Journal
I was actually inspired to write this post because of a 9rules note I started recently. David Airey beat me to the punch with his own version and credit should go to ayushsaran for starting the whole thing but here is mine at last.
This one isn’t so much a tip or trick as a nicety. It’s cool to have the wordpress login page branded up as your own. This is more significant for multi author blogs, or sites you have set up for clients.
The process is very simple. Create two images (login-bkg-tile.gif and login-bkg-bottom.gif) and then stick them in the wp-admin/images/ folder from your wordpress installation. With a bit of effort you can create something nice.
The problem with this is two fold, firstly how do you create the images? Secondly what happens when you upgrade?
How do you create the images?
This isn’t overly challenging. All you …
One of the more underused features in wordpress themes is the ability to create and modify the 404 page - so to try to rectify this I thought I’d run through what I do with 404 pages on Binary Moon (and my other Wordpress site). I use this simple technique to try to make errors a bit more and helpful for people who have ended up at the wrong place. I’m hoping that not too many people see the 404 page but just in case here is what I’ve done.
Basically I duplicate a normal page template and name it “404.php”. I then remove “the loop” and add some some static code which explains that there has been an error and a few possible solutions (archives, search).
Finally I use query_posts to add in a new loop which displays links to the 5 most recent articles. Below is the …
Some time ago I posted the first of my tips and tricks for Wordpress, and I thought it was about time I posted some more so, to start things off, here is a short tutorial on custom page templates in Wordpress.
Custom page templates are very much an underused part of the Wordpress software yet they can do some very powerful things. Basically you can create a new template file and then use that to display Wordpress pages in a totally different way to normal, adding whatever extra features you desire. An example of a custom page on Binary Moon would be the Archives page (I need to rejig my archives, they are getting rather long).
Creating a page template is very easy indeed - all you need to do is create a new template file (I tend to copy an existing page template) and add a tiny …
Functions.php is a little known wordpress template file. Not many themes take advantage of it but , used properly, it can be incredibly powerful. The file can be used as a way to add your own functions to wordpress themes (hence the name).
One of the common misconceptions, at least based upon my experience with a past wordpress tips and tricks post, is that editing functions.php involves changing core wordpress files - meaning there will be issues when you upgrade wordpress.
I am against changing core files in wordpress. This makes upgrading a nightmare.
What functions.php does is let you create functions you can reuse in the theme. It works like a plugin file, being loaded when the theme is first loaded. You can then use the functions inside for anything you choose. For example in my first tips and tricks post I suggested using it to separate trackbacks …
I posted the applications I install when I get a new computer the other day, and it got some interesting comments so I thought I would post the Firefox extensions I use as well. Many blogs have this type of list but I’ve never felt the need to write one before. I’m hoping that the comments will help me find other useful extensions.
A lot of the extensions I use have become second nature now and if I install Firefox on a new computer they all get installed as standard. Some of them are well known but there are a few there that you may not have heard of/ used. I also have slightly different extensions at home and at work aswell, but the ones below are on all my computers.
I was writing a post over on Binary Joy earlier when I saw the image below pop up in the preview pane.
Ok it’s not the biggest news in the world but it’s interesting to see that Google are now using, or at least testing, images as part of their text ads. Google are well known for testing things live and then never using them so I will be interested to see if these are used or not.
I was going to say something about text being better then images for search engines but Google have an advantage there so I guess search engine optimization techniques are irrelevant.
Personally I think I actually prefer the text as opposed to the image and I hope it stays as text. However Google do appear to be doing more and more image/ movie based ads so maybe this the start of a move away from …
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