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All you have to do is send us a clever WordPress question, and you could win a 3 month membership at WPMU DEV, valued at $159.

That’s three months of access to the best WordPress technology on the market. Premium themes, professional-grade plugins, and a dedicated support team of WordPress experts – all for free!

How it works

For your chance to win a free membership at WPMU DEV, you just gotta follow these two simple steps.

Step One

Hit us with some social media lovin’, and help spread the word about our WordPress Q & A session. Give this article a Facebook ‘like’, a Google +1 or a Tweet, using the little panel directly to your left.

Step Two

Submit your WordPress question in the comment section below this article.

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Every few days, we’ll pick one of the most interesting WordPress questions that we’ve received, and publish it here on the blog. We then encourage our readers to respond with their own suggestions and ideas.

For every question that we publish here on WPMU.org, the author will receive a 3 month membership at WPMU DEV, giving them free access to all our premium WordPress themes, killer plugins and professional support.

So not only do you score a free membership to the best WordPress club on the planet, you’ll also have the entire WPMU community pitching in with expert advice to help you solve your problems.

SWEET DEAL!

What kind of questions are we looking for?

Anything and everything to do with WordPress! Is there something that you can’t figure out how to do? Tell us about a problem that you’ve faced as a WordPress user.

It can be super-technical, beginner stuff, or anything in between. We’re just looking for interesting WordPress questions that we can put to our readers for solutions.

Things to remember . . .

  • Your question must be directly related to WordPress. We’re not looking for general web development or blogging questions.
  • Don’t send us a question with an answer – just the question please. The idea is that we publish the questions and then let our readers take their best shot at answering them.
  • Be sure to include your full name and contact email address when you submit your question, because we’ll need to get in touch with you if we select your question for publication.
  • Make sure you’ve given this article a like, +1 or tweet before you submit your question – we have to verify this before we can give out the free memberships at WPMU DEV. (Just use the buttons on the panel directly to the left of this paragraph).

Why are we doing this?

Because we’re trying to create the best WordPress conversation on the web, and we need your help. We want to connect questions with answers, and bring the brightest talent in the WPMU community together in one place.

So let’s get cracking! Submit your WordPress question in the comment section below this article.

Image credits: Shocked Computer Nerd and Win – Green Button from Bigstockphoto.

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Comments (164)

  2. My question:

    How to, without enabling WPMultisite, fetch other blogs feed into BuddyPress activity, and moreover, unite the users.

    I’d be trying to accomplish this in my new music news website, to use with bands.

  5. I want to ask about a theme that uses a lot of widgets area .. Is it those widget area raises a lot of database queries which finally could cause a website slow? or depending on which data are requested to the database?

  12. What are the options out there right now for a good Learning Management System for WordPress? Obviously, Drupal has Moodle, but we are looking for a good system for WordPress as I believe having an LMS on top of Buddypress would lend or a more robust educational platform.

  13. What would you consider a good reason to tell the user or the owner of a WordPress website to update to the newest update of wordpress? When it can bring sometimes more problems than solution !

  17. Why do WordPress plugins disappear
    (-causing all sorts of “visual-destruction” to a blog
    -and often requiring an FTP session before reinstall)
    when their automatic upgrades fail?
    Isn’t there a better way for a plugin upgrade to fail?

  19. How do you know your WPMU site is ready to be launched? I am so nervous. Do I have all the plugins needed for it to run right? I’m thinking a trial period with just a few close members is a start but then do I tell people about it or just keep it quiet during the trial. What’s your recommendation? But really, how do I know that I’m not missing anything?

  22. Another question…how can I create a stable staging server in parallel to the production server and what sort of system/tool do I need to push from staging to live rather easily?

  24. Do you have a recommendation on how to learn more of the ‘mechanics’ of WordPress – CSS and how to tweak the stylesheet? A good course you’ve found for intermediate users? I’m trying to do it with books, but I’m afraid to jump in with both feet – need someone to hold my hand. Your input would be greatly appreciated!

  25. Ok, i have a question.

    I have a project on http://www.domain.com. It’s a linux project, to center all info in one place… in order to take it to the next level, we will offer a service (with a differente theme and WP install) that will serve linux website’s Feeds… in order to they feed appear, they have to put a little banner from our service on our website. Everything ok so far.

    For both websites earn the same SEO, we thought about using http://www.domain.com/service/... that would make sure both websites share the same pagerank. So with the increase of popularity on the server, our blog would benefits from the same pagerank…

    Problem is: Without WP Multisite, is it a security hole to host another WP install on the same account, but on a different folder?

