You know when you you’re working on a project and get stuck on something, so you scour the Web for solutions only to find that everyone else seems to be experiencing the exact same thing. Then, after many hours trying everything possible, you finally stumble onto something that seems to work. This time, the project was setting up a secure downloads area for Digging into WordPress. And when I finally discovered a solution, I told myself that it was definitely something I had to share here at Perishable Press.

Apparently, there is much to be desired when it comes to sending proper HTTP headers for file downloads. Different browsers (and not just IE) require different headers, and will error if not present exactly the way they expected. Confounding that equation is the fact that different file types also require specific headers. Then there are issues with sending an accurate (or should I say “acceptable”?) Content-Length headers when file compression is involved. Needless to say, finding a set of headers that works for all file types in all browsers is next to impossible. And I won’t even get into the issues involved with readfile() and large-download file-sizes.

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CLB+ As many WordPress users now realize, there have been many fundamental changes in the new version of WordPress. The latest version of WordPress — 2.3 — features a considerably revamped database structure, including a complete reorganization and redistribution of the wp_categories table. Unfortunately, such database alterations have rendered inoperable many popular plugins, proving quite unfortunate not only for millions of WordPress users, but also for those of us who donate time, effort, and resources toward the development of freely available WordPress plugins. Thus, with the advent of WordPress 2.3, developers whose plugins have ceased to function must now decide whether or not to continue their support. In my humble opinion, philanthropic plugin developers have several choices:

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One of our favorite command-line screensavers, DAZZLE is a two-dimensional kaleidoscopic program featuring a timeless display of perpetually evolving psychedelic viewscapes. Users may interactively manipulate over thirty image-creation algorithms, or set the program to automatically generate hours of dynamically morphing displays of colorful patterns and geometrically complex graphics.

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The minimalist theme is crisp and clean. Featuring a three-column satellite menu-page to reduce clutter and streamline usability, the minimalist theme is designed to present site content with sophistication and elegance.

The minimalist theme is XHTML 1.1 strict, employs nearly valid CSS (ha!), and features browser-safe colors and universal fonts all delivered via concise, two-column liquid layout.

Mindfully detailed and carefully prepared, the minimalist theme provides plenty of room for customization and expansion.

This theme is offered absolutely free under open source GPL. Instructions are included along with a complete set of files and images. Relatively simple installation.

The minimalist theme has been tested with Mozilla Firefox 1 & 2, Internet Explorer 6 & 7, Netscape 7+, and Opera 8+. Note: minimalist looks best when viewed via Firefox.. ;)

Screenshot of minimalist on Firefox

Live demo of minimalist via Perishable Press »

Download minimalist [ v1.2 | ~26KB | .zip | 3817 downloads ]

Previous Versions

• minimalist v-1.1 [ 1242 downloads ]

The AddMySite (AMS) plugin for WordPress makes it easy for your visitors to add your site to all of their favorite social-bookmarking services. With a few clicks, users may easily bookmark or add your site to any number of popular social bookmarking services, which are concisely presented via drop-down menu or as a customizable list. One file. Simple installation. Easy to use. Clean output and XHTML strict.

New! — Widgetized AMS version 0.88 now available! The new widgetized version of AddMySite makes it easier than ever to add your site and feed to 40 sites! AMS version 0.88 features 25 social-bookmarking sites to which visitors may add your site. Even better, the new version of AMS also enables visitors to add your site’s syndicated feed to 15 feed-related/aggregator sites. That’s 40 ways to expand your online empire!

Super-easy installation instructions

1. Upload plugin to plugins directory and activate.
2. Drag and drop the AMS widget into your sidebar.
3. Enjoy! ;)

Demonstration

To see AddMySite (AMS) in action, look here (located near the middle of the page).

