Filed under: Blogging, Yahoo!, Beta
Yahoo! launches new WordPress plugin
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
Yahoo! Shortcuts shows off a swanky HDV camera
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
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.
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.