Yahoo! launches new WordPress plugin

by Christina Warren Dec 13th 2007

Do you use WordPress? Are you a fan of really annoying pop-up advertising links/badges? Then Yahoo! has the plugin for you! Launching today, the Yahoo! Shortcuts for Bloggers WordPress plugin is designed to allow bloggers to easily add context links and images to their blog posts, using the power of Yahoo!'s search method. Well, that all sounds fancy and interesting, unfortunately, at least in its current form, we find the plugin pretty lacking in any substantive features.

Here's how the plugin works: after installing/activating the plugin in your WordPress installation, Yahoo! Shortcuts will automatically monitor your posts, as you type, for keywords that can either be converted to direct links, or into hover links in a little mini Yahoo! search box. Additionally, if you so choose, you can make choose to embed some Yahoo! content, like pictures from Flickr, maps from Yahoo! Maps and products from Yahoo! shopping database directly into your post.

For example, typing in a location (like Atlanta, GA), will automatically insert a hover link showing the location in Yahoo! Maps.

A Yahoo! Maps link inserted by Yahoo! Shortcuts

Conversely, if you want to actually embed that map into your post, you can do that too.

A map of Atlanta, embeded into a blog post by Yahoo! Shortcuts

But wait, there's more! If you type in a specific product name, Yahoo! Shortcuts can insert a product link, showing the range of prices available via Yahoo!'s product search.

Yahoo! Shortcuts shows off a swanky HDV camera

This is all well and good, and we suppose that in some situations, this kind of direct linking, without having to manually insert any code could be cool, but we don't really understand the point. Maybe we're in the minority, but we tend to find hover links, no matter how relevant they may be, annoying and distracting from blog content itself.

Additionally, if we want to insert Flickr images into our posts, we'd rather have them be from our own collections, not random images that happen to match a certain phrase. As for product search/linking? Well, again, it could be cool in theory, but in practice we find that kind of linking annoying and tend to avoid sites that use lots of these types of links.

At the end of the day, at least in its current form, Yahoo! Shortcuts could potentially save the link-phobic user a little bit of time (although if any links need to be modified, that time savings is pretty much moot), but the trade-off is making your blog even MORE annoying -- and for us, it just isn't worth it.

If you want to try Yahoo! Shortcuts, the beta is available now. It's free.

Tags: blog plugins, BlogPlugins, yahoo shortcuts, YahooShortcuts

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ariel Seidman said 10:09AM on 12-13-2007

Christina,
We realize that in some cases sites go overboard but as you say in some scenarios as you say this can be useful, and we hand the keys over to the blogger to help determine what is truly useful.

Once the it makes a recommendation (e.g. here is a map for a location) then we give bloggers 100% control they can remove all of the Shortcuts or just specific ones.

We realize that not every single recommendation we make will hit the mark for each bloggers varied tastes so that is why provide total control to the blogger.

Cheers,

Ariel Seidman
Yahoo! Search

Todd said 10:57AM on 12-13-2007

This awesome! Thank you.

I have several non geeks who contribute posts to a blog I run. They are all excellent writers but not nerds or Wordpress experts, this plug-in will be extremely helpful.

Yahoo continues to be the best ( Y!UI, Pipes, Flickr ) at helping people do things better with less work.

Mark Evans said 10:33AM on 12-13-2007

I'm not a big fan of the hover link feature. I think blogs such as TechCrunch have started using it but it's pretty annoying. And I wouldn't use the Yahoo plug-in from what you've described.

kingkool68 said 11:03AM on 12-13-2007

I take it the product link has some sort of affiliate revenue attached, otherwise as a blogger I wouldn't touch this plugin with a 10 foot pole. I don't find it hard to go out into the wild internet and search for this stuff on my own.

Joe Beaulaurier said 11:15AM on 12-13-2007

Definitely a case of the reviewer not being in the target demographic. This plugin will be a God-send for people just getting into or are bare-minimum part-time blogging with Wordpress. It could be a handicap for people who maintain their own stock photo collection, tweak their html by hand and spend a lot of time search for the just the right collateral.

Christina Warren said 12:38PM on 12-13-2007

You know what, that is an excellent point!

Ariel Seidman said 11:44AM on 12-13-2007

kingcool68:
At this time there is no advertising on the product -- so there is no revenue share because there is no advertising revenue.
There are lots of products on the market that are centered entirely around advertising and that is likely going to be a better fit for you.

Cheers,

Ariel Seidman
Yahoo! Search

Joe Beaulaurier said 1:03PM on 12-13-2007

Sadly, for those of us using Yahoo!-hosted WordPress platform (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/problogs.php), this plugin doesn't work. The Y!-hosted version of WordPress is 2.0.2 and this plugin requires 2.2 or higher.

Methinks the irony is thick.

gestroud said 7:16PM on 12-13-2007

I didn't think too much of the plugin until I watched the video walkthrough:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=5251111

I think that this plugin can be a very promising timesaver for a lot of bloggers. We'll see what happens when it gets out of beta. Hopefully, they'll add integration with Yahoo's Publisher Network soon - if ever.

zaki blogjer said 4:19AM on 12-22-2007

I've been using this plugin for about a week, it is really time saver if you need images for you post

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