Download AddMySite (AMS)

[ version 0.88 (widgetized) | ~5KB | .zip | 2013 downloads ]

Previous versions of AMS

• AMS Version 0.77 [ 2351 downloads ]
• AMS Version 0.33 [ 1988 downloads ]

Perishable Press currently offers eight plugins for WordPress:

Authenticate

Authenticate is a free WordPress plugin that enables universal and/or targeted inclusion of custom content for both feeds and posts. Ideal for adding copyright information, distribution policy, thank-you messages, custom links, special offers, and much more. Custom content may be added to any location within posts or feeds — before, after, or even within post content. All options are set via admin control panel. Learn more about Authenticate, or download direct:

Download Authenticate
[ current version 1.0 | ~4KB | .zip | 1227 downloads ]

Authenticate Lite

Authenticate Lite is a free WordPress plugin that enables universal and/or targeted inclusion of custom content for both feeds and posts. Ideal for adding copyright information, distribution policy, thank-you messages, custom links, special offers, and much more. Custom content may be added to any location within posts or feeds — before, after, or even within post content. All options are set in the plugin file. Learn more about Authenticate Lite, or download direct:

Download Authenticate Lite
[ current version 1.0 | ~3KB | .zip | 1215 downloads ]

Contact Coldform

Contact Coldform is a fully functional, highly customizable contact form for WordPress. Features full Admin Options, easy installation, and clean markup. Includes anti-spam challenge question, user carbon copies, and much more. Solid performance, secure functionality, complete flexibility. Learn more about Contact Coldform, or download direct:

Download Contact Coldform
[ current version 0.88 | ~8KB | .zip | 4081 downloads ]

BlogStats PCC

BlogStats PCC is the easy way to display the total number of posts, comments, and categories, as well as several other great statistics for your WordPress-powered website. Learn more about BlogStats PCC, or download direct:

Download BlogStats PCC
[ version 2.3.0a | ~3KB | .zip | 2530 downloads ]

Category LiveBookmarks Plus

Category LiveBookmarks Plus is the easy way to provide complete autodiscovery functionality and “Post Smart” feed links to your WordPress-powered website. Learn more about Category LiveBookmarks Plus, or download direct:

Download Category LiveBookmarks Plus
[ version 2.3.0b | ~7.3KB | .zip | 3014 downloads ]

Head MetaData Plus

The Head MetaData Plus plugin is designed to complete a site’s head construct by including some of the more obscure meta tags, such as "author" and "copyright". This was one of the original plugins for customizing meta tags. Learn more about Head MetaData Plus, or download direct:

Download Head MetaData Plus
[ version 1.0 | 3.3KB | .zip | 2067 downloads ]

AddMySite (AMS)

AddMySite makes it easy for your visitors to add your site to the social bookmarking service of their choice. Users may bookmark your site at over 25 different social bookmarking services, which are concisely presented via drop-down menu or as a customizable list. Learn more about AddMySite, or download direct:

Download AddMySite (AMS)
[ version 0.88 (widgetized) | ~5KB | .zip | 2013 downloads ]

Export Blogroll for del.icio.us

The Export Blogroll for del.icio.us plugin simplifies the process of transferring the links in your WordPress Links Manager (aka the Blogroll) to your del.icio.us social bookmarking account. The plugin provides several export options, including category-specific export. Learn more about Export Blogroll, or download direct:

Export Blogroll for del.icio.us
[ version 1.0 | ~4KB | .zip | 1836 downloads ]

Here is our online (i.e., public) repository of interesting, mysterious, and/or perhaps even useful CSS code:

Perishable Press CSS Code Repository [ 1319 downloads ]

Announcing the BlogStats PCC plugin for WordPress! BlogStats PCC is the easy way to display the total number of posts, comments, categories, as well as several other great statistics for your WordPress-powered website. With BlogStats PCC, you display only the information you want, where you want — inside or outside of the WordPress loop. Completely customizable, BlogStats PCC will display any combination of statistics you choose. This plugin is highly flexible, simple to use, and completely free.

Update: New version of BlogStats PCC now available! The new version now provides all of these great site statistics:

• Total number of posts
• Total number of comments
• Total number of categories
• Total number of members
• Total number of guests
• Total number of pages
• Date of most recent update
• Most recent commentator
• Most recent post

Display any or all of the provided site statistics — customize your own set to provide only the statistics you want!

