Aug 12
Vancouver WordPress Meetup Talk: Simple Yet Powerful WordPress Hacks
Below you’ll find the code examples for my Vancouver WordPress Meetup group talk Simple Yet Powerful WordPress Hacks held on August 12, 2010. This article will be expanded after the talk but for now it consists only of the code examples themselves.
Replace blog title with a linked image
One of my top 10 pet peeves is sites where you can’t click the logo to get to the home page but have to click the “Home” button. This code block can be inserted in the header.php file and it will insert an image (logo) that links back to the home page and also has the alternate text and link title set to the name of the site.
<div id="blog-title"> <a href="<?php echo get_bloginfo('url') ?>/" title="<?php bloginfo('name') ?>" rel="home"> <img alt="<?php bloginfo('name') ?>" src="<?php echo get_bloginfo('template_url') ?>/imageFolder/imageFile.type" /> </a> </div>
Add WP 3.0 menus to non-WP 3.0 themes
To add WP 3.0 menus to themes that were built before the new version of WordPress or don’t have them built in you need to activate the menu function in functions.php and then add a call to the menu in your template file.
Add to functions.php:
register_nav_menus(
array(
'menuName' =>__('Menu Name'),
'2ndMenu' =>__('2nd Menu'),
)
);Add to template file:
<?php wp_nav_menu(array( 'theme_location' => 'primary' )); ?>
Note that the theme_location call points to the name of the menu as set in functions.php. To target the menu name set inside WordPress use this code instead:
<?php wp_nav_menu(array( 'name' => 'Menu Name' )); ?>
Highlight current page or category in menu
I’ve already written an extensive article on this subject that can be found here. The core of the CSS code is this style:
.current-menu-item,
.current-page-ancestor,
.current-post-ancestor {
... style info goes here ...
}Custom page template in 5 lines of code
To create a custom page template simply insert the following 5 lines of code at the top of your template file and give it a name other than “whatever”. Once saved (as something other than page.php) it will appear as one of your template options inside WordPress.
<?php /* Template Name: Whatever */ ?>
Add Featured Image (thumbnail) functionality to your theme
To activate the Featured Image panel in WordPress admin an enable the function you need to add a small piece of code to the functions.php file. Once this is done and Featured Images have been defined you can call them from within any template file using one of the calls below.
In functions.php:
add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' );
In theme file:
<?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?>The above call will produce the thumbnail in the size defined inside WordPress admin under Settings -> Media. To call a different size use one of the following:
the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail');
the_post_thumbnail('medium');
the_post_thumbnail('large');
the_post_thumbnail(array(nnn,nnn));For the last one replace ‘nnn’ with any pixel width and height.
May 27
The Unholy Quatern at Web Not War 2010 in Montreal
UPDATE: The Unholy Quatern session I did at Web Not War 2010 was loosely based on an article I wrote for the Microsoft Expression Newsletter last year. To get a more in-depth walk-through of my work process and some more code examples etc take a look at the original article found here.
After 8 years in Canada I finally find myself in the mythical French portion of the country, more specifically the Beaumont district in Montreal, Quebec. Why? To talk WordPress and Expression Web to the attendees at the Web Not War conference. I’ll be posting more on this later but for now here are the vital links for my talk. The slides will be here shortly. Check back for updates.
Links
WordPress template tools for Expression web
WordPress on your computer: Web Platform Installer or BitNami
Sync your files: Live Mesh
Mar 23
Webcast: An Intimate and Enlightening View into Microsoft Expression Web 3
I’m doing a 1 hour live webcast with Microsoft Canada demonstrating advanced WordPress customization with Expression Web 3 on April 6th, and you are welcome to join. It will be an extended version of my MIX10 session with more demos and more time for questions. All you have to do to participate is register. Full writeup below:
REGISTER
Invitation Code: 0781DA
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Start Time: 11:00AM PST (02:00 PM EST)
Webcast Duration: 60 min
Questions about these events?
Call us at 1-888-789-7770
A follow up to Paul Laberge’s “101” webcast, Expression Web MVP and WordPress hacker Morten Rand-Hendriksen takes you through an intimate and enlightening look into his day-to-day work process. He specializes in building solid standards-based websites on the WordPress platform using Microsoft web technologies and Expression Web. The session takes you through real-life examples of customer projects and pulls back the curtain on a work process that employs what Morten jokingly refers to as the “Unholy Quatern” – Microsoft’s Expression Web 3, Web Platform Installer and Mesh combined with the open-source publishing platform WordPress. Combining these four technologies Morten has developed a process in which rapid site debugging, prototyping and implementation becomes a reality.
