When the Chicklet Creator was first created, I hosted all the images and people just linked to them on my site. That made it easy for users as they didn’t have to download or upload anything. Just copy the code and go. It turns out, that wasn’t a bright idea.

The issue is that now there are thousands of these button requests coming to my site. So many that it’s draining my resources and causing hosing issues. I have tried a blinking graphic in the past and that helped, but didn’t cure the issue. My host recently let me know that it was time to move to a Virtual Private Server which is significantly more than I’m paying now. However, in discussions with my host, they came up with a good idea; create images so big site owners will have to update. Brilliant!

So, starting yesterday, big red buttons are appearing in place of some feed button images that are linking back to twistermc.com. I hate to be mean, but it has to be done. The image yesterday was 200×200 pixes and today it’s 300×300. At this rate, it’ll be over 1000×1000 in just one week. That’s how big of an issue this is.

To show you I’m not just plain mean, I did come across a hacked jpeg that’s 1000000×1000000. So large, that it’ll crash most browsers. I don’t see it coming to that, but WOW. The power.

So, if you see these big red buttons, alert the site owner and share this URL: http://tinyurl.com/z8zj2. Or feel free to let me know and I’ll see if I can’t contact them. If they don’t pay attention to the big red images, they’ll notice when their users and site monitization goes down as usability will be greatly decreased.

My fist test, besides looking at the new editor, was to see if the Chicklet Creator and Social Bookmark Creator plugins worked. Sure enough, they had no issues.

These are two plugins you can check off the worry list as there is nothing to worry about here.

If I don’t hear anyone screaming about issues in Wordpress 2.1, I may just update this blog in a few days too.

Version 0.5 Includes:

• A configuration pane in Worpress’ admin area.
• New Feed Buttons.
• Lots of new code.
• All local images for fast load times.
• More like a real Wordpress plugin.

Check out the Chicklet Creator Wordpress Plugin v0.5 and let me know what you think.

You can leave feedback below and I’ll workout any issues I can. At this time, there is no drop down option. For that, you’ll need to use the online tool.

The new plugin version includes:

• Updated PHP code for our template so it won’t throw errors when you disable the plugin. Actually this is available for the current version too.
• And admin panel to configure the Chicklet Creator. That’s right, no editing the plugin file! Everything takes place in Wordpress’ admin area.
• Database integration. All plugin choices are now saved to the database. Configure it once, and you’ll be set!
• More button choices. Updated to match the choices available on the web based version.
• [upcoming] All local buttons. For faster load times, and some better images, all button images will be hosed locally.

So, what I need are a few testers to try the plugin and let me know how it works. Like it? Dislike it? Is it missing important features? If you want to test it, drop me a line.

Once I get the feedback and update any upcoming features and feedback issues, then it’ll be ready for the public. How exciting!

And yes, the Social Bookmark Wordpress Plugin will be updated too once I this one finished.

The updated blog tools include a new layout, more buttons and a few added features. One of the big additions is the drop down menus. You can now create a CSS drop down menu to hold all your feed buttons, or you can create a social bookmark pop-up menu just like the one above.

The Chicklet Creator drop down menu includes a bit of Javascript and CSS to go along with it. Nothing to scary, however it’s slightly more advanced. Since it’s a CSS drop down menu, you can style it as you wish. That’s not part of the tool, but if you know how to code a bit, it shouldn’t be to hard to add a custom style. I’ll probably write up a mini tutorial on it in the near future too. Don’t worry, if you don’t know code, you can use the default style with no problems.

The tools have been in the works for quite a while now. I was ready to release them just before SES San Jose, however found an IE bug that was a show stopper. However, all tools have been tested, and are working, in Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Yea!

As always, feedback and button suggestions are welcome. Check out the newly updated Chicklet Creator and the Social Bookmark Creator and let me know what you think.

Oh and I’d also like to take a moment to announce iFeedReaders.com as the new home for the TwisterMc version of the tools. iFeedReaders is my new blogging tools site that also includes a one stop subscription or bookmark page.

Now is the time to send in any Feed readers or other blog services that you want included.  This is a big update so you’ll definitely want to get your service, or your favorite service added.