Installation and Usage

1. Unzip blogstats-pcc.zip and copy blogstats-pcc.php to your plugins directory.
2. Upload and activate via WordPress plugin admin panel.
3. Add any of the following calls to wherever you would like the information displayed:

Display the entire set of statistics in a nice list format:
<?php if (function_exists('fullstats')) { fullstats(); } ?>

Display the total number of posts, comments, and categories:
<?php if (function_exists('blogstats')) { blogstats(); } ?>

Display the total number of posts:
<?php if (function_exists('poststats')) { poststats(); } ?>

Display the total number of comments:
<?php if (function_exists('commstats')) { commstats(); } ?>

Display the total number of categories:
<?php if (function_exists('catstats')) { catstats(); } ?>

Display the total number of registered users:
<?php if (function_exists('regusers')) { regusers(); } ?>

Display the total number of unregistered users:
<?php if (function_exists('userstats')) { userstats(); } ?>

Display the total number of individual, static pages:
<?php if (function_exists('pagestats')) { pagestats(); } ?>

Display the date of the most recent post modification:
<?php if (function_exists('modstats')) { modstats(); } ?>

Display a link to the most recently published blog post:
<?php if (function_exists('recpost')) { recpost(); } ?>

Display the name of the most recent commentator as a link:
<?php if (function_exists('reccomm')) { reccomm(); } ?>

Display the date of the last update in your blog's default date format:
<?php if (function_exists('recstats')) { recstats(); } ?>

Download the Latest Version

Download BlogStats PCC [ version 2.3.1 | ~3KB | .zip | 902 downloads ]

Previous/Alternate versions of BlogStats PCC

• BlogStats PCC Version 2.3.0a [ 2530 downloads ]
• BlogStats PCC Version 2.3.0a [ 979 downloads ] ( adapted for WordPress MU )
• BlogStats PCC Version 2.0.0 [ 2215 downloads ]
• BlogStats PCC Version 2.0.0 [ 1074 downloads ] ( en Francais )
• BlogStats PCC Version 1.9.9 [ 1868 downloads ]
• BlogStats PCC Version 1.9.9 [ 1086 downloads ] ( en Espanol )
• BlogStats PCC Version 1.7.9 [ 1363 downloads ]
• BlogStats PCC Version 1.7.7 [ 1355 downloads ]
• BlogStats PCC Version 1.1.1 [ 1235 downloads ]
• BlogStats PCC Version 0.9.9 [ 1209 downloads ]

To help maintain consistency when developing new CSS-styled websites, we have created a complete CSS template file. The file contains every HTML/XHTML tag known to man. This includes tags such as BASEFONT and CENTER, which have been deprecated; tags such as COMMENT and MARQUEE, which are exclusive to Internet Explorer; tags such as SPACER and SERVER, which are exclusive to Netscape Navigator; and even tags such as !DOCTYPE and BASE, which are included merely for the sake of completeness. As CSS selectors, the tags are (almost all) empty, just waiting to be filled with declarations, properties, and values.

Tags that have been deprecated, or that are exclusive to a specific browser, are indicated as such using the following syntax:

|x = deprecated
|e = explorer only
|n = navigator only

These symbols are written next to their associated tag/selector such as shown in the following examples:

basefont|x {}
marquee|e {}
spacer|n {}

Besides individual selectors, the template file also includes several common selector combinations such as various list selector combinations, image-link sets, and series sets like h1,...h6. Additionally, the skeleton.css file provides several common classes, such as .show, .hide, and .clear, and even includes the very popular and versatile .clearfix hack, which is actually like three or four hacks rolled into one. The file is a paltry 4KB in size and free for download via the link below. Leave the credit at the bottom of the file intact and you are free to use the contents in any way you see fit!

Note: This free CSS template file, skeleton.css, is a continually evolving resource. Please share any valuable insights or potential improvements with everyone with a comment or email.

Download the Complete CSS Template File [ .css file | ~4KB | 3467 downloads ]

Here is a nice collection of feed icons. All are in PNG format, and all have transparent backgrounds (Although they may not appear as transparent if you are viewing via Internet Explorer). Download them individually or as a zipped set. In addition to the icons displayed below, the zipped set also includes two 500×500-pixel feed icons, one in standard orange and the other in greyscale. Please save these to your server and kindly refrain from hotlinking. Thank you.

