We’ll cover a wide variety of WordPress topics, but the primary focus will be giving useful and practical tips and code examples that will make your life easy as a WordPress developer, modder, or a blogger.

WP Splash includes a WordPress Design Gallery, where you can submit your WordPress based designs. And also a community news section on homepage where you can submit WordPress related articles/links.

We have BIG plans for WP Splash, so keep an eye on it. Make sure you subscribe to WP Splash RSS feed and follow it on Twitter to stay updated.

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

OK, first of all I’m sorry for disappearing from the face of blogosphere all of a sudden. I made a few posts in past couple of months to make a comeback, but things didn’t go as expected. But I do promise to stick around this time and do what I love doing: sharing what I know about blogging on this very blog. (For more on what’s going on in my life, and to chat with me, follow me on Twitter)

With that aside, I’m once again, and as always, excited by the spanking new release of WordPress with a shiny new backend.

WordPress was good and well before it switched to the new backend interface with the release of 2.5. WordPress 2.5 looked sexy, but it wasn’t all too usable.

Although I dislike having to use a completely revamped backend every couple of months, WordPress developers have taken a step in the right direction this time. WordPress 2.7 is here to right the wrongs of 2.5, so to speak.

There are plenty of new features and improvements in WordPress 2.7. Here are the best ones, without further ado.

WordPress upgrader

WordPress core upgrader eliminates the biggest annoyance of upgrading WordPress manually. There’s a Plugin around that can upgrade your WordPress installation with a few clicks, but nothing beats the in-built ease of upgrade, right?

You can access the upgrader by navigating to Tools > Upgrade.

Side navigation

This should have been done earlier. It’s just impossible to manage all the links and menus in top navigation bar. But well, better late than never.

The side navigation is not only more usable, intuitive, and good looking, it also gives you access to various submenus with just one click thanks to the new expandable navigation. Expand and collapse the menus as you see fit!

Dashboard and Post editor

Rearrange the panels on Dashboard and in post editor with good ol’ drag and drop. This is such a time saver. You keep only the important stuff handy, and still have all other goodies docked off-screen for one-click access.

There are plethora of other features that you can find by digging deeper into the menus. So have fun discovering the new WordPress goodness.

What do you like most in WordPress 2.7?

P.S. aren’t they trying too hard to make the backend look like Mac OS X?

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

WordPress magazine style themes have been all the rage lately, and everyone seems to want some aspect of their WordPress blog to have a magazine-y look and feel.

So if you have been around blogosphere recently, you must have seen those cool image thumbnails with short excerpts displayed on many blog home pages.

Today I went around searching for the easiest post thumbnail method, and was surprised to see how unnecessarily complicated some of the code junkies make something as simple as adding image thumbnails to posts.

So I hunt around a bit more and came up with an easy as pie way to add pretty little thumbnails to a WordPress 2.5 powered blog.

What you need to know: You need to know how to copy and paste.

What you don’t need to know: You don’t need to know how to open Photoshop.

So let’s get started.

Step 1: Adjust thumbnail size

WordPress 2.5 has a very handy new feature. It lets you specify custom thumbnail size for your uploaded images.

To adjust the thumbnail size to your liking, go to Settings > Miscellaneous and change the thumbnail width and height under Image sizes section. Let’s set the width and height to 80×80 for this example.

Also, make sure the Crop to size option is selected, and confirm the changes.

(With Crop to size checked, you don’t have to worry about what size your original image is. It will be adjusted to fit your specified size)

Step 2: Add a CSS class for thumbnail alignment

We want our thumbnail to be aligned to the left while the text flows around it. To do so, add the following code to your style.css file:

1. .thumb {
2. float: left;
3. margin-right: 7px;
4. margin-bottom: 7px;
5. }

(Feel free to change or add to the code)

Step 3: Instruct index.php to display post thumbnails

Next, we need to modify some code in index.php to correctly display the post thumbnails.

In your index.php, locate the part that is responsible for displaying your post content. It must be the following line or something similar to this depending on which theme you are using:

1. <?php the_content(); ?>

Replace it with the following snippet:

1. <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>">
2. <img src="<?php $values = get_post_custom_values("thumb"); echo $values[0]; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" class="thumb" />
3. </a>
4. <?php the_excerpt(); ?>

(This code snippet retrieves the custom field value that we’ll add in the next step)

Step 4: Add thumbnail image

Now that everything else is done, it’s time to add the image.

1. Click on the Add an image button and upload the image.
2. When done, right click the image thumbnail and select Copy Image Location (in Firefox) and close the upload box.
3. Move down the page and expand the Custom Fields section. Enter “thumb” in the Key field, and paste the thumbnail URL in the Value field, and click Add Custom Field.

