Da Blogmother

Editing an encoded WordPress footer

 Did you ever download a theme you really wanted to use for your business, but you found the theme's footer contained a link to, say, a site promoting "Triple XXX Rated Adult Toys".  And when you went to edit the link out of the footer, all you could see was a string of encoded characters?

Searching the web, you will find many sites, including the WordPress Forums,  talking about Base64 decoders.

There is a simpler way.  Your ~internet browser~ can decode the string; otherwise you wouldn't be able to read it as you visit the website.

Here's how:

1.  Upload and activate the theme.  Remember that for a few minutes, as you do this little procedure, your site will be live with the spammy link, unless you are using the Theme Test Drive plugin.

2.  Click Appearance - Editor

3.  Click on Footer.php.  See it?  There's the string of encoded characters that we need to convert to ordinary HTML so we can edit them.

4. Up at the top of the WordPress Dashboard, click Visit Site; you will be viewing your WordPress site with the theme installed.

5. Once your site is up on your screen, in your browser's menu bar click View -> Source.  (It Firefox, it is View -> Page Source)

6.  A second window (or tab) will open displaying the HTML code for the page.  Scroll down until you see some thing <!-- Begin Footer --> or  <div id="footer">

7.  Copy everything in that Footer section ... all the way up to the </body> tab and paste it into a text editor.  Notepad will do just fine. (A word processor, such as Word, will farkle it up.)

8.  Now edit the footer section as needed.  Yes, you will need to know just enough HTML to recognize link code <a href=> and to write out your own link.  But that is not too difficult, trust me on that.

9.  Go back to the WordPress Dashboard.  Click Appearance -> Editor, and click  Footer.php to open it.

10.  Delete the entire contents of Footer.php (all the encoded stuff), and paste in the new footer code you just edited.  Click update.  Click Visit Site to check the final product.

One important point:  I always leave links to the original creator of a theme.  It's work.  The person deserves credit for his or her work.  If the theme's creator has links to special causes, I leave those, too. (Chris Pearson's NeoClassical Theme contains a link to Open Education, for example, although Chris does NOT encode any of his theme files.)

I just want to get rid of any links that might seem inappropriate for a business site, and I usually also want to add a credit for myself.  Hey, if I hacked the theme beyond recognition, that's work, too!

Installing WordPress MU on GoDaddy - Yes! It Can Be Done!

As a real estate broker, I have been toying with the idea of using WordPress MU (multiple user) to handle my single property web sites.  One WordPress Installation, One Hosting Fee To Pay,  Many Different Blogs.

So, one of the first questions was .... could I do it on GoDaddy?  If you search the web and the WordPress forums, you'll find a lot of conflicting information.  And some people saying it can't be done, period.

Well, I did it.  And it is not Rocket Science.  :-) 

This is my Holiday Gift to the WordPress World.

Forget everything else you have read.  This is how I installed WordPress Mu on GoDaddy:

There are just four key items:

1. Use the "Deluxe" hosting plan
2. Purchase a "Dedicated IP Address"
3. Use PHP5 (not 4)
4. Add a wildcard record to A (Host)

To implement, login to your GoDaddy Account.

If you have already purchased a domain name and  a hosting plan for your MU site, these are the changes you need to make:

Click Hosting in the left column, under "My Products".

In the "Hosting Account" column, click on the particular domain name that you plan to use for the MU installation.

In the "Account Details" right column, click "Upgrade/Downgrade Hosting Account".  Upgrade the account to  "Deluxe Hosting - Linux" .   Yes, it costs about $2.00 more per month than Economy Hosting.

Then click "Apply Dedicated IP Address".  Dedicated IP Hosting is an additional 2.99 per month, on top of the per month hosting rate. 

Choose a time period, and proceed to check out.

Leave GoDaddy and wait.  It takes a few hours for the  Dedicated IP Address to get setup.  Once it is setup, you will see the information in the right side "Account Details" column.  Make note of the numerical IP address.

After you purchase the Dedicated IP Address, you might need to go back to the "Account Details" right side column and click "Apply Dedicated IP Address" again.  (If the item in the column already reads "Remove Dedicated IP Address, do NOT click it!)