Download the entire collection [ .zip file | ~77KB | 8050 downloads ]

CLB+ New version of Category LiveBookmarks Plus now available! CLB+ 2.3.0b enables WordPress 2.3+ users to configure and customize the ultimate set of autodetection feeds, category feeds, category links, and feed links. Features include completely rewritten, optimized code, optional category post counts, and custom RSS-icon links for all category and/or feed links. Overall, the new version is faster and more flexible than ever!

Category LiveBookmarks Plus is the easy way to provide complete “Live Bookmark” functionality and "Post Smart" feed links to your WordPress-powered website. Simply install the plugin, and users with Firefox, Opera, Navigator, or any other modern browser, will enjoy a selection of your RSS feed links at their fingertips. CLB Plus seamlessly integrates the code necessary for modern browsers to automatically detect and update any RSS feed available from the current page, enabling readers to stay current with important news and updates.

Category LiveBookmarks Plus also makes it easy to add category feed links to posts, comments, pages, or anywhere else within your site. Simply add the <? clb_plus(); ?> function to the desired location within your blog, and there enjoy a contextually relevant selection of completely customizable RSS feed links. There are also options to include RSS feed links for “all posts” and “all comments”, as well as settings to customize markup, icons, and feed links. Plus, as of version 1.7.7, there are options to configure a custom set of category links next to corresponding feed links, which may include comment counts and RSS-icon links.

With CLB+, you may customize category feeds for the various WordPress view types (e.g., category views, page views). CLB automatically omits feeds with zero posts, and also excludes subcategory feeds. Further, this plugin produces strictly valid XHTML markup.

Installation and Usage:

1. Unzip php file and add to wp-content/plugins directory.
2. Open php file and adjust any of the "CLB OPTIONS", if desired.
3. Add the following function call to your sidebar or any other location:
   <?php if (function_exists('clb_plus')) { clb_plus(); } ?>
4. Feed links will be added to the <head> automatically. No further action required.
5. Feed links will be added to the <body> wherever the function call (from step 3) is located.

Download Category LiveBookmarks [ version 2.3.0b | ~7.3KB | .zip | 3014 downloads ]

Related Information & Previous Versions

• Category feed links the hard way
• A nice collection of RSS feed icons
• Original article for CLB plugin (version 1.0.1)
• Old version: CLB+ 2.3.0a [ 1122 downloads ] (WordPress versions 2.3 or better)
• Old version: CLB+ 1.7.7 [ 2451 downloads ] (WordPress versions less than 2.3)
• Old version: CLB+ 1.3.3 [ 1474 downloads ] (WordPress versions less than 2.3)
• Old version: CLB+ 1.1.1 [ 1494 downloads ] (WordPress versions less than 2.3)
• Old version: CLB 1.0.1 [ 1926 downloads ] (WordPress versions less than 2.3)

UPDATE: New version of Category LiveBookmarks now available! →

Already familiar with Firefox’s Live Bookmarks and WordPress RSS feeds? Well then skip the intro and jump to the good stuff »

Enthusiastic Firefox users enjoy the luxury of Live Bookmarks, a feature of Firefox that automatically discovers and updates RSS feeds. Web pages with available feeds are indicated by the orange feed icon located in the browser’s address bar. Clicking the feed icon presents a list of all available feeds for that particular webpage. Users then select which feeds they would like Firefox to bookmark, track, and automatically update. Very handy indeed.

Providing these Live Bookmark feeds to your readers is as easy as adding “link” tags for each feed to the head section of each webpage. Then, simply set the “type” attribute to application/atom+xml or application/rss+xml, and away you go. Not so bad, but a bit tedious, perhaps.