Your site is blocked if:

• If I contacted you and you didn’t respond or update your images.
• If you are on my top 15 referrers and I can’t get ahold of you.
• If you are a porn site.
• If you are on Blogspot, MSN Spaces or Livedoor.jp

Now the Blogspot and MSN spaces may be a temporary block. I’m just trying to reach people to have them comeback and update their code. Blocking those two services will get a lot of people to notice, or so I hope.

Once these referrers are taken care of, there will be a whole new list of people to contact and/or block.  Don’t let it be you, update your code!

Again, read all the details on why I’m blocking people. I’m not being a jerk, I have to.

If you host your own blog then please host the images too. Linking back to my site is causing a big server strain. Please download the images and update your code to reference the images locally.

If you can’t host the images, then please re-create your buttons using the updated Chicklet Creator (at it’s new home). I have outsourced most images so that they are coming from their official service sites. For example, we are now linking the Google image to the official Google site. This updated code will allow quite a bit of relief to come to my web server.

Now, linking out to the official images means that they are controlled by those services, not by me. If MSN should decide to take their button away, then your image will disappear too. That’s a downside to linking to the official images. For best results, download the images and upload them on your own server.

Starting next week, I may have to start to block out some sites. If your buttons disappear, than just re-create them or host the images yourself. I hate to do this, but I have no way of contacting the hundreds of sites out there using my images.

You may also see an image on your website that has a message about an important announcement. This would be why. I need to get people to update their buttons so my website can stay online.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m feeling the price of success.

Thanks
Thomas

Granted, I have fixed the issue, but if you were seeing text were there were once chicklets, than that means your not hosting your own button images.

Download the button images, and upload them to your server. Then update the paths so you are referencing the images on your server. This will prevent any future issues and it’ll be cheaper for me.

Thanks

Check out the Chicklet Creator Wordpress Plugin instructions and the Social Bookmark Wordpress Plugin instructions.  Let me know if something doesn’t make sense or if I missed anything.

Just trying to make it easier to use.

A feed is a web document that usually ends in .xml or .rss and it is a slimed down version of a website that is created to be easily syndicated. It may be represented by an orange icon.

What does it cost? $0 - It’s free.

What is a feed reader?

A feed reader is an application, stand alone or web based, that reads feeds. A feed reader is to feeds what an email application is to email.

What is a Chicklet or feed button?

A Chicklet is a feed button that has your feed readers logo and the blog’s information attached to it. It has been specifically coded to make it as easy as possible to subscribe to the site’s feed. To subscribe to our feed, just click on the Chicklet (feed button) that represents the feed reader you choose to use. If you don’t see your reader, simply click on the first orange icon and you’ll be presented with the raw rss feed. Copy this URL into your feed reader. You may need to see your feed readers help files for more information on adding feeds.

Button Examples: See my Subscribe Page.

How do I unsubscribe to a feed?

Just delete the feed from your feed reader. You may need to see your feed readers help files for specific information.

How do I know when a feed is updated?

All feed readers update periodically. You may have to push an update button, or it may happen when you load the page or open the feed reader. When updating, the feed reader will go out and check for updated information for you. If there is anything new, the feed reader will alert you; usually bolding new information.

Why is this good?

A feed reader can check all your feeds in seconds for updates without you ever having to visit the websites. 5 or 500 feeds, it doesn’t matter. It’ll do all the work much faster than you can surf to the website to check manually.  This will help you stay up to date with many different sites.
How do I set up a feed?

That’s a whole different topic. But get a blog and you’ll get a feed.

Chicklet Creator Plugin - Social Bookmark Plugin

Also, if you are using Safari or Firefox, check out the subscribe icon in the upper right.  Like it?  Does it work well?  Feedback welcome.  If you are on IE or anything else, I have no idea if it works or even looks good.

I’ve also updated the Yahoo, Rojo, Newsgator and Pluck images to come directly from those services, not from my site. This will help out with my bandwidth some. The new buttons are also located on their respected sites. I’m just trying to save the pennies.

As always, if you find issues let me know. I can’t fix what I don’t know about.

Thanks

You can easily create your feed buttons in a list or remove any type of separation between each button.

This functionally is already part of the Chicklet Creator Wordpress plugin.

Check it out and let me know if any issues come up.

