28Nov

Noio Iconized Bookmarks

As promised, I am releasing a plugin to help manage favicons in WordPress blogrolls. The plugin is still in an early stage, but it works fine for this site. If there is interest, I will polish it and add functions. I might eventually even add it to the WordPress plugin store if that is needed. The plugin has three features.

List bookmarks with favicons

Upon activation there is a function available that works just like WordPress’ built-in wp_list_bookmarks. The function is called list_iconized_bookmarks(), and it takes the same arguments as the original. The function takes images from the link_image field of each link. The images are displayed in front of the link, with class="favicon", and it is up to the user to define a proper style.

Iconized Links Widget

There is also a replacement Links widget available, to get iconized bookmarks into your blogroll. This widget has one option, which is the arguments string, with the same arguments that are passed to wp_list_bookmarks.

Iconizing

Iconizing might be a bit of a stupid name, but what this function does is add favicon-URLs to each of your links’ image fields! So you can just add a bunch of links to your blogroll, then run the plugin, and all favicons will be correctly set. You can start the plugin from the N.I.B. (Noio Iconized Bookmarks) panel in the settings screen. It allows you to define a default favicon, for when the real favicon cannot be found or doesn’t exist. It also allows you to define a specific word that will ‘lock’ the favicon if you put it in the Notes field of a link. Suppose you want to set another icon for a website, and you don’t want N.I.B. to overwrite your custom icon when you run an update. Then you just put this locking word in the link’s notes, and N.I.B. won’t change the icon.

Download

To use the plugin, just copy noio_iconized_bookmarks.php into your plugin folder, and activate it on the Plugins panel.
Get it from the WordPress repository.

References

I used a number of resources to help me build N.I.B. Here is some credit.

If you use the plugin, please tell me what you think about it! I’m very open to suggestions for improvements. Finally, if you want to donate money towards development of this plugin, go here.

36 Responses to “Noio Iconized Bookmarks”

  1. 28 Nov Matt Would says:

    Worked beautifully for me, thanks :)

  2. 03 Jan zac says:

    Hi,

    Just what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing this! I have a bug that I have not figured out yet… when I installed it all of the icons appeared, however the text from the Link name disappeared. It is still in the admin panel but the text now only exists in the alt tag on the site. Any idea what is going on?

  3. 03 Jan Tom says:

    I think I know what is going on. WordPress has a built in feature to display bookmarks with their image only, so the images are links, and texts are not displayed anymore. You have probably set show_images=true in wp_list_bookmarks. It is not possible to display both images and texts with wp_list_bookmarks.

    That is why I have included a special function, called list_iconized_bookmarks. That should display both the favicons and the texts. If you want to display your bookmarks in a widget, you can use the Iconized Bookmarks widget, that should have appeared in your available widgets list.

  4. 03 Jan zac says:

    Ahh great! Thanks a lot Tom, and thanks for the cool plug-in. I will be sure and note it when I make my list of WP extensions.

  5. 03 Jan zac says:

    one more thing.. this seems to have broke my validation.. largely because there is not anything defined as the “alt” (I think there was before I switched the function).

    The other repeating error..

    document type does not allow element “li” here; missing one of “ul”, “ol”, “menu”, “dir” start-tag.

    Blogroll

    Is this a known effect or is it just me?

  6. 03 Jan zac says:

    hi again :p well I fixed half of them by putting a blank alt tag in the output. I am confused by the other error though. It seems to be outputting the category of the links with a li before the ul and not closing that li either.

  7. 05 Jan zariel says:

    hi there. could I put in pages with link in it? I mean not for blogroll only. could it?

  8. 05 Jan Tom says:

    I don’t know if I understand what you mean, but at this moment, the plugin can only search for favicons of websites that are saved in your wordpress’s Links table. That is because there needs to be a place for the favicon-location to be saved.