Learn the inner workings of WordPress and how to use its theme engine to build pretty much any website you can think of using Expression Web 3 and see how using simple web technologies like WPI and Mesh can make your life as a CMS dev/igner much easier.
Mar 14
MIX10 Session and Supporting Documents
Above is my MIX10 session A Case Study: Rapid WordPress Design and Prototyping with Expression Web 3 in its entirety in Silverlight video format. It can be blown up to full screen and I highly recommend it as there are code examples.
In the session I referenced a bunch of different technologies and applications I use on a day-to-day basis. For those in attendance and those watching on the web here is the exhaustive list of links and tools for you to play around with. I will post a link to the video version of my session when it becomes available approximately 24 hours after the session itself.
The Unholy Quatern
The Unholy Quatern consists of 4 basic elements;
If you are only installing WordPress on your local computer there is no need to get WordPress from the original source – the Web Platform Installer will handle the installation for you. The same applies if you are using a different CMS under the WPI.
NOTE: If you are working in Windows 7 it will be necessary to run Expression Web 3 as Administrator if you want to set up the WPI version of WordPress as a site. Otherwise Expression Web 3 will not have permission to write to the folder and you’ll be banging your head against a wall for hours trying to figure out why it’s not working.
WordPress Code Snippets for Expression Web
I have created a downloadable version of the WordPress code snippets used in the session. They are availalbe – and frequently updated – at the Expression Gallery. The snippets work with any version of Expression Web and are quite literally plug-and-play. The current version of the WordPress Template Tools comes with a special snippet that lets you create new snippets. Snippets in the current version are:
- Custom Page Template tag
- Custom Field tag
- PHP parsing Custom Field
- Conditional Custom Field
- Image as Header
- Get blog/site URL
- Get current theme URL
- Get blog/site name
- Get blog description
- PHP include
Most of these are plug-and-play and those that are not are fairly easy to understand. They are all 100% standards-based and use current and up-to-date WordPress template tags.
I update the WordPress Template Tools on a random basis whenever I feel there is a new tag that will be useful for other people. If you have an idea for a template tag not currently in the list feel free to contact me with the suggestion.
Jan 06
MIX10 Proposal: I Reject Your Stylesheet and Substitute My Own
Ever since I was invited to attend Microsoft’s web design and development conference MIX in 2008 I’ve been itching to submit my own session proposal and get on the podium to share with other developers and designers my experiences working with Expression Web and WordPress. The plan was to submit a proposal for MIX09 but life and work intervened and made it impossible for me to even attend (truth be told I was going to a wedding in Hawaii the same week so I really shouldn’t complain). But this year March is wide open and I’ve jumped in head first and submitted a talk with the modest title “I Reject Your Stylesheet And Substitute My Own – Rapid site design and prototyping with Expression Web 3 and WordPress” to the OpenCall portion of MIX10. And now I need your help to get my proposal accepted so I can get in and do my thing.
OpenCall is literally a popularity contest: The ten most voted on proposals get a slot at the conference and the rest are left by the wayside. As far as I can tell my proposal is the only one focusing on Expression Web (at least it’s the only one that shows up on a search) and also the only one talking about WordPress so my hope is that both those interested in the web authoring application and those interested in WordPress specifically or open-source or CMS design in general will find it compelling and want to vote for it. Only time will tell.
To vote for I Reject Your Stylesheet and Substitute My Own visit the OpenCall ballot page found here and click the Add session to ballot button. You can vote for a total of 5 sessions with one ballot. The rest of the sessions can be found here. Once you’re done voting, spread the word and get all your friends to vote for me as well. Voting ends on the 15th of January so there’s little time but I am certain with your help my name will appear on the roster alongside the many other fantastic speakers at MIX10.
Oh, and if you’re interested the extremely limited edition I Reject Your Stylesheet and Substitute My Own T-shirts are available in green, blue, tan and black sizes S, M and L (Fruit of the Loom, heavy cotton) for $20. Contact me with your name and mailing address and I’ll wrap one up and send it to you.