My Firefox addons were built to work in today’s official build. Not the 1.0.x builds from months ago or the new beta/alpha builds of the upcoming browser. The reason for this is that I have the current official build and not the old or new ones. Without the other versions of the browsers, I can’t test my themes or extension. However, you can.

All you have to do is ask me to send you a version that will install in your older or newer version of Firefox. Same goes if you want to try the extension in Flock or SeaMonkey. Just ask and I’ll do my best to get you an installable version for your browser. Then, if it works fine, let me know and I’ll release it for everyone.

Now the with Wordpress plugins, I do have Wordpress 2.0.x and 1.5.x to test them in. It’s much easier to have multiple versions of Wordpress running than Firefox.

Currently, the Chicklet Creator plugin works in 2.0.x only. I have heard requests for 1.5.x so I’m working on that. The Social Bookmark plugin works in 1.5.x and 2.0.x.

What it all comes down to is just ASK if you have version issues. I see a lot that my themes and extensions don’t work in 1.0.x or the alpha Bon Echo version of Firefox, but no one takes the time to ask me about it.

Just ask.

Included in the plugin are the button images and the plugin file.

Install & Configure Instructions [new location]
1) Download the plugin. Version 0.1
2) Open chicklet-creator.php and configure it. Turn on the buttons you want and set up a few optional features.
3) Upload the entire Chicklet-Creator folder into your Wordpress plugins directory.
4) Activate it via the Plugins area in the admin.
5) Put this code where you want the social bookmark links to show up: < ? chicklet_creator() ? > (remove the space before the first ? and after the last ?)
- This code should work anywhere in your blog template.
- If you de-active the plugin, you have to remove this code or you’ll throw errors!

I have built in the option to change the feed URL. For those of you who use Feedburner, you’ll want to make sure to configure that in the plugin file.

As I learn more about Wordpress plugins I’ll make this easier to use. But for now, it works.

Feedback is much appreciated. Even if it’s just to say ‘It Worked!’. Suggestions are welcome too.

For those who are wondering, the Chicklet Creator added that functionality back in February.

Ohh and the Chicklet Creator Wordpress Plug-In is just days away. It’s pretty much done, however, there is a separate special announcement coming before that. Ohh what could it be?

I appreciate you using my feed button maker code however I do have one request. My bandwidth is going though the roof and I was wondering if I could get you to host your feed button images on your own site instead of connecting to mine. It’s not even the middle of March and I’m at 80% of my limit already!

You can download the button images here: http://www.twistermc.com/RSS-images/RSS-images.zip

Thank You
Thomas

For the Chicklet Creator, I added Blogger as an option for the ‘do it yourself’ code. I haven’t tested it, but I’m optimistic. I also removed pLog ‘do it yourself’ code as it was giving me issues so it went away for now.

The Social Bookmark Link Creator, on the other hand, got more updates and fixes today. I have added an options area that you can put in HTML code to format your output code. Want the links separated by
< br >’s? No problem. Want everything in a list? No problem. Just wanna put a - between each one? No problem. You format it how you want it. This is one feature that will be added to the Chicklet Creator in the future after I get any bugs worked out.

I also fixed a lot of embarrassing spelling mistakes in the Social Bookmark Link Creator. Note to self: Remember to use spell check more often.

Oh and say HI to the Social Bookmark Link Creator smilie! I wanted some sort of icon to add to the homepage so I whipped up the new smilie who is syndicating his bookmarks across the web.

Issues? Comments? Questions? Just leave your feedback in the comments.

The Social Bookmark Link Creator is a spawn of the Chicklet Creator as they both use the same underlying code to generate the output. This time, I created it for social bookmarking as it’s getting more popular by the day.

Social bookmarking is the idea that you keep all your bookmarks in one online place. Much like Gmail or Yahoo Mail, your information is always accessible no matter where you are.

By adding social bookmark links to your blog posts, you are allowing visitors to add your post to their social bookmarks in seconds. This can help generate more traffic and visibility.

I have about 30 social bookmark services available to choose from and three blogging systems; Wordpress, MovableType & Blogger. I’m sure there are more bookmarks to add and blogging software to code in, but this is a good start.

Check out the Social Bookmark Link Creator and please feel free to give me feedback. I just whipped it up in the past 24 hours or so, so it’s not perfect. Bugs may exist but that’s what I need you to test it for.

Enjoy