    Our main blog is at root folder… then it would be root folder with blog -> folder with service.

    Would plugins and .htaccess directives conflict with the second install? Or should i just get another account and host it with a different domain?

  26. Thanks for the advice.I see so WP Super Cache very good .then I ask you do an article on WP Super Cache how to adjust WP Super Cache? Will be interesting how to adjust WP Super Cache . thank you. with respect: webincA

  29. How can we create reports from our wordpress database? – reporting becomes more important as wordpress is being used for lot of functions other than basic browsing. I belive it would be important to support custom fields as well.

  31. I have been struggling to “import” affiliate datafeeds on my WordPress powered niche sites and would like to know what is the best way to go about this, for the non tech savvy of course :) Is there a free plugin or a service that can make this happen?

  36. Is there a way to give someone…a virtual assistant, for example…access to your site so they can do work on it, but have the work queued, not applied, until approved, mush like comments or guest posts awaiting approval? A screw up, accidental or malicious, is far easier to “fix” by not letting it happen in the first place, rather than having to go back and fix things.

  37. Is there a easy way to create various admin user login profiles that will show or hide admin, posting and or editing functions? i.e. a admin login that does not see page and post functions on the left side navigation. a content creator login that does not see any of the admin functions on the left side navigation, etc.

  40. Is there a good WYSIWYG replacement for the default Visual Editor? If so what is the best WYSIWYG plugin to replace the default visual editor.

    I am finding that for a savvy user with a little bit of html background the default editor will do but for many users they have trouble formatting a page the way they really want to especially when multiple images or tables are needed. WordPress also has a habit of rewriting html code when you switch from visual to html and then back to visual. Are the any ways around this with a different visual (WYSIWYG) editor?

  43. Is there a solid, easy-to-use plugin for adding custom typefaces to WordPress blogs? There seem to be a number of competing technologies as well so a rundown of the options makes sense.

    Thanks.

    • Hey Rick,

      Thanks for the question! It’s been published on the blog today.

      To redeem your membership at WPMU DEV, can you please send me a quick email so I have your contact details?

      The address is tim {at} incsub {dot} com

      Cheers!
      Tim

  44. Is there Any Plunging related to Any of This one:
    1.Mark sheet and result declaration of school and university ?
    2.Pathological lab management and reporting system.
    3.Dr. Booking chart online on doctor’s website.
    4.

  47. I really like your Q and A plugin. btw, My question is, Is there any reliable form builder in affordable price? I see most of the free form builders are not stable when lots of forms are created.

  54. How to identify the plugins that are eating my memory, throwing 500 errors, and otherwise thoroughly sucking (using WHM/cPanel, if server level stuff like logs or looking at running processes are required)..

    If I disable all plugins, I’m sure stuff would be better, but I don’t know the best way(s) to know which plugin is the issue once reactivated.

    To be a thorough answer, you might even get into how to tell IF this is an issue because some people might not know bad stuff is happening at all.

    Thank you.

  55. Tweak post_info (under Blog Post Title) to display:

    » Most Recent Commenters Name

    • With-out a plugin, how do you achieve this?

    The idea is to focus on what’s most important (and most valuable).

    The number of comments a single blog post has offers little value.
    Especially today, when it’s close to impossible for a n00bfart to distinguish a “fake” or “backlink” comment.

    If there is ever a “potential blogger/customer” who leaves a comment on a blog, I would want the world to see their name, even if it’s only for a minute.

    http://codex.wordpress.org/Formatting_Date_and_Time

  56. Here’s one that I didn’t see addressed already. You could answer this from the beginner, intermediate, and advanced WP user’s perspective (I would call myself an intermediate to advanced user *grin*):

    There’s a common general consensus that you shouldn’t run too many plugins at a time, or it will slow down your site. Some developers challenge this, saying that well-coded sites and plugins can work well, load fast, and shouldn’t mean limiting the number of plugins at all.

    So the real question … how can you decide that a plugin is worth installing and keeping?

    – For the beginner, how do you research beyond those first couple of reviews?

    – For the intermediate user, how do you test your site’s performance before and after a plugin is installed/updated?

    – And for the advanced user, how can you safely tweak a plugin that is mostly well-coded but perhaps heavy in code, bloated, is no longer updated by the developer – those kinds of problems you run into with older but well-loved plugins.

