Posted 6 years ago #
There was this post a while back regarding javascript snow effects.
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/49546
Not everyone can hack javascript code and templates so I decided a plugin would be worthwhile.
Plugin Name: Snowfall
Version: 0.9.1 rc1
Plugin URI: http://wordpressplugins.info/category/plugins/snowfall/
Description: Snowfall creates the effect of falling snowflakes, leaves, hearts, flowers etc.
Author: Andy Beard
Author URI: http://www.wordpressplugins.info
Enjoy & Merry Christmas
Nice little plugin I was already doing this on my family website but without a plugin. In any case, it's nice to be able to do it with a simple click of the mouse.
Great job. It works perfectly. Thanks.
Posted 6 years ago #
Not perfect by a long stroke. I don't like the hack.
It is not going to work with every theme as is. We are working on a version with switchable hooks.
Posted 6 years ago #
Nice job! I want stuff like this for just a day in the season or whatever, so a plugin is perfect!
You could make the plugin more generic by removing the word "snowfall" and replace with "seasonal". Then you could upload any seasonal image so that they would float over your blog. We would just have to be sure the image was the correct size.
Posted 6 years ago #
More seasonal images are planned, along with a method of switching them and maybe some different animation effects.
It was important to get the plugin out of the door for the immediate season.
Plus long-term, it is much better from a marketing perspective to drip upgrades ;) than provide an all-singing all dancing solution from day one.
Gotcha. I was once a shareware developer.
Posted 6 years ago #
Worked perfectly and antualy better than my hacked up version of the script. thank you very much! :)
Posted 6 years ago #
I can see snowflakes, but also a lot of red x boxes floating!! Is that my browser? Or something that is not working?
Posted 6 years ago #
It looks great on your site. I installed and activated the plugin but no flakes. Is there a step I'm missing? Instructions?
Posted 6 years ago #
Did you make the theme files 666? Does your footer.php includer this line: <?php do_action('wp_footer'); ?>?
Posted 6 years ago #
Caroline - it might be a browser/cache issue. All I can think of is try going into options and selecting a different graphic file.
Clarke - On a lot of themes it shouldn't have to write to your theme because they have the footer available.
If the script tried to write to the footer and it was write protected, you would receive a message.
If you give me details of the theme you are attempting to use it with, and the wordpress version, I can give it a try on a test blog.
Visual effects like this are hard to make 100% compatible, and based on the current feedback from my programmer, we might not even have a viable alternative for the hack.
Posted 6 years ago #
Caroline - there appears to be a glitch in the code depending on the theme and browser you use.
Kubrik works fine in both browsers. It has just been pinted out to be that in IE my own site has problems now... not sure if it is something I have done to break the theme/plugin compatibility or something that needs fixing in the plugin.
Then again it is a good way to refer people to Firefox pre-Christmas
Posted 6 years ago #
Andy - I have it installed on a custom-built theme, views perfectly in FF, IE6 windows, and Opera 7.23, 8.02, and 8.5.
Posted 6 years ago #
Not working at all here.
http://www.battlebornnews.com
I get the red X's in IE and nothing in FF
Posted 6 years ago #
vkaryl - great :) - looks like you know how to make a very friendly theme
conservatown - this is where things get real complicated
This is a WP2.0 installation now running the same theme as your site.
http://wordpressplugins.info/howto/
I just tested in IE6 and FF1.5 and it worked perfectly.
It is also one of those themes that hooks correctly and doesn't need CHMOD.
I don't think WP 1.5.2 or WP 2.0 makes any difference with this plugin, so it must be a problem with something else.
Why would I be getting many of the following error messages:
[Mon Dec 26 16:36:30 2005] [error] [client 66.249.64.58] File does not exist: /home/jimw3141/public_html/wordpress/page/3/dynamicdrive.com
[Mon Dec 26 15:26:04 2005] [error] [client 66.249.71.18] File does not exist: /home/jimw3141/public_html/wordpress/2005/05/14/the-little-bus/dynamicdrive.com
[Mon Dec 26 15:06:19 2005] [error] [client 66.249.71.18] File does not exist: /home/jimw3141/public_html/wordpress/page/1/dynamicdrive.com
Posted 6 years ago #
Did something change in your installation, such as available images in snowfall/images ?
Can you give me an example page?
Nothing changed in the installation as far as I know. Each day there are different errors. It looks like the search engines are doing this. Probably isn't a problem. For the two 'page' errors above, I'm not even sure how to identify those pages since I use permalinks.
Posted 6 years ago #
Ok that makes sense. I honestly didn't realise search engines are parsing links mentioned in Javascript but are not a hyperlink.
Posted 6 years ago #
Hey Andy, I have a question: can the snowflakes be adjusted for size, or are they fixed? For instance, can the user select snowflakes that are large enough to see the detail or optionally select little, white dots? I haven't used the plugin (as it's a little late, now) but would be interested for next Christmas.
~Jonathan
Posted 6 years ago #
jonlandrum - (I'm not Andy, but will I do? *laughing*)
I added a few new things: holly leaves, candy canes, and I'm planning more. I just renamed whichever one I want to use to "snow.gif" (eventually I'll have to dig into the js to do it more "right" probably....[1])
None of them are the same size as the original. I didn't do anything to set the size anywhere. They all display just fine. So you could probably make some "dots" and use that.... even if they were only 2px square....
And as far as detailed snowflakes, the "snow2.gif" is quite a bit more detailed than "snow.gif". "Snow1.gif" is right now a falling leaf....
[1] Andy, a "selectable" menu would be really nice....
Posted 6 years ago #
Works fine, but it would be nicer if not the whole amount of snow flakes would be rendered on loading the page, but if they would appear one after the other **after** the page has been loaded ...
Currently all flakes are rendered, and new flakes will only appear if older flakes have disappeared ...
Appart from that: very nice. Some ants that move around on the page would be something for a future update.
;)
Thanks!
Steve
Posted 6 years ago #
How cute! I had been doing this for one of my themes but will definitely go this route when needed next! :)
Thanks for sharing!!
Posted 6 years ago #
Something else I notice: this implementation seems to take WAY less resources than the "common garden-variety" js. I notice - being on the world's slowest dialup....
Posted 6 years ago #
:o) Thanks, as always, vkaryl! I'll probably put some flowers or hearts on my site come spring. That would look nice, if they appeared only beside the main div and not flowing over the words and whatnot. Oh! And I'll bet rain would be good, too (I love rain.)
~Jon
Posted 6 years ago #
Oooooh - RAIN! Okay, I want that one too....
Posted 6 years ago #
vkaryl - It is going to probably be a dropdown menu with a list of all graphic files.
I am not sure yet how to implement this if I allow for multiple images.
totalidea - I will certainly think about adding some "progressive" effects.
jonlandrum - beside the main div - I will look into it, but it depends on how many people are going to use it.
In theory I could turn this into a whole animated overlay management system, but I can only see it being used a few times per year, and the more "features" that get added, the more complicated it will be to use.
Plus I have 7 other plugins or plugin components (depending on implementation) lined up, and I would like to get those in circulation before what will most likely be a code rewrite on this one.
I definately need a collection of "hearts & flowers" for 1 month's time.
I also plan to have random fireworks at some time.
Posted 6 years ago #
Great plugin ... it's been bookmarked ever since I ran across this thread a few months back. I'm now using it to sprinkle little clovers on my site. :D
Ever thought of adding the ability to use more than one image at one time?
This topic has been closed to new replies.
