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The Results of Project Icon

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The Results of Project Icon 7

The Results of Project Icon 8The community has voted, and the votes have been tallied. The winner of Project Icon, with 35% of the votes, is Entry ID “BD,” otherwise known as Ben Dunkle. Congratulations, Ben! The runner-up was VS, otherwise known as Verena Segert, so we’ll be attaching that set to the alternate color palette that is selectable from the profile screen. As we prepare for RC1, Ben and Verena will be revising a couple of their icons so that both sets will use the same metaphors, creating the colored “on” states, and creating the larger size of each icon for use in the h2 screen headers. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to select from so many great options, and would like to express again our appreciation for all the designers who participated in the contest. Thanks also to the more than 3700 people who completed the voting survey and took the time to weigh on on the individual icon sets.

Q.18 Which one of the sets do you think we should use as a basis for the 2.7 icons?
Icon Set # of votes % of votes
BD 1285 35%
VS 1080 29%
GB2 424 11%
OSD 376 10%
LS 300 8%
GB1 235 6%

The wide lead of BD and VS made it clear that voters had a clear preference for these sets.

Q.20 If you could choose a runner-up, which would you choose?
Icon Set # of votes % of votes
VS 916 27%
BD 647 19%
LS 522 16%
OSD 488 14%
GB2 462 14%
GB1 331 10%

Question 20 was not mandatory, so a few hundred people skipped it, but the responses we did get (3366 of them) reinforced the fact that the two most popular sets were also the most popular 2nd choices, which made the decision of the judges to go with the popular vote an easy one (take that, electoral college!).

A few of the individual icon metaphors also had a significant lead over the other choices.
Dashboard: 1333 voters (40%) chose a house as the best metaphor. We agree, so both Ben and Verena will be replacing their Dashboard icons.

Media: 2097 voters (65%) chose the combination camera + musical note icon, which was part of Ben’s set. We also really loved it, and Verena will amend her media icon to incorporate this idea.

Plugins: 1682 voters (53%) selected the outlet plug metaphor, which both Ben and Verena used in their sets.

Tools: 1581 voters (49%) liked the combination of two tools better than anything else, so Ben and Verena will try this approach.

So those are the results, and soon you’ll see the new icons coming to a 2.7 installation near you.

Need another look at the entries to remember which one you liked best? Here are some reminder images, as well as the identity of each set’s creator.

Winning icon set by Ben DunkleBD was Ben Dunkle, a designer, professor and artist from upstate/western New York State. In case you’ve already forgotten, Ben’s icon set is the winner of Project Icon and will become the default icon set after a few minor changes. Verena Segert's blu iconsVS was Verena Segert, our runner-up, a designer from Germany who presented sets in both grayscale and blue. Her blue icons received more specific voter comments than the gray ones, so we’re planning the second color palette to be in shades of blue so that we can use the blue icon set.
Guillaume Berry's 1st setGuillaume Berry's 2nd setGB was Guillaume Berry, a designer from France who submitted two sets in the same style in order to propose a couple of different metaphors. One of his sets came in third while the other came in last, but whether you only look at the higher scoring set or you combine their votes, Guillaume had the next highest percentage of votes, and many people liked the metaphors he used for various icons. In fact, given the enthusiasm of the community for Guillaume’s icons, we think a great plugin would be one that would allow the user to upload the icon set of their choice. Any volunteers?
Menu icons by Open Source Design ClassOSD was the Open Source Design class at Parson’s in New york City, taught by Mushon Zer-Aviv and consisting of students Alexandra Zsigmond, Ed Nacional, Karen Messing, Khurram Bajwa, Leonie Leibenfrost. Teacher and students worked together to determine their metaphors and visual style. Luke Smith's menu iconsLS was Luke Smith, a designer from Iowa who specializes in icons among his other design pursuits.

If you need to hire an icon designer any time soon, we highly recommend our Project Icon contestants, who all delivered great work in a very short timeframe. It was great to work with all of them, even for such a short assignment.

So, to sum up:

  1. The winning icon sets by Ben Dunkle and Verena Segert will be incorporated into WordPress 2.7 RC1.
  2. Someone should write a plugin that would allow anyone to upload a custom icon set (I bet the other contestants could be convinced to release their icon sets for such a purpose).
  3. 2.7 is still trucking away, but we can always use help with patches, especially for IE6! (I know, that wasn’t in the main post, but it’s true, so hmph)

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this experiment, and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And congratulations again to Ben and Verena!

Tips & Tricks

How to: Open external links in a new window

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Over the weekend, I attended WordCamp Denver, and I was asked by John Hawkins how to force links to open in a new tab with out editing the source code. So, today lets learn a simple jQuery trick to open all external links in your site in a new tab or window. We are going to make sure you have jQuery active on your site, you can do this easily in WordPress, since it’s bundled with the latest installations. Use this code in your header: <?php wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); ?> then, below the wp_head add the following:

<script type="text/javacript">
var $j = jQuery.noConflict();

$j(document).ready(function() {
//external attribute
    $j("a:not([@href*=http://YOURSITE.com/])").not("[href^=#]")
        .addClass("external")
        .attr({ target: "_blank" });
    }
);
</script>

That’s it, just make sure you change the http://YOURSITE.com to your website.

Update

If you like you can remove the var $j = and replace all $j with simply just $

 

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Artificial Intelligence

A Comprehensive Guide to the Best AI Writing Tools: Expert Recommendations.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the top 10 AI writing tools as voted by their peers. The tools include Grammarly, Writesonic, Quillbot, Jasper, OpenAI GPT-3, Wordtune, ContentBot, Article Forge, Hemingway, and ProWritingAid. Each tool has its own unique features and pricing options. The article concludes by stating that the choice of the best AI writing tool ultimately boils down to personal preferences, budget, and UI design.

