Problem: I needed a meta box for Pages that was dynamically populated by the site’s custom Menus.

Solution: Added this to my CMB metaboxes code:

I like how WordPress automatically coverts a Youtube url into a video embed, but I’m not really happy with the use of the embed tag. I like the newer iframe methods Youtube and Vimeo both use and I wanted a way to easily drop those into a Post or Page.

So I wrote two shortcodes to do this, one for Youtube and one for Vimeo.

Youtube shortcode

Start with the address (URL) of a Youtube video. For instance, say you’re watching this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBnGbFjlhM0&feature=grec_index. You would copy everything from the left up to the ampersand (this-> &): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc. 

This becomes the src attribute of your shortcode and you write this in your Post or Page:

[ youtube src=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc ]

If you want to add a width and height attribute, you can add width and height like so:

[ youtube src=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc width=600 height=450 ]

Tip: If you click on the Share button underneath the Youtube video, then again on Embed, you’ll see, in the embed code, the width and height of the video you’re watching.

Vimeo shortcode

Vimeo URLs are easier to work with, so far. They look pretty much like this: http://vimeo.com/31082448. Copy the address and it becomes the src attribute of your shortcode. Write it in your Post or Page:

[ vimeo src=http://vimeo.com/31082448 ]

If you want to specify a width and height, you can add those attributes like so:

[ vimeo src=http://vimeo.com/31082448 width=640 height=360 ]

Tip: To get the width and height of a Vimeo video, click on the embed link on the right side of the video player (mouse over the video to see these). Then click on the Customize embed options. Enter a width value and press the Tab key on your keyboard (or click on the height field). Vimeo will automatically calculate the correct height value for you. Use those for your width and height attributes in your shortcode.

Both shortcodes (with uStream support, too):

WP Fluid Images runs when you insert an image into a Post or Page. It removes the fixed width and height attributes from the image tag. If you insert an image from the image uploader, by default, a width and height attribute is inserted into the image tag with fixed pixel values. This plugin prevents this from happening, because this can be problematic if your theme is built using responsive design methods. The plugin also adds a style tag in the header that sets a max-width rule of 100%. This insures that any image in a Post or Page won’t extend past the width of the Post or Page.

If you resize an image in the Visual Editor, a new width and height attribute get added to the image. WP Fluid Images loads a jQuery script that examines the .post, or .page divs for image tags. It calculate the image’s width as a percentage of the .post or .page div, removes the width and height attributes, and adds a style attribute with a width value set to the calculated percentage.

What is the concept of “Fluid Images”?

The idea behind fluid images is that instead of having images that size proportionally and smoothly as your web page’s width increases or decreases. Ethan Marcotte wrote an article on the idea at A List Apart:
You can also learn more at his site: Unstoppable Robot Ninjas. Fluid Images is an important consideration in responsive web design. Which segues to:

What is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web Design is the idea of having your site’s design be flexible enough to resize based on the width of the browser window. This allows you to create a single, adjustable design that works regardless of the size of the device. It’s a nice alternative to building separate designs for desktop browsing, tablets, mobile browsers, etc.

You can download WP Fluid Images here.

Foomark is a bookmarking site, in the vein of Delicious & Magnolia. Up to now, there wasn’t a way to integrate your foomarks with your blog or website – somthing I wanted to do. Now there is.

This plugin lets you share your foomarks in a widget. It takes the JSON feed from Foomark & outputs the title of each foomark, linked to that bookmarked site. At the bottom of the widget is a link to your Foomark page.

You can download the plugin here.

Notes

• The plugin reads Foomark’s JSON feed from api.foomark.com.
• There is a 3-second timeout on the connection. If api.foomark.com isn’t able to respond, an error message appears, rather than holding up the rendering of your site.
• The plugin is internationalized with Spanish (Mexican) and German translation files.

If you have any questions, please use the official support forums.