[wp-testers] the_author_XXX

[Owen Winkler]

Stefano wrote:
> Actually in the admin pael, under the User profile there are 3 fields:
> AIM, YIM, GTalk, but there is still funciton to get ICQ and MSN,. I'm
> wondering why there is no fields for them.
> 
> Any idea?
> 

I don't know why those particular IM fields were *kept*.  All of the IM 
metadata was moved from the users table into the usermeta table.

Presumably, you could add any IM type (or any metadata!) you wanted via 
plugin, simply by providing the UI on the profile page, storing the 
submitted data, and creating functions for easily retrieving it.

This would be a good project for a new plugin author:

* Remove the three existing fields from the profile page.
* Replace them with a more dynamic form that allows users to specify the 
IM/comm service from a dropdown, and then provide their ID in a box.
* Provide a fixed number of these (or start with one and create more via 
Ajax!) on the profile page.
* Provide a set of functions for retrieving these values in the template.

Sound interesting?
Sounds more like a core patch, if you ask me...

Owen