Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
I
Changing mShots and Related Links
There are two extra features that WordPress has begun to include in every blog that have created a
fair amount of controversy in the user community. This is largely because WordPress introduced
these features without telling people, and with the default value set to On. Overnight, many peo-
ple's blogs changed, and they weren't too happy about it.
The two features are mShots and Related Links:
•
An mShot is a large thumbnail of the sites at the other end of a link. The thumbnail is too small
to read, which is what would be necessary for it to be useful, but too large to easily ignore,
blocking your view of the blog you're visiting.
•
Related Links is a widget that automatically generates links to other WordPress blogs that are
related. The algorithms that determine what other blogs are related don't work very well, so
what this really is for most bloggers is a semirandom selection of other WordPress blogs.
If these features are turned on in your blog and you don't like them, you might want to turn them
off. If they're turned off in your blog, you should turn them on long enough to experiment with them
and see if they add value.
In their current form, we tend to side with those who find these features more intrusive than help-
ful. They also are both quite distinctive and mark your blog unmistakably, for better or worse, as a
WordPress blog.
In the case of our main blogs, Notes from the Metaverse (open source code—McCallister) and
Google Voice Daily (Google Voice news and views—Smith), we're trying to reach audiences that
aren't necessarily WordPress-oriented, so we aren't seeking to have our blogs stand out in this way.
However, given that these features are available, you should experiment with them and see if you
want to use them yourself.
Follow these steps to turn Extras on or off:
1.
Go to your blog's Administration area.
2.
In the Appearance menu, choose the Extras subpanel. The Extras screen appears, as shown in
Figure 3.7.
3.
To enable mShots, check the Enable mShots Site Previews on This Blog check box. To disable
mShots, clear the check box.
4.
To disable Related Links, check the Hide Related Links on This Blog, Which Means This Blog
Won't Show Up on Other Blogs Or Get Traffic That Way check box. (Yes, that's right, what you
do to change the setting is the opposite of what you do for mShots.) To enable Related Links,
clear the check box.
5.
Click Update Extras to put the settings into effect.
