Shortcodes are little codes that plugin developers can use to add features, generally in the article text. For example, my post on syntax highlighting required custom shortcodes for language display (like [c]).

Here’s the problem: since shortcodes are meant to DO something, how do you go about documenting them?

Well, one option is to use a double entry, like this:

[[c]]

WordPress understands that you are not using a shortcode, simply displaying it, and it will correct the issue, giving you the display of [c], and no activating.

However, what if …

On one of my other blogs I post a lot of source code – code that others can copy and use. And sometimes it can be a chore – until now.

For quite some time I’ve used the old fashioned way of adding code – work in the HTML editor, the switch to the Visual editor and paste in code so that it formats it “HTML safe” (like changing the test ‘less than’ in code from < to &lt;)

But with a new plugin, my code can be quickly formatted …

One of my oldest bits of PHP code is a site counter. In the early days (pre-2000) these little counters were an advertisement about how popular a site was. And despite better data analysis like Google Analytics and server logs, people still get a kick out of the lowly visitor counter.

So, I’ve updated the counter, and turned it into a widget – which makes it much easier to use, and compatible with any widget-enabled theme, so you can place it anywhere your heart designs.

(And I know people want …

Wordy title, huh? The sad fact of the matter is that the online world is dominated by search engines. And if you want search engine traffic, you have to follow their rules.

And unfortunately, their rules don’t give one whit about quality of writing, or value as prose – they only care about keywords.

What are keywords? They’re the most important words you use when you search on something. When you want to know more about Justin Timberlake, is that all you type? Not likely – the information out there …

Recently a young women made a small faux pas, and complained about a job she wasn’t sure she wanted:

Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to just her friends – it was to her friends via Twitter. As well, she didn’t broadcast ONLY to her friends, she broadcast globally, so everyone heard it.

Apparently including Cisco, with a helpful person there named Tim Levad who …