Google Wave - Product, Platform, and Protocol

• Attempt to answer “what would email look like if it was developed today”
• Combines Gmail, Translation, collaboration via Google Docs, Photos, etc., all in one
• Because it is completely open, companies can host their own instances of Wave and Google never has to see the data – yet the users of separate platforms can still communicate with each other!

TechCrunch coverage
Google Wave
Google Wave APIs
Google Wave Protocols

I’m looking forward to WordCamp this weekend.  I’m curious to see if there will be any WordPress / Google Wave integration already.  Being able to have blog comments automatically pushed to users who aren’t actually looking at your blog would be a huge win.  If there’s no WordPress integration project already, I may just start one.

So I wrote my first WordPress plugin…

Here’s a description of it:

This plugin allows you to write your page content like this: “Contact our company, [company_name], by email at: [email].”

Text with these shortcodes can be defined on any number of pages throughout your site.

The values of all of the shortcodes are controlled in a single location: the Custom Fields of your blog’s home page. For the above example, there would be Custom Fields on the home page called “company_name” and “email” with the values, respectively, of “Example Company Name” and “info@example.com”.

This plugin requires that you have WordPress set to show a static Page on the home page under Settings->Reading and “Front page”.

So then, for all the custom fields entered on the home page, this plugin looks for shortcodes (in all pages) and replaces each of their values, upon output, with the relevant custom field value.

This is useful for if you want to fill many pages with text that includes an arbitrary number of shortcodes or template text and have all the values can be replaced in one place.

You can download it from the plugin page, or just grab the SVN.

Random WordPress notes:

• I highly recommend always installing WordPress by svn – it’s easy (faster than uploading) and makes updates a breeze.  If you want to get fancy, you can also install your plugins by svn through svn:externals.
• If you want to make the process go really quickly, take a look at wp-create.sh.  I’m using this (plus other tools) to setup WordPress installations in no time.
• I just found out about /wp-admin/options.php for the first time – very handy way to see/edit all saved options at once.
• I also just registered for WordCamp 2009 in San Francisco… looking forward to it!

Hibernicor, LLC (Gainesville, FL)

This website is for Hibernicor, a medical technology company that is creating a device which allows for better transportation of donor hearts. The website design was based on the client’s needs.

Highlights:

1. Clean, professional site design to complement the company’s other branding material.
2. Laid out technical content in a simple way by attaching PDFs and other documents where appropriate.
3. Developed a simple way for the client to post news updates for those interested in the company.
4. Built the site around Wordpress as a Content Management System (CMS) which allows the client to easily update the website content without knowledge of web design.

“Our clients think the website is great and has a professional layout that is easy to use.”
-Andrew Rivard, Founder of Hibernicor, LLC

This site is the online home for Swimming Safari, a company that teaches swimming lessons. I came up with a complete website design based on the client’s needs.

Highlights:

1. Site design is fun and inviting to convey a child-friendly swimming lesson environment, while being professional and easy to use.
2. Provide a way for the business to accept online payments via PayPal to save time in processing registrations.
3. Focused heavily on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in order to help drive local business to the site for people looking for swimming lessons in Jacksonville, FL.

Here is the CSS:

ul.menu {
margin: 9px 9px 0 9px;
padding: 5px 0px 6px 10px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #afafaf;
}

ul.menu li {
margin: 0px;
list-style: none;
display: inline;
}

ul.menu li a {
margin: 0;
padding: 5px 12px 6px 12px;
border: 1px solid #afafaf;
background: #DDE;
font: normal 12pt Georgia, 'Times New Roman';
color: black;
text-decoration: none;
}

ul.menu li a:hover {
background: #333;
color: #eee;
text-decoration: none;
}

ul.menu li.current_page_item a,
ul.menu li.current_page_item a:hover {
border-top: 1px solid #afafaf;
border-bottom: 1px solid white;
background: white;
color: #333;
text-decoration: none;
}