It's called "Linklog" and it's my first experiment with PHP, and more it's my first experiment with WordPress, the best blog system ever [now that I've found it]. By adding a new page with a single line of code, you've got an entirely new page within your WordPress blog site which follows your existing theme layout and showcases all of your active WordPress links by category including description and special built-in management controls next to each link.
Prelog
With nearly all of the blogging platforms these days being open source projects, developed using PHP or CGI with MySQL as the database backend, Microsoft-based personal publishing systems (specifically systems using the .NET Framework) are virtually impossible to find. With blogging continuing to grow in popularity and most of these systems being open source, Microsoft has definitely been pushed to the back of the line in this arena.
That said, I've tried out virtually every mainstream blogging system out there over the past year or so and I have finally found the one for me: WordPress.
Extended
WordPress is open source and has tons of features like custom plugin capabilities, multi-user management, DIY migration assistance, custom theme support, and more. And the latest 2.0 "Duke" release features a much more intuitive administration area, easy upgrade instructions, faster backend code, WYSIWYG editing control, and tons more. Plus, for developers the new release has added tons more plugin hooks, better function abstraction for data controls, independent theme functions with automated integration, and a ton of bug fixes. WordPress also has two great areas of their website that are dedicated to assisting both users and developers with extending the capabilities of the software; one of which, the WordPress Codex, is a great place to learn about getting started with WordPress as well as how to take it to the next level by offering advanced topics and developer documentation.
Linklog
Now that I'm done drooling over the framework of my new toy, let me explain what the toy does. I developed Linklog because the link system integrated into WordPress does not allow for a huge amount of output customization or control for users that have a million links, like me.
There are other plugins out there that you can use which basically create a separate links database and require you to maintain your links library separate from the standard WordPress links system. However, in doing so you can possibly run into duplicate links displaying on your site and/or links showing up in one area of your site and not in another. To prevent occurrence such as these from happening, I wanted to eliminate the option of using a secondary links database and use the links database that comes pre-configured with WordPress.
By using Linklog, you basically just continue using the "Links" system through the WordPress Administration site as you normally would, assigning all the normal link properties: url, ratings, descriptions, categories, etc... Now is where Linklog steps in. By adding adding a new static page to your blog and dropping a single line of code in as the page content, you've got an entirely new page within your WordPress blog site which follows your entire theme layout and showcases all of your active WordPress links. Now, I know that WordPress has specific functions to display links already built-in, but the Linklog is more advanced in that if you know anything about the php language you can easily modify the plugin file to display the links any other way you want. Best of all, Linklog has built-in controls for administration of each link displayed on your blog, which makes maintaining your links way easier.
Release
To download, save this file as "wp-linklog.php" and place it in your /wp-content/plugins directory. To use, activate it from the Plugins menu in the WordPress Administration site and create a new page within your blog and add "<!—linklogpage—>" for the page content. Modify your template files (if necessary) to display a link to the new "links page" and you're done. Log in to your blog and visit the new page, you'll see all the links displayed by category with descriptions underneath each using the style of your theme and with Edit and Delete controls next to each link for easy control of your linklog. Oh, and at the bottom of the page, there's a link to take you back into the Add Link area of the Administration site so you can quickly add links without jumping around back and forth between the Administration and public site areas.
Update
I tripped and fell about two days after writing this plugin and del.icio.us helped me back up. With del.icio.us having an API, I wrote a quick .NET app to build an xml file that contains the links from the Wordpress database and import them into del.icio.us. After that was done, I cleared the links out of Wordpress and called it a day. There will be no updates, no future configuration options and no additional integration features — you want something from this plugin that it doesn't do, it's all up to you and your PHP/WP skills.
