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Wordpress Theme Hacks Nearly
Anyone Can Do
Afraid
you
might
"break
something"
by
mucking
around in your theme? With
a little determination, and just
a few keystrokes - you'd be
surprised how many things
you can change on your own.
How I Met Wordpress
THIS WAS ME
For
10 LONG YEARS
In 1999 I was hired as a webmaster
I was VERY loyal
Webmasters Did Everything
•
HTML
•
Javascript
•
Graphics
•
Technical Writing
•
CGI/Perl Coding
•
UNIX Shell Coding
•
Create Online Tools
•
Training
Open Source CMS
I tried to introduce multiple Open Source CMS
Systems to Automate my Job
Big Money Always Won
I Met Wordpress in 2004
I Thought They Were Wrong...
So I kept using Wordpress on My Own...
Sometimes instead of
doing my real work.
Little Did I Know...
In 2009 they outsourced the last of us...
the last of the “webmasters” that is.
I Was Out of Work
No Jobs. Unemployment.
Couldn't Move.
What Now?
Reinvention
Wordpress Theme Hacks Nearly
Anyone Can Do
You Will Need to:



Use the Wordpress
dashboard editor
Know basic HTML
Be able to Edit, Copy
and Paste small
amounts of PHP
Code
Why Hack a Wordpress Theme?

To stand out or look different
create a look nobody else has

To add functionality for the end user
“like”, “tweet”, disqus

To enhance the way content is displayed
post meta, text, images, “the_loop”, navigation

To customize specific pages
search results, 404 Pages, archives, category & tags pages

To show content only when conditions are met
only on the home page, just singles posts, only tag pages,
etc.
How Do I Edit My WP Theme?
In WP dashboard: Appearance → Editor
Click on the page you want to edit:
What Are All Those Theme Pages?
At Bare Minimum, Most WP Themes Have:
index.php (home page + a whole lot more)
single.php (single posts)
page.php (paged pages – like your “about” page)
comments.php (the comments block after content)
header.php (before the content on EVERY page)
footer.php (after the content on EVERY page)
sidebar.php (what's in the sidebar)
functions.php (special theme specific PHP code)
style.css (text formatting and layout rules)
Reference: http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
Which file does what?
A page file (index, single, page) calls and loads
other files for specific page content areas:
How Many Pages Could My
WP Theme Have?
The Bare Minimum
Optional Theme Pages

index.php

archive.php (date based archives)

single.php

search.php (search results)

page.php

category.php (category pages)

comments.php

tag.php (tag pages)

header.php

404.php (not found errors)

footer.php

attachment.php (attachments)

functions.php

author.php (author page)

sidebar.php

loop.php (Wordpress 3.0+)

style.css

Countless custom template files
Why Use Conditional Tags
To do something only when
certain conditions are met
Examples:

Show specific text or images

Create custom adverts for specific uses

Designate alternate layouts for certain pages

Using plugins to do this slows down your site
Where can I use Conditional Tags?
Conditions such as “is_home” with “is_front_page”, “is_single”,
“is_sticky”, “is_page”, “is_page_template”, “is_category”,
“is_tag”, “is_author”, work great in sections such as:

index.php

Header or Footer

Sidebars

the_loop

Comments block
Very Specific Conditions
Specify individual pages like is_single('hello') or
in_category('5'), is_page_template('contact.php'),
is_tag('ipod') or has_tag('ipod'), is_author('john-pratt'),
is_date(), is_single(array('my-best-post', 'my-worst-post'))

