Google Offers a Topic Page Plugin … Skip It

by Matt on Apr 30, 2010 in Blogging

How’s this for a koinkydink: Just when we’ve been talking a lot about topic pages for local blogs, Google announces a set of Wordpress plugins for what it calls “Living Story pages.”

That’s the same thing as what the rest of us call a topic page — a single URL where all information about an ongoing story/event/etc. lives permanently. But here’s the thing: skip Google’s plugins. Ignore it. Pretend it doesn’t exist.

Why?

Because it’s too freaking complicated. Seriously, just look at the documentation. It’s a guaranteed winner for Most Complicated and Convoluted Wordpress Extension Ever.

It’s not just one plugin; it’s four plugins. And you have to install and activate them in a certain order.

It doesn’t work unless you also install the Living Stories Wordpress theme. Yep, good luck with that. Can’t imagine there’s gonna be a lot of adoption with that requirement.

I like what Michael Gray said earlier on Twitter:

headdesk

That says it all….

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April 30, 2010 | Filed Under Blogging 

Comments

2 Responses to “Google Offers a Topic Page Plugin … Skip It”

  1. Alistair on May 1st, 2010 5:05 am

    Installation might be a pain but if it offers anywhere near the functionality that their living stories experiment did with the big newspapers – it’d be a cracking plugin to use if it fits with the type of content you publish.

  2. Steve Sherron on May 1st, 2010 6:46 am

    Funny you should post this. My exact same reaction. I saw this last week sometime and checked it out. It didn’t take long to just say “Sheesh!”and click away. WTH Google?

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