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Artificial Intelligence Writing Tools

In a quest to identify the best AI writing tools available, an innovative approach was taken: asking 39 AI writing tools to recommend their top 10. The results provide a fascinating insight into the AI writing tool landscape, showcasing the most favored tools by AI themselves. Here, we present the top 10 AI writing tools as voted by their peers, along with key features and pricing details.

Unveiling the Top AI Writing Tools

1. Grammarly (67% of votes)

Pricing: Free; paid plans from $10/month

Grammarly, primarily known as a typing assistant, has expanded its capabilities with AI text generation features (GrammarlyGO) introduced in April 2023. This tool assists in content creation and reviews it for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and clarity. A notable feature is its built-in plagiarism checker, which is beneficial given the tendency of large language models (LLMs) to plagiarize content unintentionally.

2. Writesonic (62% of votes)

Pricing: Free up to 10,000 words/month; paid plans from $20/month

Writesonic serves as an AI-powered writing assistant, facilitating the creation of various content types, including ad copy, text messages, product descriptions, and more. Its Brand Voice feature ensures consistency and tone with AI-generated content, offering a tailored approach to content creation.

3. Quillbot (56% of votes)

Pricing: Free; paid plans from $19.95/month

Quillbot offers a multifaceted platform with features for paraphrasing, grammar checking, plagiarism detection, and summarization. Its ability to generate new ideas, examples, and viewpoints makes it a versatile tool for content generation.

4. Jasper (54% of votes)

Pricing: Paid plans from $49/month

Jasper, formerly known as Conversion.ai and Jarvis, stands out for its marketing-focused capabilities. It offers templates for popular copywriting frameworks and a “Ridiculous Marketing Ideas” feature, providing creative sparks for unique marketing concepts.

5. OpenAI GPT-3 (49% of votes)

Pricing: Free; $20/month for Plus

GPT-3, the precursor to the widely used ChatGPT, remains a versatile tool for all writing-related tasks. Despite being based on training data up to 2021, it’s still a reliable tool for creating outlines, blog posts, and other content types.

6. Wordtune (46% of votes)

Pricing: Free (10 rewrites and three prompts/day); paid plans from $9.99/month

Originally a rewriter, Wordtune now also generates content. Its rewriting feature suggests multiple variations for any highlighted sentence or paragraph, and its “Spices” prompts enhance content with unique elements like historical facts or jokes.

7. ContentBot (41% of votes)

Pricing: $1 for Prepaid (free 10K words); paid plans from $19/month

ContentBot is another AI-powered tool aiding in the quick generation of high-quality content. It covers various content types and offers a “Prompts” library for template selection. A highlight is its ability to generate entire landing pages using just keywords.

8. Article Forge (38% of votes)

Pricing: $27-$247/month (depending on the number of words)

Like other tools on this list, Article Forge speeds up content generation. Unique features include specifying topics to exclude, adding images and videos, and replacing keywords with links.

9. Hemingway (36% of votes)

Pricing: Free (web); one-time payment of $19.99 for the app

Hemingway, primarily a content readability grader, is rumored to be adding AI rewriting features. While not an AI writing tool per se, it helps improve the clarity and readability of content.

10. ProWritingAid (33% of votes)

Pricing: Free (500-word limit); $30/month for premium OR one-time payment of $399

ProWritingAid, known for its grammar-checking capabilities, also offers rephrasing suggestions. It’s more akin to Grammarly than AI content generators like Jasper, but it still plays a crucial role in refining content.

Other Plugins, Services, and Tools that may interest you. These are affiliate links some I use, some I don’t, so before using, please investigate thoroughly SemRushInvideoSquirly Products like Squirly SEOGravity FormsWpformsOptinMonsterBuy Website TrafficAI-powered MarketingPress Release Distribution Made EasyTrack and Protect your Online Marketing, #1 Press Release Distribution ServiceEmail lists and Distribution TechPlaceit Envato, Monster Insights, SmashBallon, Icegram, HubSpot, WPwebHost, ConvertKit, Rytr, Canva, QuillBot, Shortly AI, Market Muse, Content Studio, Social Pilot, Strinkingly, CircleBoom, TailWind, Hotjar, The Hoth, Linkilo, CleanMail, HexoWatch, NetPeak, SerpStat, SiteChecker, SproutSocial, WeVideo, Social Dog, EzMob, Sign Now, Tidio, WP Data Tables, Copymatic, HeyGen, Synthesia, Fliki, ElevenLabs, ADcopy, Beehiiv, EduBirdie.

Final Thoughts

This list, perhaps not surprisingly, showcases the most recognized and trusted tools in the AI writing domain. Based on similar technology and often limited by their training data, these tools still provide a valuable benchmark for those seeking the best AI writing tools. Ultimately, the choice boils down to personal preferences, budget, and UI design, making this list a comprehensive guide for anyone looking to enhance their content creation process with AI.

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News

WordCamp Denver 2009 Boradcast

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Well hello to everyone, hope you are going to have a great weekend! I am heading to Denver Colorado tonight for the first WordCamp. I have decided to help out some here a bit, and I will be using my web cam to broadcast live inside the Denver Art Museum. Plus I am video recording with my HDD camera, so that someone can put all the video together in the end and publish it to WordPress TV

Morning Update:

Looks like there is not a good location to broadcast live from the morning session. Will have to wait till the afternoon.

Afternoon Update:

Got in the technical meet late, didn’t get a very good seat against the wall in the corner. So the angle of broadcast would not work so good. Also uStream isn’t picking up my web cam 🙁
I beleive you can view the rest of WordCamp Denver (Blogger Trac) at http://bitwirelive.com

 

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