Most Desired WordPress Hacks: 11 Common Requests and Fixes
- By Noupe Editorial Team
- Posted in WORDPRESS
- 91 comments
This is the first article in our new three-part WordPress series. I want to share with you some hacks that i found to be very useful when i was working on the redesign of Noupe and during the design of my other site Devsnippets. Throughout this article, we’ll be focus on many WordPress Theme hacks, ideas, tips and useful tutorials you need to have ready in hand when developing WordPress websites.
You might be interested to check out our previous four part series, "Powerful guide to master Your WordPress Theme
So let’s get started and don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS-Feed to keep track on our next post in this series. One of the most interesting features in WordPress is using Custom Fields, which can turn your WordPress blog into a fully customizable CMS website. I use custom fields to create image thumbnail for each post here on Noupe and on Devsnippets as well and display the thumbnails on the home page and the Archive page. Duplicate content refers to two or more web pages that have the same, or almost the same, content. We must avoid duplicate content to not get penalized by search engines. But sometimes we need to show two (or more) lists of posts on one page, we usually do this by using Multiple Loops (one standard loop and one from a certain category). This is done when you want to feature not only the very latest post written, but also posts from a certain category. When i was designing DevSnippets, i wanted the users to easily login through the front page and skip the login page. Many solutions are out there and i found a good one at WPdesigner, i will add the code here just in case we don’t find it in the future. Of course later i wanted to make it even more easier and prettier to register and login through the front page and skip the login and register pages, so we coded a small widget using Prototype to switch between the login and registration box all on the front page. I will write a tutorial about this very soon. If you would like to have a menu like the one we have here at noupe, to show certain categories, just add the line of code below and style it as you wish. The template tag, wp_list_categories, displays a list of Categories as links. You can Include or Exclude Categories as you wish, just enter the category id and don’t forget to add the “include” or the “exclude” parameters to manage it. By default, wp_list_categories() generates nested unordered lists (ul) within a single list item (li) titled “Categories”. You can style that list item with a CSS selector. Sometimes you want to displays a list of categories in a select (i.e dropdown) box with no submit button. The easiest way to do this is use the wp_dropdown_categories template tag. If you want to display certain posts from a certain category like the one i am using for the news section on Devsnippets. Having multiple authors on your blog is really fun, we need to have good solutions to have nice custom author pages, show their latest posts, highlight author Comments in WordPress posts, show their avatars and author bio below every post. By default WordPress will use the author.php then the archive.php file then your index.php file to display the author info. That is, if you do not have an author.php file, WordPress will check for archive.php, and so on.
So, if you want to change the look of your author pages, you need to create an author.php file if it doesn’t exist, by copying archive.php if that file exists, or index.php if it doesn’t. If you want to show the author’s main website, email contact, and biography, helping readers learn more about the author. If you want to have that handy little author bio box at the top of the article with an author photo, you can do the following: When you have multiple authors on your blog, you will need to style the author comments differently, here is how you can do it: If you want to display your Twitter status on your blog instead of using Twitter-hosted scripts to save loading time.Using Custom Fields to Display Post Thumbnails
Follow the steps below and you will get it ready
<?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry »'); ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>">
<img src="<?php $values = get_post_custom_values("image_thumb"); echo $values[0]; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" />
</a>
Other great Solutions
Avoiding Duplicate Content
<?php $my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=featured&showposts=1');
while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();
$do_not_duplicate = $post->ID;?>
<!-- Do stuff... -->
<?php endwhile; ?>
<!-- Do other stuff... -->
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
if( $post->ID == $do_not_duplicate ) continue; update_post_caches($posts); ?>
<!-- Do stuff... -->
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
Other Solutions
<meta name="robots"content="noindex,follow">
Login Box in your sidebar
<li>
<?php global $user_ID, $user_identity, $user_level ?>
<?php if ( $user_ID ) : ?>
<h2>Control panel</h2>
<ul>
<li>Identified as <strong><?php echo $user_identity ?></strong>.
