Solo Technology

This very simple little WordPress plugin shows the Advanced Toolbar button in your WordPress 2.1x WYSIWYG Post Editor. No more fumbling around for the correct hotkey to show these “hidden” buttons. Just click the button (see red circled image below).

If you use the wysiwyg editor, you’ll want to give this a try. I think you’ll be pleased.

Update: September 23, 2007 — it appears that this functionality is now native in the upcoming WordPress 2.3.  As such, upgraders to that version won’t want this.

Big shout to Mark Steel for the code.

License:

• GPL License. Use it, build from it — ideally, credit me as the idea guy with a link back to here. Say nice things about Mark too.

Instructions:

• Download it from my downloads page WordPress plugins page
• Unzip it
• FTP/scp/carrier pigeon it to your server, put it in the plugins directory
• Login to WordPress, activate it.

Future:

• Open to ideas… perhaps research TinyMCE and see if there are other interesting buttons to show?

History

• 11.Feb.2007 - First Discussed (no formal release)
• 28.Feb.2007 - Release .02 - Uses Mark Steel’s simple yet elegant code.
• 18.Mar.2007 - Release .03 - Changed to GPL license, moved hosting to wp-plugins.net

[Released with Mark's permission]

72 Responses to “First Release: Visualize Advanced Features”

1. Rich G. on February 28th, 2007 7:50 pm
   

   Nicely done, downloaded, installed, and running.

2. Joe on February 28th, 2007 10:06 pm
   

   Full plugin now? C0ol, I’ll have download it.

3. » pingback » Weblog Tools Collection » Blog Archive » WordPress Plugin Releases for 3/01 on February 28th, 2007 10:06 pm
   
   
4. » pingback » Wordpress Plugins - Visualize Advanced Features | Wordpress Tutorials And Blogging Tips on March 1st, 2007 9:23 am
   
   
5. » pingback » Wordpress Essetial Plugins on March 1st, 2007 9:34 am
   
   
6. manu khanna on March 1st, 2007 12:26 pm
   

   awesome job.

7. » pingback » ปลั๊กอิน: Visualize Advanced Features « au8ust’s wordpress channel on March 1st, 2007 9:59 pm
   
   
8. » pingback » » WP Plugin: Visualize Advanced Features » WordPress Italy on March 2nd, 2007 12:00 am
   
   
9. » pingback » WeblogToolsCollection DE » Blog Archive » WordPress Plugin Veröffentlichungen am 3.1. on March 2nd, 2007 12:45 am
   
   
10. Jim on March 2nd, 2007 6:15 am
    

    You said “Open to ideas… perhaps research TinyMCE and see if there are other interesting buttons to show”

    There’s a ton of features in TinyMCE that can be implimented in the WP editor. From tables (10 button features) to CSS layout and layers to text formatting. Font format, family, size, color, background color, sub/super script, etc. Almost all are in the form of TinyMCE plugins.

    Moxiecode has an example here of the complete function set with links to other more reasonable-sized sets. The command reference is a listed here.

    Even a code moron (me!) can manage to manually alter the TinyMCE initialization file to get added functions. What would be nice —and far beyond my skill— is a visual plugin or function page to easily add or subtract the plugins.

11. » pingback » [i:rrhoblog] » links for 2007-03-02 on March 2nd, 2007 3:19 pm
    
    
12. Chris on March 2nd, 2007 11:26 pm
    

    @Jim - good stuff, and some ideas to ponder. Thanks!

    Looks like I have some reading to do. I’m intrigued by the idea of a plugin to add/remove TinyMCE features. Now to find the time…

13. » pingback » ThemePress » Weblog Tools Collection: WordPress Plugin Releases for 3/01 on March 3rd, 2007 11:58 pm
    
    
14. » pingback » WPのプラグイン：Visualize Advanced Features on March 4th, 2007 5:50 am
    
    
15. » pingback » Coyote Mercury » WordPress 2.1 Easter Eggs on March 4th, 2007 9:09 am
    
    
16. » pingback » Zanblog.it di Giorgio Zanetti » L’editor visuale avanzato “nascosto” di WP 2.1 on March 6th, 2007 1:20 am
    
    
17. » pingback » Two useful plugins for the Wordpress visual editor (at wongaBlog) on March 12th, 2007 9:37 am
    
    
18. » pingback » WordPress Plugin Directory » Solo Technology on March 18th, 2007 1:47 pm
    
    
19. » pingback » Shortcut and plugin for advanced editing options in the WordPress editor » wordpressgarage.com on March 21st, 2007 2:29 am
    
    
20. » pingback » WordPress Plugins for March 27, 2007 « designcreatology on March 27th, 2007 9:34 am
    
    
21. » pingback » Stephan A. aus B. » Neustart on March 29th, 2007 4:09 pm
    
    
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23. » pingback » Neustart | Stephan A. aus B. on April 1st, 2007 10:58 pm
    
    
24. » pingback » Truquillo para el editor visual de wordpress: nuevas líneas en BloqNum on April 2nd, 2007 7:14 pm
    
    
25. PG on April 2nd, 2007 9:03 pm
    

    Strange… it put the button on the hidden extended row, not the top row… so I have to do the keycombo to see the button that’s supposed to eliminate the keycombo. heheheh.

