WordPress Plugin: Ask A Question - 0.1b

It’s time I started giving back to the community that’s done so much for me with Ask A Question (0.1b)

I’ve been developing on WordPress for a few years. It’s become my CMS of choice for nearly any project. On MacTips alone I’ve written over 10 custom plugins, not to mention all the hacking in the template.

Ask A Question - 0.1b

So the first (of many) plugins I’ll be releasing is called Ask A Question. What’s it do?

It allows your users to ask you questions.

Pretty easy right? Well I wanted my first released plugin to be easy–but not too easy. So I added some AJAX and sexy effects with script.aluco.us.

This was something I needed for MacTips as I started trying to get more user feedback. The site is also being geared towards helping users so this seemed like a good idea to connect with the confused Mac user.

ask-a-question.png

The Features

I wanted my first plugin to be simple, but not crippled. So I’ve added a few features I think are necessary when adding a form like this to your website.

  • Flood protection: Keep users from asking more than x questions in x seconds
  • Degrade Gracefully: AJAX is nice for things like submitting forms without page-loads. AJAX is not nice for users that don’t have Javascript. So the form degrades gracefully so non Javascript users can still submit questions
  • AJAX Backend: AJAX backend for easy managing. This part requires Javascript, sorry–maybe next version.
  • File Size: Some AJAX libraries are huge. I’ve done my best to use the smallest one I could find and strip out all unnecessary information. I’ve also removed all unnecessary effects in script.aluco.us.

Ground breaking? Not by any means. But I needed it and figured others might too. WordPress thrives because of all the plugins available–I’ve certainly benefited from this.

I’m able to contribute–so I will.

If you try it let me know your thoughts.

Download Ask A Question (0.1b)

WordPress Plugin: Ask A Question - 0.1b was posted by Brad on 2/9/2008 at 12:08 am. It was categorized in Web Development. There have been 11 comments.

11 Comments on “WordPress Plugin: Ask A Question - 0.1b”

  1. [...] an effort to continue giving back to the community, I’m releasing my first WordPress [...]
    By SEOSense 0.1b - A WordPress Theme For SEO & AdSense - Brad Jasper’s Blog on February 10th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

  2. [...] AJAX Ask a QuestionThis plugin adds a small contact form using AJAX on the sidebar that lets users ask question to you. Good one if you are running a consultancy kind of blog where questions are frequently asked. [...]
    By Wordpress themes and plugins for the week on February 21st, 2008 at 1:12 am

  3. A demonstration version of it would be useful.
    Can users see what other questions have been asked?
    Does it present an opportunity to answer in response - or it generates an idea for me to create new posts for the site?
    If another plugin has already registered scriptalicious into the header hook, will yours duplicate that call and download for the client?
    By JamieO on February 21st, 2008 at 7:21 am

  4. Nice

    Simple, works great

    Be nice if it had an option to send the admin an email alert when someone posts something.

    Thanks a lot for the plugin.
    By John on February 21st, 2008 at 5:52 pm

  5. Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions.

    JamieO, currently is does not check for another scriptalicious version. This is the biggest change I will be making next version.

    You can see it being used on MacYay: http://macyay.com/ --Just don't spam his form.

    Also, currently users cannot see what other questions have been asked--this is just for the admin users. You are correct, it generates ideas to create new posts.

    John, that's a good idea--I'll add that option for next version.
    By Brad on February 23rd, 2008 at 3:29 pm

  6. Just wondering if you have a working demo available.

    Thanks
    By Bruce Jones on February 26th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

  7. Bruce,

    I don't have an example up yet. When I realease the next version I'll include an example for everyone to see.
    By Brad on February 27th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

  8. Where do you add the sciptaculous folder?
    By Ryan Ward on March 31st, 2008 at 10:14 pm

  9. Actually,

    I uploaded the plugin and the scriptaculous, but, it doesn't seem to work for me. the blog I have it located on is realestatetestblog.com. If you have a second, I would sure like to see this plugin work.

    Thank you,
    By Ryan Ward on April 1st, 2008 at 5:47 am

  10. Sorry....got it to work...GREAT plugin! I was wondering if you might go back and add a method by which the admin could be emailed when a question was asked as well as include the question in the email.
    By Ryan Ward on April 1st, 2008 at 7:54 am

  11. I uploaded the php file & scriptaculous folder both to wp-content/plugins. When i tried to activate it i got an error msg 'plugin could not be activated; triggered fatal error'. what could be wrong?
    By anu on April 23rd, 2008 at 1:57 pm

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