As of version 0.3.0 there have been some changes to the syntax of the Flatr Shortcode Widget so I have rewritten this guide accordingly! There are still the 3 methods that there were before for inserting the widget however for this guide, I have simplified it down to two!

Simple

The simple method (as the name suggests) is the easiest way to add a widget to your blog posts and pages! It will use all the default settings and all you have to do is insert the code!

[flattr /]

When you use this simple widget, here is how your widget will be configured:

Advanced

You can also customise this code so that you can manually set the variables when calling the shortcode.

[flattr uid='{uid}' btn='{btn}' tle='{tle}' dsc='{dsc}' cat='{cat}' lng='{lng}' tag='{tag}' url='{url}' hide='{hide}' anc={anc} setanc={setanc} qty={qty} /]

All variables are optional (defaults will be used if left blank). If, for example, you wanted the default url you could exclude all “url=’{uid}’ ” and the default would be used. Leaving a variable empty will also result in the default being used but it is probably best practise to remove variables you are not going to be using.

To use edit the shortcode you should change the parameter values (indicated with curly brackets surrounding them). The parameters are:

• btn – This is the type of button you would like to display. To get the compact button use ‘compact’ otherwise the default (large) button is displayed.
• uid – This is your personal user id. If not defined, it The User ID will be set to the author’s flattr id (if it is set and enabled in the settings), failing that it will be set to the default flattr ID set on the settings page or through the official Flattr plugin, otherwise the widget will fail and return an error!
• tle – This is the title of the thing you want to submit. This is typically the title of your blog entry or software name. If undefined the title of your Post/Page will be used.
• dsc – This is the full excerpt of the content. Some blog text or information about your song you’ve written or so forth. If undefined excerpt title of your Post/Page will be used.
• cat – This is the flattr category the content belongs to. You can choose between the following: text, images, video, audio, software, rest. If undefined text will be used.
• lng – Language of the submitted thing. List of available languages. If undefined Enlgish (en_GB) will be used.
• tag – This is the tags of the thing, to help people finding your content easier on the Flattr website. If you want to use multiple tags, separate using a normal comma (,) sign. If undefined no tags will be used.
• url – This is the URL of the thing, if this is not always the same on your site. Maybe you have multiple domains with the same content. This is to lock the content to always be recognized as the same content for Flattr. If undefined the permalink of your Post/Page will be used. If you have an anchor that you want to append, it would be best practice to append it using the ‘anc’ parameter.
• hide – Use this to hide the thing from listings on flattr.com. The value ‘true’ or ‘t’ will hide the thing. If undefined the the thing will be shown on listings on flattr.com.
• anc – Appends an anchor to the url (saves you having to write the whole URL just to add an anchor). If a unique anchor is used on each widget it allows for multiple widget on the same URL. This must be unique otherwise 2 widgets with the same ‘url’ and ‘anc’ they will be the for the same flattr. Default is blank.
• setanc – This value is ignored if no anchor is set, if it is set then it will add a code to the top of the widget so that the defined anchor redirects to the widget’s location. This means that when people follow the link from flattr.com, they will be taken to the location of the widget on the page. This is good if you want to have multiple flattrs for different sections and you put the flattr widget at the top of each section. Set to ’1′ to set to true, ’0′ to set to false. Set to false if you want to manually input the anchor code (if for example you wanted it elsewhere rather than at the point of the widget or you just wanted the backlink from flattr.com to go to your page as normal)
• qty – Allows for you to have as many Flattr widgets as you want. Whatever number you set the value to will be the ammount of unique flattr widgets that will be created. Uses anchors to make them unique and is compatible with the ‘anc’ variable – it may cause problems if an anchor is set in the ‘url’ variable. Default is ’1′.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sorry for the dellay in posting an accompanying blog post to the recent update of the Flattr Shortcode Widget! I must say I am very excited about this new build as it is the start of a lot of great new features that will be coming soon so watch this space!

Click here to go to the download page.

New Features

Flattr Shortcode Syntax Modified

This is not a new feature but is certainly something any existing users should be aware of! The syntax for the shortcode has changed! It is only a minor change and the widget is still backwards compatible but I do plan to eventually remove backwards compatibility all together so it would be best to update to the new syntax. The new syntax stops a lot of common bugs that was happening and makes it all a lot clearer. To find out more about the new syntax view the new syntax information.

