Wordpress Theme Hacks

8/8/2019 Wordpress Theme Hacks

1/33

Wordpress Theme Hacks NearlyAnyone Can Do

Afraid you might "breaksomething" by muckingaround in your theme? Witha little determination, and justa few keystrokes - you'd besurprised how many thingsyou can change on your own.


2/33

How I Met Wordpress

THIS WAS MEFor10 LONG YEARS


3/33

In 1999 I was hired as a webmaster

I was VERY loyal


4/33

Webmasters Did Everything

HTML

Javascript

Graphics

Technical Writing

CGI/Perl Coding

UNIX Shell Coding Create Online Tools

Training


5/33

Open Source CMS

I tried to introduce multiple Open Source CMSSystems to Automate my Job


6/33

Big Money Always Won


7/33

I Met Wordpress in 2004


8/33

I Thought They Were Wrong...

So I kept using Wordpress on My Own...

Sometimes instead ofdoing my real work.


9/33

Little Did I Know...

In 2009 they outsourced the last of us...the last of the webmasters that is.


10/33

I Was Out of Work

No Jobs. Unemployment.Couldn't Move.

What Now?


11/33

Reinvention


12/33

Wordpress Theme Hacks Nearly

Anyone Can DoYou Will Need to:

Use the Wordpressdashboard editor

Know basic HTML

Be able to Edit, Copy

and Paste smallamounts of PHPCode


13/33

Why Hack a Wordpress Theme?

To stand out or look differentcreate a look nobody else hasTo add functionality for the end user

like, tweet, disqusTo enhance the way content is displayed

post meta, text, images, the_loop, navigationTo customize specific pages

search results, 404 Pages, archives, category & tags pagesTo show content only when conditions are met

only on the home page, just singles posts, only tag pages,etc.


14/33

How Do I Edit My WP Theme?

In WP dashboard: Appearance EditorClick on the page you want to edit:


15/33

What Are All Those Theme Pages?

At Bare Minimum, Most WP Themes Have:index.php (home page + a whole lot more)single.php (single posts)page.php (paged pages like your about page)comments.php (the comments block after content)header.php (before the content on EVERY page)footer.php (after the content on EVERY page)sidebar.php (what's in the sidebar)functions.php (special theme specific PHP code)style.css (text formatting and layout rules)

Reference: http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchyhttp://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy


16/33

Which file does what?

A page file (index, single, page) calls and loadsother files for specific page content areas:


17/33

How Many Pages Could MyWP Theme Have?

The Bare Minimum

index.php

single.php

page.php

comments.php

header.php

footer.php

functions.php

sidebar.php

style.css

Optional Theme Pages

archive.php (date based archives)

search.php (search results)

category.php (category pages)

tag.php (tag pages)

404.php (not found errors)

attachment.php (attachments)

author.php (author page)

loop.php (Wordpress 3.0+)

Countless custom template files


18/33

Why Use Conditional Tags

To do something only whencertain conditions are met

Examples:

Show specific text or images Create custom adverts for specific uses

Designate alternate layouts for certain pages

Using plugins to do this slows down your site


19/33

Where can I use Conditional Tags?

Conditions such as is_home with is_front_page, is_single,is_sticky, is_page, is_page_template, is_category,is_tag, is_author, work great in sections such as:

index.php

Header or Footer

Sidebars

the_loop

Comments block


20/33

Very Specific Conditions

Specify individual pages like is_single('hello') orin_category('5'), is_page_template('contact.php'),is_tag('ipod') or has_tag('ipod'), is_author('john-pratt'),is_date(), is_single(array('my-best-post', 'my-worst-post'))

Specific category and tag pages Specific template pages

Specific archive pages

Specific post ID's

Reference the Codex:http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags
http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tagshttp://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags


21/33

Hacking with Conditional Tags

Do ABC when XYZ Condition is met:

Show my big block of SEO keyword-laden text

By replacing is_home with is_front_page, is_single, is_sticky,is_page, is_page_template, is_category, is_tag,is_author, is_date, is_archive, or is_attachment to makeyour message show up on nearly any WordPress page.


