ProgPress: Wordpress plugin for wordcount tracking

So I’ve decided to switch to ProgPress by Jason Penny as my Wordpress plugin (see my right-hand navigation bar, partway down the page) because I can list multiple writing projects within the same widget.

I avoided the plugin at first because (at first glance, at least), it looked more complicated than the other choices, plus the user documentation needs a bit of help. However, I like the flexibility and customization possibilities of this app. Here’s a quickie tutorial on how you can use it for your own Wordpress blog:

1. Download the plugin.

2. Activate the plugin (Appearance -> Widgets).

3. Adjust the settings to what you want (Settings -> ProgPress):

Here are the settings I used to show the progress bars in a text widget. I’m assuming that checking “Display in posts” will add the bars to ever blog post, which I didn’t want.

Here’s what I put in the text widget:

I couldn’t figure out what that third numeric field was for. It’s labelled as “PreviousCount” but it didn’t seem to have any effect so I just put “xxx.” I’m going to e-mail Jason for info.

I’ve haven’t done much customizing yet (colour, size of bar, etc.), plus I’ll probably add some text at the top of the widget with a link to the graphic novel blog I maintain with Beckett Gladney.

And you can see the results at the top of this page. Um, I haven’t started the rewrite of my new sf/fantasy novel yet.

Anyway, it wasn’t as complicated as I had anticipated. If you’re still intimidated by the above, however, you may want to stick with a plugin like the Scribometer, though it currently only supports one project at a time.

Tagged as: wordcount, Wordpress