In the WordPress hackers mailing list, there has been a (quite pointless, if you ask me) debate about the word “Howdy” you should read in the upper right corner of your WordPress admin area (if you’re not using a translated version of it). Some people are not liking this word, complaining that it sounds too American, or too something, for their liking.
To put an end to this thread, I wrote a very simple plugin which purpose is simply to replace this word, “Howdy”, with anything you like better: Hola, Hello, Bonjour, What’s Up, whatever. Yes, a plugin, to replace one word. Go figure :)
Download
- no_howdy_plugin.txt (plain text, save as .php)
- no_howdy_plugin.php (highlighted code, select all, copy & paste in a blank file then save as .php)
Usage
Edit the beginning of the script, and replace the value of $nohowdy with what makes you happy. Activate. Sit back and never see this oh-so-horrible “Howdy” again. Well, if you really find it horrible, anyway.
Disclaimer
This plugin is obviously a total overkill, as it is designed, and loads the jQuery library, just to change one word. I really wanted to cut those whiners whining :)
Needless to say, I won’t support anything about this plugin :)
thought, on 29/Dec/07 at 3:44 am # :
NoHowdy plugin?
What’s wrong with Howdy? What’s with the Howdy discrimination?
I now hereby declare a new term. Howdyphobeâ„¢.
said, on 29/Dec/07 at 3:50 am # :
Thank you. I HATE the word Howdy. It sounds redneck and ignorant to me. I’m happy to go to all this trouble to eliminate it from the otherwise-elegant WordPress interface.
wrote, on 01/Jan/08 at 10:54 am # :
I think this is just TOO funny! funny that people actually care about that tiny little word in the admin panel that nobody sees anyway, LOL!! I mean, I don’t even look at it. who cares guys! sheesh! :) hehe
Ya know, I was looking at this plugin, how its constructed. I’ve been trying to learn how to write wordpress plugins for awhile now, and have not grasped the concept yet. I can do PHP blindfolded, but I don’t get plugin writing for wordpress at all, so I looked at this plugin, hoping I would understand a basic skeleton like this, and I am STILL lost even looking at a basic skeleton. I mean u can’t get any simplier then this and I’m still lost on writing plugins. thats whats sad. hehe
said, on 01/Jan/08 at 10:56 am # :
wow!! OMG, your gravatar plugin actually works, which plugin are you using for gravatars? because mine isn’t working anywhere else but here, and on the gravatar.com site. can’t get my gravatar to work on my own site either :(
thought, on 02/Jan/08 at 9:57 pm # :
bubazoo » I’m not using any plugin. It’s just, more or less, the PHP implementation in my theme, using this background image trick to speed up page loading time & avoid “broken image” icons when gravatar.com goes offline or unreachable.
replied, on 03/Jan/08 at 6:48 pm # :
I think them there folks who don’t like us here folk to use howdy are insensitive to us’s needs. There ain’t nothing wrong with howdy, and y’all should all not no more complain bout it.
thought, on 03/Jan/08 at 8:20 pm # :
I’d love to see Wordpress greeting us in different languages. Something like what flickr has been doing for a very long time.
Now that’s truly fair for everyone & very international :)
replied, on 22/Jan/08 at 8:56 pm # :
Lol, you have my kind of sense of humor.
replied, on 24/Jan/08 at 6:57 am # :
Okay, I had no clue of what you were talking about. “Howdy”? I had to go to my Admin page to see (curiosity killed the cat and all that) and sure enough, there it was. I have been using WP for almost a year now, and didn’t have a clue.
Of course, I’m from Idaho, so the word “howdy” is not exactly foreign to me. ;-) I think it’s rather funny that people even care. I say “y’all” all the time too. Does that make me the worst kind of hick there is?
Don’t answer that.
thought, on 03/May/08 at 11:50 am # :
I’m really glad there are still people around who are bothered by regional colloquialisms.
Thanks for this, mate ;)
wrote, on 12/May/08 at 8:09 am # :
Hi, hello, g’day, bonjour, hej, hola,
It didn’t work for me.
I know you aren’t supporting it, so I don’t expect any.
wrote, on 17/May/08 at 1:04 am # :
You gotta be kidding? LOL
People have been annoyed about THAT? I really had to look for the word to find it and I’ve used Wordpress for several years now.
I can’t even imagine how anyone can read that greeting. The font can’t be more than max 10 pixel :p
Funnies plugin I’ve seen in some time :D
thought, on 26/Jun/08 at 3:10 pm # :
This is sensational - it works with any HTML.
Can’t say I was bothered one way or t’other about Howdy, but I love being able to change it to some useful code. Mine’s showing the beginnings of a little custom menubar. The possibilities are endless.
Overkill? Never
pingback on 09/Jul/08 at 12:10 pm # :
[...] Version: n/a - License: GPL - Author: Planetozh - Plugin Page - » Download [...]
thought, on 22/Jul/08 at 6:19 am # :
It’s very nice to have a plugin for this. I’ve edited the admin template to change it before, but changes are lost with upgrades. I now have a more pleasant, professional “Welcome”, which will hopefully remain for many upgrades to come.
commented, on 30/Jul/08 at 11:45 pm # :
The reason the word “Howdy” is used is probably just a small bit of humour from Matthew Mullenweg born and raised in Houston, Texas and the founding developer of WordPress. It’s his native tongue…
pingback on 01/Oct/08 at 9:13 am # :
[...] dem No Howdy Plugin von Ozh kann die Willkommen Meldung oben rechts in der Administration durch einen beliebigen [...]
said, on 07/Oct/08 at 12:41 pm # :
There is, as I have argued before, a slightly more serious side to this. I have witnessed at least once, someone contemplating WP for their business CMS taking one look at ‘Howdy’ and gaining the immediate impression they are dealing with some unprofessional ‘kiddie’ system. ‘Blogroll’ used to have the same effect.
All they really needed to do was put a span around it after all. So yes - this is overkill but could be popular with those trying to make a living out of WP in business circles.