Beginner WordPress Bloggers: 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do

by Tom Ewer November 9^th, 2012 3 Responses

There are plenty of posts out there with tips for WordPress newbies, which is pretty damned handy, it has to be said.

After all, we were all beginners once. When you first fire it up, WordPress can be pretty overwhelming — such a depth of functionality is not easily presented in an immediately intuitive manner. Having said that, it only takes a few nudges in the right direction to get on your way. Install a theme here, a plugin there, have a fiddle with the visual editor, and you’re on your way.

BP Themes, BP Tutorials, BuddyPress

Tutorial: Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress – Part 3

by Craig Grella September 28^th, 2012 2 Responses

This is the final part of the 3 part series, Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress, in which we will perform some basic styling, edit our custom.css file, and create a unique BuddyPress experience using the Thesis Theme Framework for WordPress multisite.

As a quick recap, In Part 1 of Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress - we covered installing WordPress Multisite (briefly), reviewed the network and site dashboards, and then moved on to a detailed video installation of BuddyPress.

In Part 2 of Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress, we focus on the installation of the Thesis Theme Framework and the Thesis BuddyPress Child Theme.

BP Tutorials, BuddyPress, Tutorials

Tutorial: Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress – Part 2

by Craig Grella September 26^th, 2012 24 Responses

In Part 1 of Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress – we covered installing WordPress Multisite (briefly), reviewed the network and site dashboards, and then moved on to a detailed video installation of BuddyPress.

In this article, Part 2 of Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress, we focus on the installation of the Thesis Theme Framework and the Thesis BuddyPress Child Theme.

Right now your site should look like a basic install of WordPress. If you are using the basic Twenty Eleven theme, it probably looks like this:

BP Themes, BP Tutorials, BuddyPress

Tutorial: Integrating Thesis and BuddyPress – Part 1

by Craig Grella September 24^th, 2012 5 Responses

In this three-part tutorial you’ll learn how to install the BuddyPress Child Theme for Thesis on a live WordPress multisite installation, and make a few custom code edits that turn a standard thesis install into a unique BuddyPress network site.

If you were not aware that BuddyPress had been integrated with the Thesis premium framework you can read the precursor to this article: BuddyPress and Thesis Together at Last.

Marrying these two frameworks makes great sense. You get the speed and customizability of Thesis with all the cool functionality of BuddyPress – like forums, groups, users profiles, and activity streams.

BP Themes, BuddyPress

BuddyPress and Thesis Together At Last

by Craig Grella September 20^th, 2012 5 Responses

If you are a fanatic for the Thesis framework and have been looking for a way to integrate all the coolness of BuddyPress without having to do a mountain of custom code – you’re going to love this article.

For several years Thesis has been one of the most popular WordPress frameworks. It features lean code, nearly unlimited customization options, and top-notch support.

Tutorials

Enable HTML code in WordPress Widget Titles

by Clifford Paulick August 16^th, 2012 5 Responses

WordPress widgets don’t allow HTML code by default. With the snippet below, you’ll be able to use basic HTML styling tags (even span tags) in WordPress widget titles. Put it in your functions.php file.

{code type=php}

function html_widget_title( $title ) {
//HTML tag opening/closing brackets
$title = str_replace( ‘[', '<', $title );
$title = str_replace( '[/', '</', $title );
// bold -- changed from 's' to 'strong' because of strikethrough code
$title = str_replace( 'strong]‘, ‘strong>’, $title );
$title = str_replace( ‘b]’, ‘b>’, $title );
// italic
$title = str_replace( ‘em]’, ‘em>’, $title );
$title = str_replace( ‘i]’, ‘i>’, $title );
// underline

Plugins, Themes

Envato WordPress Toolkit – A ThemeForest Auto-Updater

by Clifford Paulick July 13^th, 2012 Leave a comment

Envato’s ThemeForest theme marketplace is one of the most popular locations to buy WordPress themes.

One of the benefits is receiving lifetime theme updates, but, in the past, it was difficult to know when updates were available.

The Envato WordPress Toolkit enables you to access your Envato WordPress purchases from within your WordPress Dashboard. It allows you to not only install themes but also to receive update notifications and update automatically, just like regular WordPress themes.

Themes

Free WordPress Frameworks for Designing Your Own Child Theme

by Timothy Bowers February 8^th, 2012 10 Responses

So you’re ready to design your own WordPress theme, eh? You’ve got some CSS skills under your belt, and it’s time to put them to good use.

If you’re just starting out, it’s highly advisable that you pick a good theme framework, and build your own child theme on top of it. These are the key advantages that a child theme offers:

You’re not developing a new theme from scratch, you’re simply expanding on an existing theme that you already know works well

Miscellaneous

WordPress Quiz: Tags, Templates, Themes, Functionality, URLs

by Joe Foley December 16^th, 2011 1 Response

Fill in the blanks. 1-5

1. A _________ is a tool to extend the functionality of WordPress.

2. A _________ theme is a theme that inherits the functionality of another theme.

3. A _________ is a permanent URL where individual posts, categories, and other resources are stored.

4. The _________ is used in WordPress template files to show posts to visitors.

5. A _________ tag is code that instructs WordPress to “do” or “get” something.

SEE ANSWERS BELOW

1. A _________ is a tool to extend the functionality of WordPress.

ANSWER: A plugin is a tool to extend the functionality of WordPress.

Difficulty Level – Easy 2/10

Miscellaneous

WordPress Quiz: Themes, CSS, Child Themes

by Joe Foley December 9^th, 2011 1 Response

Take the Quiz: Questions 1-3

1. In which WordPress folder on your server do you find your themes?

a. wp-admin

b. wp-content

c. wp-includes

2. What does CSS stand for?

3. When making a child theme, which of the following elements in the example below are required in the header?

/*
Theme Name:     Twenty Eleven Child
Theme URI:      http: //example.com/
Description:    Child theme for the Twenty Eleven theme
Author:         Your name here
Author URI:     http: //example.com/about/
Template:       twentyeleven
Version:        0.1.0
*/

ANSWERS BELOW

1. In which WordPress folder on your server do you find your themes?

a. wp-admin

b. wp-content

c. wp-includes

Answer: b. wp-content

(Difficulty Level – Easy: 3/10)

2. What does CSS stand for?

Answer: Cascading Style Sheets

(CSS info)