<ul>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-admin/">Dashboard</a></li>
<?php if ( $user_level >= 1 ) : ?>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-admin/post-new.php">Write an article</a></li>
<?php endif // $user_level >= 1 ?>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-admin/profile.php">Profile and personal options</a></li>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-login.php?action=logout&redirect_to=<?php echo urlencode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ?>">Exit</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<?php elseif ( get_option('users_can_register') ) : ?>
<h2>Identification</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<form action="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-login.php" method="post">
<p>
<label for="log"><input type="text" name="log" id="log" value="<?php echo wp_specialchars(stripslashes($user_login), 1) ?>" size="22" /> User</label><br />
<label for="pwd"><input type="password" name="pwd" id="pwd" size="22" /> Password</label><br />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send" class="button" />
<label for="rememberme"><input name="rememberme" id="rememberme" type="checkbox" checked="checked" value="forever" /> Remember me</label><br />
</p>
<input type="hidden" name="redirect_to" value="<?php echo $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; ?>"/>
</form>
</li>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-register.php">Register</a></li>
<li><a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/wp-login.php?action=lostpassword">Recover password</a></li>
</ul>
<?php endif // get_option('users_can_register') ?>
</li>
Creating a menu Showing Certain Categories
<ul class="topmenubar" style="float:left; width:720px;">
<?php wp_list_categories('orderby=name&include=7,72,23,16,1,7,17,26'); ?>
</ul>
Other great Solutions
Display Categories in a Dropdown box
<form action="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/" method="get">
<?php
$select = wp_dropdown_categories('show_option_none=Select Category&show_count=1&orderby=name&echo=0&selected=6');
$select = preg_replace("#<select([^>]*)>#", "<select$1 onchange='return this.form.submit()'>", $select);
echo $select;
?>
<noscript><input type="submit" value="View" /></noscript>
</form>
Most Wanted Posts and Categories hacks
How to exclude certain categories from being displayed in the loop.
<?php if ( have_posts() ) : query_posts($query_string .'&cat=-13,-26'); while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
How to display posts from a certain category
<ul class="news">
<?php query_posts('cat=6&showposts=5'); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
Post Author Related Solutions
Getting Author Page on your WordPress blog
Articles by <?php the_author(); ?>
Author Website: <?php the_author_url(); ?>
Author Email: <?php the_author_email(); ?>
Author Bio: <?php the_author_description(); ?>
Solution
Display Author Bio below each Post
Solution
Separate Author comments from other comments
<li class="<?php if ($comment->comment_author_email == "authorname@domain.com") echo 'author'; else if ($comment->comment_author_email == "anotherauthorname@domain.com") echo 'author2'; else if ($comment->comment_author_email == "thirdauthorname@domain.com") echo 'author3'; else echo $oddcomment; ?> item" id="comment-<?php comment_ID() ?>">
Display Twitter Messages on your blog
How to
About the Author
Fubiz, 26 August 2008
Excellent tips !
K-IntheHouse, 26 August 2008
Absolutely great tips. I am still trying to get my head wrapped around multiple WP queries. I am using it in a project at the moment but it just seems to break with any change I make elsewhere.
Stumbled!
Lachy, 26 August 2008
Awesome, cheers! Got a few articles like that on my website :D
JamieO, 26 August 2008
The multiple query thing is a great example. The other piece I would mention is to ensure you delete any page templates that you are intentionally not using in your design.
The Floating frog, 26 August 2008
A great resource article, I’ll bookmark this for later!
Billee D., 26 August 2008
Awesome! Thank you so much for pooling these resources into one convenient place.
Sheena, 26 August 2008
Great! Thanks for putting this together, its been a big help.
Nick, 26 August 2008
Although I wouldn’t call them “hacks”, it’s a great post! Thanks!
Noupe, 26 August 2008
Thank you all guys, i am glad you found some useful stuff here.
@JamieO,
I agree, you need to delete any unused template files due to the Template Hierarchy WordPress is built on, Which controls which template file(s) will WordPress use when it displays a certain type of page.
Good point :)
Chris, 26 August 2008
Thanks for the info. More and more clients are wanting a CMS solution and it’s great to be able to bring more flexibility to WordPress.
On a side note… I like your site design and colours, but a little more spacing between your “fixes” would make it a lot easier to read.
Cheers!
Mommy Brain Reports, 26 August 2008
Thanks for the tips!!! Definitely bookmarking this page!!! I need some new ideas for my site!
Luke, 26 August 2008
Re: Avoiding Duplicate Content
The code you have provided would only handle a single featured post. It would be better to use an Array to hold the displayed post IDs and then check against that, thereby allowing similar code to be used with multiple loops returning multiple posts.
have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();
$shownPosts[] = $post->ID;?>
ID , $shownPosts ) ) continue; update_post_caches($posts); ?>
MikeWhoBikes, 26 August 2008
There are some terrific, useful tips here. Thanks for posting!
Noupe, 26 August 2008
@Chris,
Thanks for the feedback. I added more space now for every headline fix.
