WordPress 2.9 CURLPROTO_FILE bug

Merry Christmas to everyone and an upcoming happy new year! I hope you’ve got all your reservations because by this time, all of the good spots may already be fully booked.

As for WordPress, it recently released upgrade version 2.9. Joyful as it sounded, it seemed there was a bug in it.

Warning: curl_setopt() [function.curl-setopt]: CURLPROTO_FILE cannot be activated when in safe_mode or an open_basedir is set in /home/domain/public_html/domain/wp-includes/http.php on line 1302

Warning: curl_setopt() [function.curl-setopt]: CURLPROTO_FILE cannot be activated when in safe_mode or an open_basedir is set in /home/domain/public_html/domain/wp-includes/http.php on line 1303

It’s not really a security flaw so don’t fret if you’ve upgraded too. Plus, some are saying its plugin conflicts but the majority has concluded it’s a core bug.

And not to worry, WordPress 2.9.1 should be out soon (hopefully before the new year) and this bug would’ve been squahed.

P.S.: I just noticed it’s affecting my Twitter and Delicious plugins too.

P.P.S.: Also found, it’s messing with scheduled publishing.

WordPress Does Not Support Similar Widget in Multiple Sidebars

Blog layouts have changed from simple 2-column blog layouts into 3 or more columns. WordPress has had the option for you to select and configure the sidebar you choose since I can remember Kubrick. They’ve made it so easy for you to manage the sidebar with drag-and-drop functions they call widgets.

But WordPress blog theme design and development has showed me another limitation to this publishing system when used as a Content Management System (CMS). Have you tried adding the same default WordPress widget into multiple sidebars? In particular, the Recent Comments widget.

Some may ask, why do I need to display the Recent Comments widget in multiple sidebars? Well, I was helping a friend configure her WordPress lifestyle blog; Decorateur.

She wanted to display the Recent Comments on the homepage and the other pages. The challenge here was I needed to widgetize the 2 existing sidebars, which wasn’t difficult. After that, I needed to add the Recent Comments widget to both sidebars so it displays on the homepage and the templates she wanted. This was where I found the limitation.

In the end, my solution was to combine the sidebars into a dynamic sidebar with widget support to distinguish the homepage from other templates. The blog needed a dynamic sidebar because there was some custom styling to certain widgets in certain templates.

I’m sharing this and advicing you to experiment which default WordPress widget actually supports multiple sidebars. Because I know not all WordPress default widgets are affected – like Text widget.

Google Adsense Introduces Expandable Advertisements

Not to worry. The expandable advertisements are unlike the irritatable (or, annoying) hover type link text advertisements. Google has always been friendly and it continues to do so. Even with the introduction of expandable advertisements.

So, how only will the ad expand?
Ads will expand only after a user clicks and interacts with the ad. Mouseovers or rollovers won’t trigger the ad, in order to prevent accidental expansions. Plus, Google mentioned an expandable ad won’t expand more than double its width or height. If I understand this, if it’s a large rectangle then it won’t be bigger than 600px in width and 500 in height. Hmm, it’s still pretty big I think.

Also, if the advertiser chooses to run a Cost-per-Click (CPC) campaign with an expandable ad, the publisher (yourself) will only generate revenue if the user clicks the ad and heads to the advetiser’s landing page. So, it’s not a click link, show ad and get revenue.

Who can apply for expandable ads?
Unfortunately, Asia isn’t one of them – yet. Only North America or Europe, with a website in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish.

Sigh. They get all the cool stuff.

WordPress 2.7.1 Fixes 68 bugs

I upgraded to WordPress 2.7 not awfully long ago. Simply because my drafts were behaving weird. Whenever I saved a draft, the Comments and Pings option were turned off. Thus, whenever I had scheduled posts they had comments and pings turned off.

The new WordPress 2.7.1 deemed a maintenance update fixes upto 68 bugs. Some notable list of bugs were:

• Permalink box below Title shouldn’t shift page
• Revisions do not respect time zone offset
• Add new link fails silently
• New installs: admin has user_level 0
• Theme preview fails when theme in subdirectory
• Tag cloud order priority is broken
• WP reinstaller doesn’t work
• ‘Draft Saved’ current_time not reflecting timezone setting in the edit area
• Distinguish between approved / unapproved comments in All Comments list for IE7
• Active plugins table rows are not highlighted
• jQuery/Thickbox Issue IE7/8
• Drafts are published in the past

View the changelog for the full WordPress 2.7.1 changes. Or, head on over to WordPress.org to download now.

40 Screenshot Reasons To Choose WordPress 2.7

WordPress 2.7, codenamed; Coltrane, is finally a worthy upgrade compared to WordPress 2.6. It feels like how Adobe recently rewrote Adobe Flash to include Inverse Kinematics (IK). The entire user experience has been improved thanks to its new information architecture and accepted comments (and suggestions) to further improve WordPress by the community.

I’ve installed WordPress 2.7 (Coltrane) on a prototype blog I’m still working on. Right after the upgrade, the aura omitting from the new user interface is simple and easy. It sounds contradictory but sometimes simple layouts aren’t made easy when it’s content isn’t defined clear enough. But not with WordPress 2.7. And, I’ve 40 screenshots to prove why I’d choose to use Coltrane.

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