Talk About Local » plugin http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk Just another Talk about Local weblog Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:56:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Add GroupsNearYou.com to your WordPress blog http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-groupsnearyou-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/ http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-groupsnearyou-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:00:46 +0000 philip john http://talkaboutlocal.org/?p=559 There’s a great site for finding social groups in your area called GroupsNearYou.com. Just type in your location or postcode and it shows you what’s close by.

Now you can provide that very same ease of use to your own local blog. I’ve just finished the first phase of a new GroupsNearYou plugin for WordPress. It provides blog owners with a new widget which, once configured, will show the groups in your area.

Below is a video showing how to set the widget up and there are also written instructions. The plugin itself can be downloaded from my website where you can also subscribe to updates. Once you’ve downloaded the plugin, follow these instructions on how to manually install a plugin. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments please use the comments section.

Instructions

  1. Go to Plugins
  2. Activate the GroupsNearYou plugin
  3. Go to Appearance > Widgets
  4. Drag the GroupsNearYou widget to your sidebar
  5. Configure the settings according to your own location and your preferred display
  6. Check your blog and you should see the new widget added to your sidebar
]]> http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-groupsnearyou-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/feed/ 2 How to add Twitter to your WordPress blog http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/how-to-add-twitter-to-your-wordpress-blog/ http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/how-to-add-twitter-to-your-wordpress-blog/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:53 +0000 philip john http://talkaboutlocal.org/?p=563 If you run a local blog there’s a good chance you might be on Twitter, as my some of your neighbours. This creates a ‘back-channel’ that can often go unseen. So in the interests of enhancing local blogs with this back-channel, below is a video which shows you how to add both your own tweets and the results of a Twitter search to your WordPress blog.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please leave them in the comments section below.

Instructions – adding someone’s tweets

  1. In the WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Widgets
  2. Drag the Twitter widget onto the sidebar
  3. Add the twitter account name you want to show
  4. Configure the remaining options to change the display
  5. Click Save
  6. Refresh your blog and you should see the new widget on your sidebar

Instructions – adding a Twitter search

  1. Go to search.twitter.com and perform a search.
  2. On the right hand side, right click on the link that reads “Feed for this query” and select Copy link location
  3. Go to your WordPress dashboard
  4. Go to Appearance > Widgets
  5. Drag the RSS widget to your sidebar
  6. In the first box, paste the link you just copied from Twitter
  7. Configure the other options according to your preferences
  8. Click Save
  9. Refresh your blog and you should see the new widget on your sidebar
]]> http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/how-to-add-twitter-to-your-wordpress-blog/feed/ 0 Add WriteToThem.com to your WordPress blog http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-writetothem-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/ http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-writetothem-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:00:00 +0000 philip john http://talkaboutlocal.org/?p=557 If you’ve not heard of WriteToThem.com before, it’s a great site by mySociety which makes contact politicians really easy, whether that’s your local councillors or your MP, regional assembly member or MEP.

To make it even easier for readers of your own blog, I’ve just finished the first phase of a new plugin for WordPress. It provides you with a new widget based on WriteToThem.com which will provide an easy way for your readers to get in touch with their politicians.

Below is a video showing how to set the widget up and there are also written instructions. The plugin itself can be downloaded from my website where you can also subscribe to updates. Once you’ve downloaded the plugin, follow these instructions on how to manually install a plugin. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments please use the comments section.

Instructions

  1. Go to Plugins
  2. Activate the WriteToThem plugin
  3. Go to Appearance > Widgets
  4. Drag the WriteToThem widget to your sidebar
  5. Configure the settings according to your preferred display
  6. Check your blog and you should see the new widget added to your sidebar
]]> http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-writetothem-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/feed/ 0 Add TheyWorkForYou.com to your WordPress blog http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-theyworkforyou-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/ http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk/add-theyworkforyou-com-to-your-wordpress-blog/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:00:23 +0000 philip john http://talkaboutlocal.org/?p=552 TheyWorkForYou.com is a great site built by e-democracy charity, mySociety. It provides an easy way for citizens to keep an eye on their MP. You can sign up for e-mail updates whenever your MP speaks in the House of Commons, for example.

So wouldn’t it be cool if you could also put this stuff on your local blog for all your readers to see and keep up to date with? Well, know you can!

I’ve just finished the first phase of a new plugin for WordPress. This first version provides you with a new widget. Once configured, the widget will show the latest activity from your MP and is available both as an addition to your blog for the benefit of your readers but also as a dashboard widget so that you can see the latest updates everytime you log in.

Below is a video and written instructions on how to set the widget up. The plugin itself can be downloaded from my website where you can also subscribe to updates. Once you’ve downloaded the plugin, follow these instructions on how to manually install a plugin. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments please use the comments section.

Instructions

  1. Go to Plugins
  2. Activate the TheyWorkForYou plugin
  3. Go to Settings > TheyWorkForYou
  4. Configure the settings according to your own MP and your preferred display
  5. Click Save options
  6. Go to Appearance > Widgets
  7. Drag the TheyWorkForYou widget to your sidebar
  8. Check your blog and you should see the new widget added to your sidebar
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