After the Dedicated IP Address is set, click on "Domain Manager" in the left column under "My Products". 

Click on the particular domain name that you plan to use for the MU installation.

Click "Total DNS Control and MX Records"

In the A (Host) section, click the "Add a New Record" button.

You are going to create a wildcard host record in addition to the @ host record.  Type an asterisk * in the "Host Name" box.  Type (or better yet copy and paste) the numerical dedicated IP address in the "Points to IP Address" box.

Now  return to the "My Products" column, click "Hosting".  In the "Control Panel" column, click "Manage Account" beside the particular domain name you plan to use for the MU installation.

Click "Content" , then click the "Addon Languages" icon.

Make sure you are using PHP5.  Change the setting, if necessary.

There is one more step to take at GoDaddy, a step which is necessary for either a MU or single user installation:

At the "My Products" column, click "Hosting".  In the "Control Panel" column, click "Manage Account" beside the particular domain name you plan to use for the MU installation.

Click "Databases", then click on the "MySQL" icon.

Click create database

Create the database name and password.  Tip:  I use the same name and password as I created for the hosting account.

After the database is set up, it takes a few minutes, click the pencil icon.

Select and copy the "Host Name".  Paste it into a simple text file, and keep it handy.  You will need it to complete the WordPress MU installation.

The rest of the process follows the much same steps as installing the single user version of WordPress on GoDaddy:

FTP the WordPress files to your host server. 

Run the  WordPress install function.   If you installed WordPress in the root directory of your server host, simply going to from http://www.mysite.com/ will open the WordPress installation page.

The Host Name you copied earlier; paste it into the "localhost" box when prompted by the WordPress installation function.

The screens shots in this post are no longer current, as both WordPress and GoDaddy have changed their appearance, but the information is still valid:  http://www.queenofkludge.com/installing-wordpressorg-on-godaddy-yes-it-can-be-done/

Legal Disclaimer:  This works for me.  I cannot guarantee it will work for anyone else.  Use at your own risk!

And since you've managed to read this far, here are a couple of the single property singles hosted on one of my WPMU installations.  I haven't mapped the domain names yet, I haven't really tweaked their appearance.  But, hot damn, they are working! (The theme is Chris Pearson's NeoClassical with some serious hacking)

 http://2109lomavista.bob-taylor.net/

http://6044laprada.bob-taylor.net/

http://1823gillettecrescent.bob-taylor.net/  

  

Styling Divs - Hey this worked!

This is magic, miraculous code!  The two divs actually sit nicely side by side with one floated left and one floated right:

<div style="width:65%; float:left; padding-left:30px; padding-top:10px; padding-bottom:10px;"><img src="http://www.goldenbrewski.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/brickranch00.jpg"> </div>
<div id="image_flicker" style="width22%; float:right; padding-top:20px; padding-right:20px;"></div>

WordPress: Open on Static Page

To open on a static page

Click "Settings" at the upper right corner of the Dashboard

Click "Reading"

At "Front page displays" check "A static page" and choose a page from the drop down list.

If you have not already done so, click "Write", "Write Page" and create a new page titled "Blog".  Just type in the title.  Do not write anything in the page text box.  Save and publish it.

Now go back to "Settings", "Reading", "Front page displays" at the drop down menu for "Posts page" select the new page titled "Blog" that you just created.

Bingo.  Now all your posts display on the "Blog" page, and a static page of your choice, opens as the main front page.

Multi Author WordPress Blog: Inserting Author Images

Several months ago, Greg described this process in Project Bloodhound speaking in tongues: To whom am I speaking?

At the time, I had no need to implement author images in a WordPress multi-author blog, (and I already knew the technique for TypePad), so I didn't work with the process until just today.

As I set up what will become a company blog for our incoming agents, I realized that the average WordPress user might need a little more background information to put Greg's code to use.

First of all, you need to find all your authors' ID numbers.  Unfortunately current versions of WordPress do not show author ID numbers.  The easy solution for me was to download the Reveal IDs for WP Admin plugin.

