I’ve updated the plugin to be compatible with WordPress 2.0 RC3 — if you’re testing WP 2.0, you can download Post Levels 0.9. Let me know if you find any bugs. I’ll release the real version with any bugfixes when WP 2.0 releases.
Partial list of new features in this release:
- Support for private posts in RSS feeds: Blog readers can use HTTP authentication to read private posts
- Post and User Level Admin UI
- Configurable options: New configuration options for features.
- No more Single Post bug: Yeah, that bug sucked
Note: This plugin is not compatible with previous versions of WordPress. If you try to use it with old versions of WP, it will probably make your tongue green.
Original title: "Photos that should be taken with a wide-angle lens"
Version 1.0 of the Post Levels plugin has been released. This is a release for WordPress 2.0, and is not compatible with earlier versions of WordPress.
Download
Post Levels 1.0
Installation Instructions
- Save the file
post-levels.php in your wp-content/plugins/ directory
- Activate the plugin within WordPress in your Plugins section
See the WordPress documentation if you’re having issues installing the plugin.
Upgrade Instructions
If you are upgrading from a previous version of WordPress, you should follow these steps:
- Deactivate the Post Levels plugin
- Upgrade your WordPress installation to 2.0 (this exercise is left to the reader)
- Download
post-levels.php, replacing the previous version
- Activate the plugin
- Click on the new Post Levels Configuration tab in the Plugins admin area:
- Scroll to the bottom of the page, and check the box labeled Copy user information …, then click Migrate User Levels
- Now go to the Users section in your WordPress admin. Click on the a new User Levels section.
- Confirm that all your user levels are appropriate
- You can now go to the Authors & Users section in order to change user permissions as necessary. I recommend changing all non-posting users to “Subscriber”
New Features
Version 1.0 has many frequently-requested features, including:
- Private posts over RSS: By adding
http_auth=yes to the query string of any WordPress URL, you can now use HTTP authentication to get private posts. Since most RSS readers support HTTP authentication, you can attach this query string to your feed URL and see private posts. The amount of data shown in the post is user-configurable: You can show just the title, excerpt, or give the full content.
- Independent User Level Control: The previous version of Post Levels used WordPress’ built-in user level property. This was a problem for many people because giving a user access to private posts also gave them administrative capabilities. This version assigns levels to users that are completely independent from the WordPress administrative functions.
- New Adminstrative UI for controlling plugin options: Control options such as the default post level, user level, etc
You can now see links to my private posts in your RSS reader (assuming it supports HTTP authentication — this varies by feed reader).
The feed URL is: http://fortes.com/feed?http_auth=yes (alternatively: http://fortes.com/life/feed?http_auth=yes if you don’t want to see anything but the personal posts)
Your reader should prompt you for your user name and password. Use the same one you would use to log in.
Let me know if you have any issues.
Like last year, I’m not going to rank these:
- Edan - Beauty and the Beat: Diverse and succinct. Best hip-hop album this year.
- My Morning Jacket - Z: Beautiful, country-tinged rock. Much like Edan’s album, elegant and brief with no filler.
- Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs: Consistent, excellent album that reminds me of the best parts of Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and Jon Brion.
- Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary: People compare them to the Arcade Fire for a reason — although I liked Funeral better, this comes close.
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: I avoided this album for a while because of the hype, and then listened to it for a week non-stop. Upbeat, melodic, and consistently strong.
- Cloud Cult - Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus: A brilliant, sprawling, diverse album. I’m surprised this band remains so obscure.
- M.I.A. - Arular
- Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic: Slightly better than The Campfire Headphase
- Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
- DangerDoom - DangerDoom: Has surprising staying power given its gimmicky nature. Got me to watch Adult Swim a few times.
Also notable:
- Kanye West - Late Registration: Maddeningly inconsistent and full of filler, but the few high points make it worth while.
- Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike: Fun and eclectic, but gets old quickly.
- Clor -Clor: Quirky and fun.
- Other “almost-great-but-not-quite” albums of this year: LCD Soundsystem, Run the Road, Franz Ferdinand, Boards of Canada, the White Stripes, Gorillaz, Beck, Spoon …
Once again, there are many albums I haven’t had a chance to listen to: Weareamonster, I Am A Bird Now, and Feels to name just a few. There’s too much good music out there to hear it all.
Khao San Road (in the Banglamphu district) is Bangkok’s super-touristy center for hotels and nightlife. We arrived just after midnight, but the party was still going strong. The drunken crowds on the street reminded me of Mardi Gras in New Orleans — Mardi Gras may have even had fewer tourists.
More pictures in my New Years Eve photoset.
