Wordpress Hints & Tips

[barryhynd]

I've seen a lot of mentions about Wordpress on a number of threads. I actually use WP on Scottish Business Blog . It seems to be widely accepted as a very good platform for developing sites and I was hoping we could get you all to contribute hints and tips about how to get the most of out of Wordpress.

Also what sort of plugins etc have you came accross that you have found really useful

[Idea15]

I learned the most by FTPing in and bashing the code about until I had mastered it. You can always just replace your code with the original if you "break" it.

Bare minimum plugins include...

Add-to-any
All in one SEO pack
Cforms
Events Calendar
Exclude Pages
Google Sitemap Generator
Maintenance Mode
My Page Order
TinyMCE Advanced
E-Commerce

and...
WPDesigner So you want to create WordPress themes huh?

I'll scratch Maria Langer's back here because she scratched mine a few months ago:
Amazon.com: WordPress 2 (Visual QuickStart Guide): Maria Langer, Miraz Jordan: Books
(ignore those dreadful reviews. Maria and Miraz rock.)

[ScottJ]

I run a blog with a friend, there is a really handy post called a blog checklist which covers some of the basics at the beginning and this checklist for plugins.

[barryhynd]

Some great posts to start here, thank you It's nice to see I actually recognise a few of these plugins and have them on Scottish Business Blog. There are some however I will be doing some research on.

One thing i'm struggling to get to grips with just now is keeping all the plugins etc up to date and of course Wordpress as well. I find the whole process quite overwhelming, have you had similar experiences or do you find that process quite easy?

[Mark Lister]

Is there a discussion forum plug in and / or a Chat plug in, does anyone know?

I'm using wordpress for a couple of sites - my coaching site and my business lounge site. It's in the nature of Business Lounge that it's about people connecting with each other. Currently I'm using a Ning site for the interactive "Hub" site and a wordpress site for resources and the main blog. It would be great to be able to integrate the two.

Cheers

Mark

[Idea15]

Re updating/upgrading - Here is a tutorial from Miraz Jordan, who literally wrote the book (I'm cutting and pasting this off a web design mailing list.)

unless you've done some unusual customisation on your blog there are 2
files that are crucial to retain: wp-config and the specific theme
folder that you've selected for your blog. That one will have a path
like: example.com/wp-content/themes/yourtheme.

All other files can be replaced.

Here's what I do to update my various blogs. It generally means that
the blog is offline / shows errors for a few minutes while I do the
update. Sometimes I create a plain HTM file with a 'site maintenance'
advisory and put that in place while I do things.

1] download the new version of WordPress and expand the zipped file.
2] sign in via FTP to my blog.
3] I open the wp-content, wp-admin and wp-includes folders into
separate tabs on my ftp software.
4] I open the wp-content folder so plugins and themes are also in their own tab.
5] I prefer to actually *delete* the old files first, but if you like
you can just replace them.
6] I upload the files from the new version into their appropriate
folders online.
7] If you put a holding page in place remove it again and upload the
index.php that belongs in the WordPress root folder.
8] Log in to the blog's Dashboard. If the database needs updating
it'll tell you and give you a button to press. Do that and wait a
moment. It should then tell you everything's OK.
9] Go to the Plugins section of your blog's Dashboard and see if any
plugins need updating.

[Kasumi]

Google XML sitemaps is a very good plugin

Also cforms is useful if you need to create a contact form

[Third Sector Lab]

Plugoo will deal with all your chat needs Mark, you can see it in action on Family Support Partnership Lanarkshire Home