This post is a continuation of the “WordPress Hacks” posts that I wrote earlier.
- 10 WordPress Hacks to Make your Life Easy
- 10 WordPress Hacks to Make your Life even Easier
If you liked those, you will love this one. Here goes :-
1. Fight Cross Browser Compatibility the WordPress Way
While designing a theme, there are numerous cross browser compatibility issues that raise their head, and most of the times we are left with no choice but revert to using conditional hacks. The following WordPress hacks can really save a lot of headache :-
Open your functions.php file in the theme folder and add the following code :-
[php]
<?php
add_filter(‘body_class’,’browser_body_class’);
function browser_body_class($classes) {
global $is_lynx, $is_gecko, $is_IE, $is_opera, $is_NS4, $is_safari, $is_chrome, $is_iphone;
if($is_lynx) $classes[] = ‘lynx’;
elseif($is_gecko) $classes[] = ‘gecko’;
elseif($is_opera) $classes[] = ‘opera’;
elseif($is_NS4) $classes[] = ‘ns4’;
elseif($is_safari) $classes[] = ‘safari’;
elseif($is_chrome) $classes[] = ‘chrome’;
elseif($is_IE) $classes[] = ‘ie’;
else $classes[] = ‘unknown’;
if($is_iphone) $classes[] = ‘iphone’;
return $classes;
}
?>
[/php]
The above function adds the name of the browser (e.g, opera, safari etc.) to your tag like this :-
[php]<body class="home blog logged-in safari">[/php]
Now you being a theme designer can take help of this custom class and write your CSS accordingly if you are facing any compatibility issues with any browser. This can be called as “planning in advance“!
2. Schedule an Event using WordPress
Many of us already know that posts on a WordPress blog can be scheduled to be posted on future dates. But did you know that this alarm kind of function can be used for different other things too! Here is a practicle usage that lets your WordPress blog shoot out an e-mail to you every hour (A very handy function in case you want to know the uptime of your website – Just make a folder in your e-mail for such e-mails and read them later as log details). Add the following code into the functions.php file of your theme.
[php]
if (!wp_next_scheduled(‘my_task_hook’)) {
wp_schedule_event( time(), ‘hourly’, ‘my_task_hook’ );
}
add_action( ‘my_task_hook’, ‘my_task_function’ );
function my_task_function() {
wp_mail(‘you@yoursite.com’, ‘Automatic email’, ‘Hello, this is an automatically scheduled email from WordPress.’);
}
[/php]
You can define your e-mail and subject in the above code yourself.
3. Removing Unwanted Links from your Comments
Here is a neat function that lets you remove unwanted links from your comments. As before, place the following code in the functions.php file of the theme folder :-
[php]
function plc_comment_post( $incoming_comment ) {
$incoming_comment[‘comment_content’] = htmlspecialchars($incoming_comment[‘comment_content’]);
$incoming_comment[‘comment_content’] = str_replace( "’", ‘'’, $incoming_comment[‘comment_content’] );
return( $incoming_comment );
}
function plc_comment_display( $comment_to_display ) {
$comment_to_display = str_replace( ‘'’, "’", $comment_to_display );
return $comment_to_display;
}
add_filter(‘preprocess_comment’, ‘plc_comment_post’, ”, 1);
add_filter(‘comment_text’, ‘plc_comment_display’, ”, 1);
add_filter(‘comment_text_rss’, ‘plc_comment_display’, ”, 1);
add_filter(‘comment_excerpt’, ‘plc_comment_display’, ”, 1);
[/php]
Spammers Die! Yay!
4. Retrieving Posts within a Date Range
Sometimes you will need to pull posts between two specific dates from your blog. The code below allows you to do just that :-
[php]<?php
function filter_where($where = ”) {
$where .= " AND post_date >= ‘2009-03-17’ AND post_date <= ‘2009-05-03’";
return $where;
}
add_filter(‘posts_where’, ‘filter_where’);
query_posts($query_string);
while (have_posts()) :
the_post();
the_content();
endwhile;
?>
[/php]
You can copy and paste the above code anywhere within your template files. Just don’t forget to change the dates.
