Nov 25th
UPDATE: This post no longer applies (or works) as YouTube now has built-in HD support for embeds.
Wired is reporting that YouTube now has a 720p-ish (reports vary on what resolution it truely is, but it’s sure good) video playback support. Even more important, the audio is stereo instead of mono (you can really hear the improved quality).
YouTube’s default video resolution is utter crap (not sure what the resolution is) and the existing higher quality video was 480×360. This new video resolution is 2-3 times as good as the previous “high quality” resolution.
To prove it, here’s some sample videos. The difference is more apparent if you click the fullscreen button, especially if you have a large monitor. Make sure to also have your speakers or headphones on to notice the improved audio quality.
YouTube Default (Low Quality)
YouTube’s Previous High Quality
YouTube’s New HD Quality
I have added support to my Video Quicktags plugin but note that if a video does not have the HD quality version available (99% or more don’t), it will drop back to the lowest quality format. As a result, I don’t recommend making the HD format your default on your blog. Instead, set the quality to 22 like this:
[youtube width="630" height="380" quality="22"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY[/youtube]
Nov 12th
Ken Block is one of the top drivers in the Rally America Championship if you hadn’t heard of him.
Nov 7th
UPDATE: WordPress 2.6.5 has been released. This is still no legitimate version 2.6.4 and there never will be.
As of the time of this post, there is no such thing as WordPress 2.6.4. There also likely never will be as 2.7 will be the next version of WordPress assuming no emergency security fixes are needed before it comes out.
If you “upgraded” to “2.6.4″, then you have installed a fake trojan version (full description is here and here), you should delete your wp-admin and wp-includes folders and replace them with fresh copies downloaded from WordPress.org, the official site. If you have a recent database backup from before you upgraded, I would also advise dumping your database and using that backup just to be safe. You should also of course change all of your WordPress user account passwords.
Please be smart when it comes to WordPress! Because it’s so immensely popular, it has become the target of spoofers and hackers. Always type in the URL to the official site (rather than using a link and not paying attention) if you are trying to download the latest version.
Nov 4th
Viper’s Video Quicktags works fine, but will need a styling update for it’s admin page.
WordPress Admin Bar will need a fair amount of work. Yes I’m aware it’s fairly broken at the moment.
The rest should probably work fine as they’re fairly simple. If not, please post on that plugin’s homepage with full details.
Nov 1st
Thought I’d follow in Ryan’s footsteps and post my personal “Add New Post” screen looks like. I’ll probably end up moving comments to the main column and tweaking the CSS via a plugin to make the categories widget taller though since I have the screen real estate to do it. We’ll see.
Note: the Twitter checkbox is Alex King’s Twitter Tools.
Nov 1st
While WordPress 2.7 will be missing the November 10th targeted release date (see the development blog for details on that), Beta 1 is now available for download. Go ahead and check it out, but if you decide to upgrade a site you care about, make sure to back up your database and wp-content folder! I’ve been running 2.7 for quite a while here, but you never know — something could go wrong.
Hi and welcome to my blog. My name's Alex, although I'm more commonly known as Viper007Bond (or just Viper). I work for Automattic and I blog here about WordPress stuff and various interesting things I find. You can read more about me on my about page.
Gebze Nakliyat: space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are...
Justin: Amazing plugin!
One thing I noted while using it was that the ability to change the embed URL of...
çiçekçi: Hello How can I manage, what other users can see on their Admin Bar
Jeremy Clarke: Jason: There is a simple API you can use to filter the default settings for all users, it is only a...
Jason: Viper - very nice plugin. Thank you.
If you're so inclined, it would be very nice if admin...