Done! Write the post as usual, and don’t forget to enter a few lines in the excerpt field to be shown next the thumbnail.

Bonus step

Do you want to display regular content in case there’s no thumbnail image? No worries. David has come up with a code snippet that does just that for you.

1. <?php
2. $thumb = get_post_meta($post->ID, "thumb", true);
3. if ($thumb != "")
4. { ?>
5. <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>">
6. <img src="<?php $values = get_post_custom_values("thumb"); echo
7. $values[0]; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" class="thumb" />
8. </a>
9. <?php the_excerpt(); ?>
10. <?php } else { ?>
11. <?php the_content(); ?>
12. <?php } ?>

Read on David’s post for more detail.

If I missed an important detail, or if you know of a better, easier way to add thumbnails to posts, let me know about it in the comments.

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

And our life as bloggers, my friends, is about to become a lot easier.

Here are some of the exciting new features as told by Matt:

A customizable dashboard, multi-file upload, built-in galleries, one-click plugin upgrades, tag management, built-in Gravatars, full text feeds, and faster load times sound interesting to you? Then WordPress 2.5 might be the release for you.

What’s even cooler is that Jeffery Zeldman is the man behind the dashboard redesign. This explains the way-too-cool new interface WordPress developers couldn’t have put together all by themselves.

More info and download WordPress 2.5 RC1 here.

OK, I usually don’t post about software updates and stuff on Blogging Bits, but WP 2.5 got me so excited I couldn’t resist.

Currently playing with WordPress 2.5 on my local machine.

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

So let’s get started already!

Optimize page titles and permalinks

Normally, your post title also becomes the page title and post slug (permalink, post URL) for the post. While it’s certainly not bad for SEO, you can define custom page title and post slug for optimal results.

Changing a post’s title tag – For this tweak, you’ll need to install SEO Title Tag WordPress Plugin. SEO Title Tag lets you define custom page titles for your posts.

Once you activate SEO Title Tag, a new field with the label “Title Tag” will appear under your Post box on Write Post page. Here you can write a title that will appear in the browser’s title bar as well as in SERPs.

Changing the post slug – To change the post slug, enter custom text in the Post Slug panel (on the right side of write post area). For this post, for example, I’ve entered “wordpress-seo-tips-tweaks-hacks“.

Advantage of this hassle? You write post titles for maximum attraction for your regular readers and social media visitors. Since search engine users are generally not that savvy, you create page titles they can easily understand. Plus, you can enter different keywords in post titles, page titles, and post permalinks, making your post all the more likely to show up on the top of search results when a related search is made.

Optimize images

Images can open up a whole new stream of search engine visitors for your blog. I’ve wallpaper sites where 80% of my traffic comes from Google image search, and on Blogging Bits, I am already getting quite a few hits from Google images.

If you post a lot of images on your blog, optimizing your images for search engines can be a worthwhile effort.

Here is your image optimization checklist:

• Enter your keywords in the alt tag. Alt tag lets search engine robots ’see’ your image.
• Enter a description in the title attribute.
• Define width and height of your images.
• Enter keywords in the image name. Example: “lg-lcd-monitor.jpg”.
• If possible, place the image in a directory that also has your keywords. Example: “lcd-monitors/lg-lcd-monitor.jpg”

Here’s example code for an optimized image.

1. <img src="lcd-monitors/lg-lcd-monitor.jpg" alt="Widescreen LG LCD monitor" title="A new widescreen LG LCD monitor" width=400 height=380 />

Optimize links

Links are one of the most important factors that determine your page’s value in a search engine’s eye. Knowing how you should link to internal and external pages will improve your rankings a lot.

Keep the following guidelines in mind when creating new links.

• Place keywords in anchor text. (anchor text is the link text you click on)
• Define the link target by placing appropriate keywords in the link’s tittle attribute.
• When linking to popular sites that don’t need your link juice (e.g. Google, Youtube) or internal pages that you don’t want to rank high (e.g. Contact page) add “rel=”nofollow” to the links.

Add noindex to archives

To avoid duplicate content issues, use noindex for category, archives, and tags pages. A noindex meta-tag will prevent search engine crawlers from indexing these pages.

This can usually be achieved by adding the following line in the head section of your header.php file (Presentation> Theme Editor > Header).

1. <?php if(is_archive()){ ?><meta name="robots" content="noindex"><?php } ?>

Thanks to Ryan Cladwell of Performancing for this handy code snippet.

Remove unnecessary links

If you have a more tag and a comments link on every post, and of course a post title, you have three different links pointing to the same page. This can affect your rankings negatively (again, because Google may think these links point to different pages).

