WordCamp Detroit 2010 Wordpress Theme Hacks

Wordpress Theme Hacks Nearly Anyone Can Do
Afraid you might "break something" by mucking around in your theme? With a little determination, and just a few keystrokes - you'd be surprised how many things you can change on your own.

How I Met Wordpress THIS WAS ME For 10 LONG YEARS

In 1999 I was hired as a webmaster I was VERY loyal

Webmasters Did Everything
HTML
Javascript
Graphics
Technical Writing
CGI/Perl Coding
UNIX Shell Coding
Create Online Tools
Training

Open Source CMS I tried to introduce multiple Open Source CMS Systems to Automate my Job

Big Money Always Won

I Met Wordpress in 2004

I Thought They Were Wrong... So I kept using Wordpress on My Own... Sometimes instead of doing my real work.

Little Did I Know... In 2009 they outsourced the last of us... the last of the “webmasters” that is.

I Was Out of Work No Jobs. Unemployment. Couldn't Move. What Now?

Reinvention

Wordpress Theme Hacks Nearly Anyone Can Do
You Will Need to:
Use the Wordpress dashboard editor
Know basic HTML
Be able to Edit, Copy and Paste small amounts of PHP Code

Why Hack a Wordpress Theme?
To stand out or look different create a look nobody else has
To add functionality for the end user “like”, “tweet”, disqus
To enhance the way content is displayed post meta, text, images, “the_loop”, navigation
To customize specific pages search results, 404 Pages, archives, category & tags pages
To show content only when conditions are met only on the home page, just singles posts, only tag pages, etc.

How Do I Edit My WP Theme? In WP dashboard: Appearance -> Editor Click on the page you want to edit:

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

Which file does what? A page file (index, single, page) calls and loads other files for specific page content areas:

How Many Pages Could My WP 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

Why Use Conditional Tags
To do something only when certain 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

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

Very Specific Conditions
Specify individual pages like is_single('hello') or in_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

Hacking with Conditional Tags Do “ABC” when “XYZ” Condition is met: <?php if (is_home()) { ?> 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 make your message show up on nearly any WordPress page.

Having Multiple Conditions Do “ABC” when “XYZ” Condition is met, elseif single post page do “DEF” <?php if (is_home()) { ?> Show my home page text block <?php } elseif (is_single()) { ?> Show my single post text block instead <? } ?> In this example we show custom text for the home page, or on single pages. If neither condition is met – we don't show any custom text.

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 <?php if (is_home()) { ?> Show my home page text block <?php } elseif (is_single()) { ?> Show my single post text block instead <?php else { ?> Show my default text for all other conditions <? } ?>

Using Multiple Conditions
Combine conditions on one statement to show the same thing in multiple places.
<?php if (is home() || is_single() || is_category() || is_page() || is_archive() { ?>
Show this text for all those conditions
<?php } ?>
The double-pipe or || in the code signifies “OR”, so WordPress knows, if this is home, or a single page, or a category page, or a “page” page, or an archive page – show the same thing for all.

Show Everywhere, Except... Use the concept in reverse to show everywhere except where you don't want it... <?php if (is_home()) { } Else { ?> <p>Show this everywhere!</p> <?php } ?> In this example we show nothing when the home page is shown, “ else” show it every other time.

Conditionally Use WP Functions Use a Conditional tag to force a WP Function <? php if (is_home()) { wp_list_bookmarks(); } ?> 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

Hacking Your Comments
Plugins like “subscribe to comments” or “CommentLuv” 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 (or remove functionality)
Get rid of comment spam at the source

Add Delete and Spam Links to Your Comment Sections
Add this code to your theme's functions.php file:
function delete_comment_link($id) { if (current_user_can('edit_post')) { echo '| <a href="'.admin_url("comment.php?action=cdc&c=$id").'">del</a> '; echo '| <a href="'.admin_url("comment.php? action=cdc&dt=spam&c=$id").'">spam</a>'; } }
Add this code to your comments.php where you want the links ( usually add it in 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

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

Prevent Most Comment Spam
Most Spammers use software or scripts that have no referrer. Require all comments come from a web browser 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/

Hacking Navigation
Add things to your blog that will make it more usable and help readers find what they need
Breadcrumb Plugins
Related Posts Plugins
Most Viewed / Popular Post Plugins
Category Icons Plugins

Remove Next / Previous Links
Replace with more common “pagination” links
WP-Page Numbers Plugin
WP-PageNavi Plugin

Q&A Find me: facebook.com/jtprattmedia www.jtprattmedia.com www.jtpratt.com/blog twitter.com/jtpratt wp-dir.com

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WordCamp Detroit 2010 Wordpress Theme Hacks

by John Pratt on Oct 10, 2010

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WordCamp Detroit 2010 Wordpress Theme Hacks — Presentation Transcript