5. Using Multiple Loops without Duplication
If you need to break display your posts in different sections (like in Magazine themes), where you want to display a fixed number of posts first, and the remaining later, you can use this code to make multiple loops (with offsetting the fixed posts in the later loop).
The first loop that will pull and display 5 recent posts :-
[php]<?php
query_posts(‘showposts=5’);
$ids = array();
while (have_posts()) : the_post();
$ids[] = get_the_ID();
the_title();
the_content();
endwhile;
?>
[/php]
And, the second loop that will exclude the above posts and show the remaining ones :-
[php]<?php
query_posts(array(‘post__not_in’ => $ids));
while (have_posts()) : the_post();
the_title();
the_content();
endwhile;
?>
[/php]
This code basically pulls the post IDs that are not contained in the array $ids[].
6. Highlighting Searched Keywords in Search Results
If you need to highlight the searched text in your search results (which is not an option by default in WordPress), here is the solution that accomplishes this feat :-
- Open up your search.php file from the theme folder.
- Find the_title() function and replace it with :-
[php]mytitle();[/php] - Add this code to your functions.php file
[php]<?php
function mytitle() {
$mytitle = get_the_title();
$keys= explode(" ",$s);
$mytitle = preg_replace(‘/(‘.implode(‘|’, $keys) .’)/iu’,
‘<span class="searched">\0</span>’,
$mytitle);
echo $mytitle;
}
?>
[/php] - Open style.css file and add the following code:-
[css].searched { background: yellow; font-weight:bold; }[/css]
We are done. Try searching some text on your blog now!
7. Display Related Posts without a Plugin
This is a good hack if you want to show “related posts” below the single post view on your blog without the use of a plugin. Just open the single.php file and paste the following code within the WordPress loop :-
[php]<?php
//for use in the loop, list 5 post titles related to first tag on current post
$backup = $post; // backup the current object
$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);
echo "<div><h3>Related Posts</h3>";
$tagIDs = array();
if ($tags)
{
$tagcount = count($tags);
for ($i = 0; $i < $tagcount; $i++) {
$tagIDs[$i] = $tags[$i]->term_id;
}
$args=array(
‘tag__in’ => $tagIDs,
‘post__not_in’ => array($post->ID),
‘showposts’=>5,
‘caller_get_posts’=>1
);
$my_query = new WP_Query($args);
if( $my_query->have_posts() )
{
echo "<ul>";
while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
<?php endwhile;
echo "</ul>";
}
} else echo "<span>No related posts were found!</span>";
$post = $backup; // copy it back
wp_reset_query(); // to use the original query again
echo "</div>";
?>[/php]
The above code uses post “Tags” (that you have made in your posts) to relate the posts. So use them wisely!
8. Add your Posts to Facebook
The following hack will add a link within your posts that will allow users to share the post with their friends on Facebook. This can help in bringing extra traffic to your blog. Open the single.php file from your theme folder and paste this code within the loop where you want the link to show up :-
[php]<a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=<?php the_permalink();?>&t=<?php the_title(); ?>" target="blank">Share on Facebook</a>[/php]
Now the users will be able to share your posts!
9. Inserting Advertisements after Every First Post
Open up your index.php file and find the loop. Replace your loop with the following :-
[php]<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php $count = 0; ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<?php $count++; ?>
<?php if ($count == 2) : ?>
//Paste your ad code here
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<?php else : ?>
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
[/php]
You can paste your ad code where it says “//Paste your ad code here”. Your loop might not be exactly replaceable so you can take hints from the above code and modify your loop accordingly.
10. Automatic Content after Each Post
Many times, you want to add custom content/text after every post (e.g, subscribe to our blog link). Open up your functions.php file and add the following code to it :-
[php]
function insertFootNote($content) {
if(!is_feed() && !is_home()) {
$content.= "<div class=’subscribe’>";
$content.= "<h4>Enjoyed this article?</h4>";
$content.= "<p>Subscribe to our <a href=’http://feeds2.feedburner.com/WpRecipes’>RSS feed</a> and never miss a recipe!</p>";
$content.= "</div>";
}
return $content;
}
add_filter (‘the_content’, ‘insertFootNote’);
[/php]
I hope you enjoyed the above hacks and will make use of them. Please comment and let me know.
