Linked

Link Posts

Linked List URL Plugin for WordPress  →

This plugin by Jonathan Penn is the foundation for how I’m able to make adjustments to my RSS Feed Behavior.

It uses a custom field named linked_list_url (which you have to initially create yourself). If that field is populated when you publish a new post then that post’s template tag, the_permalink_rss, gets defined as the linked-to URL you pasted in.

Since the_permalink template tag stays unaltered there is a lot you can do with calls, functions, if/else loops, and more to get your link posts formatted just the way you want in your RSS feed and on your website.

Additionally, the kind and clever John Stansbury shared with me an edited version of the Press This bookmarklet that works directly in tandem with Penn’s plugin. This version of the bookmarklet adds the linked_list_url custom field to the Press This publishing window and auto-populates that field with the URL of the website you were on when you clicked the bookmarklet. It works on the iPhone, too, though it’s not iPhone optimized.

I’ve posted the code for the bookmarklet as a plain text file here.

Save this file as .php and drop it into your /wp_admin/ folder. Leave the “-cf” addition so the file stays in tact if you ever upgrade automatically. Also, you’ll need to edit the Javascript in your Press This bookmarklet’s address so it references the new press-this-cf.php file.

Linked List URL Plugin for WordPress

The Second Short shawnblanc.net Survey  →

Eighteen months ago a handful of readers had a fun time taking a 7-question survey regarding shawnblanc.net. At that time this site was eight months old, had about 1,500 feed subscribers, and I was in the middle of my software review kick.

Now this weblog is over two years old with about 4,000 feed subscribers, and all sorts of reviews, interviews, and other interesting things in the archives. Which is why today seemed like a good day to post another survey.

There are two new questions. The others are either identical to last year’s, or just slightly updated. And the last one is no longer my favorite, though you’ll still geek out over it.

Click on the topmost link or right here to take the short survey. In a few days I’ll publish the results so you can see more about the other nerds who you’re reading with.

Thanks.

— Shawn

The Second Short shawnblanc.net Survey

Minimal Mac  →

Patrick Rhone:

There are few things I love more, or am more inspired by, than a clean, uncluttered, distraction free computing experience. I wanted a place where I could feature, review and catalog these items. Minimal Mac is that place.

Patrick’s new weblog has quickly become a new favorite for me. I love how everything on the site is geared towards minimalism (save for the frequency of posts, I hope).

Minimal Mac

“Fever and the Future of Feed Readers”  →

Alex Payne:

The problem with abdicating your content consumption to other people, though, is other people. Perhaps it’s overestimating my ability to find interesting things to read, but I don’t trust my friends and the Internet at large to educate and entertain me. In the venn diagram of my interests and my friends’, there may be 80% overlap, but most of the content that I’m going to find deeply engaging is probably in the leftover 20% at the margins.

Also, Alex points out how Fever really only works if you subscribe to a lot of tech-related weblogs, as these are the ones that more commonly post links leading away from their site. Since I don’t read very many non-tech weblogs, Fever works great for me.

Between Twitter, Fever’s Hot List, and the small handful of my daily “must-reads”, I feel quite confident that I’m not missing the 20% of the most engaging content on the web. Also, I make sure to do my part and post a link when I do come across that 20%.

Like Merlin Mann said, “If linkbloggers wrote more, shovelbloggers thought more, and a-listers cited more, the web would get 15% more interesting overnight.”

“Fever and the Future of Feed Readers”