One of the things I love about WordPress, is, of course, the huge amount of flexibility it provides. In addition to constant updates and improvements to the system and CMS, its modular nature allows me to plug in all sorts of new features and abilities with minimal coding.
Google Friend Connect is the latest handful that I’m throwing at the wall that is sterlingely.com, and so far, I like how it sticks. The idea behind GFS is simply to “make the web more social” by building a social networking system (based on your GMail account) that exists outside of any one website.
For example, instead of my Facebook “wall” which is private and on Facebook, I can now have a “wall” on sterlingely.com where anyone (or just approved friends) can write public comments. (Notice the modules to the lower right) Furthermore, I can use the GFC comment system instead of the WordPress comment system for comments on every post or page on my site.
And there’s the rub: Now I’ve reached a point where WordPress and Google Friend Connect overlap. As you’ll notice if you view any particular page or post on this site, at least for now, I have 2 forms of feedback on every page. Both can be completely open, allowing anyone to write an anonymous comment, or both can be locked down to only registered users. (Currently, only the WordPress comment system is active on each page)
For now I’ll keep both around: Google Friend Connect is still in its infancy, and has great potential, but I ain’t givin up on WP’s built-in commenting system yet!
This is a sample comment entered via the WordPress commenting system.
GFC is especially useful when you want to restrict commenting to “members” of your site. Doing so with WordPress requires a user to register a new account for each site they join, while Google Friend Connect allows people to sign in with their existing Google Accounts.
I can’t believe this is wordpress… I like the layout and styling. I’m not a huge light text/dark background guy, but hell, it works here nicely
saw your post.. heheh, it’s just a template I ripped from some listing somewhere, but I do like it. Sometimes I feel like the old analogy “the cobbler’s children run shoeless, the carpenter’s home has the leaky roof… etc” except with web development. I do so much dry web dev stuff at work that by the time I work on personal stuff the motivation is sooooo far gone. lol. see you at reunion?
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.