Category LiveBookmarks Plus

Updated January 30, 2020 • 131 comments

Category LiveBookmarks Icon
CLB+ New version of Category LiveBookmarks Plus (CLB+) now available! CLB+ version 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!

Let’s take a quick look..

Update: Category LiveBookmarks is discontinued as WordPress has integrated all of the same functionality. So no more need for this plugin!</update>

Live bookmarks

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.

About the plugin

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 display a custom set of category links next to 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

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

Related Information

About the Author

Jeff Starr = Web Developer. Book Author. Secretly Important.

131 responses to “Category LiveBookmarks Plus”

Jennifer 2006/08/17 12:20 pm

Thanks for the great plugin. I noticed some oddities with using the clb_plus function, however.

In the monthly archives, is it possible to provide the entire list of feeds (as opposed to just the feeds for the categories of the first post).

Also, for the feed listing on the category pages, it seems to be spitting out a list of the categories the first post in that category belongs to. Even odder is that it spits out the block twice.

See http://www.room214.com/room2blog for an example of what I’ve described above. Click on any category and see what happens at the bottom of the left sidebar.

I appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks in advance!

Perishable 2006/08/17 7:03 pm • Post Author

Jennifer,

Thanks for the input — I will look into these issues as soon as possible. Listing all feeds should be relatively easy to implement, but the replication of feed links may require some digging. Stay tuned..

rik 2006/08/18 2:44 pm

thanks so much for writing this! it does exactly what I needed and worked the first time. I’ve been trying to get feeds into a wiki based on blog category and this was like a magic wand for this project :) Nowif you just included the little RSS icon as the bullet for each item…

Perishable 2006/08/19 4:58 pm • Post Author

rik,

Thank you for the positive feedback — the RSS icon is a great idea. I am currently working on updating the plugin with a few new features as well as an important fix to an issue that Jennifer recently brought to my attention. The new version should be released before Wednesday (Aug. 23rd), and will provide smoother performance, greater flexibility and perhaps even some nice RSS list bullets :)

rik 2006/08/21 7:22 am

ooh! bullets! Thanks for that, I was just joking :) The link to the <a> is bad, though :(

Perishable 2006/08/21 7:35 am • Post Author

Aha — forgot to publish it! All better now..

Jennifer 2006/08/22 6:36 pm

AWESOME! I see you posted the update, and it works great! I like all of the customization options you added.

Thanks so much! :)

For our site, I think we’re going to have all category feeds display on the Category pages, but just FYI, changing the setting to FALSE still makes it show all feeds from the first post in that category, instead of just the one feed for the category page you are on.

Perishable 2006/08/29 8:02 am • Post Author

Jennifer,

Glad you are enjoying the CLB+ plugin! The new options definitely are an improvement. As soon as I have more time I will work on getting the feed list to include links for all categories from all posts while in an archive-type view. Believe it or not, the current improvements may not have been made if it were not for your feedback — so thank you!

Simon 2006/08/31 4:55 pm

This is fantastic. Just what we need. Good work.

Just one problem with sub-categories. When I insert “” to sidebar, it doesn’t generate link to feed for sub-category. Tested in Firefox and it isn’t displaying option to subscribe to feed for sub-category. But feed does exist and work eg “http://servername/blogname/category/technology/tax/feed/”.

I tried installing version 1.0.1 and Firefox does give option to subscribe to sub-category. But of course 1.0.1 doesn’t have the “”” feature.

Is this a “known issue”?

Cheers

John 2006/09/01 2:05 pm

I am receiving this error after activating the plugin:

Any ideas?

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING in /[…]/htdocs/Blog/wp-content/plugins/cat-live-bookmarks.php on line 71

John 2006/09/01 2:14 pm

I figured it out….So will this work with aggregators?