@Luke, I agree with you. The code i provided here handles a single featured post. Thats why i provided a link to a nice solution by Weblog Tools Collection that shows how to avoid duplicating multiple posts.
JONxBLAZE, 26 August 2008
These are awesome hacks…thumbs up for sure!
Adrian | Rubiqube, 26 August 2008
Wow! Great stuff! This is the kind of post I like most. The “inside info from the trenches” kind. ;) Keep them coming!
Jason N., 26 August 2008
You can also create a twitter account for a blog at http://www.mysidekick2.com and readers twit to each other…
Splinter09, 26 August 2008
“Using Custom Fields to Display Post Thumbnails” exactly what I needed for my blog. And the other tips are just great, first time here but I’m sure to be coming back. Nice work.
Nathan Beck, 27 August 2008
Yeh thanks a lot Noupe some top tips there!
The Floating frog, 27 August 2008
WordPress plugins interest me alot so thanks for the interesting post.
d3bruts1d, 27 August 2008
Nice tips!
James, 27 August 2008
Awesome tips! … Bookmarked! :)
Max | Design Shard, 27 August 2008
This will be useful to me , thanks for posting
IhateDesign, 27 August 2008
Great tips, a few one i want to use a long time ago..
Steve, 27 August 2008
great Noura! I especially like the dropdown categories listing, something that I have been looking for. I think this can be used in the sidebar along with the archives dropdown, especially when space is limited.
The exclude category code is also very useful when doing advanced WordPress templating I have found.
Susan, 27 August 2008
Wow…this is very helpful. I’ve added it to my bookmarks!
NaldzGraphics, 27 August 2008
very nice tips serve!!.thanks a lot.
Ronald
Firewalker, 27 August 2008
Just a suggestion for the list:
Replacing WordPress search with Custom Google Search without additional post or page:
http://tinyurl.com/59tg5a
Gerasimos, 27 August 2008
Excellent tips! It seems that WordPress with so many plugins and tips laying around can work in any way we want.
Marketing Network, 28 August 2008
Indeed great tips! Thanks for the time you spent writing this excellent post!
Mihai, 28 August 2008
The new Noupe design rocks and allways good resources, thank you!
pmtate, 28 August 2008
Great tips, one issue is your copy to clipboard piece on the code snippets corrupts the code, the view plain is a better option.
copied as <?php should be <?php etc.
Paul
pmtate, 28 August 2008
That didn’t display as intended, the copy to clipboard converts the < into & lt ;
Monika, 28 August 2008
Your tipps are great, but duplicate content doesn’t mean to show the same article on one page ;)
duplicate content is: the same content under different URI.
regards
Monika
Milan Petrovic, 28 August 2008
Great article, thanx.
My Starscape theme has some of this ‘hacks’ built in and they can be controled through control panel settings. Theme has Post Author info, Related posts and Author archive page.
byme, 28 August 2008
NIce tips
byme
Pinara.Net, 28 August 2008
Thank you for the hacks, i can make custom theme from this, bravo
Mike, 28 August 2008
Great tips! Thanks as always…
Jon, 29 August 2008
Excellent article, thanks very much
The section on Avoiding Duplicate Content was especially useful for me, as this can be very tricky to get right with WordPress
Cheers, Jon
Craig, 29 August 2008
Great tips, but small bug in “Display Categories in a Dropdown box”. When you select a category it displays the category pages, but the item in the form box goes back to displaying the very first category I selected.
?? any suggestions.
Craig, 29 August 2008
Fixed … just delete &selected=6 from wp_dropdown_categories(‘show_option_none=Select Category&show_count=1&orderby=name&echo=0′);
Dror, 29 August 2008
Great ! keep on !
Dror
Jeromy, 29 August 2008
Another great post buddy!
Thanks so much. I admit the language is a bit above my head (I am trying to teach myself how to do this stuff). But the info is GOLD.
I am sharing your site as a Top Place for WordPress customization.
Cheers,
Jeromy
Abhilash, 30 August 2008
An excellent resource! Found your site through Webtoolscollection. Will return here soon and check out your other content…
Thanks!
bangbouh, 30 August 2008
Great Tips. Thanks!
webmaster blog, 01 September 2008
thnx
cooper, 01 September 2008
I’d like to be able to do the category drop downmenu exclusion thing, with my links drop down, having a certain category of links displayed on the drop down front menu- excluding the rest.
y5cafe, 02 September 2008
Great tip.
