MyDashboard Plugin
The MyDashboard plugin is designed to replace the standard, but limited, WordPress dashboard with something a bit more useful, extendable and skinnable.
It is based on the igoogle, Pageflakes and Netvibes style of home page and is designed to be easily extendable and skinnable.
Features include:
- Drag and drop to reorder the gadgets location to your liking.
- Add or remove gadgets at will.
- Fully extend-able - easily add your own gadgets to the dashboard using the very simple API.
- Skinable - The look of the dashboard can be changed simply by selecting a different skin (CSS style sheet).
- Standard gadgets - I have provided a number of standard gadgets.
This version of the plugin has a fully working dashboard and a number of standard gadgets that reproduce the main content from the standard WordPress dashboard such as:
As well as:
For more details on this plugin (until I get this page finished) please see http://blog.clearskys.net/2007/07/28/mydashboard-replacement-wordpress-dashboard-release-version/.
Installation
To install the MyDashboard plugin on your WordPress system, use the following easy instructions:
The first step is to pick the relevant download for your version of WordPress. For each version of the MyDashboard plugin there are 2 download packages.
- Small - The download marked Small requires that your WordPress version is 2.2 or above. This is because from WordPress version 2.2 the jQuery and jQuery interface javascript libraries where included in the distribution.
- Full - The download marked Full includes the jQuery and jQuery interface libraries within the zip file. This version should work on WordPress versions 2.0 and above (though it hasn't been fully tested).
Once you have the correct package downloaded, continue with the steps below to install it on your server.
- Unzip the file on your computer. It should create a mydashboard folder, with a number of files and sub-folders within it.
- Note: If you get a directory with a different name than mydashboard (such as the version number) then rename this directory to mydashboard prior to uploading. There was a fault with a couple of early distributions that had an incorrect file name.
- Open your FTP program and navigate to the plugins directory within your WordPress installation directory. This is usually located at wp-content/plugins.
- Upload the mydashboard folder and all the sub-folders to the plugins directory.
- Navigate to the Administration section of your WordPress blog.
- Click on Plugins, and scroll down to the MyDashboard entry. Click Activate
- Clicking on the Dashboard menu item should now load your new jazzy Dashboard.
How to use the Dashboard
The first time you click on the Dashboard menu (after activating the MyDashboard plugin) a default dashboard will be created for you. This initial dashboard will show most of the information that is commonly shown on the standard WordPress dashboard, and in roughly the same layout.
The column on the left hand side will display the Quick Links gadget to enable you to quickly navigate to other parts of your blogs administration options.
The middle column will display RSS feeds with the following information:
- Incoming links - This is the standard Technorati incoming links information that is usually displayed at the top right hand corner of the standard WordPress dashboard.
- WordPress development blog - This is the development news from the WordPress team that is usually displayed underneath the Quick Links on the standard WordPress dashboard.
- Other news - This is the other news links that are usually displayed at the bottom of the standard WordPress dashboard.
The right hand column will display some information about your blog. This is commonly displayed on the right hand side of the standard WordPress dashboard. These include:
- Latest Comments - The latest comments made on your blog, the number of comments awaiting moderation are shown at the top.
- Latest Posts - The last few posts that were added to your blog.
- Blog Statistics - Some statistics about your blog, such as the total number of posts and the total number of comments.
At the top right hand side of the Dashboard page, you will see a link labelled Add Gadgets, clicking on this link will open the Gadget Library, allowing you to add more gadgets to the dashboard.
Customising the Dashboard
The MyDashboard settings page can be accessed by clicking on the Presentation menu in your WordPress administration site, and then clicking on the Sub-menu labelled My Dashboard.
In the current version of the My Dashboard plugin, there are two options available.
- Show original dashboard as well - This option has two settings, Yes will display the standard WordPress dashboard as the default dashboard, but include the MyDashboard under a separate menu item, labelled "MyDashboard".
- Select dashboard skin - This option displays a list of all of the available skins for MyDashboard. To change the look of the dashboard, simply select the required skin and click on the Update settings button.
Skin development
A skin is very simply a CSS stylesheet (or a collection) and maybe a few graphics files.
Gadget development
It is relatively straightforward to develop gadgets for the MyDashboard dashboard plugin.
If you have previously developed WordPress widgets then you have all of the skills needed to create a Dashboard gadget. The following pages will provide more information on developing for the MyDashboard platform.
Thank you to FastIcon.com for the very cool Free Web 2 Social bookmarks icons
