My Wordpress Plugin Idea Friday, November 28th Blogging, Daily News

So I came up with a wordpress plugin idea the other day, which I mentioned in a previous post. So far the work on it hasn’t been going to plan (namely as the key component isn’t compatible over different versions of PHP, which drives me insane), but there is still a part of me that wishes to make it. There is a distinct advantage to having it, but at the same time I think I might be doing work that has already been done – so I wanted to share with you all my plugin idea, and see if it struck a chord with any of you!

The Theory Behind The Plugin

We all know the advantages of commenting quickly on popular blogs – being the first commentator on a blog that gets a lot of visitors normally means that everyone else who views that post will also see your comment. Depending on how ‘attractive’ your comment is (be it the comment itself, the name you use, or if the blog is using commentluv, your latest post title), the amount of viewers to your website should increase. So how do you determine when someone makes their new posts? Well, if you have subscribed to the blog via email, you normally wont be notified until some time after the post has been made, which could be upto 24 hours in some cases. With RSS readers, my knowledge is a bit…’damp’. I assume that an rss reader will let you know as soon as there is a new post on any blog that you have added, but then again depending on the type of rss reader you use, you might not be able to access it from any other computer bar your own.

The Concept At Its Simplest

By now you might have got the idea about what I am proposing, but lets go through it anyway! Basically, the plugin would act very much like an rss reader for any websites you wanted to visit. You would be able to enter in a selection of sites, and then on visiting the plugin page, it would present you their latest post – and notify you of any new posts since the last time you visited. This way you would be able to see at a glance what blogs have new content for you, without having to wait for an email, or load up your rss software.

The Concept – Extended

You could also have the option of letting it show how many comments have already been posted on the blog in relation to that post, allowing you to see at a glance if you could possibly ‘own’ the first comment! If we were to step this up further, it could be made to parse through the list of the top 100 blogs relating to your blogging niche, and notify you of the ones that currently have no comments, allowing you to swoop in.

The Issues

Now some issues with this present themselves (they always do!). Firstly, there is already a piece of software similar to this called ‘Comment Sniper’, which actually texts you when a certain blog had just made a new post! Pretty good, but I believe you have to pay for that service, whereas my plugin would be free. Other pitfalls include widespread use of the plugin, making it harder to get the first comment, and the possibility that the first comments left might all end up being ‘Great Post’ comments.

The Bottom Line

I think that the plugin, made ‘mainly’ for keeping you upto date on the latest blog posts (like an rss feeder) through your own wordpress blog, isn’t a bad idea – but what do you guys think? I’d like to make a plugin that a lot of people might use and find ‘handy’. Ideas and opinions on a postcard…or to save on stamps, you can use the comment form below.

Dan

(On a side note, you may have noticed I have updated the banner so now the blog has its own mascots – let me know your opinions on it! I’ll be putting a link up for the artist at some point in the near future, in case any of you wished to get work similar to mine. Also, check out the new ‘My Updates’ page, where I will be putting little things like this from now on, instead of cluttering up the main blog page with potential ‘useless’ information! Catch ya later!)