To remove the “#more” text from your ‘Read More’ link, replace the following line in your wp-includes/post-template.php

1. $output .= ' <a href="'. get_permalink()
2. . "#more-$id\">$more_link_text</a>";

with

1. $output .= ' <a href="'. get_permalink()
2. ."\">$more_link_text</a>";

Removing comments link – To display comment count under each post on the home page as well as category pages, but without a hyperlink, replace the following line of code in your index.php file (Presentation > Theme Editor > Main Index Template)

1. <?php comments_popup_link() ?>

with

1. <?php comments_number() ?>

Removing hyperlink from post title on single post page – This one is easy. Go to Presentation > Theme Editor > Single Post and edit the following line of code:

1. <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>

to

1. <?php the_title(); ?>

Redirecting permalinks – If you remove the trailing slash from your post’s permalink, you’ll still be able to access the page. This is not only bad for SEO (for reason already given) but it also lands you in trouble if your post gets heavily bookmarked at del.icio.us and your bookmarks are divided between two different URLs.

There should be a way to manually add a rule to your .htaccess file to redirect permalinks to a single location, but I much prefer Permanent Redirect WordPress Plugin for its ease of use.

Your tips?

Any SEO tips for WordPress you want to share with us?

Note: This post was written for blog writing contest at Daily Blog Tips.

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

Running a mini blog (also called asides) alongside the main blog is not really a new idea, people have been doing it since the dawn of blogging. But the credit for making me give serious thought to sideblogging goes to Michael at Pro Blog Design. check out his detailed post on the pros and cons of using a sideblog.

How do I feature links on my sideblog?

I do things in straightforward ways. While I could use a plugin or hack my WordPress code to set up a sideblog, these methods failed to impress me. I was looking for the simplest way to set up a mini blog as well as the easiest way to post links to it.

Guess what came to my rescue? Yep, RSS.

Here’s step by step how you can do it too (WordPress only).

1. Go to your del.icio.us page and create a special new tag named after your blog. (e.g. bloggingbits)
2. Copy the URL of your newly created tag.
3. Log into your FeedBurner account, and paste the URL in the feed burning form to burn your feed.
4. Go to Publicize > BuzzBoost, and activate the service. Set the options as you like.
5. Copy the code and paste it in your sidebar.php or a sidebar widget where you want your sideblog to appear.

Done!

How to post to your new sideblog with one click

6. Now download and install del.icio.us extension for Firefox.
7. If you want to save a page to your sideblog, click on the tag button on Firefox toolbar, write a short comment in description box, enter the special tag you created earlier along with other tags, and save.

Easy, eh?

Want the link to appear as soon as you saved it? Ping FeedBurner after you post a new link, and bookmark the pinged link for one click pinging later.

What are the benefits of FeedBurner and delicious powered sideblog

Easy to use, easiest to update, doesn’t require management, and doesn’t put load on your server.

Cons?

Well, if you want to post news and updates to your sideblog, you can’t do it with this method. Your readers can’t comment on any of the links either. But I don’t see why anyone would need such features. You sure don’t want to make an important announcement in an obscure corner of your sidebar. And you certainly want your readers to comment on the original links rather than on your mini entry.

Your thoughts?

Are you for or against having a sideblog, and do you find the above technique better than other methods?

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

A customized WordPress installation can handle every kind of task it is given very comfortably. Thanks to its unmatched flexibility and an ever increasing repository of Plugins, we are able to set up WordPress to do things that it isn’t supposed to do.

You may disagree with me and say that every use of WordPress other than as a blog is its misuse, but trust me, WordPress is more robust, intuitive, and flexible than many of the free services and CMS out there. We trust WordPress because we know it so well, and it has never let us down.

The other day I was searching for a way to integrate Tumblr with WordPress, and came across some unique uses of WordPress. People have devised ingenious ways to turn WordPress into full-fledged CMS and whatnot. Here are some of the best ones.

With the power, flexibility, and extendability of WordPress at your disposal, you can pretty much change it to any form you like. You are only limited by your imagination!

Have you come across any other unique uses of WordPress?

Related posts

• 8 Wordpress Theme Tutorials You Don’t Want To Miss
• 10 Wordpress Plugins To Automate Tasks And Save Time

This post was written on all things WordPress day.

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

So, you want to have a go at creating your own Wordpress theme? No problem. Once you know the basics, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t think of designing your own Wordpress theme before.

Yesterday I highlighted the importance of going custom and investing money in a new blog design. But if you are anything like me, the last thing you want to do is shell out money for a blog template. So, I have compiled a list of tutorials, guides and lessons that I have used myself to learn the basics of Wordpress theme development. Go through each one of them, they are all unique and point you to even more useful resources.