Perishable 2006/09/02 6:34 pm • Post Author

John,

The CLB+ plugin creates head links for blog feeds. The links are then "autodetected" by browsers and other devices (such as Firefox) that provide such functionality. So, in regards to your question, CLB+ will work with any aggregators that autodetect head links for feeds. Thanks for the question — eventually, I plan to do some research and produce a list of current browsers, aggregators, and other devices that support the autodetect function. And I will …just as soon as I find the time:)

Comments are closed for this post. Something to add? Let me know.

Jennifer 2006/08/17 12:20 pm

Thanks for the great plugin. I noticed some oddities with using the clb_plus function, however.

In the monthly archives, is it possible to provide the entire list of feeds (as opposed to just the feeds for the categories of the first post).

Also, for the feed listing on the category pages, it seems to be spitting out a list of the categories the first post in that category belongs to. Even odder is that it spits out the block twice.

See http://www.room214.com/room2blog for an example of what I’ve described above. Click on any category and see what happens at the bottom of the left sidebar.

I appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks in advance!
Perishable 2006/08/17 7:03 pm • Post Author

Jennifer,

Thanks for the input — I will look into these issues as soon as possible. Listing all feeds should be relatively easy to implement, but the replication of feed links may require some digging. Stay tuned..
rik 2006/08/18 2:44 pm

thanks so much for writing this! it does exactly what I needed and worked the first time. I’ve been trying to get feeds into a wiki based on blog category and this was like a magic wand for this project :) Nowif you just included the little RSS icon as the bullet for each item…
Perishable 2006/08/19 4:58 pm • Post Author

rik,

Thank you for the positive feedback — the RSS icon is a great idea. I am currently working on updating the plugin with a few new features as well as an important fix to an issue that Jennifer recently brought to my attention. The new version should be released before Wednesday (Aug. 23rd), and will provide smoother performance, greater flexibility and perhaps even some nice RSS list bullets :)
rik 2006/08/21 7:22 am

ooh! bullets! Thanks for that, I was just joking :) The link to the <a> is bad, though :(
Perishable 2006/08/21 7:35 am • Post Author

Aha — forgot to publish it! All better now..
Jennifer 2006/08/22 6:36 pm

AWESOME! I see you posted the update, and it works great! I like all of the customization options you added.

Thanks so much! :)

For our site, I think we’re going to have all category feeds display on the Category pages, but just FYI, changing the setting to FALSE still makes it show all feeds from the first post in that category, instead of just the one feed for the category page you are on.
Perishable 2006/08/29 8:02 am • Post Author

Jennifer,

Glad you are enjoying the CLB+ plugin! The new options definitely are an improvement. As soon as I have more time I will work on getting the feed list to include links for all categories from all posts while in an archive-type view. Believe it or not, the current improvements may not have been made if it were not for your feedback — so thank you!
Simon 2006/08/31 4:55 pm

This is fantastic. Just what we need. Good work.

Just one problem with sub-categories. When I insert “” to sidebar, it doesn’t generate link to feed for sub-category. Tested in Firefox and it isn’t displaying option to subscribe to feed for sub-category. But feed does exist and work eg “http://servername/blogname/category/technology/tax/feed/”.

I tried installing version 1.0.1 and Firefox does give option to subscribe to sub-category. But of course 1.0.1 doesn’t have the “”” feature.

Is this a “known issue”?

Cheers
John 2006/09/01 2:05 pm

I am receiving this error after activating the plugin:

Any ideas?

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING in /[…]/htdocs/Blog/wp-content/plugins/cat-live-bookmarks.php on line 71
John 2006/09/01 2:14 pm

I figured it out….So will this work with aggregators?
Perishable 2006/09/02 6:34 pm • Post Author

John,

The CLB+ plugin creates head links for blog feeds. The links are then "autodetected" by browsers and other devices (such as Firefox) that provide such functionality. So, in regards to your question, CLB+ will work with any aggregators that autodetect head links for feeds. Thanks for the question — eventually, I plan to do some research and produce a list of current browsers, aggregators, and other devices that support the autodetect function. And I will …just as soon as I find the time:)

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