26. Chris on April 2nd, 2007 9:25 pm
    

    @PG - well that’s a first!

    Are you running any other plugins that might be tweaking TinyMCE (the wysiwyg editor)?

    After activating it, you may need to clear your local browser cache.

27. Luis on April 4th, 2007 6:35 pm
    

    After 2.1.3 upgrade the plug-in is not working, any workaround.

28. Chris on April 4th, 2007 6:51 pm
    

    Hi Luis - I’m at 2.1.3 here and it still works. Off the top of my head, not sure what to suggest. Did you install any other/new plugins recently that might conflict?

29. Luis on April 5th, 2007 5:38 am
    

    Hello Chris,

    The only thing I know I did wrong was to update wordpress without de-activating the plug-ins. After the update I went back and check them one by one and this one is the only one that seem to have stop working. I tried re-installing it but still don’t work. I checked 3 different browsers, with the same result. Do you know how can I troubleshoot this.

    Thanks a lot,

    Luis

30. Michael on April 5th, 2007 1:25 pm
    

    This is such a neat enhancement. Thank you for your work!
    It worked perfectly once I removed another wysiwyg plugin called Advanced Wysiwyg. They were coming to blows under the hood, and had to be separated!

    Visualize Advanced Features was the winner!

    Cheers, Chris!

31. » pingback » WP Plugins March 27, 2007 | Blogtology on April 6th, 2007 12:23 am
    
    
32. Luis on April 6th, 2007 5:32 am
    

    Chris,

    I empty the cache on my browser, deleted history, and thats it. I can now see the wysiwyg extra features. Strange, I never thought that would be a problem. Damn cookies, jaja.

    Thanks a lot man!

    Luis

33. Chris on April 6th, 2007 10:54 am
    

    @Michael - Thanks for the kind words.

    @Luis - so glad to hear you got it working.

34. Sarah Lewis on April 6th, 2007 12:11 pm
    

    Just a quick note to say that I also had to delete my cache to see the results of this plugin on WP 2.1.3. Not a big deal once you know what to do.

35. Adam Kayce : Monk At Work on April 17th, 2007 12:11 pm
    

    Ha — this is great. Thanks so much!

    I love that you can choose h1, h2, etc. from the visual toolbar, without having to go into code view and manually adding all that stuff.

    Thanks, big time!

36. » pingback » April 2007 in Review » Solo Technology on May 2nd, 2007 6:32 am
    
    
37. ginny on May 13th, 2007 11:55 am
    

    Working! Thank you so much. It’s nice to have the toggle button in the standard toolbar where it obviously needed to be. Is there a way of making the advance toolbar stay visible after a visit to the CODE tag? If not, the button is there.

    What happened to the old HTML button? Is it really the same as the CODE tag, or is there a difference? There was some discussion on the support boards a while ago on how to edit the tinyMCE to get it back, and whether or not it was different from the CODE tag.

    Also, my codemonkey/husband will try to alter the config to stop it from stripping DIV tags and changing them to P tags; that is necessary because I use DIVs for some image styling site-wide.

    If there’s later, better information, I’m sure I’ll be back looking for answers…thanks again for making this plugin, though!

38. » pingback » Undocumented Features In The Wordpress WYSIWYG Editor on May 14th, 2007 6:08 am
    
    
39. Does this plugin work with K2? on May 20th, 2007 2:04 am
    

    I can’t seem to get this plugin to work, I am using K2 with wordpress 2.1.2

    I need a way to resize my text urgently!
    Any help please

    Scooter Schalk

40. Chris on May 20th, 2007 9:51 am
    

    I can’t imagine a theme impacting the wysiwyg editor… It sure shouldn’t be a theme issue.

    Then again, I’ve never quite figured out K2 — it’s a bit more than just a theme.

    This plugin only “touches” the TinyMCE editor. I guess you’d have to ask the K2 guys if they’re messing with the editor as well.

41. » pingback » Liste de plugins Wordpress on May 30th, 2007 6:39 am
    
    
42. » pingback » I Would Like To Thank My Plugins | iPentimento on May 31st, 2007 6:47 pm
    
    
43. » pingback » Use WordPress Editor Shortcuts to blog quicker | Easy Wordpress on June 2nd, 2007 3:56 am
    
    
44. mll on June 7th, 2007 11:57 pm
    

    Simple yet cool plugin, thanks!