Click [Thanks]. :)
SarahG, 02 September 2008
For your highlighting of author comments you’d be better off comparing the ID and not the email. Two reasons
1. If you change your email address your old comments will not match up to your profile’s new email address
2. If you have a lot of authors on a multi author blog your if statement will get quite long.
Comparing the ID is simple:
if ($comment->user_id == get_the_author_ID())Providing the author is logged in (which they usually are), it will highlight the comment.
Noupe, 02 September 2008
@Cooper,
If you want to exclude certain categories from the frop down box use the following code, ‘exclude=4,12′ means category IDs 4 and 12 will NOT be displayed.
@SarahG,
Good point SarahG, comparing ids is much better than emails. Thanks for the tip :)
Icon, 02 September 2008
Excellent ! Great information, it’s time to customize my blog now. Thanks.
Edi Susanto, 04 September 2008
Wow, those are great tricks for wordpress. About put category list into drop down, I want to put my tag list into drop down, how do i do that?
Thanks
zoel, 05 September 2008
Cools and must be try! ;-)
Abdo, 07 September 2008
thanks a lot for sharing.
blogsarticle, 09 September 2008
Although I wouldn’t call them “hacks”, it’s a great post! Thanks!
Kudungga, 11 September 2008
Excelent thanks a lot for sharing.
Frank Richard, 16 September 2008
Great tools/plugins, thanks for sharing, I will share the twitter scripts with my friends!
moti levy, 17 September 2008
Thank you very much
great tips i used some of them
zmijata, 06 October 2008
Nice Work :)
Fat Man, 06 October 2008
Great Post. I always noticed the custom fields but never really thought they had any significance to my work.
It interesting the way you used them to include the thumbnails in the archives. It’s a nice touch.
I will be experimenting with them now.
hulif, 06 October 2008
It interesting the way you used them to include the thumbnails in the archives. It’s a nice touch.
I will be experimenting with them now.
wwrth, 06 October 2008
Great Post. I always noticed the custom fields but never really thought they had any significance to my work.
It interesting the way you used them to include the thumbnails in the archives. It’s a nice touch
ciscopower, 09 October 2008
Very good tips. I will try some of them in my website.
Thanks.
Jeff, 20 October 2008
Great tips…thanks!
Yeca, 29 October 2008
Great job ! Thanks !
mrgtb, 03 November 2008
great article, pity I don’t use wordpress. Well not really seeing as I use my own custom blog.
But seriously, great site you have going here
bugjee, 16 November 2008
Very good tips. I will try some of them in my website.
office space, 01 December 2008
thanks for your tips,it’s very useful,great
hj-cha, 04 December 2008
Great job ! Thanks !
antiquarian books, 10 December 2008
Great site. Thanks… :)
Xtence, 15 November 2009
Very usefull, thanks for sharing !
Vijendra Mishra, 02 January 2010
Nice Hacks thanks for Login Solution.
Munki, 15 February 2010
Thank you for the tips :-)
Liking it @ Stumbleupon for later reference
vincent, 18 February 2010
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künstliche Fingernägel, 03 April 2010
Great stuff guys! I really don’t know how much time it takes for your guys to compile such a list of excellent resources but it takes a lot of time for me to digest it all! Keep up the good work! Thank you!
cappuccino, 14 April 2010
Good guide.
Belinda, 04 May 2010
I love the tip about how to only include specific categories. I don’t know why it took me so long to find out how to do that, but it’s perfect. Thank you! :-)
Dani Raykova, 17 May 2010
Thank you a lot. Great collection!
Office Space Man, 27 May 2010
Wanted to know about the author bio information, so thanks very much for that tip.
Claudio Merino, 25 July 2010
you guys really rocks!
nanee, 02 November 2010
this is wonderful post that fills all requirement of article
fran, 02 November 2010
this post covers all aspects of article
Mats, 18 January 2011
Really cool article! I enjoyed reading it and will read more of your stuff!!
vermeamburf, 01 March 2011
People in ancient times did not like to talk much. They felt shame for themselves do not keep up with their own words …
John Willams, 15 March 2011
Very appreciated! I will definitely use these tips, bookmarked:)
Firma Rehberi, 17 March 2011
I love the tip about how to only include specific categories. I don’t know why it took me so long to find out how to do that, but it’s perfect. Thank you! :-)
wrixertoose, 12 June 2011
Hello nice topic we have going here.
wrixertoose, 14 June 2011
Just now read the thread! Amazing job.
ScalaSoksFusa, 12 August 2011
+1
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