Matt says that Jetpack is “a way to provide feature parity between WordPress.com and WordPress.org for everybody.”

I noticed that my WordPress.com stats weren’t displaying anymore (but the traffic stats were still being collected), so I investigated, and found out about Jetpack.

When I installed the new plugin, it took over my stats and now I have a smarter stats program for my WordPress-powered sites. And it seems to me that the stats look a lot more accurate now. (If you’re using the old WordPress.com stats plugin, Jetpack will deactivate it for you once the latter is activated.)

Jetpack includes several other features, such as an embedding facility (via shortcodes) for Scribd, YouTube, SlideShare, etc.; Gravatar hovercards; Sharedaddy (which you see below each of my posts here); and more. Do read up on the FAQ.

Upgrade your site to Jetpack now and give your WordPress a boost!

Disclaimer: Automattic’s Jetpack is not related to the Mozilla Jetpack in any way; but they’re both OK with sharing the name.

Now, the need was to provide DavaoDeli.com blog readers with a search engine that could operate with filters. Such would allow for more specific searching, with the aim of narrowing down search results. In techno-speak, I wanted to inject more granularity into my site’s search engine.

Here’s how my blog’s new search form looks like:

Advanced Search @ DavaoDeli.com

My readers can now search for, say, Malaysian restaurants that serve beef barbecue in the downtown area, and be assured that the returned results have a high rate of accuracy. Of course, this was accomplished with some coding and re-keying of meta data for my existing blog posts. So here’s what I did.

The basis of the work is a powerful search plugin called Relevanssi, created by Mikko Saari. Once activated, it automatically takes over and replaces WordPress’ default search engine. As is, it’s a much better on-site search solution because it returns search results by relevance (not by publish date, which is the default behavior) and because of a number of other enhancements. What I really appreciate about this plugin is that it is rich in features and comes bundled with admin-configurable options that let you fine-tune your search requirements, plus a number of custom functions and even its own shortcode.

In order to create the search filters, I created two custom taxonomy types: Cuisines and Locations, which I assigned to work with normal posts. I’m already using the post categories for distinguishing establishment types (Restaurants, Eateries, Caterers, etc.); and the tags for identifying keywords for each post. Then, I categorized each post under respective cuisines and general locations in Davao City — good thing I only have less than a hundred posts!

Next — thanks to some helpful posts over at the WP.org forum — I defined a function that would automagically generate a <select> form control populated with <option> items that would contain the custom taxonomies. Here is that function (placed in functions.php):

function make_terms_dropdown($tax, $taxs, $taxonomies) {
	$args = array( 'orderby' => 'name', 'hide_empty' => true);
	$myterms = get_terms($taxonomies, $args);
	$output = "<select name='$tax' id='$tax' class='postform'>";
	$output .= "<option value='0'>All $taxs</option>";
	foreach($myterms as $term){
		$term_taxonomy = $term->taxonomy;
		$term_slug = $term->slug;
		$term_name = $term->name;
		$output .= "<option value='".$term_slug."'>".$term_name."</option>";
	}
	$output .="</select>";
return $output;
}

You might be wondering, Why not just use the wp_dropdown_categories() function, since it works with custom taxonomies? The problem with that built-in WordPress function is that, it spits out <option> items with values corresponding to taxonomy or category IDs (e.g., <option value="222">French</option>) and not names or slugs (this is what’s needed: <option value="french">French</option>). Neither the search engine nor your browser will have any idea that taxonomy ID 222, for example, corresponds to the custom taxonomy ‘French’ (under Cuisines). So, if I’d used wp_dropdown_categories() to create the filter — which I did, initially — the search wouldn’t return any meaningful results.

To quickly explain the function’s parameters:

• $tax: name of the custom taxonomy type (e.g., cuisine)
• $taxs: plural form of the custom taxonomy type — this is just for aesthetic purposes, really
• $taxonomies: the list or array of taxonomies under the taxonomy type