    • Hey Katrina,

      Thanks for the question! We’ve published it on the blog today, albeit in slightly modified form.

      Can you please send me an email to arrange your free membership at WPMU DEV?

      The address is tim {at} incsub {dot} com

      Cheers!
      Tim

  58. Having been using plugins from the WordPress repository for a while, I realise that many plugins have not been updated for a long period. I (and many others) face a lot of difficulties trusting that some of these plugins won’t harm a website.
    So wouldn’t it be more prudent if the WP website managers put in measures to ensure that plugin developers are regularly contacted to update these plugins, so that when a plugin has not been updated over a time period (say 6months), the plugin would be deleted from the repository.

  59. My question:
    I have a lot of plugins installed, and I want to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. To avoid restoring a backup, is there any way to check if all my plugins are compatible with the new version of WordPress? Something like Firefox compatibility check before update.
    I know I can do I manually, but is there any automatic way to do it?

  62. I really like facebook email function where people can send email to your @facebook.com email address. Is it possible to achive this in WordPress? By utilising this functionality, we can have unlimited email accounts (limited by hosting capacity) for every self-hosted WP site and keep track of email sent & received, which gives better value to us and clients.

  65. I want to let my clients earn some commission if someone clicks through from their website to mine AND converts into a new customer. I don’t seem to find any WordPress affiliate plugins that do this nicely.

    The idea is to have an ID attached to the end of my link on their site. I can capture that ID on the landing page, but the problem is carry that ID as they click around my site, and then if they fill in the contact form, to add it as a hidden field.

    I will then have that ID in the enquiry email I receive and if that person becomes a new customer I can easily see who the referring client was.

    Anybody got any suggestions?

  66. What’s the difference between a multinetwork plugin and a regular plugin and what do you need to do to make different variables global across all sites and not just one site…. without connecting to the database?

  67. Under the hood of Multisite, what is the difference between network-activating a plugin, as opposed to enabling the plugin individually on all plugins?

    Follow-up question: What is the difference, if any, between activating a plugin independently on a site running with multisite enabled (i.e. not network enabled) as opposed to activating the plugin on a stand-alone site?

  69. Question: How do you use a different header based on the page that is being viewed.

    Example:
    Your WordPress site header.php contains a Flash based header image followed by the Primary Navigation. This is the desired view on the home/index page, but you do not want the Flash to be visible on any other page.

    WordPress allows you to create templates for customizing individual pages, but this only allows you to add or remove the header as a whole.

    • Allan, you can either use conditional statements like is_front_page() or is_page(“pagename”), around the content you only want on certain pages, within the header.php file. The alternative, if it is a drastically, is to have a different header.php template file for the homepage. If your Homepage’s slug is home you would call the template header-home.php.

  70. Hi tim,
    Thanks for provide this community.
    Such I’m not english native it could be a mesh in my language, bt hope you understand the point.
    So here is my question.
    all we know that wp is great software platform that google love with all of the additional plugin. But this pluggin can hurt the web /blog also if we do not put it in the rright palce and type. What people always want is security, SEO and displaying of their blog must be have top priroty. n order to get to that level we have to install such amount of plugin that will load our hosting server, aspecially for those that use a limited bandwith.
    so the quiestion is can you make some research and build one kind of theme that will cover all three top priority above. and of course if you can, could you build a plugin to that will make some additon for a marketer like Clickbank, adsense(other content adv) and amazon with one kind of plugin?
    It will be a very big moving to us if we can use one single plugin and cover all the blogger needed with the goole lovest theme.
    Thank you
    Adhy

  71. I have seen a lot of sites adopting an opt-in box in the header. I realize that this requires some coding of the header.php file. How does someone do that? Is that a straight forward question, or does it depend on the theme (which it probably does :-) – Can you provide ‘generic’ instructions?

    Thanks!
    Paul.

  72. OK – I was reading another post you have when another question popped into my mind!

    What is the best way to clean out your database? Even when deactivating and deleting plugins and themes, there are still random entries in the database that no longer apply? Is there a way to find these orphaned records to eliminate them?

    Thanks!
    Paul.

  73. My question relates to embedding video in a site:

    I create screencasts using Quicktime, and then share to Youtube directly from the application.
    What I’d like to be able to do is embed the video in a post so that everyone can view it. All browsers, all platforms. Without using Youtube. I want to upload the video to my own (Dreamhost) site to do this.
    Any ideas, plugins, or experience to share?
    Many thanks
    James

    • Many thanks James, we’ve published your question on the blog today.