Specific category and tag pages

Specific template pages

Specific archive pages

Specific post ID's
Reference the Codex:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags
Hacking with Conditional Tags
Do “ABC” when “XYZ” Condition is met:
<?php if (is_home()) { ?>
Show my big block of SEO keyword-laden text
<? } ?>
By replacing “is_home” with “is_front_page”, “is_single”, “is_sticky”,
“is_page”, “is_page_template”, “is_category”, “is_tag”, “is_author”,
“is_date”, “is_archive”, or “is_attachment” to make your message
show up on nearly any WordPress page.
Having Multiple Conditions
Do “ABC” when “XYZ” Condition is met,
elseif single post page do “DEF”
<?php if (is_home()) { ?>
Show my home page text block
<?php } elseif (is_single()) { ?>
Show my single post text block instead
<? } ?>
In this example we show custom text for the home page, or on
single pages. If neither condition is met – we don't show any
custom text.
Multiple Conditions Else Default
Do “ABC” when “XYZ” Condition is met,
elseif single post page do “DEF”, else show do default for
all other instances
<?php if (is_home()) { ?>
Show my home page text block
<?php } elseif (is_single()) { ?>
Show my single post text block instead
<?php else { ?>
Show my default text for all other conditions
<? } ?>
Using Multiple Conditions
Combine conditions on one statement to
show the same thing in multiple places.
<?php if (is home() || is_single() || is_category() || is_page() ||
is_archive() { ?>
Show this text for all those conditions
<?php } ?>
The double-pipe or || in the code signifies “OR”, so WordPress knows, if
this is home, or a single page, or a category page, or a “page” page,
or an archive page – show the same thing for all.
Show Everywhere, Except...
Use the concept in reverse to show everywhere
except where you don't want it...
<?php if (is_home()) {
}
Else { ?>
<p>Show this everywhere!</p>
<?php } ?>
In this example we show nothing when the home page is shown,
“else” show it every other time.
Conditionally Use WP Functions
Use a Conditional tag to force a WP Function
<? php if (is_home()) {
wp_list_bookmarks();
}
?>
Use conditional statements to do things like get_tags, get_category_parents,
get_page_children, get_user_meta, and many more...
Reference: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference
Hacking Your Comments




Plugins like “subscribe to comments” or
“CommentLuv” are great enhancements
By modifying the text in comments.php, you can
customize what your comments block says (or
how it looks)
By modifying some of the code, you can add (or
remove functionality)
Get rid of comment spam at the source
Add Delete and Spam Links
to Your Comment Sections
Add this code to your theme's functions.php file:
function delete_comment_link($id) {
if (current_user_can('edit_post')) {
echo '| <a href="'.admin_url("comment.php?action=cdc&c=$id").'">del</a>
';
echo '| <a href="'.admin_url("comment.php?
action=cdc&dt=spam&c=$id").'">spam</a>';
}
}
Add this code to your comments.php where you want the links (usually add
it in where you find edit_comment_link()):
delete_comment_link(get_comment_ID());
Source: http://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-add-del-and-spam-buttons-toyour-comments
Stop HTML Links in Comments
Add this to your functions.php file, all links will be stripped:
function plc_comment_post( $incoming_comment ) {
$incoming_comment['comment_content'] =
htmlspecialchars($incoming_comment['comment_content']);
$incoming_comment['comment_content'] = str_replace( "'", '&apos;',
$incoming_comment['comment_content'] );
return( $incoming_comment );
}
function plc_comment_display( $comment_to_display ) {
$comment_to_display = str_replace( '&apos;', "'", $comment_to_display );
return $comment_to_display;
}
add_filter('preprocess_comment', 'plc_comment_post', '', 1);
add_filter('comment_text', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);
add_filter('comment_text_rss', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);
add_filter('comment_excerpt', 'plc_comment_display', '', 1);
Reference: http://www.wprecipes.com/how-to-get-rid-of-links-in-your-comments
Prevent Most Comment Spam
Most Spammers use software or scripts that have
no referrer. Require all comments come from a
web browser to stop the spammers dead!
Add this to your functions.php file:
function check_referrer() { if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']) ||
$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] == “”) {
wp_die( __('enable referrers or go away') );
}
}
add_action('check_comment_flood',
'check_referrer');
Source: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/23/10-wordpresscomments-hacks/
Hacking Navigation
Add things to your blog that will make it more
usable and help readers find what they need

Breadcrumb Plugins

Related Posts Plugins

Most Viewed / Popular Post Plugins

Category Icons Plugins
Remove Next / Previous Links
Replace with more common “pagination” links

WP-Page Numbers Plugin

WP-PageNavi Plugin
Q&A
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facebook.com/jtprattmedia
www.jtprattmedia.com
www.jtpratt.com/blog
twitter.com/jtpratt
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