Flattr Shortcode Widget Settings

There is now a Flattr Shortcode Settings Page which can be found under the settings tab of your WordPress administration. From this page you can edit/set the default UID for the blog. Currently this is still linked to the official flattr widgets setting however this will soon become independent! The main advantage of this new feature is that you can now set a default flattr UID to be used even if you do not have the official Flattr Widget.

On this page you also have the option to enable/disable author specific UIDs. Having this feature enabled adds a new option to the profile page for a user’s flattr ID. When users who have set their flattr ID make a post their UID will automatically be used for shortcodes they use within their posts! This makes it great for use on multi-author sites!

Change Log

0.3.0

0.2.3

0.2.2

0.2.1

0.2.0

• NEW: Anchors added so that multiple flattrs can be used on the same URL
• NEW: Your backlink from flattr can link straight back to the widget rather than just back to the page (uses anchors)
• NEW: You can define how many flattr widgets you want to be generated and each work independantly (allows multiple flattrs)
• NEW: You can use multiple flattrs and anchor features simultaniously
• UPDATE: All true/flase values must now be set to ’1′ (true) or ’0′ (flase)
• BUG FIX: Hide not always set to true
• BUG FIX: Default language now works
• UPDATE: Arrays now used instead of lots of independant variables
• BUG FIX: Whitespace in variables that would cause the widget to fail is now removed

0.1.4

• BUG FIX: Decription was not filled in if not manually set and was therefore required

0.1.3

• BUG FIX: Problems with svn sync fixed
• BUG FIX: Version numbers corrected

0.1.2

• UPDATE: Widget name changed from “Flattr Widget” to “Flattr Shortcode Widget”

0.1.1

• UPDATE: Major updates to readme.txt
• NEW: Added to WordPress Plugin Directory
• BUG FIX: Bug that interfered default size of widget for official plugin has been corrected

Bugs

Please report bugs in the comments

Known Bugs

• None

Features

If there are any features you would like then please request them in the comments

Features in development

• More development on the Settings pages to allow default setting for the shortcode widget to be set
• Separation from the official widget
• Graphical shortcode generator

Download

Click here to go to the download page.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Often people don’t know what to use when picking a username for their Twitter (and other online social networks or websites), so I have written a few tips that I recommend you follow when thinking of a username:

• Try to use your name
  If you can I always recommend picking a username that is just your name or parts of your name as this is something you will never change. It is also very memorable for friends and people who know you.
• Don’t use other people’s names
  You might thing to use a celebrities name in your username. Don’t. This might cause confusion and you do not want to be accused as posing as someone else. If, for example, you chose to put your favourite artist in your username this would not be recommended as if your opinion of them were to change you would regret your username.
• Keep it relevant
  Don’t pick a totally random name or something that is associate with a small part of your life. If you are going to pick something related to you try and pick something you are really passionate about and that will stay with you for your whole life. You should avoid having a username that you regret or want to change in the future
• Keep it Short
  On twitter it is all about the characters so avoid having long names as when people want to send you a message or mention you it will cut down the amount of characters that they have available for their message. The sorter your username the better.
• Make it flow
  Picking a name that does not flow and cannot be pronounced easily makes it harder for friends and followers to remember your username. For example, my username flungo can be said as if it were one word. This makes it easier to remember when people want to mention you.
• Avoid numbers and symbols
  Numbers and symbols will make your username difficult to remember so avoid using them at all costs. Lots of people add their year of birth to the end of their username if their desired username is taken because it is easy for you to remember but it might not be as easy for your followers to remember when they want to mention you.
• Make it unique
  Having a username that is similar to other peoples with only slight variations may cause confusion and result in people sending their tweets to the wrong person.
• Make it quirky
  If your username has a bit of quirk to it then people will be more likely to remember it! Try and find something that is relevant yet quirky! You want people to remember your twitter name and for it not to be forgotten. Having a quirky username may also make you seem more fun and interesting to prospective followers!
• Pick something you are happy to stick with
  You can change your username on twitter but I strongly recommend against it. In my opinion, you should under no circumstances change your user name. This causes so many problems in the Twitter ecosystem! To start with, friend who don’t know you have changed username may try to contact you using the wrong username and even if they do know you have changed username it is often difficult to remember and takes some time to get used to the change; if you are used to typing one thing in order to get in contact with someone you have to unlearn this and relearn their new username. It also causes problems with Twitter Apps and Statistics. You will sometimes loose data used in some apps and cause problems with yours and other people’s statistics! Pick a good username to begin with and you wont need to change it!