Activate the Reveal IDs plugin.

To go to the Users page, click Users in the upper right column.

You'll see each author's ID number displayed beside their username.  All ID numbers, that is, except your own.  The only way to see your own ID number is to create a new separate admin username and login, then login as that new identity, and find your old self on the list.

Next step:  Obtain images of each author.  Resize each image (I decided on 52 pixels in height, and 50 pixels in width as appropriate for the design I am using.)  Each image must be named simply by the author ID number.  For instance, my lovely image here on Bloodhound Blog is titled 34.jpg.

Upload all the newly resized and newly renamed images to your blog's root directory.

Now you are ready to rock and roll.

Click Design -> Theme Editor

From the list of Theme Files in the right column, click on Main Index Template file (index.php) to open it.

I simplified Greg's code for now to only display the author's image and name

<img src="http://www.bobtaylorproperties.com/blog/<?php the_author_ID(); ?>.jpg" height="52" width="50" align="left" hspace="10">
Posted by <?php the_author() ?> <br>

And I placed it under the PHP code that inserts the post title.  Here's the complete snippet:

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div class="entry">

<h1><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>

<img src="http://www.bobtaylorproperties.com/blog/<?php the_author_ID(); ?>.jpg" height="52" width="50" align="left" hspace="10">
Posted by <?php the_author() ?> <br>

<span class="meta"><?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> <br>
Posted in <?php the_category(', ') ?> <?php edit_post_link('| Edit', '', ''); ?></span>

<br class="clear" /><br />

I'll add the email link code when l actually have live people posting. :-)

UPDATE: Reading the comment stream on Bloodhound Blog suggests that a footnote might be indicated:  If you copy and paste the above code, you might want to first paste it into a plain text editor (Windows Notepad, for example), save it, select and copy it again from the text editor, then paste it into your index.php file.

Why?  Because your browser might copy in rich-text format, changing straight quote marks to curly quote marks  ...  And code won't run with curlies.

Originally posted on Bloodhound Blog

WordPress Permalinks, GoDaddy, .htaccess file: Patience required

Eric Blackwell wrote here of using Custom Permalinks in WordPress by going to the WordPress Dashboard Settings page

Clicking the Permalinks tab, then checking Custom Structure

And typing this short piece of code:

/%postname%/

Then click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Now click View Site, click on one of your post titles .... and if your blog is hosted on GoDaddy, what you will see next is a 404 error

Eric suggested FTP uploading a blank .htaccess file.  I experimented with a couple of my "cat blogs" and found it wasn't neccessary.

Here's why:  When I clicked on the post title, the system automatically created an .htaccess file.

However, it takes a certain amount of time for the new .htaccess file to be recognized by the GoDaddy servers.  This is true even if you manually create a new .htaccess file and upload it yourself.

The average wait on the blogs I tested was 30 minutes.

So, here are Eric's instructions modified for GoDaddy

1.  Click Settings

2.  Click Permalinks

3.  At Custom Structure type /%postname%/, click Save Changes

4.  Click View Site

5.  Click on any post tile

6.  See 404 error

7.  Go out and water the garden, play with your dog, or watch TV.

8.  Come back in about 1 hour, view site again, click post title again.  Bingo, now it works.

And here's the reason I found in one forum:  new .htaccess files are only processed once per hour by GoDaddy -- From my limited testing it seems it occurs at the top of the hour....

Using A Banner Title Image

In the past, I posted WordPress notes on Queen Of Kludge only, and TypePad notes here on daBlogMother.  Since I've recently had a few WordPress projects going on, daBlogMother has been quiet.

Well, never mind.  I think I shall post my WordPress notes here on Mother, too, even though Mother is hosted by TypePad.

Just installed DOJO theme at Questions4RealEstate.  (In a few days, this blog with have some pertinent posts, right now there are only a couple test posts.)