  9. 05 Jan zariel says:

    blogroll usually puts on sidebar etc. if I want to build a page contain links to other blogs, which or what codes do I have to put in that page to make my blogroll appear? and can your plugin search for favicons of blog links in that page?

    sorry about my english. I’m not really good at it. hope you can understand what I’m trying to say. :)

  10. 05 Jan Robert@PNG says:

    Great idea !

    Cannot activte on my blog due to fatal error:

    Fatal error: Cannot redeclare url_validate() (previously declared in …/wp-content/plugins/wp-gravatar/gravatars.php:1312) in …/wp-content/plugins/noio_iconized_bookmarks.php on line 335

    Looks like it clashes with the WP Gravatar Plugin.

    Will keep my eye out for future updates and test.

    Cheers,

    R

  11. 05 Jan Tom says:

    I’ll change the name of that function, keep an eye out for version 0.8.2 tomorrow or the day after that.

  12. 06 Jan Hyrxx says:

    hey there, i just installed this, i actually didnt realise that it auto added the icons for you, that was a nice touch and im really impressed, saved me updating each link. is the notes tag thing so that you can change the icon for a specific link or watever?

    also it wasnt obvious to me and maybe other people didnt realise either that you have to swap the default links widget for the plugin one, i just left it and wondered why only the images showed.

    also is it possible to have a little space or padding next the image, i find its too close, see my site if your wondering what i mean,

    other than that it was a great plugin and thanks very much

  13. 06 Jan Tom says:

    Thanks for your comment. I’ve added a little section to the FAQ, because I noticed that people don’t know they have to use another widget. As for your padding issue: all favicons are automatically given the class ‘favicon’, so you can easily style them in your own CSS. I could suggest something like:
    .favicon {
    display:block; float:left;
    width:16px; height:16px;
    margin:0 4px 0 0;
    position:relative; top:3px;
    }

  14. 06 Jan The Blogger Source says:

    [...] Noio Iconized Bookmarks [...]

  15. 06 Jan Hyrxx says:

    brilliant, that css code worked like a charm, thanks!

  16. 07 Jan zac says:

    Thanks for the update.. I think it is better to leave the alt tag blank though because if it cant fetch the images then it puts a lot of text where the button should be and it gets messy (in FF 3)

    You have any thoughts on why the majority of the sites are not showing their favicon for me? For example Blueprint which I see you have an icon for on your site but does not show on mine. I am linking it up as:
    http://www.blueprintcss.org/

  17. 07 Jan Josh~ says:

    ok, with the new version the plugin is working but I get the default icon for ALL links while all of them have a favicon actually :(

  18. 07 Jan Tom says:

    You could be unlucky, if all of your pages are redirects, that means that the URL in the link doesn’t have a favicon. Is there any link you know has a favicon for sure? (Check the page source, in the head , if link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" is set, the plugin should be able to find the favicon).

  19. 08 Jan DominaDoll says:

    It totally deleted my links and now I only have favicons. I tried to uninstall and now am have lots of errors. Can you help me remove it. I don’t know what to do. Thanks. Looks cool on your page though.

  20. 08 Jan Tom says:

    I don’t think it deleted your links. I think you are using wp_list_bookmarks with show_images=true, or the default wordpress Links widget, that way only the images will be shown. Check your links manager to see if your links are still ok, otherwise restore your backup.

  21. 14 Jan HeartoftheCity says:

    Hi Tom,

    Thanks ever so much for your wonderful plugin. I have installed it on my blog – wwww.heartofthecityuk.com.

    I am writing in the hopes that you can help me with two small issues.

    1. While all favicons appear in Safari and Firefox, one seems not to appear at all in IE.
    I cannot seem to figure out why this is.

    Please do advise and thanks again for the great plugin!!!!

  22. 14 Jan Tom says:

    Hey, I have heard of the problem before, I suspect it is because IE has problems displaying certain formats of .ICO files. Could you give an example? I could not find it on your site.

  23. 14 Jan HeartoftheCity says:

    Hi Tom,

    So sorry about that, I should have pointed out where I placed the bookmarks in my first message. My apologies.