      Can you please shoot me an email to arrange your free membership at WPMU DEV?

      The address is tim [at] incsub [dot] com

      Cheers! Thanks for taking part.
      Tim

  74. Is it possible to automatically change the date of a wordpress post, after an update?

    I am building a website with image gallerys as posts, and i want wordpress to put an updated post at first, every time I update one. Is it possible? And also to update social networks about the update.

    Because I want to post a gallery, but then in the future add more images, so I need to put the updated post in first of the loop(by the updated date) and also update the social networks about the new images added to the post.

    Thank you!

  75. I desperately want to move forward with an Etsy/Artfire type site and really want to use WordPress. Since all roads lead to WP multisite and WPMU DEV to accomplish this, I have a question for you. How would I completely hide all WordPress Admin menus and create a custom admin menu page that limits each store owner to just a few, basic storefront customization options?

    Thank you!
    Brian

    • Hi Brian, thanks for the question! We’ve published it on the blog today.

      Can you please send me a quick email to arrange your free membership at WPMU DEV? The address is tim [at] incsub [dot] com

      Cheers!
      Tim

  76. My question is about user segmentation. I hope there are other micro-managing WP control-freaks out there.

    Is there a way to somehow “tag” -say- users who have been a member for more than 6 months, those who joined my site through a specific referrer, those who have been active members [depending on some set criteria] or else… and hopefully a combination of these?

    I know the data would reside in WordPress database especially if I were to use wpmudev suite of plugins, but how to go about mining and using them to craft better targeted messaging and offers?

  77. To modified the template, you can either use add_filter(‘template_include’,'my_template’) OR @include(dirname( __FILE__ ).’/path_to_template.php’); exit();
    Can you make a comparison between this 2 methods?

    • Is it possible to assign subdomain to public user profile in Multisite + BuddyPress wordpress installation?

      I’m creating a profile-centric community portal and would like to give a subdomain pointing to a public profile of each user as a nice welcome bonus.

      I know it will probably need a custom rewrite rules, .htaccess rules and a custom plugin on the wordpress side to not force a redirect. But I’m not a programmer and just can’t do it myself. Would really appreciate if someone could create out of box solution for that. Maybe as on demand option during user registration process (something like a checkbox whether an user want to redirect given subdomain to his BuddyPress user profile instead of creating next blog/site in WPMU)

  79. When developing a site for a client and we want to give them a preview to choose out of say 3 completely different templates whilst showing all their content, even though there are plugins to allow template previews they fail due to each template needing different widgets.

    So my question which I’m sure the answer would appeal to both developers and WP website managers is:

    Is there a way to have each template save all their widget configurations separately?

  81. Greetings,

    I’ve spent a few hours researching this yesterday and I was unable to find my answer. I have three categories (which might increase soon) of posts on my blog, for different things I do. I understand I can create a page and have it display all my blog posts. However, I’m planning on taking this one step further.

    I’d like to create a new page for all three (or more) categories so that blogs categorized in A, B, or C, are directed to Pages A, B, and C respectively. I saw code snippets in different sources, but I’m extremely apprehensive about breaking my site as I’m a wordpress newbie. I see that you guys have the same situation worked out with “Q&A” as a category and the “…/questions/” page displays only what’s in the “Q&A” category. Is there a plugin you folks might know/recommend to achieve this goal? Thanks for your help!

    shidairy

  82. How can you implement a rating system in marketpress? There has been much talk about making etsy or ebay style site networks with marketpress and buddypress, but is there a ratings system?

  84. is it possible to append height and width attributes to pictures that a plugin loads like profile pictures in the facebook like plugin? also how do i defer the loading of javascript within a plugin that loads external scripts? all this should be able to be done within wordpress but im stumped and its causing my widget based sites to get horrible google page speed scores.

  89. How do you manage a WP site if your host doesn’t allow shell access? Our university provides hosts, but no ssh, no ftp and no sftp. We have to use WebDAV for file transfers, but in practice WP is built around ftp for automated upgrades. Doing everything manually isn’t practical for a busy site (or many sites). Got a plugin or method to make it manageable?

    • Do everything manually should be practical because when something goes wrong you need to be able to act quickly and revert the changes and remove any issues.

      A busy site depending solely on automatic updates could eventually lead to unnecessarily extended downtime for them.

      That would be much worse for a busy site.

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