FAQ

+ Atomic Duck

  • Why Atomc Duck?

    Chinese food! Crispy aromatic duck sounds a bit like crispy atomic duck, but crispy atomic duck also doesn't sound like something I'd want to ride around in! 

+ TweetUpdater

  • Can I use [my favourite short url service] with TweetUpdater?

    Sure, add it yourself! ;D

    Short URL retrieval is handled by the tu_get_shorturl() function in tweetupdater.php. If you'd like to use another service, taking a look at this function will give you an idea of how to add one.

    Some URL shorteners return a link as the only content from an API call, but others, like bit.ly give other information that needs to be parsed before it can be used. Take a look at the tu_make_bitly_url() function to get an idea of how to deal with that. Help files for the service should tell you the format of the returned request, including any error messages.

    For short URLs from WordPress plugins, you'll need to find the function that outputs the generated URL from just a $post_ID input variable. You can't use the same one as you use to show the link on the page, because TweetUpdater doesn't run when a page is processed to view; it runs when a page gets published/updated.

  • Will you be adding any more URL services/placeholders/other functions?

    Because the plugin does everything I need it too, I'm not looking to add any more URL services at the moment. The main work for me was including la petite url (which I use) and adding the OAuth login for Twitter so it would keep working after basic auth was swithched off.

    I use this plugin and will keep it updated, but if there's something specific you want to see in TweetUpdater, the quickest way to get it is probably to poke around and figure out how to add it yourself.

  • If I add a function, will you include it in TweetUpdater?

    Yes. If you have a URL service or placeholder that you've added, let me know and I'll add it to a new release.

    Source code is available for you to tinker with or fork at Github.

  • What's next?

    TweetUpdater needs some better error handling, and to cache and retry requests that fail if Twitter is down.

  • TweetUpdater doesn't do what I want.

    If TweetUpdater doesn't do what you want, and you don't want to get your hands dirty with code, there are a number of nice looking Twitter Status updaters about, WordTwit looks very fancy, but I haven't tried it.

+ Intellectual Property

  • Can I just take your work and use it myself?

    Depends what you mean by use…

    If you want to use it commercially, you can buy a licence to do so (coming soon). That is, you can buy a license per vehicle to manufacture an Atomic Duck velomobile for sale. That's if it's identical to our design, or altered it to suit your customer's needs. Obviously that doesn't affect your right to be create something different, we don't want to (and we can't) stop anybody else making velomobiles, just we'd like to license our design for commercial production.

    If you want to use the designs non-commercially, then they are licensed under under a Creative Commons non-commercial share-alike license to allow you to do that. That means We've waived some of the rights allowed to us by law, to enable you to use my designs non-commercially. This means you don't need to worry about us being upset at you for liking what we've done!

    I'll even go further than that. If you like what we do, and want to go away and play with it (build your own, remix it, adapt it, share it) non-commercially; I'm encouraging you to do that even if you never pay me any money. 

    This is not because we don't want money—it's good business sense. The enthusiasm you have, to put your time and effort into creating something, is worth reputation to us.

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