WordPress users typically transmit RSS feeds for both comments and posts, and frequently provide individual category feeds. Further, each feeds may be provided via a variety of formats, including RSS 0.92, RSS 2.0, and Atom. Manually adding the feed links to the header.php file works if you don’t care about context sensitivity, because the same links would appear for all pages, whether the feeds were actually available from there or not. Fortunately, there is a more sophisticated method for managing your Live Bookmark feeds…

Introducing Category LiveBookmarks, a WordPress plugin designed to simplify the process of adding complete Live Bookmark functionality to your website. Category LiveBookmarks (CLB) seamlessly generates “Live-Bookmark” feed links for each of your WordPress blog categories. It will generate feed links for all categories on your main blog page, and only relevant feeds on single-post-view pages. Also, CLB automatically omits feeds with zero posts, and excludes subcategory feeds. CLB is designed for Firefox’s Live Bookmarks and Opera’s Livemarks. Generates strictly valid XHTML markup. Tested and verified with WordPress 2.0+. Should work with WP 1.5+ as well (no guarantees).

This plugin has been adapted from ArunRocks plugin, Livemarks. Many important modifications have been made to the original, such as are summarized here.

Installation and Usage:

Unzip file, add to wp-content/plugins directory, upload, activate, and enjoy! There are also two options within the PHP file itself that you will probably want to customize: Comment feed links and blog title.

Download Category LiveBookmarks [ version 1.0.1 | ~4KB | .zip | 1926 downloads ]

UPDATE: New version of Category LiveBookmarks now available! →

Official Information & Download for the Head MetaData Plus WordPress Plugin

The Head MetaData Plus plugin is designed to complete a site’s head construct by including some of the more obscure <meta> tags, such as “author” and “copyright.” As a matter of practicality, the more widely used tags such as “description” and “keywords” have been omitted, as they are already present at most WP-powered sites. The metadata output via this plugin applies to the entire site.

Installation: Upload the “head-metadata-plus.php” file to your WordPress Plugins directory, activate via WP Admin, and enjoy.

Customization: Open the “head-metadata-plus.php” file and edit any of the meta tag attributes located in the “variables” section.

Adding/Removing Meta tags: Removing unwanted tags is easy. Just comment-out or delete the variable line AND its corresponding line in the echo function. Adding new tags involves emulating the existing pattern and adding a new variable and corresponding echo.

Please use the Press Contact Form for any questions, comments, criticisms, etc.

Download Head MetaData Plus [ version 1.0 | 3.3KB | .zip | 2067 downloads ]

The latest Perishable WordPress theme, Information, enjoys a fixed-width, XHTML strict layout with a sprinkle of JavaScript for panel dropdowns and double link pops ( i.e., all the trimminz ).. Information will be released to the public in the near future.

Screenshot of Information on Firefox

Download Information (coming soon!)

Headline 2.0 released! — Like the Apathy Theme, Monzilla’s new Headline theme for WordPress is bandwidth friendly, XHTML strict, and employs universal fonts & colors. Also like the Apathy theme, Headline presents as a digital version of the classic printed newspaper. Indeed, whereas Apathy is a full-screen, fluid three-column layout, Headline is a condensed, fixed-width three-column layout that looks great even at 800×600 resolution. The latest version, Headline 2.0, also features additional graphical embellishments, enhanced list action, sharper layout, cleaner code, and improved functionality.

Screenshot of Headline 2.0 on Firefox

Download Headline 2.0 [ v2.0 | ~135KB | .zip | 1674 downloads ]

Previous version

• Headline 1.0 [ 1022 downloads ]

The Apathy theme is a crisp, universal three-column dynamic layout that is extremely lightweight and casual. The theme emulates a digital version of the traditional newsprint format, and validates as XHTML strict. Although the CSS only approaches valid, Apathy appears virtually identical on all modern browsers. If you are focusing on text-based content and strive toward coherent, concise presentation, the Apathy theme will serve you well..

Update: Apathy version 2.7 now is officially released! The new version features a triple-loop, liquid-width, three-column layout as well as a completely redesigned code base and improved graphical interface. Further, Apathy 2.7 includes many new configuration options and provides detailed comments and installation instructions. Plus, Apathy employs strictly valid XHTML, nearly valid CSS, universal fonts, and browser-safe colors. Check it out!

