The development of this plugin has been largely delayed by the robbery that happened to me earlier this year, so I had to start from scratch.

However, I’ve made my plan a bit more simpler, as I now plan on just adapting from a GPL-based genealogy software of my choice that’s running on PHP and MySQL. The same development concept was used when I developed the Top Commentators Widget, since I figured I shouldn’t be reinventing the wheel when there are better and more developed genealogy software.

I’m looking into adapting either phpmyfamily or GeneoTree, albeit in a smaller scale than what is offered by either one application. I’m hoping to achieve the following by the time a beta release is ready for public testing:

• Include a simple administration page to upload GEDCOM (.ged) file
• Provide the ability to display ancestry in a list order
• Provide the ability to display a person’s details

And that’s it, really. I’m putting off the rest of the options because, honestly speaking, this can grow into a pretty huge application that would match its original counterparts. If I’m bogged down with too many features, I’m worried that I might not be able to complete this by the end of this year. So, better something than nothing, I say

I still need your help finalizing the official name of this plugin. FamilyPress and WP-Genealogy are currently in equal footing as of the moment of this posting. Please use the poll below and vote for the official name. I’ll be announcing its official name the moment a beta is ready for deployment.

To be honest, I didn’t want to blog about my web hosting provider, and selfishly wanted to keep this secret to myself. But their hosting deal and customer support are just too good for everyone to not experience it. So now, after more than a year of hosting with them, I decided to break the silence.

I have tried 3 hosting providers before finally settling with this excellent Web hosting provider. If you’ve been using WordPress for a while, you may have experienced the following common problems:

• You can’t automatically update your plugins and themes unless you CHMOD your folders to 777 and files to 666 (777 and 666 are the most unsecured folder and file settings, and your site will be prone to hacks).
• You can’t update your Permalinks unless you CHMOD your .htaccess file to 666.
• Your Fantastico panel can’t keep up with the latest WordPress version until after two weeks or more.
• Your hosting provider has no clue when it comes to problems with your WordPress install.
• Your hosting provider has crappy customer support.
• … and the most dreaded of all, your WordPress-powered site is using too much memory or CPU resource, that your hosting provider had to shut your site down, or even worse, suspend your hosting account!

I faced all these issues at one time or another during my first year after I started blogging with WordPress. The CPU resource hog was my worst nightmare — WebGrrrl.net wasn’t accessible for almost two weeks because I was using 0.5% more than the 4% CPU limit! Frantically but cautiously, I began my search for the best WordPress hosting I can get without breaking the bank.

Until today, my experience helping others with their WordPress install on Dreamhost, Bluehost, Godaddy and HostGator proved that I made the best choice by selecting WP WebHost for my WordPress sites. This is one hosting that sounds too good to be true, but is, actually, absolutely superb, that I don’t think I’ll be happier with any other hosting provider.

Thanks to their WordPress-optimized servers, my hosting issues are now virtually non-existent, and their support is kick-ass, to say the least. Even through e-mail support which I prefer to use, most of the time the response is almost immediate that it boggles the mind! WP WebHost’s Fantastico panel also shows the latest WordPress version a day or two after the update is available, which makes upgrading my more than 10 WordPress sites feel like peanuts.

Best of all, you, the WebGrrrl.net readers, are now eligible to get your very own WordPress hosting with WP WebHost at a crazy 30% DISCOUNT! Yes you heard me right! This means that, using the promotional code WEBGRRRL30, you will get a one-time 30% off all WP WebHost hosting plans, like so:

• For the monthly plan, it’ll only cost you US$5.60 for the first month, then US$8/month for subsequent months
• For the annual plan, it’ll only cost you US$4.67/month (US$56/year) for the first year, then US$6.67/month (US$80/year) for subsequent years (billing is annually)
• For the 2-year plan, it’ll only cost you US$3.50/month (US$84/2 years) for the first 2 years, then US$5/month (US$120/2 years) for every 2-years thereafter (billing is biennially)

You can ask them to transfer your WordPress site from your old hosting provider for free, and I don’t think you’ll be using their 100-day money back guarantee any time soon.

Wow, I’ve been drafting this post for so long, because I really want to do justice to how special WP WebHost is — they make me love WordPress even more!

I mentioned before that one of my goals slash New Year’s resolutions for WebGrrrl.net is to create a new WordPress plugin that can support the GEDCOM data scheme to create a genealogy (family tree) site powered by WordPress. I plan to start it within this week.

Here’s my predicament — I can’t come up with a snazzy name for this plugin, so can you help me? Please vote or suggest a name using the poll form below and even let me know what you’re expecting from this plugin. Deadline? I guess this poll will be open until I’m ready to put out an alpha version of it, probably in 3-5 months’ time.

The poll above contains a few titles I’ve been playing around with. That WordPress TNG thing is actually a reference to my favorite Star Trek series, The Next Generation. Sure it sounds a little tacky, but I think it’s funny, and funny is always a good thing, heh.

Any help with digging this and adding to your social network sites will be much appreciated

I’ve finally come around to fixing the bugs in this version of TCW. I have added in most of the codes that support Gravatar, thanks to the work of Sergio Nascimento.

Hopefully the next update would include the ability to add multiple TCW to more than one sidebar within a blog, as suggested by someone via Facebook. I’ll do what I can

I found out about this a couple of days ago through the Top 10 WorPress Plugin Authors post, but only decided to talk about it now, coz this is a scheduled post, muahahahahah!!

I should have felt happier that I ranked in the 200s for the Top Commentators widget, but really, the credit should go to Personal Finance Advisor for developing the original plugin in the first place. The TCW, as I fondly call it, still has bugs to squash, so it’s not perfect. The new update will be published sometime this month, together with the start of the WordPress GEDCOM plugin I plan to develop.

You should really take a look at the Top 1000 list, as they contain some wonderful plugins such as Article Templates, Amazon Reloaded for WordPress, eShop, WordPress Download Monitor, and many more. If you’re creative, a lot of them can be used for your niche sites, either to improve usability or improve SEO!

How’s that for a first post in 2009?