WPSmith | Genesis Dashboard News

This small and lightweight plugin adds a new dashboard widget to your WordPress Admin Dashboard that pulls in the some recent (worldwide) news about the Genesis Theme Framework and its community/ecosystem. You can configure how many items are displayed (between 3 and 20 items). Only the headlines of the various blog posts will be shown.

The news items come from a custom news planet source combined of different Genesis related sources around the world. Currently we have mostly English-language sources though :) Just be informed about Genesis. Know what's going on in the community, and the ecosystem - new child theme releases, extension plugins, tutorials, code snippets... Enjoy :)

Since version 1.5 of the plugin you can customize the widget title, URL of feed source as well as the footer line to your liking via the new filters. This comes in really handy for branding/customizing the dashboard, for clients or other purposes... See the FAQ section here for more info on that.()

Please note: Genesis Dashboard News DOESN'T require the use of the Genesis Framework but I recommend to use it anyway :-).

Localization

English (default) - always included
German (de_DE) - always included
.pot file (genesis-dashboard-news.pot) for translators is also always included :)
Easy plugin translation platform with GlotPress tool: Translate "Genesis Dashboard News"...
Your translation? - Just send it in

A plugin from deckerweb.de and GenesisThemes

Feedback

I am open for your suggestions and feedback - Thank you for using or trying out one of my plugins!
Drop me a line @deckerweb on Twitter
Follow me on my Facebook page
Or follow me on +David Decker on Google Plus ;-)

Download

Latest version: Download Genesis Dashboard News v1.5 (Downloaded: 1,527 times)

Installation

Upload genesis-dashboard-news folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
Visit your WordPress Dashboard to enjoy the Genesis News widget.
Optionally configure the number of news items by clicking the configure link the top right corner of the widget.

Own translation/wording: For custom and update-secure language files please upload them to /wp-content/languages/genesis-dashboard-news/ (just create this folder) - This enables you to use fully custom translations that won't be overridden on plugin updates. Also, complete custom English wording is possible with that, just use a language file like genesis-dashboard-news-en_US.mo/.po to achieve that (for creating one see the tools on "Other Notes").

Screenshots

Dashboard widget with 5 news items
Configure the Dashboard widget
Dashboard widget with help tab open (plugin hooks in at the bottom of the help page)

FAQ

How can I add another news or blog source to the Genesis News Planet?

Just drop me a note at my Twitter @deckerweb

Can I view this news planet source in a standalone modus?

Yes, you can! Just step up to Genesis News Planet @friendfeed -- or subscribe via RSS/ATM feed in your feed reader :)

How can I change the RSS cache lifetime in WordPress which also effects this plugin's dashboard widget?

Sure, you can change that. You need to add the following code to your child theme's functions.php file, the "Custom Code" section in Prose 1.5+ or to a functionality plugin. Please note: BACKUP the functions.php file before doing so! And please also note this: Changing that value will effect ALL other usages/appearances of RSS cache lifetime, so for example the built-in WordPress RSS widget and the other default dashboard widgets importing feed content. So use at your own risk! The number at the end is the time in seconds. So 300 means actually 5 minutes. - Got it? It's that simple, yes :)

/** RSS cache lifetime */
add_filter( 'wp_feed_cache_transient_lifetime', create_function( '$a', 'return 300;' ) );

Can I customize the dashboard widget?

Sure thing. I've included some filters since plugin version 1.5 so you can customize/brand it to your liking! I list the filter names in bold and then add more details on each of them:

gdbn_filter_widget_title

Dashboard Widget/Meta Box title
Default value: "Genesis News Planet"
To add your own widget title here, use this code:

add_filter( 'gdbn_filter_widget_title', 'gdbn_custom_widget_title' );
/** Genesis Dashboard News: Custom Widget Title */
function gdbn_custom_widget_title() {
    return __( 'Custom Widget Title', 'your-textdomain' );
}

gdbn_filter_feed_source_url

The URL of the RSS/ATOM feed
Default value: "http://friendfeed.com/genesisnews?format=atom"
To use a custom URL use this code:

add_filter( 'gdbn_filter_feed_source_url', 'gdbn_custom_source_feed_url' );
/** Genesis Dashboard News: Custom Source Feed URL */
function gdbn_custom_source_feed_url() {
    return 'http://your-source-url.com/feed-whatever/';
}

gdbn_filter_widget_footer_info

The small info line
Default value: feed link, plus various resource links
To remove this line completely, add this code:

/** Genesis Dashboard News: Remove Widget Footer Info */
add_filter( 'gdbn_filter_widget_footer_info', '__return_null' );

To add your own content here, use this code:

add_filter( 'gdbn_filter_widget_footer_info', 'gdbn_custom_footer_widget_info' );
/** Genesis Dashboard News: Custom Widget Footer Info */
function gdbn_custom_footer_widget_info() {
    return __( 'Your custom widget footer info here...', 'your-textdomain' );
}

gdbn_filter_help_tab_title

The title of the left-hand help tab title
Default value: "Genesis Dashboard News"
To add your own help tab title here, use this code:

add_filter( 'gdbn_filter_help_tab_title', 'gdbn_custom_help_tab_title' );
/** Genesis Dashboard News: Custom Help Tab Title */
function gdbn_custom_help_tab_title() {
    return __( 'Custom Help Tab Title', 'your-textdomain' );
}

gdbn_filter_help_tab_content

The actual help tab content
Default value: the help content text...
Customize as with the same principles shown above...

All the custom, branding and developer stuff code above can also be found as a Gist on GitHub: https://gist.github.com/2597190 (you can also add your questions/ feedback there :)

Changelog

1.5 (2012-05-03)

NEW: Performance optimization - restructuring and splitting of code into several files, loading only where and if needed. Plugin support stuff only appears now if one of the supported plugins is active!
NEW: Added 5 filters for better customizing the plugin's output (see FAQ page here!).
NEW: Added dashboard and support links to plugin page.
NEW: Added possibility for custom and update-secure language files for this plugin - just upload them to /wp-content/languages/genesis-dashboard-news/ (just create this folder) - this enables you to use fully custom wording or translations.
UPDATE: Completely deprecated old contextual help system (from prior WordPress 3.3) - in favor of supporting the help tabs system, in a more extended form :)
CODE: Major code tweaks and code documentation improvements - better readability, splitted in parts for better performance, reduced markup where possible.
CODE: Successfully tested against Genesis 1.8+ plus WordPress 3.3 branch and new 3.4 branch. Also successfully tested in WP_DEBUG mode (no notices or warnings).
UPDATE: Updated help tab screenshot, optimized the other two.
UPDATE: Updated German translations and also the .pot file for all translators!
NEW: Added banner image on WordPress.org for better plugin branding :)
UPDATE: Extended GPL License info in readme.txt as well as main plugin file.
NEW: Easy plugin translation platform with GlotPress tool: Translate "Genesis Dashboard News"...

1.4 (2011-10-02)

Added localization for the whole plugin, including links, tooltips, contextual help and plugin description section
Added German translations (English included by default)
Added contextual help - tab on the top right corner of the options page - hooked in at the bottom of the existing dashboard help tab
Improved and documented plugin code
Tested & proved compatibility with WordPress 3.3-aortic-dissection :-)
Big update to readme.txt file, included new screenshot with contextual help tab :)
Added new FAQ entry here on how to change WordPress RSS cache lifetime for faster display of new RSS items in dashboard
Added more sources/links to the actual RSS feed for the Genesis News Planet