    You can find the two links in question on the right sidebar under the header “Black/Brown Political Blogs (UK). Those links are:

    1. # Pickled Politics faviconPickled Politics

    2. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown – The Independent

    I am running IE7.

    Also, I failed to mention this in my previous comment, but I noticed you provided code to Hyrxx for padding the favicons. I cant seem to determine where I should place that code in my own CSS. Thoughts?

    Thanks again for the great plugin!!! Its a great addition to my website.

  24. 15 Jan Leanne Boyd says:

    Hello… I’ve had problems as mentioned above. Mostly, the fact that so many sites don’t use Favicon… and it knocks everything severely out of alignment in the sidebar… mostly because the coding is not respecting the ‘default’ icon I selected and placed online. So, I get a ‘blank’ X image, and it knocks it all askew.

    Now, I’ve attempted to uninstall. And although everything is supposedly deactivated and then actually deleted… I am still getting the Favicon/image, but no text showing. I need to know how to completely uninstall your plugin.

  25. 18 Jan Mathieu Yuill says:

    Ahhhh – couldn’t figure out why it was just showing the ico file and not the name of the blog – thanks to the poster who pointed out you have to remove the standard blogroll widget and activate the NIB one.

  26. 22 Jan Tom says:

    The plugin has actually been completely uninstalled, but you have added favicon addresses to your links, and those are still being shown.

    • Either use a widget that does not display image links.
    • Or you can delete the Image Address from each of your links
  27. 03 Feb nigelm says:

    Hi

    plugin works fine except onhover does not show the link description any more – using wp_list_bookmarks did. Is this an omission or have I screwed up. Please check http://www.stalbanslife.co.uk on the left sidebar.

    Thanks

  28. 03 Feb nigelm says:

    just to clarify, the title tag needs to be addeed in the way it is in wp_list_bookmarks. I’m using the same arguments as for the wp_list_bookmarks() fn so I assume it is a coding omission??

    Thanks

    Nigel

  29. 03 Feb Tom says:

    I’m not sure if I quite understand your question, but the title may vary depending on what categories you are showing. Also some of the defaults inlist_iconized_bookmarks() are slightly different from those in wp_list_bookmarks().

  30. 03 Feb nigelm says:

    sorry what I mean is that the title tag is not prduced. wp_list_bookmarks() populates the title tag with the link description used in the links you assign to link categories. inlist_iconized_bookmarks() does not seem to output this. So I’m wondering if this is an omission? I am using the same arguments for each function.

  31. 03 Feb nigelm says:

    Here is an example of a link with wp_list_bookmarks and list_iconized_bookmarks

    Hertfordshire Travel Information
    stablished in 1999 the Intalink Partnership is a unique collaboration between local authorities and bus and train operators in Hertfordshire.

    and

    Hertfordshire Travel Information

  32. 03 Feb nigelm says:

    whoops it parsed the links of course.

  33. 03 Feb Tom says:

    I get what you mean. You are right: list_iconized_bookmarks does not generate a title attribute for anchors yet.

  34. 03 Feb nigelm says:

    I may try to add it into your code tomorrow brain-cells permitting. Or do you fancy an updated version? Nice plugin, just what I wanted…..thanks

  35. 10 Feb WP Blogroll Plugins | Tom B.'s Rambles says:

    [...] Noio Iconized Bookmarks basically just adds a bit of bling to your blogroll. Set up is easy, install and activate the plugin, go to the options page and click on the update icons button. It may take a few minutes, but eventually it will list the sites where it found a favicon. If you have not placed the included widget, your blogroll will now be nothing but the found images. The widget give you both the icons and the names of the links. There is an option to have a default image for people that either do not use favicons or favicons that the plugin can’t find. I recommend creating one, it makes things look much better and more uniform. [...]

  36. 09 Apr Chris Sylvester says:

    You should put a “PayPal donate” button in the admin page of this plugin. It’s a great plugin and you deserve to be remunerated for it.

    I’ll see if I can find a donate button on your website, though.

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