That’s all fine and good, but what if there was a plugin that did more? Take a look at WordTwit and you’ll see how the integration of many different options and tools can make your blog’s connection to Twitter that much more productive.

With WordTwit installed whenever you publish new content from WordPress, Twitter will automatically be updated with a brief description of your new content along with a link back to it, bringing additional traffic and visitors to your website.

Installing the plugin is as easy as any other plugin in the WordPress dashboard. Just search for WordTwit and make sure it is the one created by BraveNewCode. Setting it up is easy also. Under the Settings section look for WordTwit.

Choose A URL Shortening Service

One cool feature of WordTwit is the ability to choose what URL shortening service you wish to use.  This allows you the blogger to choose the same service you have been using.  As for me, I love using HootSuite and the Ow.Ly shortening service so I am glad WordTwit offers this.

Sign In & Authorize The Use Of Your Twitter Account

This is a common occurrence with programs that interact with Twitter.  All you have to do is click the “Sign in with Twitter” button and authorize it.  I noticed that upon doing this, the URL shortening service box went back to the default so make sure, once again, you choose the service that you want.

Edit The Text Of The Tweet To Be Tweeted

Another cool feature that WordTwit offers is the ability to change the text of the tweet to be sent out.  You can put whatever you want and use [title] where you want the title to appear and [link] where you want the link to appear.

Modify The Options For Tags & Categories

With WordTwit you can actually choose which categories and tags you want to include or exclude.  Enter the categories and tags separated by commas and decide whether you want to include them or exclude them.  Of course you can also choose to leave this option blank to have all posts tweeted about.

There Are Also Advanced Options

There are a few advanced options that you may or may not choose to make use of.  First, there is the option to include tags for UTM (look it up) for the purposes of statistics tracking.  Also, there is an option for enabling the Tweet Queue for failed tweets (still experimental).

Overall, WordTwit is a simple to use yet flexible plugin allowing the blogger to use Twitter effortlessly with his blog.

Remember that as a member of the Twitter community, if all you do is post links to your blog posts that you probably won’t build much of a following.  There are more sources out there that can help you learn how to use Twitter properly.  You wouldn’t want to be annoying, would you?

There are two really good sources that may help.  The first is MakeUseOf’s Twitter Guide which is an awesome introduction to Twitter.  Then there is a blog called Twitip (a review) run by Darren Rowse that offers all kinds of advice about using Twitter to the fullest.

What tools or plugins do you recommend for integrating a blog with Twitter?

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If you’re searching for a lightning fast Flash gallery generator with all the above, then SimpleViewer is all you need. It’s free, and works with a myriad of imaging applications including Photoshop, Picasa and iPhoto.

If you’ve not got any of the above (or would rather use a lightweight solution), fear not for there is a dedicated GUI for SimpleViewer called Porta. This software will allow you to input the parameters you desire to customize your gallery without the need for trawling through an XML file and fiddling with code.

For the benefit of this demonstration, I will be using Porta. If like me you’ve got hundreds of ready-to-go processed images, then this is a speedy solution that “just works”. You can download the Windows version here, and Linux (and possibly Mac) users who are interested will be pleased to know that the generator will work with the aid of Wine. You won’t need to download SimpleViewer seperately if you are using Porta, all you need to get started is included.

SimpleViewer works by creating a folder containing your images, thumbnails, script files and an index page. When you visit this URL within a web browser (e.g. mydomain.com/holiday2010/) the gallery will be loaded in its entirety, making SimpleViewer ideal for quick sharing solutions.

Creating A Gallery With Porta

Once you’ve downloaded and installed Porta, locate it in the Start Menu and open it up. You should be prompted straight away to select a folder to use for your gallery. The images within this folder will be added automatically to the list of images in your gallery, though you can re-arrange and remove images later if you wish.

Select a folder in the dialog box that appears, you may want to take some time collating your images first. Once you’ve chosen your desired images, Porta will return you to its default state and provide a couple of options to fiddle with.

First of all name your gallery and customise the footer if you want.

Change the destination of your eventual Flash masterpiece by clicking change and specifying a location (it will default to a folder called album in the location you previously chose). The Edit Album… button allows you to decide on the order of your images, as well as captions and micro-captions.

Drag and drop your images in the left pane to rearrange, and clicking each one will give you the option to add captions. The gallery generator also allows you to pull EXIF data as captions with the Extract Captions button.

Once you’re done arranging, click Close to be taken back to Porta’s default menu and click Options. Here you can tweak your gallery so that it appears exactly as you want it.

Ensure that Use SimpleViewer as primary album viewer is checked, else you’ll generate a basic HTML gallery instead of the fancy Flash one you desire. The rest of the settings are entirely subjective based on your requirements from the gallery, and image size and quality will depend on bandwidth and space limitations.

Before hitting OK click on Options next to the SimpleViewer check box, and choose your colour scheme and appearance options.

Once you’re set, hit OK to return to the main menu and then Start to generate your gallery. SimpleViewer won’t hang around long, and your gallery will soon be generated. Hit Show Gallery to check out your creation, not forgetting to gasp in awe at the sexy interface in front of you.

You can now upload the folder directly to your webspace, or pick apart the HTML and integrate into a webpage of your choosing.

Using SimpleViewer With Other Applications

The full list of compatible SimpleViewer applications extends way beyond Photoshop, Picasa and iPhoto. Adobe Lightroom 2.0 and Apple Aperture are supported as well as RapidWeaver for the Mac and SimpleViewerExport on Linux.

Each application package contains the relevant scripts to generate galleries, though some require manual tweaking of the galleries.xml file to set parameters such as thumbnail size and scaling options.

There is a full list of compatible programs on the SimpleViewer website, as well as download links to scripts and detailed instructions on how to use each one in conjunction with your existing software.

Conclusion

For a lightning quick solution to putting your favourite shots on the web using Flash, SimpleViewer leads the class. If you’re after professional results, and don’t fancy going down the JavaScript route then give it a whirl. Porta’s all you need for a test-drive, and it won’t cost you a penny.

Have you tried SimpleViewer? Do you prefer it to JavaScript-based solutions? Let us know in the comments.

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