30 Days of Blogging
Tuesday starts the first annual Jumping Duck Media 30 Days of Blogging Contest! It’s set to be a month of fun, frustration, and excitement, and we can’t wait to see the volumes of new content our contestants contribute.
For those of you interested in participating, here’s what you need to know:
- First, leave a message on this post so we know who you are and where your blog is
- Next, write a new post (previously unpublished content) of at least 300 words each day for 30 consecutive days in the month of December
- Since December is a 31-day month, you get one “free day.” Take a day off when you need it and this single day off will not count against your 30 days of consecutive writing
We’ll post more details about contestants’ blogs as they become available.
What you win
The question we hear the most often is, “what do I win?” In reality, completing the contest is one of the biggest prizes you can receive. Just think, 9,000 new words contributed to your blog in only a month. New posts every day. Your Google score will skyrocket and traffic to your site will increase as well. What could be better?
In reality, we do plan on giving you something if you finish. We’re still working on the official website which will cross-post your content to increase visibility and traffic. No word yet on when exactly this will be ready, but check back here for updates.
Remember, the contest starts Tuesday! Are your fingers ready to start typing?
Update for JS Banner Rotate
Today we released version 1.2.0 of JS Banner Rotate. This new version retains several important features from past versions. It also adds the ability to include as many images as you want in the rotation!
The 1.2 branch also dumps the bulky Ojay library we’d been using to select images for the rotation. This speeds things up and ensures further expandability in the future.
Coming next
Version 1.3 will upgrade users to version 3 of the Yahoo User Interface Library
We are also working in parallel to completely overhaul the system to allow for multiple slideshows on a page with added functionality. These new features will be released incrementally for testing in versions 1.3 and above, but will not be used in full force until version 2.0 early next year.
Stay tuned for more!
Update for RegLevel
It has come to our attention that some users of RegLevel have been experiencing issues creating and saving their redirects. Thanks to Keith Bieneman of Subway Tile we’ve been able to isolate and fix the bug. We’ve also identified a potential problem with users of WordPress version 2.7.1. We’re using a few newer escape functions to protect your admin pages from Javascript injection – unfortunately these functions were introduced in WordPress 2.8.
Since anything earlier than WordPress 2.8.4 is considered insecure, we’ve decided to tighten our upgrade restrictions. RegLevel users must now upgrade to at least WordPress 2.8 to use the plug-in. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and if you absolutely need to use an older version of the system, please contact us and let us know. We’ll do what we can to help.
JS Banner Rotate releases version 1.1
Just a few moments ago, we released the latest and greatest version of the JS Banner Rotate plug-in for WordPress. This version cleans up several existing features, using more appropriate ways to set up and declare its Javascript dependencies. It also introduces some new functionality:
- You can now toggle the numbered display
- You can change the color of the numbered display
- You can adjust the display and fade times for the image rotation
- You can create a rotating banner anywhere in the website now, not just within a post – see the documentation for details
With over 1,400 downloads to date, we expect to continue developing and supporting JS Banner Rotate for quite a while. Plans are already in the works for version 2.0, and we’re already accepting feature requests.
JS Banner Rotate moving to version 1.1
As of this morning, JS Banner Rotate officially has over 1,075 downloads. It’s less than a month old and still moving strong – proof that people want an alternative to the client-heavy Flash banner plug-ins. We recently released version 1.0.3 which updates the plug-in and allows users to toggle the title overlay.
Now that we’ve broached 1,000 downloads, it’s time to start working on version 1.1. This new version will finally give users complete control over the style elements for the plug-in. Rather than be stuck with default fonts and colors, users will be able to specify custom CSS styles in a WordPress admin screen. This will make it easier to integrate the banner into custom themes and layouts.
We will also be adding the ability to incorporate JS Banner Rotate into themes. Rather than being forced to use a shorttag (which doesn’t work in themes) you will use a template tag with all of the typical options plus the new CSS definitions. This should allow theme developers to replace heavy Flash implementations (like the front page of this site) with a lighter Javascript one.
Version 1.1 should be coming down the pipes by the end of August. Stay tuned for more!