Popularity: 2% [?]

For a long time now, I have been using the YOURLS WordPress plugin to post updates to my twitter feed when I create a blog post. Since I am the only person who posts on this blog I could quite safely set the Tweet message to “%T” by @flungo – %U but I now want to experiment and see if I can link this with the Twitter User plugin. The Twitter User plugin simply adds a field to the user’s profile for their twitter name so I now want to see if setting the Tweet message to “%T” by @%A{twitter} – %U will output a tweet automatically using my twitter username.

In the case of my blog this is not important as there is only one person who posts (me) but for other people who have blogs with more than one poster this could be useful.

UPDATE: It worked as can be seen here. I will make a full guide to setting this up and configuring it soon!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Click here to vote or register yourself as a contender (to vote no registration required, just click and wait – waiting may not be necessary, but I would wait to be safe!)

Currently ranked 2584 out of 18,836 which I dont think is bad at all considering my late start (there were over 18000 entrants when I registered), I am running to be 2010′s Most Influential Person Online! This is a project being run by Fast CompanyFast Company reviews and everyone who enters will be featured in the November Issue of the magazine! The more influence you have though, the bigger your picture will be!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Earlier today I released the 0.2.0 build of the Flattr Shortcode Widget and it includes a whole bunch of new features as well as a couple of minor bug fixes!

Click here to go to the download page.

New Features

New features include Anchors and Multi-Flattr which bring extra functionality which can be timely to manually set up and are not yet offered by any other widget.

Anchors

The main purpose for the anchors feature is to allow you to enable users to flattr sections of a page individually. Previously this was difficult as working around the limit of one flattr per url is tricky. The new feature adds an additional variable, ‘anc’ that can be set to easily give each a flattr widget their unique identifier. When you have set the ‘anc’ variable, you are also then able to define the ‘setanc’ variable. If this is set to true, then an anchor will be placed before the widget that is inserted. This will mean that when the backlink from flattr is followed, they are taken straight to the widget. If you want to set the exact location of the anchor by manually adding the code or just want this disable then make sure ‘setanc’ is false.

Eample:

This feature also allows you to create (and be given) multiple flattr’s allowing (if you feel you deserve it) for people to give you more than one of their flattrs. You could manually set up lots of widgets with different anchors but whether you are setting lots of variables in each or just lots of basic widgets this will become time consuming and difficult to manage so I created the created the Multi-Flattr feature.

Multi-Flattr

This is a very simple new feature that allows you to generate more than one flattr widget that exploit the anchors feature to make each unique so that each is unique. If no ‘anc’ is set then the ‘anc’ will be set to a range of numbers (however the first widget will have no number so to avoid problems with any other widgets you may put on the page you can set the ‘anc’). If you have set the ‘anc’ then  the unique number will be appended to the end of it.

This feature allows you to generate unlimited flattr widgets, that are all unique meaning you can give users the option to flattr you as many times as you feel you deserve! To use this feature all you have to do is define how many widgets you want with

Example:

Change Log

0.2.0

• NEW: Anchors added so that multiple flattrs can be used on the same URL
• NEW: Your backlink from flattr can link straight back to the widget rather than just back to the page (uses anchors)
• NEW: You can define how many flattr widgets you want to be generated and each work independantly (allows multiple flattrs)
• NEW: You can use multiple flattrs and anchor features simultaniously
• UPDATE: All true/flase values must now be set to ’1′ (true) or ’0′ (flase)
• BUG FIX: Hide not always set to true
• BUG FIX: Default language now works
• UPDATE: Arrays now used instead of lots of independant variables
• BUG FIX: Whitespace in variables that would cause the widget to fail is now removed

0.1.4

• BUG FIX: Decription was not filled in if not manually set and was therefore required

0.1.3

• BUG FIX: Problems with svn sync fixed
• BUG FIX: Version numbers corrected

0.1.2

• UPDATE: Widget name changed from “Flattr Widget” to “Flattr Shortcode Widget”

0.1.1

• UPDATE: Major updates to readme.txt
• NEW: Added to WordPress Plugin Directory
• BUG FIX: Bug that interfered default size of widget for official plugin has been corrected

Bugs

Please report bugs in the comments

Known Bugs

• Anchor’s <a> tag is not closed. (Fixed in update 0.2.1)

Features

If there are any features you would like then please request them in the comments

Features in development

• Configuration page with custom default settings
• Graphical shortcode generator

Popularity: 15% [?]