To replace text title with image

Opener header.php

Find this code

<div id="header">
<?php if ( is_home() ) { /* use an h1 on the homepage */ ?>
<h1 id="blogname"><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></a></h1>
<?php } else { /* and a p tag everywhere else */ ?>
<p id="blogname"><strong><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></a></strong></p>
<?php } ?>
<p id="tagline"><em><?php bloginfo('description'); ?></em></p>
</div> <!-- end header -->

Replace  both instances of  <?php bloginfo('name'); ?>

With  <img src="http://www.questions4realestate.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/questions.png">

Final code snippet:

<div id="header">
<?php if ( is_home() ) { /* use an h1 on the homepage */ ?>
<h1 id="blogname"><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><img src="http://www.questions4realestate.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/questions.png"></a></h1>
<?php } else { /* and a p tag everywhere else */ ?>
<p id="blogname"><strong><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><img src="http://www.questions4realestate.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/questions.png"></a></strong></p>
<?php } ?>
<p id="tagline"><em><?php bloginfo('description'); ?></em></p>
</div> <!-- end header -->

Cheater's Quickie Guide

Welcome to The Cheater’s Quickie Guide to updating WordPress

(Had you wondering there for a minute, huh?)

Over the course of a few years working with technology stuff, I have learned the value of healthy restraint when confronted with the urge to fix something that ain’t broke.

Nonetheless I was very tired of seeing this little notice at the top of the WordPress dashboard on some of my blogs.

Here are the official WordPress instructions detailing the correct way to upgrade.  http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress_Extended 

But ….I wondered if my Cheater’s Quickie Method of upgrading WordPress would work with the jump from version  2.3.3 to 2.5.1.  I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t, but then ya never know.

It worked.

Here’s how to do it:

Prep work

Download the WordPress zip file

Unzip it

Backup the existing  WordPress folders and files on your host:   Truth is, I have been known to skip this item.  You would be well advised to “do as I say, and not as I do”.  One thought:  You will have your FTP program running anyway,  and you ~could~ just FTP copies of the older files/folder to your desktop before proceeding. Then delete them after you confirm that the new version is working.

Deactivate any plugins

FTP to your host

Click on your WordPress folder to open it.   Note if you have not changed the default setting, this file will be named “wp”.   If you are using a unique domain name with your wordpress blog, there will be some wordpress related files in the host’s root directory.  You don’t need to touch those.

In the Host panel of your FTP program,  with the wordpress  folder open,  click on the column title Modified, to sort by the files by date  – check most recent date on your server panel.  In my illustration the newest date is 2/8/2008.

In  the My Computer panel of your FTP program sort by date Modified, select all files with a date later than the most recent date in your server panel, in this case, all files dates after  2/2/2008

Upload those newer files to your host, overwriting existing files 

Delete wp-includes folder in your host panel

Delete wp-admin folder in your host panel

DO NOT DELETE wp-content folder

Upload the new wp-includes folder

Upload the new wp-admin folder

Close your FTP program

Go to your WordPress Dashboard

The first thing you will probably see it this, click Upgrade WordPress

Then click Continue

Done.

DISCLAIMER  This works for me.  I do not know if it will work for other users with other systems and/or configurations.  Proceed at your own risk.

Modifying A WordPress Theme

Have you spent a lot of time looking for a nice, simple WordPress Theme with a main content column wide enough to accommodate pasting in a VFlyer?

I did.  Without success.  So I ended up making a few simple modifications to Chris Pearson's Cutline Theme.

The end result is here:  http://www.bobtaylorproperties.com/

I was going to write some tutorials on how to make the changes, but my plate is still a bit crowded.

So, instead I zipped up my modified theme files, and anyone who wants to download them, please go right ahead.  The zip file is here:  http://www.bob-taylor.biz/Cutline_Modified4RE.zip

After you upload the theme, it will show on your available theme page as simply "Cutline" (not "Cutline 1.2" which is the un-modified version".)  Yeah, I know, I should fix that.  Soon.

Click on it to activate, then go to the Theme Editor, click on the Header file (header.php)  I've added comments surrounded with lots of !!!s to indicate where to add the URL of your own custom banner, and the URLs of your own page navigation links.  Click Update File.