The original function above works only if your custom taxonomy type is non-hierarchical. If you use it on custom taxonomies that have sub-taxonomies (like in Cuisines), the result will be a flat drop-down list. So, I’ve revised the function to work with hierarchical taxonomies. To wit:

function make_terms_dropdown($tax, $taxs, $taxonomies) {
	$args = array('parent' => 0,
			'hide_empty' => 1,
			'hierarchical' => 1
		);
	$myterms = get_terms( $taxonomies, $args );
	$output = "<select name='$tax' id='$tax' class='postform'>";
	$output .= "<option value='0'>All $taxs</option>";
	foreach ($myterms as $term){
		$term_taxonomy = $term->taxonomy;
		$term_slug = $term->slug;
		$term_name = $term->name;
		$term_id = $term->term_id;
		$output .= "<option value='".$term_slug."'>".$term_name."</option>";
		$termchildren = get_term_children( $term_id, $term_taxonomy );
		if ($termchildren) {
			$padd = "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
			foreach ($termchildren as $child) {
				$cterm = get_term_by( 'id', $child, $term_taxonomy );
				$cterm_slug = $cterm->slug;
				$cterm_name = $cterm->name;
				$output .= "<option value='".$cterm_slug."'>".$padd.$cterm_name."</option>";
			}
		}
	}
	$output .="</select>";
return $output;
}

There is still one limitation. I haven’t figured out yet how to make the list of taxonomy children to appear in alphabetical order. Ideas?

I use YARPP on almost all of my WordPress sites, and I’ve started tweaking the plugin’s output, inspired by another related-posts plugin that I saw on DavaoBase recently. That other plugin is called LinkWithin, and I like how it displays related posts with thumbnails. However, this plugin has almost no options, unlike YARPP, which has tons of it! (And I’m suspicious of LinkWithin’s way of inserting redirects — it’s as if, for whatever reason, they’re out to track the clicks…)

DavaoDeli.com screenshot

So, here’s something I’d like to share with those of you who’d like to keep using YARPP and display a thumbnail for every related post displayed on your blog posts. The screenshot here shows a post from my food blog — take a look at the bottom part (in the red square) with the “You might also like…” heading.

YARPP has a set of sample templates that let you control the visual output of the plugin. Instead of settling for the default settings, you can have a higher degree of control over how the related posts are displayed by using the YARPP templates. Simply copy one of those templates (located in wp-content/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/yarpp-templates) into your current theme’s directory, modify that template to your heart’s desire, then activate it via the YARPP settings page.

The custom YARPP template

Create a template file in your theme directory that will contain the related-posts code. For our purposes, let’s name this file yarpp-template-thumbs.php (N.B., for YARPP to recognize the template, it has to be prepended by “yarpp-template-”). The code I wrote for DavaoDeli.com is the following:

<?php /*
YARPP Template for use with post thumbnails
Requires WordPress 2.9+ and the WooThemes framework
Author: Blogie
*/ ?>

<?php if ($related_query->have_posts()) : ?>

<div class="relthumbs">
	<h5 class="relposts">You might also like...</h5>
	<ul class="relposts-thumbs">

	<?php while ($related_query->have_posts()) : $related_query->the_post(); ?>

		<li class="relitem">
			<?php woo_image('key=image&width=80&height=80&class=relimg'); ?>
			<span class="thumb-ttl"><?php the_title(); ?></span>
		</li>

	<?php endwhile; ?>
	</ul>
</div>

<?php else: ?>

	<p>No related posts at the moment.</p>

<?php endif; ?>

Line 7 above declares the start of the special WordPress Loop that calls the related posts (handled by the plugin). Line 16, on the other hand, is the one that displays the thumbnails. It’s a built-in function in all WooThemes.com themes with WooFramework version 3+.

YARPP settings

For those of you who don’t use WooThemes, don’t despair. There is a YARPP template included with the plugin that you can use. It’s called yarpp-template-thumbnail.php. Just copy that template to your current theme directory, activate the template via the YARPP settings page, and make sure to follow the instructions contained in this page from the WP Codex.

(If you’re using a child theme, place the thumbnail-related WordPress functions in the child theme’s functions.php template.)

That’s it! I hope you’ve found this useful.

(Actually, there’s still some more stuff that I want to see running on DavaoDeli.com, especially a site search engine that can help my readers in their quest for good eats in Davao City. But I guess I’ll have to implement that myself…)

Here’s a screenshot of how Davao Delicious looks now:

DavaoDeli.com 2011

My food blog is meant to promote my city through food, and as a result, it helps promote the various restaurants and other food establishments in the city as well. So the blog, naturally, has an affinity to “geo-location” and all that that entails. Ergo, what attracted me to CityGuide is its strongest feature: its rich usage of Google Maps.