Just thought I would quickly sum up how to use the Flattr shortcode for a ‘thing’ that you have already added to flattr.com. It is really simple, all you need to do is set the “url” variable! Nothing else needs to be set (unless you want to customise the btn type).

Popularity: 5% [?]

Okay so one of the previous builds (0.1.1) might have been a little unstable. It was all caused after I got into the WordPress Plugin Directory. I was having difficulty getting used to how the svn system worked and it resulted in me uploading an unstable build without testing it! This latest build has been tested and double tested for all the previous bugs I had and I am now happy to say that I just updated to build 0.1.4 and that it is bug free as far as I know!

To also help reduce future problems I am going to set up a private testing blog that I can use to test plugins without giving this site downtime!

Click here to go to the download page.

Change Log

0.1.4

• BUG FIX: Decription was not filled in if not manually set and was therefore required

0.1.3

• BUG FIX: Problems with svn sync fixed
• BUG FIX: Version numbers corrected

0.1.2

• Widget name changed from “Flattr Widget” to “Flattr Shortcode Widget”

0.1.1

• Major updates to readme.txt
• Added to WordPress Plugin Directory
• Bug that interfered default size of widget for official plugin has been corrected

Bugs

Please report bugs in the comments

Known Bugs

• None

Features

If there are any features you would like then please request them in the comments

Features in development

• Configuration page with custom default settings
• Graphical shortcode generator
• Add a unique ID system so that multiple Flattrs can be used for the same URL

Popularity: 5% [?]

The WordPress Flattr Widget that I posted earlier today, is now listed here in the WordPress Plugin Directory and has a new name “Flattr Shortcode Widget”. This change in name was made to stop confusion between the official Flattr Widget and this one. This newer version contains some bug fixes so it will be worth updating!

Click here to go to the download page.

Change Log

0.1.2

0.1.1

Bugs

Please report bugs in the comments

Known Bugs

• Automatic update does not work
• Description is a required variable

Features

If there are any features you would like then please request them in the comments

Features in development

• Configuration page with custom default settings
• Graphical shortcode generator
• Add a unique ID system so that multiple Flattrs can be used for the same URL

Popularity: 15% [?]

Two days ago, the most outrageous thing to happen to me while on twitter happened! I was locked away in TwitJail for 13 hours! I am often in TwitJail and usually just accept it as it usually lasts no longer than 1 hour but to be stopped from tweeting for 13 hours is ridiculous! I am an avid twitterer and (as I have blogged before) I feel it penalises me for using their service!

I am not sure what happened but it must have been a glitch that managed to get me locked away for that long but that cant be right. I thought about it and came to this conclusion about the situation. I was in TwitJail for 13 hours, however if you look at the time I got out, it was 00:00 GMT (midnight). This then makes me think that twitter thinks I was over the daily status update limit (and not just the hourly one) but in that day I had only sent 277 tweets (to be confirmed) which again begs the question as why I was in TwitJail for so long!

I am not 100% sure how TwitJail is run at the moment but i dont think it is run fairly. There are two ways I feel twitJail could be run that would be fair on Twitter’s users:

1. At the beginning of each hour no one is in TwitJail. If you send more than 100 tweets in the hour then you will be in TwitJail until it is reset at the beginning of the next hour. The problem with this method is that it would cause a great deal of server load at the beginning of each hour followed by reduced server load at the end of the hour which blows the whole point of TwitJail which is to balance server load!
2. Whenever you send a tweet it checks how many tweets you had sent in the hour before and if this number is greater than or equal to 100 it will not allow your tweet! This is the fairest way to do it and would mean that you are not kept in twitjail for too long! The major problem with the current system is that it will penalise you for sending 1 too many tweets! If you sent 99 tweets then waited a bit, you would not be penalised or put in TwitJail but sending that 100th tweet could result in you being locked up for (usually) longer than one hour! At the moment, twitjail is a punishment for using Twitter; not a control!

There should also be a way of monitoring how close you are to twitjail; if they had this then users would be able to control and moderate themselves and would also have no right to moan like I am doing now!

I have no problem with the concept of TwitJail but it needs to be run properly!

Popularity: 7% [?]