Then click on the Sidebar file (sidebar.php) and type in your own personal/bio info.  Again look for the comment surrounded by lots of !!!s.  Click Update File.

Done.

If anyone needs a more detailed tutorial, stand by......!

Download Zip File

Download, Install And Use An UNZIP Program

A few days ago I started  a tutorial series on using FTP, specifically using FTP to upload and install a WordPress plugin.  Please note these steps apply for a WordPress.ORG blog, you don't have FTP access if you are using WordPress.COM  (Here's the official WordPress explanation of the difference.)

If you look at the entire process of installing a plugin, then break it up into "phases", it would look like this:

• Download, install and set-up an FTP program
• Download and unzip the plugin
• Upload the plugin to your site, and activate it in Wordpress

The first post covered Phase 1.

Here's Phase 2:  Downloading and uzipping the plugin.

First realize that most WordPress plugins ard themes are distributed as "zip" files.  "Zip" means that the file (or files) has been compressed into a smaller size for faster transmission over the internet.

Here's an article explaining more about zip files in general:  http://www.netsquirrel.com/articles/zip.html

There are several no-cost or low-cost programs for unzipping files.  Currently I'm using CAM UnZip.  It's free and available for download here:  http://www.camunzip.com/

If you don't already have an unzip program installed, and you'd like to look at CAM, go to http://www.camunzip.com/   Click the big yellow download button.  It's going to take another click to get to the final download page. 

At the next screen, clicking "Click here to download" will take you to this page, the actual download page.  Click on one of the Download options.

The dialogue box will ask "Do you want to run or save file?".  Click Save.

If you download alot of stuff, you'll already know that its important to pay attention to just where your download file is going to end up.  Saving to the Desktop is a simple approach.  Some people keep a folder on the Desktop for downloads.  I can also see merits in installing to  an external device, such as a thumb drive.  Whatever works for you, the point is just be aware of where the file is, so you can find it again.

After you've selected the place you want to put the downloaded file, click Save, and the download will begin.

Wait while the program downloads to your computer.

When the download is complete, click Run.

The dialogue box will ask "Do you want to run this software?".  Click Run again.

The installation wizard will start up and walk you through the installation.  Click Next.

Accept the license agreeement.  Click next again.  Read, glance at (or skip) the information page, and click next again. 

Select the destination location -- where the program will be stored on your computer .  The default is probably fine unless you have created some different file system hierachy of your own.

A couple more screens will follow.  You can select a different Start Menu folder, you can add a desktop icon, you can tell your computer to always "associate" CAM Unzip with the zip extension.  (That means whenever you click on a zip file on your computer, CAM would be the program of choice to run the file.)

OK.  Now that you have an UNZIP program installed on your computer, you need a zipped up file to unzip.

Since this series started with a question about installing the  WordPress PlugIn PhotoDropper, I'll use that plugin as an example of the process.

First go to:  http://www.photodropper.com/add-photos-blog/   Scroll down in the text to the sentence "Download PhotoDropper and test it out for yourself.  Click the linked text.

That text link takes you to a second download page.  Click the large Download Plugin button.

The dialogue box will ask "Do you want to open or save this file?"  Click save.

Remember all that stuff about paying attention to you put a file as you download it?  With a zip file it is important, since you won't be able to run the install immediately after downloading (the file has to be unzipped before it can be installed.)

Downloading to your Desktop is one simple solution, a folder on your desktop is another.  Some people like a particular folder on the hard drive for all downloads. 

Choose your location, and click Save.  (I'm saving to the Desktop here)

After the download of Photo Dropper is complete,  an icon for the zipped file will be on your desktop

Right click on the icon, select "Open With", then CAM UnZip

Here we go again, glance at the "Extract to" location,  you will need to know where the plugin has been stored on your computer in order to upload it to your WordPress site.

You can change the "Extract to" location by clicking on the button with three dots to the right of the location name.

After you've set and noted the location, click Extract.

When done, CAM Unzip will display the "Zip Message" box.  Click File -> Exit to close.

Now you're ready to upload the unzipped plugin to your WordPress site.  I'll cover that in Phase 3 soon.