Was just looking through the latest plugins for WordPress out of sheer boredom I guess. Cannot believe how many Google +1 plugins there are already.
I tried installing the Google +1 code straight into my theme yesterday and it did not work. No idea why. Maybe a plugin will work. I think I will wait a while to see which ones get voted up though as there is likely to be a lot of duds sitting there at the moment.
Damn My this is a short post. Um. OK, fill it out Jon. What plugins are there at the moment which look like they could be contenders?
First a search in WordPress for Google +1
Top of the list is Google +1 Button. 2 stars, comes with a shortcode [google+1] so that you can use it in posts and pages. I like shortcodes.
Next up is Google +1 Button. This appears to be a widget which means for most people its a sidebar job. Not the best place to stick your social button. It does have almost 4/5 from 5 votes though.
Then we have the WordPress plugin – Google +1 Button. This is the button which Mashable.com tested. 7 ratings, over 4/5. “Position it Before, After, Before/After on post or page”. Sounds like a winner to far.
Now a search in WordPress for Google Plus 1
First new one is the WordPress Google Plus One Button. 1/5 rating. The description tells us nothing about it other how to upgrade it, which is odd for something new.
Next is the Google Plus One Widget, which is another widget, but not in the “widgets” but adds it to the posts and pages. Why do people call things widgets when they are not the things that go in the sidebar? Anyway, does not appear to be any way to configure it.
Google Plus One Button gets a few stars. Once installed you have to add <?php google_plus_one(); ?> to your theme. Allows more control for people confident with the web design stuff, not for your average plug-and-play WordPress bloggers though.
Finally (for now) is the Plus 1 – Google +1 Button (which although using both “plus” and “+” have failed to rank above the others in the WordPress search engine, a lesson for Plugin developers there!). It does offer shortcodes though – [plus1 size=’standard|small|medium|tall’ url='[custom url’] so that could be good.
There you go. Already a few Google Plus + One 1 Plugins out there. I suspect that the one tried and tested by Mashable will win. Not really sure what more can be done with a button.
Am I Adding Google +1?
No. Because although there are plugins, I will wait until it is integrated into a plugin that provides several voting buttons in one. Probably will see the AddThis, AddThat, ShareThis etc. updating their plugins very soon and these will do the trick and not create even more Web 2 clutter on our blogs.
