are almost 100% the same.

Conclusion

Progress has it’s price. And for WordPress 3.0 that is more resources needed and slower execution. With todays available servers and faster Internet, this is not a big factor, considering what you will get after you upgrade to WP 3.0. So, not to point only negative side of the benchmark, I will write conclusive article in the next few days that will put this values in better context and real evolution of WordPress in it’s current release.

Bottom line: upgrade to WordPress 3.0 as soon as possible (as soon as you are sure that all plugins you use are compatible).

Favorite Actions

Only few days after major 2.0 release, GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools gets another Pro version that includes few fixes (widgets) and some very interesting new features. Lite version is also updated and cloud widget bug is now fixed, and few things updated.

Right Now

As you can see on the image on the right, now each custom post type can be added to the Favorite Actions menu in the header, and as displayed on the image on the left, it can be added to dashboard widget called Right Now showing number of items for that post type and a link to edit page as it is done for my custom post type called Document.

This can be done with any custom post type, and these are only the first to so called Special Features that plugin implements. To set them, edit the custom post type, and you will see a new Settings elements called Special. It’s a drop down allowing you to select special features you want to use for that post type.

Special Features

More features will be added with next versions, and if you have suggestions for them, please leave a comment. And, special features are only available in Pro version of the plugin.

Other changes in this version include fixed cloud widget and removed integration with Google XML Sitemap plugin for taxonomies, because that plugin supports taxonomies for quite some time now.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

Expanded taxonomy meta box

New version of GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools is finally ready. Sorry for a delay, but I needed some time to test new features and also decide what to do about one more feature previously announced. Lite version is also released with some minor changes.

As you can see on the image on the right, there are two new elements for Post Tags and all other non hierarchical taxonomies you might use. Clear ALL is available for some time now, and the other is brand new Yahoo Suggest. It will take post content and submit that to Yahoo, and will get back tags from the content. You can add all tags, or refresh it, or click on individual tags to add some of them.

Other new feature is on the taxonomies and custom posts panels. New option is added to display function that will create taxonomy or custom post type even if you don’t use the plugin.

Another planned feature was new widget with all taxonomies, but that’s been moved to another version, because I wasn’t satisfied how it turned out. After it gets reworked, it will be included, most likely in 2.1.

If you notice any problems with new features, report it in the forum or leave a comment.

GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools:
http://dv4p.com/gdtt

As I announced previously, new themes are in development, and first one will be lightScape, and I will post few screenshots this week, and theme will be out by the end of next week.

Test all themes and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/