Give that designer within you a nudge!

1. How to Design a WordPress Theme eBook

   This is a downloadable, most comprehensive, step-by-step from basic to advanced, and an easy to follow eBook on how to design your own Wordpress theme.

   Part 1: How to Design a WordPress Theme
   Part 2: How to Slice a Wordpress Theme
   Part 3: How to Code a WordPress Theme

   Keep an eye on Small Potato, this guy is a gem.

2. WordPress Theme Guide

   This extensive four part series on Urban Giraffe explains the internals of Wordpress themes by dissecting the default Wordpress theme Kubrick. Also available in PDF for offline reading.

3. From XHTML/CSS to WordPress

   A detailed tutorial on the creation of Wordpress themes. You also get to download a minimalistic and clean theme in the end.

4. Designing a WordPress Theme From Scratch

   Lorelle is out on the mission to help out Wordpress newbies, and this time she compiles a list of top resources to help us get started creating our own custom Wordpress theme. A must read.

5. 16 lessons on Wordpress theme creation

   This is HUGE, and comes from an experienced Wordpress theme designer. 16 step by step and easy to follow lessons show you even the tiniest details of Wordpress theming process.

6. Wordpress Theme Development Workflow for OSX

   An overview of the tools used for Wordpress theme development on OSX.

7. How to convert any web template into a WordPress theme

   A guide for converting other great looking web templates into Wordpress themes. Here is a video version of the same tutorial.

8. Wordpress Tutorial: How to Create a Wordpress Theme

   Another comprehensive step-by-step Wordpress theme tutorial.

If you know of any other tutorials, please let me know in the comments.

Link Code: d1928 - © Blogging Bits | Blog writing, marketing, and design

Permalinks are important. Permalinks in WordPress are the URLs that you see in your browser’s address bar.

Permalinks are one of the few prominent elements that appear in search engine results, therefore, it is really important to give them the best structure.

Short URLs with less clutter and more actual words fare better than those dynamically generated and with a whole lot of unnecessary strings and numbers attached. Search engines as well as human beings find the former a lot easier to read.

I contend that the shorter the URL the better. The reason is obvious, the longer URLs confuse the user, and the mouse pointer automatically goes to click the link which has a shorter, more compact URL. It’s just the way we normally see things; simple looks pretty.

Now, which one of the following is going to get my attention first?

Cut Off The WWW

WWW that precedes your URLs is unnecessary and should be gotten rid of.

To redirect the url with WWW to new no-WWW URLs you need to add the following lines to your .htaccess file (located in your Wordpress root directory) replacing domain with your own domain name.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.domain.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://domain.com/$1 [R=301]

Apart from that, go to Options > General in WordPress Admin and enter your URL in WordPress address and Blog Address without WWW.

Yay! Good bye WWW!

Tweak WordPress Permalink Structure

In Wordpress the first thing you need to do is get rid of default permalink structure via Options > Permalink. WordPress gives you complete control over how you want to customize your permalinks.

Having rejected the default structure you have three other options left:

1. Date and name based (No thanks, it’s too long)
2. Numeric (Umm.. no, we hate numbers alone)
3. Custom (Now we are talking!)

So you are going to enter custom structure tags in the Custom field. On WordPress codex you can learn more about how a combination of structure tags can be used to customize the permalinks to the hilt.

We are looking for brevity i.e., shorter URLs, so the only thing you are going to enter is /%postname%/

This gives us the shortest possible permalink structure: http://domain.com/post-name/

On the same page, there is another optional field named Category base. And while you are at it, you are going to make use of it too. You are going to enter a short word to replace the word category that is attached to your category URLs. Let’s enter /tag here (or anything else that is shorter than the word category)

Again, yay for getting rid of clutter!

Long Titles Short Permalinks

As opposed to short permalinks, your post titles need to be fairly long, because titles are the first thing searchers see when your posts appear in Google search results. So, a title should summarize the whole post in at least six or seven words. Although we know the importance of titles, we do not want the titles to stretch our permalinks to fill up the whole address bar!

Luckily, when on Write Post page, you can make use of Post Slug sub-panel, located on the right side of your Write Post panel, and add custom permalinks for every post!

For example if your title reads “Learn the art of blogging” you can enter “learn-to-blog” in Post Slug. You leave out the unimportant words and keep the main key words.

Yet again, A big YAY for structring the shortest yet meaningful permalinks!

By doing all I have suggested above you make sure that your URLs are going to look pretty in search engine results, and you are going to force the searchers to click through to your blog.

Do you know of any more tips that I should add?

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