Screenshot of Apathy on Firefox

Download Apathy [ v2.7 | ~96KB | .zip | 2512 downloads ]

Previous versions

• Download Apathy v1.0 [ 950 downloads ]

The Perishable Press portfolio of themes for the WordPress publishing platform is developed and maintained by Monzilla Media. When complete, our WordPress theme portfolio will consist of 26 alphabetically named themes, a unique theme for every letter of the alphabet. Currently, eight of our thirteen themes have been prepared and are available for public download.

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Shouts out to Freakish Carnival Utopia for capturing this clip from a very popular Japanese television show (right-click and save to computer):

Japanese Insanity ( ~1.5mb | zipped .wmv file | 909 downloads )

This theme is actually a conglomeration of several thematic elements from my first few stabs at skinning an old b2evolution blog. As with the recently released Finished theme, the XHTML markup and corresponding CSS for this skin were downright scary. That may have been because of all the drugs I was taking at the time. But writing the garbage theme was so much fun, I just had to revisit it after sobering up a little. What I found was some real garbage, so I did the time and totally tied it off proper. Before the redesign, it was awful code that produced an awful-looking skin, but now it’s way better because pristine code is producing an awful-looking skin.

Screenshot of Garbage on Firefox

Download Some Garbage [ v1.0 | ~135KB | .zip | 1563 downloads ]

The “Finished” skin is actually an old b2evolution blog skin that I really enjoyed creating. The original markup was hideous, and the CSS was just a mess. But that was then and this is now. Completely rewritten with structural markup and presentational CSS, “Finished” won’t feel so abandoned and alone anymore.

Screenshot of Finished on Firefox

Download Finished [ v1.0 | ~74KB | .zip | 1517 downloads ]

Entropic Delightz! — The disproportionate inverse of Monzilla’s recently released DOS_FX theme. As with the DOS_FX theme, Entropy is bandwidth-friendly, color-safe, structurally sound, and XHTML strict. Very minimalistic and casual…

Screenshot of Entropy on Firefox

Download Entropy [ v1.0 | ~35KB | .zip | 1582 downloads ]

It’s pure DOS, Baby! — Behold, locked in a laboratory clean-room for hours with only archaic operating systems at hand, I found myself amazed by the uncompromising utility of a Windows DOS console. After a few traceroutes I found myself barfing up the illest CSS on the earth — moments later, DOS_FX was born…

This skin is ultra-lightweight, color-safe, image-friendly, and XHTML strict. Other than that, it’s so cool because it reminds us that DOS is really very special.

Screenshot of DOS_FX on Firefox

Download DOS_FX [ v1.0 | ~33KB | .zip | 1628 downloads ]

Perishable Press serves ‘em Bananaz with this release of the Bananaz theme for WordPress. Highly customizable, this unique two-column hybrid design merges fixed-width content with a liquid header and footer. Also, the Bananaz theme employs structural HTML markup and the miracle of CSS to function consistently across browsers while validating as XHTML strict. Plus, Bananaz is configured to support several popular WordPress functions and plugins (see install notes for complete details).

!UPDATE: Bananaz 2.0 now available! Bananaz 2.0 features consolidated and enhanced CSS & XHTML because I just can’t get enough of that good-old, down-home markup-presentation dichotomy. The new version not only features cleaner code, it boasts several subtle graphical & design improvements as well.

Screenshot of Bananaz on Firefox

Download Bananaz [ v2.0 | ~57KB | .zip | 1694 downloads ]

Get your own Casket!! — Presenting the ghastly new WordPress skin fresh from the tomb. Perishable Press officially opens the Casket with Version 1.0…

!UPDATE: Casket 2.0 opened November 21st, 2005! Casket 2.0 features completely rewritten CSS and XHTML code that now validates as XHTML-Strict. So you’ll find no tables in this casket, only structural markup and presentational CSS. Plus, in addition to consolidated code, several essential improvements have been made to key casket design elements. So bury your dead, people of the world, because Casket 2.0 is open for business!

Screenshot of Casket on Firefox

Download Casket [ v2.0 | ~31KB | .zip | 1575 downloads ]