The first version was ugly, and consequently never added to the WordPress Plugin Repository. Aesthetics were not the only issue: you could only run one instant of it per page, there were two different places where settings had to be configured, did I mention it was ugly?

The rotator comes with three transitions: Linear, Loop, and Fade. Linear will scroll the images horizontally across it’s container. Once a linear rotator has reached the end of the images, it will bounce back and scroll the opposite way. Loop rotators are circular: when the last image is reached, the first image in the list will appear next, and the loop starts over. Fade will fade each image in and each image out.

These transitions weren’t our biggest issue though. It was the settings. That was the ugly part, but this time we made something elegant.

To the right you see the Image Rotator Widget’s setting pane. We knew that the process of adding images to the rotator needed to be simple. A plain “+” button will invoke WordPress’ Media dialog. From there, users may chose to upload a new image, or to select a previously uploaded image from their Media Library, just like they would if they were inserting an image into a post. After the image has finished uploading or the user has selected an image, they must press the “Send to Image Rotator” button. Once all of the desired images have been uploaded, they’re really easy to manage.

Hovering over an image name will display a tooltip that contains the image. We didn’t want to clutter the widget settings, so we decided that loading all of the images into the settings container was not an option. Our decision to put the images into a tooltip preview paid off two-fold: users don’t have to wait for images to load before than can edit, reorder, etc…; and it kept our interface clean, which makes for easy sorting and deletion.

Sorting is as easy as clicking on empty space within the image list item and dragging it to the desired position. Imagine how choppy this would have been had we loaded the images(all with different proportions) straight into the settings container.

To delete an image from the widget, press the “-” button that is next to the image you want to remove. Keep in mind that you must click “Save” or none of these changes will take place.

For a more visual overview of the widget settings, we’ve made a screencast:

If you give this plugin a run, please feel free to leave any comments, bugs, or feedback in the WordPress support forums(we monitor these) or by contacting us directly.

The Image Rotator Widget can be downloaded from the WordPress plugin repository.

Now I just wanted a top bar to keep readers up to date on any key messages we wanted to remind them about… including news and events. I was going to write this directly into our theme but found WP-Topbar, a nicely written top bar plugin for WordPress. There were some others out there that has other features… like rotating messages or message scheduling, but the simplicity of this plugin won them over.

I appreciated that the top bar wasn’t hardcoded at the top of the page content; instead, it’s dynamically generated and appears with settings that include a delay and speed for displaying it… a really nice touch! You can control the colors (and even background image) of the bar, the message, add a link, and even apply your own CSS to it. The administration also has a preview so you can preview all of your changes before putting it live.

Note, there are some top bar plugins out on the market that are charging money… but I think this one is worth more!

UPDATE: I did make some updates to the plugin. It’s now loading from wp_footer rather than wp_head (that’s WordPress API talk) and I updated the div to have an ID and styling to fix the bar rather than having it relative. This way, the bar stays put while you scroll down the page.

1. It’s $200 away from winning an Apple iMac.
   
2. It’s like winning $400 cash and an Apple Mac Mini.
   
3. It’s like winning $600 cash and an Apple iPhone.
   
4. It’s like winning $700 cash and an Apple iPod Touch or an AppleTV.
   
5. It’s like winning $850 cash and an Apple iPod Nano.
   

What are you waiting for?

You have 8 days to enter the $1,000 giveaway! The odds are incredible – only 32 entries to date! Entering the giveaway is simple – you can do a single post that recognizes our 10 sponsors, or you can do a post for each sponsor and get 10 entries!

Tonight I happened across the Stay At Home Dad iMac Give-Away. This contest is well done. It has a fantastic prize, great pictures, and a detailed list of requirements to join the contest – each promoting the blog and the sponsor. Mike put together a great package – a brand new 20″ Apple iMac. It has a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1 GB of memory, a 250 GB hard drive, an 8x SuperDrive, and a 20′ glossy display. It comes with a mouse and keyboard, and retails for $1199.

It’s so good that I’m going to write a post on it and enter the contest!

A little about Mike first – the blogger behind DevDad, in his own words:

My name is Mike. I am the voice behind DevDad.com. I am a 21 year old web designer and SEO specialist from Tampa Bay, Florida. I love blogging, and recently realized that all I ever write about is work, whereas all I really want to write about it what happens at home during the day. I am putting this online as a way to document my life as a stay-at-home dad, as a new business owner, and as a guy who is trying to figure out how to juggle more than he is used to. I hope you stick around to see how things progress!

Mike has a great layout to his site, I love the colors, the graphics, and especially the photo of his beautiful daughter. Be sure to take a look! Mike has also just started up BlogHelper.org! There’s some great reading on this site if you’d like to specifically read about blogging!

As for SitterCity, their mission is to connect parents with caregivers in their area. The site has two sides to it… folks looking for a sitter and those sitters who might be looking for work! If you’re concerned about safety, the site can add a background check using LexisNexis for an affordable $9.99.

So there you have it, 3 great sites in a single post!