Social Dropdown (Wordpress plugin)

Version 1.4.7 is an important update which fixes a problem that affects versions 1.4.x. Most stable release is 1.2.2.

This plugin has not been extensively tested (but it is tested...) on Linux servers. Do let me know if there's something wrong with the plugin (email in projects page).

Introduction

Social bookmarks are places where you can store your bookmarks into one place. However, they are unlike normal bookmarks in that they can be shared between people (hence "social"). Social bookmarking sites give immense traffic to popular articles bookmarked, hence is seen as a valuable source of traffic for most sites.

In order to bookmark a post, you will need to click on an icon that corresponds to the bookmarking site. You can hover your mouse over the icons to show the name of the bookmarking site. Once you click on the link, you will submit the page for bookmarking. Some bookmarking sites require registration before you can submit a page.

Description

This plugin displays several social bookmarking options in a dropdown. Unlike other social bookmarking displays, this does not cause clutter and takes up little screen space.

Some of the supported social bookmarks are:

• BlinkBits
• BlinkList
• BlogLines
• BlogMarks
• BuddyMarks
• CiteULike
• Co.mments
• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Diigo
• Facebook
• Fark
• Feed Me Links
• Furl
• Google Bookmarks
• Linkagogo
• Ma.gnolia
• Mister Wong
• NetVouz
• Newsvine
• Onlywire
• Propeller (replaces Netscape)
• RawSugar
• Reddit
• Rojo
• Simpy
• SlashDot
• Sphinn
• Spurl
• Squidoo
• StumbleUpon
• Taggly
• Tagtooga
• TailRank
• Technorati
• Yahoo MyWebs

Installation

By installing the plugin, you agree to Tevine's policies.

1. Upload the "socialdropdown" folder into the "/wp-content/plugins/" directory. This folder contains the following files and directories:

   • readme.txt
   • dropdown.js
   • style.css
   • socialdropdown.php
   • icons/

2. Login to your Wordpress Administration Panel

3. Go to the plugins tab, and activate the "Social Dropdown" plug-in. If there are no error messages, the plugin is properly installed.

4. Add the following line of code to your Wordpress template: <?php Show_Dropdown(); ?>. This should be in the Wordpress loop (i.e. where your posts are generated). The Wordpress loop is commonly found in the index.php and single.php files.

5. Customize the bookmark through the options panel (Options » Social Dropdown).
   

Feel free to poke around the internals of the plug-in.

Update

Upgrading requires only the replacement of plug-in files. There is no need to edit your Wordpress template.

1. Deactivate the Social Dropdown plugin

2. Upload the "socialdropdown" folder into the "/wp-content/plugins/" directory. This folder contains the following files and directories:

   • readme.txt
   • dropdown.js
   • style.css
   • style_black.css
   • style_white (default).css
   • socialdropdown.php
   • icons/

3. Activate the "Social Dropdown" plug-in. If there are no error messages, the plugin is properly updated.

Requirements

1. A working Wordpress install

2. Your WordPress theme must contain a call to the get_header() function

3. Your WordPress theme must contain the Wordpress loop

Requirements

Within socialdropdown.php, these are some areas you can edit to influence how the dropdown appears.

Prior to 1.3.0., you can use the GenerateAll() function to re-arrange how the items appear, add new items or remove them. In versions 1.3.0 and later, you can customize bookmarks via `Options > Social Dropdown`.

Creating bookmarks

Each social bookmark is generated using the GenerateLink() function, and the URLs used are created using the GenerateURL() function. The parameters are as followed: GenerateLink($type), where $type is the name of the social bookmark (e.g. Digg is represented as 'digg').

In order to add a new bookmark, add the following lines of code after an item [i.e. after break;] in the GenerateURL() function. An example is shown

case '[name of social bookmarking site]':
?>
[URL to social bookmark page]
<?php
break;

In this example, when you call GenerateURL('yahoo'), the link for this item is generated. The link is the direct link to the submitting URL, usually available as an API on the social bookmarking site. Within the URL, there is some PHP code. the_title() represents the post title, while echo get_the_permalink() represents the URL of the post.

After adding the PHP stuff, don't forget to put in GenerateLink('[name of social bookmark site]') in GenerateAll()

Changelog

1.5.0 - Added support for BumpZee, Faves, Hugg, Jeqq, Windows Live. Some changes to the icons used.
1.4.9 - Added support for Mister Wong social bookmarking site. Several minor changes. Added uninstallation file.
1.4.8 - Bug fixes related to styles. Added Facebook. Thanks to Eric Fehrenbacher for his help.
1.4.7 - Plugin now runs on Linux servers (and I thought PHP was OS-independent :p). Fix does not affect plugins prior to 1.4.0.
1.4.6 - Changed file check. It will now work on all servers, and will not cause a lockdown if the check fails.
1.4.5 - Added another means of customizing the plug-in via admin panel. Some bug fixes.
1.4.0 - Added 5 bookmarks. Fixed path problems, plugin can now be installed at any directory. Modified layout of dropdown.
1.3.3 - Updated RawSugar bookmark.
1.3.2 - Fixed file paths.
1.3.1 - Added file check. (stable, but if there are problems, please contact gmail.com)
1.3.0 - Added ability to customize social bookmarks via drag and drop. (stable, but some features are still in testing)
1.2.2 - Link optimisation. Now allows for the disabling of the link back to the plugin's homepage. (stable)
1.2.1 - Link optimisation; now the plugin has little negative impact on the site's SEO and has reduced link leakage. The social dropdown link now points to this page. Added customization of styles. Allowed for a customized dropdown "on" state. Added black colored theme. (stable)
1.2.0 - Made the layout for non-javascript users more nicer. Link optimisation - great for those concerned with SEO. Added 10 bookmarks, bringing it to 30. Added update notification for plugin (accessible via Options » Social Dropdown).
1.1.0 - Fixed layout problems. Non-javaScript users now can use the plugin without problems. Plugin now passes W3 validation test - great for those who wants to play with the standards.
1.0.0 - Initial

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