=== Plugin Name ===
Twitterfools Trending Topics
Contributors: Twitterfools.com
Donate link: http://www.twitterfools.com/
Tags: Twitter, Trending Topics, Twitter Trending Topics, Twitterfools, Ajax
Requires at least: 2.8.0
Tested up to: 2.8.4
Stable tag: trunk

This is a simple plugin that adds a widget with a list of the Twitter Trending Topics

== Description ==

This plugin allows you to add a sidebar widget to your site that displays Twitter's trending topics.  
Unlike some other Twitter Plugins, this one caches Twitter data, and provides you with a cache timeout option that 
lets you comply with Twitter API rate limiting. 

Homepage and Support: http://www.twitterfools.com/plugins/twitterfools-trending-topics
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/twitfools

Requirements:

PHP 5.x with SimpleXML extension enabled
WordPress 2.5+
MySQL 5.x

== Installation ==

Simple Installation: Install the plug-in from your Wordpress console and activate.

Manual Installation is also very simple

1. Download a copy of the Twitterfools Trending Topics plugin
2. Upload `twitterfools-trending-topics` to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory under your WordPress installation folder
3. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
4. Add the trending topics to your sidebar or other area using the dashboard under `Appearance` -> `Widgets` 
5. Enter a title and a cache timeout value in the widget instance. The cache time out values are in seconds.  
If omitted, results will be cached for 300 seconds (5 minutes).


== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Why are you caching Twitter Data? =

Twitter has a rate limit of 150 API calls per hour for each IP address when those calls are anonymous.  We cache
the reults of the Twitter trending topics call for an amount of time that is configurable in the 
plugin dialog.  This lets us get around the rate limit issue, as well as improve performace by retrieving the 
topics from a local cache. 

= What are Trending Topics? =

Twitter is a near real-time messaging community, and trending topics are things that many people are currently
tweeting about.  In some cases these topics indicate breaking news or popular ideas of the moment.  In other cases
they're still popular, since many people are tweeting them, but the reasons behind why a specific topic begins
to trend was often a mystery.  With version 1.0.2 of Twitterfools Trending Topics, user can now roll over 
a topic and see descriptive information from WhatTheTrend.com about each topic.


== Changelog ==

= 1.0.2 =
* Added Ajax Callout to WhatTheTrend.com to provide descriptive information about each trending topic. 
* The Ajax feature relies on the Wordpress installation of JQuery as well as SimpleXML Extension

= 1.0.1 =
* Migrated to the WordPress 2.8 WP_Plugin API

= 1.0.0 =
* Initial production release on Twitterfools.com