Here is a list of the changes:

• Options page has been cleaned up with a sidebar for meta information with links for support, donations, etc. Any of these widgets can be hidden using the screen options found on most pages in wp-admin. Also, descriptions for each field have been added.
• I was using only Curl to make the BOSS API call. This has been changed to use the WP_Http class instead which will use other means to make the call if Curl is not installed on the host.
• Added a nonce on the form update for better security
• Removed the deprecated level 10 when initializing the options page and replaced it the manage_options permission.
• Added localization.

There are so many features to add to this plugin. But the project I created this for was put on hold no it hasn’t seen further development. I’m interested in knowing which features you would like added or have already added.

You’re probably thinking that I am crazy. You’re not alone. My wife does. I think I’m crazy too. To be honest, I am scared as well. But there is only one way to find out if this will ever work – by doing it.

My primary focus will be seeking clients that need help with WordPress. Whether it be setting up clients with a brand new WordPress site or developing a plugin, I am confident that my skills with the WordPress code will be the most successful path with this switch.

As I continue to find work, I’ll also be working on some projects that I have wanted to do for quite some time. I’ll announce them once I get them further along. So between that and freelancing, I’ll be super busy over the next few months.

My next order of business is to develop business relationships, get my website updated to reflect these changes, and find new clients that want great results. I expect I’ll probably be blogging a lot more as well.

So to keep up with what is I am doing I suggest you subscribe to my feed. You can find out all of my social network stuff in the “Follow Me” widget found in the sidebar of this site.

At WordCamp Seattle on September 26, I gave a presentation on wp-config Tips and Tricks. It was in an Ignite format. 20 slides. 15 seconds each.

When I came up with the topic for the presentation, I knew it would be a teaser. In 5 minutes, you cannot present a lot of details. The goal was, however, to give an idea of what can be done – to peak the curiosity of those who have dealt with the wp-config file.

Ever since I learned what can be done with the wp-config file it has simplified how I deal with WordPress significantly. Combining these tips and tricks with things such as SVN and the .htaccess files will simplify it even more.

Currently, I am planning a series of posts that will get into more detail of what can be done with the wp-config file. There are some great sites out there that have already written on the topic. To be fair, this topic could be better covered in an hour presentation, with better code samples and demos.

Please let me know if you have any questions or which topics I should go into more detail.

I didn’t realize the amount of work it would create to maintain it.

The thing is, there are many plugin developers donating their time for plugins that I am using. So I don’t mind doing it.

In fact, releasing the plugin was actually the best thing I could do. A few users found bugs and even sent a patch to fix the bug. That’s how it should be.

Anyway, the first update to the New User Approve Plugin was released last night. No new features. Just some bug fixes and code cleanup. Here are the details.

• correctly display error message if registration is empty
• clean up code
• style updates
• if a user is created through the admin interface, set the status as approved instead of pending
• add avatars to user management admin page
• improvements to SQL
• verify the user does not already exist before the process is started
• add nonces to approve and deny actions
• temporary fix for pagination bug if more the 50 users are present in the WP database

If you are a user of the plugin, please let me know if you find any more issues or your thoughts in general on the plugin. And don’t forget to donate if you find this plugin useful.

Update: No more comments will be allowed. If you are having issues with the New User Approve plugin, please post in the New User Approve forums on WordPress.org.

Here were my requirements going into this:

1. Limit the search to the sites I want. I give them a list and it only searches those sites. The list would need to be updated dynamically or via an API.
2. Allows me to modify the search results in any order I want or mixing it with other data.
3. Allows me to format the search results how I please.
4. I want the results in a multiple formats to allow for flexibility when and where the results are displayed.
5. I would love to try to monetize the search engine however I want.

Searching for what I needed led me to discover many cool technologies.

I first looked at possibly the most obvious: Google Custom Search Engine. Google CSE is a cool product but it didn’t suit my needs at all. The terms of service don’t allow you to modify the results. I also looked at Google AJAX Search API. Again, doesn’t fit the requirements. I may find a need for the AJAX Search API in the near future though.

Other technologies deserved some attention as well. Products such as CouchDB and Lucene required too much so I didn’t spend much time looking into these.

I had looked at Yahoo BOSS (build your own search service). Initially, it didn’t look like it would suit my needs. After revisiting BOSS, looking at code samples and the API, it was exactly what I was looking for. Easy, fast, reliable. Fits exactly my requirements. Awesome.

Since the site I am building was based on WordPress (like all my sites), I decided to put my work it into a WordPress plugin to allow a WordPress site to easily add a real search engine to the site just by defining some simple options. The first version will be very limited in what can be done but I have a lot of features that I will be adding to it very soon.

I just need to get it ready to release. Soon I hope.

You must use SVN to make this happen. To upgrade all you have to do is change the version number. If you want to run trunk, all you have to do is update the library by running a simple command. You can also add your plugins and themes to update using SVN.

I actually had been trying to do this for a few months. The part I was missing was putting the WordPress software in it’s own directory. The detailed instructions can be found on Joseph Scott’s blog.

The changes that have been added:

• Threaded Comments
• Post Classes
• Sticky Posts

I also fixed a few minor bugs. Also, if your blog is using 2.7, you will automatically have your comments upgraded to use threaded comments. Otherwise, your blog will continue to have regular comments. I have seen some themes have an option to turn on threaded comments. If this is a wanted feature, I would be happy to add it.

Currently, I am working on a few projects and have been looking at a lot of themes. Not very many themes have added 2.7 support yet. I was surprised. Hopefully, theme developers can find time to add these features so that WordPress users can enjoy the new functionality.

New User Approve is a WordPress plugin that allows a blog administrator to approve a user before they are able to access and login to the blog. I currently use it on my private blog and it serves it’s purpose wonderfully.

I have created a page on my blog that I will track any progress I make on it. I wanted to release it to the public to find out what everybody thinks and perhaps which new features to add. That and it most likely is not perfect so I would like input on how I can improve it.

I’m going to put it up on the WordPress plugin repository. There are a few things I need to add to make that possible.

Update: No more comments will be allowed. If you are having issues with the New User Approve plugin, please post in the New User Approve forums on WordPress.org.

I have submitted it to the wordpress theme directory. I will let you all know when it does get approved.

I built the theme on top of what I believe is the best theme available for WordPress: Sandbox. But the downside of Sandbox is it’s just a plain template. So I used to add styling to all the template files. That way my theme inherits all of the benefits that the Sandbox theme provides.

Another reason I created my own theme is that I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted out there. Now I have one that I can take to where I think a WordPress theme should be. I have lots of cool ideas that I would like to add to the theme, such as an option panel that will allow an admin to easily change the layout, for example.

The most immediate changes that I will be making to it will be providing 2.7 support.

Not yet having tried the software myself, I was very impressed after looking at the video on the site and the features provided. Very impressive. I think I’ll try it out real soon.

So far, I am impressed with how sites are designed. I have been actually working on a more simplistic version of a theme designer for WordPress. Progress is moving along slowly.

The bad thing about Squarespace. It’s not open source. I’ll stick with WordPress as my blogging platform of choice and continue to look for ways to make it easier for everybody to use by creating plugins and looking for other plugins created by the WordPress community.

I do love finding software like this. It forces the web to progress. Hopefully, in the future, I will try out the software and let you know what I think.