Web directory WordPress plugin

I’ve finally segrated the code for a Web directory from the Chameleon WordPress theme and created it into a WordPress plugin. The code is now working in my computer. It uses the internal link tables that WordPress uses for its bookmarks functions instead of creating my own tables. I’m currently testing it and hopefully put it into production on one of my web sites on the Internet.

Over the following days, my goal is to test and clean up the code so that it would be easy for people to put up a web directory on their own blog without to much of a hassle and also keep it working by using available core functions in WordPress instead of re-inventing things. Once I’ve stabilized the initial version, I’ll make it available on my projects page for people to download and use.

Some of the current features of the Web directory WordPress plugin include the following:

• Add/Edit/Delete directory entries using the current bookmark management functions existing in WordPress
• Easy setup of a main Web directory page by just using a single WordPress shortcode in a page you create in WordPress
• Easy integration into WordPress themes by detecting and using defined theme stylesheets
• Use of pretty permalinks in the Web directory structure to provide better search engine indexing and optimization
• Automatic creation of search engine friendly titles and description meta tags when web directory categories are accessed

Some of the planned features for the Web directory plugin are:

• Support for sub-categories – although the current WordPress core tables already support the creation of parent-child sub category relationships, there are no core functions for doing this.
• Backup / restore of categories/bookmarks – I’m also thinking of creating a Firefox plugin to be able to sync my bookmarks.
• Bookmark submission – to be able to allow your blog reader to submit url’s for inclusion into the web directory
• Some WordPress shortcodes to handle automatic link formatting in posts and other pages.

The other thing I’m thinking is to start building in support for international languages if a lot of people will be interested in the plugin. The objective to be able to create a plugin that will provide support for the core WordPress bookmark functions to allow WordPress users an easy way to add a Web Directory into their blogs.