On the site now, you will be able to pinpoint on a map where the restaurants, coffee shops, catering services, and others are (those that I’ve already featured, anyway). And there are several map interfaces, too. On the front page, just below the header is an “overview map” that displays map pins. In case you’re not viewing the front page, there’s an overview map widget on the sidebar as well.

Then there’s the category map. If you click any of the categories (on the header menu bar), you’ll be brought to the category page with a map that shows pins of only those establishments belonging to that category. Neat, huh?

CityGuide mapping interface

Before CityGuide, I had a plugin that would let me embed a map (generated by Google Maps) into each post so that I could show where the food establishment I was talking about was located. But now, I have what I like to call a ‘mapping interface’ that lets me pinpoint the establishment’s location on a map and publish it along with the post — right from the WordPress edit screen!

(Click on the image to the right for a better view of the CityGuide mapping interface.)

Best of all, I can use latitude-longitude coordinates. We all know that Google doesn’t quite get the Philippine addressing system quite so perfectly. Plus, not all of the streets in Davao City have been mapped yet, so the ability to input map coordinates makes for a more robust Web application, don’t you think?

The theme’s designers have thought things through for CityGuide. For example, you have the option to specify the default zoom level of the maps you’re displaying (and your readers have the ability to zoom in and out as they please). You can even specify, using lat-long coordinates, the default center of the map (and your readers can pan and even skew the map as they please).

CityGuide custom post meta

Want more? Here’s one more: you can assign pin colors to each category! So, for my purposes, I assigned blue to restaurants, red to coffee shops, green to eateries, and so on. If you’re so inclined, you can even use your own customized map markers.

There are a few other functionalities built into the theme, such as custom post meta fields for physical address, website, phone number for each establishment. When I utilize these fields, the information gets displayed on the featured-panel portion of a post (take a look at this post, for example).

Oh and here’s one more thing that I really like about CityGuide. It comes packaged with a full-map template. Meaning, you can create a page and deploy it with that page template and let your readers see a huge map to show all your markers and whatnot. (see the DavaoDeli.com map page)

I do believe my food blog has finally found its very own theme. Now, if only I could get a decent header……

WPtouch doesn’t only give you added reach — by making your WordPress-powered sites available to the increasing number of mobile Internet users out there — but it also presents new opportunities for exploring the mobile platform for your online presence.

When you install and activate WPtouch 2.0 Pro, you will have access to its dashboard (“WPtouchboard“), where you will be able to tinker with tons of tweakable settings. There are visual controls over the design and back-end aspects of your mobile site, such as input boxes for ad placements (currently supported: AdSense & Admob) and statistics tracking (you can embed your Google Analytics code). On the other hand, you have complete control over the plugin’s code — it is GPL, after all — so you can dive in and swim around the plugin’s internal workings all you like.

One huge difference between the free and paid versions of WPtouch is in theme management. In the free version, you only get one theme, and if you modify it, you’ll lose the mods when the plugin is upgraded. In WPtouch Pro, you can create your own themes and get to keep the mods & customizations across plugin upgrades. What’s more, BNC promises to ship more themes in the near future. But if you’re a theme designer, you can actually make use of the built-in skeleton template and create your own unique theme!

By the way, BNC is looking for theme designers who’re willing to contribute to the pool. If they ship your theme with the plugin, that’s going to be a good advertising opportunity for your services! I don’t know what other benefits you might receive — why don’t you go ahead and find out for yourself?

What’s an iPhone app without cool, shiny icons? Another WPtouch feature is its skinning capability. You can choose from the 200+ icons that come with the plugin for use on your mobile site, or you can upload your own. You can also create an iPhone home-screen icon for use when you create a home-screen bookmark (BNC calls it “WebApp”), as well as a splash page that appears when you launch the WebApp. When you create a WebApp, your mobile site will be displayed in full-screen mode. No navigation, no address bar. Excellent for keeping your visitors glued to your site, no? (Now, all you’ll need is to make sure you got great content!)

One more thing I appreciate in the way BNC designed this plugin is that, WPtouch is made to be aware of other plugins in your WordPress installation. If there are conflicting plugins, WPtouch will let you know about it. Plus, there’s an option to disable plugins that are not compatible with WPtouch when your site is loaded on a mobile platform. On the flip side, it will also tell you with which other plugins it works best.