Articles
The Results of Project Icon
The 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.
BD 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. | VS 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. |
GB 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? | |
OSD 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. | LS 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:
- The winning icon sets by Ben Dunkle and Verena Segert will be incorporated into WordPress 2.7 RC1.
- 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).
- 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!
News
Working on a new theme called WordCult
So I have been really busy, and haven’t been able to put up a new post since I got back from WordCamp Denver.
Working on some clients site’s and also a WordPress theme!I have finished about 80% of the theme which is based off my current theme located on my personal blog site: TheFrosty. TheFrosty is using version 0.1 of the theme, which has many faults and bugs. I have fixed many of them, and probably added a few others.
In version 0.2 I’ve added a new jQuery “featured posts” loader and the option for sticky posts. I have also fixed a lot of CSS errors, it should W3C comply :).
Also in the newer version I have tried to add more to the admin panel, in ways of options.
If you would like to download this theme and test it out before I release it to the community please let me know. I would love to get some feedback or ideas on what you’ve got to say. Just use the contact form or send me a message on Twitter.
Once you’ve got the theme..
Let me know what you think! Leave you comments and feedback. I am also trying to get a forum up on the site as well.
Thanks!
Frosty
Update for 0.2:
I’ve updated my personal site: TheFrosty to the latest version of WordCult (0.2). I’ve already found some small bugs and CSS fixes that need to be taken care of. Also I don’t think that the Adsense display is working correctly.
If you’ve noticed any issues please contact me or leave a comment.
Update for 0.2.1:
The new version, 0.2.1 brings in some integration from Justin Tadlocks Widgets Reloaded plugin. It’s fully integrated into the theme. So you’ll notice some widgets disappear and be replaced by others. If you need to get them back Justin makes a plugin that will “release” the old widgets on your new theme install.
Update: 0.3
Get the newest version of WordCult, download Version 0.3 from this page.
Tips & Tricks
How to: Open external links in a new window
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 $
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.
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 SemRush, Invideo, Squirly Products like Squirly SEO, Gravity Forms, Wpforms, OptinMonster, Buy Website Traffic, AI-powered Marketing, Press Release Distribution Made Easy, Track and Protect your Online Marketing, #1 Press Release Distribution Service, Email lists and Distribution Tech, Placeit 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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