Monthly Archives: December 2011

A potentially clever take on privacy settings

Published on December 29^th, 2011

Google offers some clever privacy options at times, such as YouTube’s unlisted video option. The main benefit here is that you can (mostly) control access without requiring visitors to manage usernames, passwords, or other authentication — if you have the link you have access, but you can’t (easily) find the link unless it’s given directly to you.

In that spirit, I made a little WordPress plugin to do something similar. Props Pete Davies for the idea.

<?php /* Plugin Name: Privacy Please Description: A more private way to use WordPress without the hassle of passwords and such. Logged out users can only access single posts, and only if they know the exact URL. Author: Evan Solomon */ /* Only allow singe page views */ function only_singular_requests_for_you() { if( ! is_user_logged_in() && ! is_singular() ) wp_die( 'We can haz privacy' ); } add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'only_singular_requests_for_you' ); /* Don't let anyone guess URL's */ function no_redirects_for_you( $redirect_url) { if( is_user_logged_in() ) return $redirect_url; wp_die( 'We can haz privacy' ); } add_filter( 'redirect_canonical', 'no_redirects_for_you' ); /* Don't give away other URL's with adjacent post links */ function no_adjacent_posts_for_you( $format ) { if( is_user_logged_in() ) return $format; return false; } add_filter( 'previous_post_link', 'no_adjacent_posts_for_you' ); add_filter( 'next_post_link', 'no_adjacent_posts_for_you' );

This was the first time in WordPress history that a changeset number matched the ticket number that it fixed. I’m calling it a supercommit.

Gravatar emails should be trimmed before being lowered and hashed. props evansolomon. fixes ~~#19614~~.

via nacin // core Trac

I spent this weekend at WordCamp Las Vegas with several fellow Automatticians and WordPress contributors. I gave a talk and tried to take a fun approach: prepare lots of little topics and make the presentation interactive so we could jump around as needed. Everything was focused on experimentation, data analysis, and learning from customers, with the goal of making stuff people want — a phrase I unabashedly borrowed from Y Combinator. Given the unusual format of the talk, I’m not sure the slides are particularly useful. We didn’t go through nearly all of them, and they weren’t used in any particular order. That said, here they are.

Kissmetrics plugin

Published on December 3^rd, 2011

I just finished up a Kissmetrics plugin for WordPress.com. With a few slight modifications, here it is in a form that might be useful for WordPress.org sites.

Gist #1428452

<?php /* Plugin Name: WP Kissmetrics Description: Record events using Kissmetrics' PHP API. Intended to be used by developers only. Author: evansolomon Version: 1.0 */ /* Forked from https://github.com/kissmetrics/KISSmetrics/blob/master/km.php */ define( 'KISSMETRICS_HOST', 'http://trk.kissmetrics.com:80' ); define( 'KISSMETRICS_API_KEY', /* Your api key here */ ); class WP_Kissmetrics { static $id = null; static $key = null; static $time = null; /** * Takes one argument, API key * This is required before doing anything else * Example: WP_Kissmetrics::init( KISSMETRICS_API_KEY ); * Example: WP_Kissmetrics::init( KISSMETRICS_API_KEY, 1049177863 ); */ static function init( $key, $time = null ) { self::$key = $key; self::$time = ( ! is_null( $time ) ) ? $time : time(); } /** * Identify the user we're going to record data about * This is required before recording any data * If the user has a Kissmetrics auto-generated ID stored in a cookie, it will be automatically aliased */ static function identify( $id ) { self::$id = $id; /* Use the Kissmetrics auto-generated ID cookie to alias our logged in ID, then delete the cookie */ if( isset( $_COOKIE['km_ai'] ) ) { self::alias( $_COOKIE['km_ai'], self::$id ); setcookie( 'km_ai', '', time() - 3600 ); } } /** * Record data about an identified user * Accepts a single argument 'action' as a string * Example: WP_Kissmetrics::record( 'Viewed Homepage' ); * * Also accepts an action + properties of that action as an array * Example: WP_Kissmetrics::record( 'Purchased upgrade', array( 'product'=>'videopress', 'revenue'=>60'); */ static function record( $action, $props = array() ) { if( !self::is_initialized_and_identified() ) return; $array = array_merge( $props, array( '_n' => $action, ) ); self::generate_query( 'e', $array ); } /** * Alias a new user identiy to a new one in Kissmetrics' data * Possible use case would be assigning logged out user an identifier and aliasing their User ID after signup * * Example: WP_Kissmetrics::alias( get_current_user_id(), $_COOKIE['tmp_km_thing'] ); */ static function alias( $name, $alias_to ) { if ( !self::is_initialized() ) return; $array = array( '_p' => $name, '_n' => $alias_to, ); self::generate_query( 'a', $array, false ); } /* Protected */ static protected function reset() { self::$id = null; self::$key = null; } static protected function is_initialized() { return self::$key; } /* Check to make sure both the API key and User ID are set */ static protected function is_initialized_and_identified() { return self::$key && self::$id; } /* Put together the query we're going to send to Kissmetrics */ static protected function generate_query( $type, $data, $update = true ) { $data['_k'] = self::$key; $data['_t'] = self::$time; //Force Kissmetrics to use the time value we pass $data['_d'] = 1; if( $update ) $data['_p'] = self::$id; $query = '/' . $type . '?' . http_build_query( $data, '', '&' ); //Remove some remnants of http_build_query() that Kissmetrics doesn't like $query = str_replace( '+', '%20', $query ); self::send_query( $query ); } /* Actually send Kissmetrics some data */ static protected function send_query( $query ) { $request_url = KISSMETRICS_HOST . $query; wp_remote_get( $request_url, array( 'blocking'=>false ) ); } } function sample_kissmetrics_usage( $product_id ) { WP_Kissmetrics::init( KISSMETRICS_API_KEY ); WP_Kissmetrics::identify( get_current_blog_id() ); WP_Kissmetrics::record( 'Viewed shopping cart', array( 'user' => get_current_user_id(), 'product' => $product_id ) ); } add_action( 'view_shopping_cart', 'sample_kissmetrics_usage', 1 );