22/33

Having Multiple Conditions

Do ABC when XYZ Condition is met,elseif single post page do DEF

Show my home page text blockShow my single post text block instead

In this example we show custom text for the home page, or onsingle pages. If neither condition is met we don't show anycustom text.


23/33

Multiple Conditions Else Default

Do ABC when XYZ Condition is met,elseif single post page do DEF, else show do default

for all other instances

Show my home page text block

Show my single post text block instead

Show my default text for all other conditions


24/33

Using Multiple Conditions

Combine conditions on one statement toshow the same thing in multiple places.


25/33

Show Everywhere, Except...

Use the concept in reverse to show everywhereexcept where you don't want it...

Show this everywhere!

In this example we show nothing when the home page is shown,else show it every other time.


26/33

Conditionally Use WP Functions

Use a Conditional tag to force a WP Function

Use conditional statements to do things like get_tags, get_category_parents,get_page_children, get_user_meta, and many more...

Reference: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference
http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Referencehttp://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference


27/33

Hacking Your Comments

Plugins like subscribe to comments orCommentLuv are great enhancements

By modifying the text in comments.php, you

can customize what your comments block says(or how it looks)

By modifying some of the code, you can add (orremove functionality)

Get rid of comment spam at the source

Add D l t d S Li k


28/33

Add Delete and Spam Linksto Your Comment Sections

Add this code to your theme's functions.php file:

function delete_comment_link($id) {if (current_user_can('edit_post')) {echo '| del ';echo '| spam';}

}

Add this code to your comments.php where you want the links (usually add itin where you find edit_comment_link()):

delete_comment_link(get_comment_ID());

Source:http://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-add-del-and-spam-buttons-to-your-comments
http://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-add-del-and-spam-buttons-to-your-commentshttp://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-add-del-and-spam-buttons-to-your-comments


29/33

Stop HTML Links in Comments

Add this to your functions.php file, all links will be stripped:

function plc_comment_post( $incoming_comment ) {$incoming_comment['comment_content'] =htmlspecialchars($incoming_comment['comment_content']);$incoming_comment['comment_content'] = str_replace( "'", ''',$incoming_comment['comment_content'] );return( $incoming_comment );

}

function plc_comment_display( $comment_to_display ) {$comment_to_display = str_replace( ''', "'", $comment_to_display );return $comment_to_display;}

add_filter('preprocess_comment', 'plc_comment_post', '', 1);

add_filter('comment_text', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);add_filter('comment_text_rss', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);add_filter('comment_excerpt', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);

Reference: http://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-get-rid-of-links-in-your-comments
http://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-get-rid-of-links-in-your-commentshttp://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-get-rid-of-links-in-your-comments


30/33

Prevent Most Comment Spam

Most Spammers use software or scripts that have noreferrer. Require all comments come from a webbrowser to stop the spammers dead!

Add this to your functions.php file:

function check_referrer() { if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']) ||$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] == ) {

wp_die( __('enable referrers or go away') );}

}add_action('check_comment_flood','check_referrer');

Source: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/23/10-wordpress-comments-hacks/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/23/10-wordpress-comments-hacks/http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/23/10-wordpress-comments-hacks/


31/33

Hacking Navigation

Add things to your blog that will make it moreusable and help readers find what they need

Breadcrumb Plugins

Related Posts Plugins Most Viewed / Popular Post Plugins

Category Icons Plugins


32/33


33/33

Q&A

Find me:

facebook.com/jtprattmedia

www.jtprattmedia.com

www.jtpratt.com/blog

twitter.com/jtpratt

wp-dir.com
http://www.jtprattmedia.com/http://www.jtpratt.com/bloghttp://www.jtpratt.com/bloghttp://www.jtprattmedia.com/

Wordpress Theme Hacks

Documents

Transcript of Wordpress Theme Hacks