    What’d be nice is an option to have the 2nd toolbar activated by default - some of my users find it hard to find and/or reach that button.

45. Chris on June 8th, 2007 10:44 pm
    

    mll - thank you. And I agree, that would be convenient. Something to look into.

46. » pingback » NightAngel » Blog Archive » WordPress... une astuce et deux failles on June 11th, 2007 4:37 pm
    
    
47. Karl on June 19th, 2007 6:15 am
    

    Hi there!

    Had this handy plugin installed and liked it. Today I installed the “Advanced TinyMCE Editor” (http://www.mkbergman.com/?page_id=383) and was wondering if there’s a way to make the two plugins work together? I don’t know quite how this plugin works behind the scenes, but perhaps a switch or two could be altered so it picks up (and separates, as before) the new tags too?

    Thanks, Karl

48. Chris on June 19th, 2007 10:20 pm
    

    I’d not really looked at the “Advanced TinyMCE Editor” plugin before. But holy cow! It has a lot of buttons!

    Seems odd he only missed just this one. If I get a second this weekend, I’ll see if merge would be simple.

49. » pingback » Perazza.com | Wysiwyg do WordPress 2.2 on June 21st, 2007 9:25 am
    
    
50. David Esrati on June 25th, 2007 4:38 pm
    

    I hope I’m wrong- but 2.2.1 and this plug-in seem to break tinymce- so you won’t have a visual text editor. If anyone has successfully updated- please post a comment to this thread.

51. Chris on June 25th, 2007 4:56 pm
    

    I hope I’m wrong [...]

    Good news!
    Works just fine with my 2.2.1 installation.

52. David Esrati on June 25th, 2007 6:05 pm
    

    After a few go arounds- it works with 2.2.1
    Had to DELETE and reinstall the wp-includes/js folder, after shutting off all plugins.
    Nice job on a great pludin.

53. Chris on June 25th, 2007 7:15 pm
    

    Glad to hear you got it sorted out, David.

54. » pingback » WP Plugins DB » Plugin Details » ST Visualize Advanced Features on June 27th, 2007 11:19 pm
    
    
55. hebrink on June 29th, 2007 12:19 am
    

    Great plugin… wish I have a Wordpress Blog.

56. » pingback » Neustart/Wordpress-Plugins | Stephan A. aus B. on June 29th, 2007 2:51 pm
    
    
57. » pingback »   Liste: Wordpress-Plugins — ultimonativ on July 8th, 2007 9:18 am
    
    
58. Michelin on July 15th, 2007 8:58 am
    

    Appreciate the plug-in, simple (to install) and works. Noticed this on my WP.com site, and wondered how to find it… now I have. Well done, and Thx
    PS: using WP 2.2.1 seems to be OK.

59. » pingback » Visualize Advanced Features | わーどぷれすっ！ on July 16th, 2007 12:37 am
    
    
60. Jack on August 2nd, 2007 2:22 pm
    

    Great work! Thanks for the helpful information.

61. » pingback » Panduan Online.Com » Blog Archive » Visualize Advance Features-Wordpress Plugin on August 11th, 2007 5:38 am
    
    
62. Dan on August 18th, 2007 7:34 am
    

    Thanks for your work on this plug-in. Really helpful. Keep up the good work.
    Cheers,
    Dan

63. mike on August 19th, 2007 3:45 pm
    

    Thanks for this!! As a request I would ask for a button to change the font size. I see the ‘formating’ drop down but I was hoping for a button to select font size using the ‘percentage’ standard. You highlight the text, hit the button, then enter the percentage you want the text.

    Just an idea.

    Thanks for the plugin!!

64. Chris on August 20th, 2007 10:22 pm
    

    @Dan - thanks!

    @mike - I have this vague and unrealized goal of adding a lot more of the TinyMCE buttons… I’ve just not found the time to wade in.

    There are some more full featured WP editor replacement plugins that you might search for in the mean-time.

65. » pingback » chinsan's Blog » Blog Archive » Blog 更新紀錄 on September 18th, 2007 3:39 am
    
    
66. » pingback » Advance Toolbar Wordpress | hernawan.web.id (Beta) on September 23rd, 2007 11:01 pm
    
    
67. mark on September 24th, 2007 7:34 am
    

    it is update WordPress 2.3. .I download and installed,runing.now it is very good.

68. Chris on September 24th, 2007 8:27 pm
    

    Interesting. My testing showed the “toolbar” a bit messed up in 2.3 with this enabled.

    Moot point, it’s included in 2.3 now anyways!

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