Archive for the ‘WordPress’ Category

This is actually even easier. First, because titles and urls will reformat if placed in regular urls, unlike email links, and second because Facebook has widgets that also make it easier.

Facebook has a page to show you how to create a share link, but in order to get it to work with each individual post, you’d need to use the respecting blogging platform tags. On and individual page, the code generated by the Facebook widget would work, but if you still want links from you mian page, where there’s a long list of posts, and the link should be to the individual post, then you’ll want a customized link.

For WordPress…

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=<?
the_permalink();
 ?>&t=<?
the_title('','',FALSE);
?>" target="_blank">Post this to Facebook</a>

For Movable Type…

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?
u=<$MTEntryPermalink$>
&t=<$MTEntryTitle$>"
target="_blank">Post this to Facebook</a>

Again, if you’d like to use an image you can find some nice Facebook icons at http://www.iconspedia.com/pack/web-2-0-social-bookmarks/ . I suggest using the linux version, since it has the type of images you’d need for a web site. Just make sure you set the border=”0″ or some browsers will put an ugly blue border around the image as it becomes a link.

Maybe this is really simple for many, but I still see people without an email link on their individual posts. The reason for it is if a reader finds the post very useful, then they can easily email it to a friend, helping increase the readership of your blog.

For WordPress…

<?
$emailTitle =urlencode(the_title('','',FALSE));
$emailTitle = str_replace('+', ' ', $emailTitle);
?>
<a href="mailto:?subject=<? echo $emailTitle;
?>&body=Check this out!%0A%0A<?php the_permalink()
?>">Email this Post</a>

For Movable Type (if your static pages are PHP)…

<?
$emailTitle =urlencode('<$MTEntryTitle encode_php="q"$>');
$emailTitle = str_replace('+', ' ', $emailTitle);
?>
<a href="mailto:?subject=<? echo $emailTitle;
?>&body=Check this out!%0A%0A<$MTEntryPermalink$>"
>Email this Post</a>

If your MT static pages are not PHP, then I doubt it will work for you.

If you want to use a little envelope graphic, there’s a tons of icons at http://famfamfam.com/. Grab the “Silk” package, and make sure you give him a link back. You’d want to format the image part like this…

<img src="envelope.png" title="Email this Post">

The title tag is needed so the text will appear when the image is mousedover.

Obviously this blog is done on WordPress. My other active blog, JackLewis.net is done on Movable Type. My wife’s blog, Linda’s Thoughts (which I set up for her is also on Movable Type).  I’ve worked extensively with both, so I feel I can look at the pros and cons objectively.

Movable Type is the older platform, initially released in 2001. It’s based on Perl and provides static page, rebuilt whenever any change is made to the content.

Word Press is somewhat younger, starting in 2003. It’s based on PHP and generates all pages dynamically.

Having programmed in both Perl and PHP and can tell you that while Perl is a more flexible programming language for the expert, PHP comes very close, and is much, much easier to manage. So unless you plan on never, ever having the code tweaked, (or  have someone handy who knows Perl very well) PHP is the better choice of the two.

The reasoning behind Movable Types static/rebuild method is that the server would do less work. In reality it turns out to be just the opposite. I’ve done several MT=>WP conversion of larger blogs because the CPU simply couldn’t handle the massive rebuilds required. However, on some of those rebuilds the client later asked about a caching plugin, to further reduce CPU usage, and Movable Type offers a dynamic option–one which I’ve never been able to get to work–however.

Both have excellent backend management systems, as well as tons of plug-ins to expand the functionality of the scripts.  Installation is equally difficult on both (or easy, depending on your perspective) and the available templates are equally attractive, however I seem to find more WordPress templates available than Movable Type.

One big factor for me, however, was my purchase of Artisteer, which can create WordPress templates very easily. In all honesty the templating creation process for both left a lot to be desired, from a designer’s standpoint. Artisteer put WordPress far ahead.

I’m still battling WordPress’s bad habit of doing funky things to some text, something which has affected me, many of my clients and others seeking help. I never had that problem with Movable Type.

So there are the pros and cons. That should help you make the decision for your needs.