All posts tagged WordPress Ann Arbor

January 2012 WordPress Ann Arbor Meeting Cancelled

by Declan O'Neill on January 25, 2012 in Miscellaneous with No comments

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we’ve had to cancel tonight’s (January 2012) meeting. We had some room scheduling issues with the Workantile (not their fault, they are amazing!) Unfortunately, the space is not available to our group this month. But we will be back on Feb 29, 2012 with a session on blogging. Sorry about the inconvenience, and really sorry about the short cancellation notice.

Cheers, Declan.

P.S if you know someone who was planning on going tonight, do us a favor and let them know we’ve cancelled tonight’s meeting.

Twenty Eleven Child Theme

by Declan O'Neill on December 1, 2011 in WordPress with No comments

Download Twenty Eleven Child Theme (zip 25kb)

Child Theme screenshot

Have Questions? Of Course You Do.

What is a Child Theme: A WordPress child theme is a theme that inherits the functionality of another theme, called the parent theme, and allows you to modify, or add to, the functionality of that parent theme.

Why do I need a child Theme? When there is an update to the core features in the parent theme, you can update the theme without affecting the customizations that you’ve made in the Child Theme.

How do I activate the Child Theme? WordPress Child Themes are located in /wp-content/themes/ just like any other WordPress Theme. And they’re also activated from the WordPress admin like any other theme.

Dashboard - Appearance - Themes - Upload - Add new Theme

Installing a new theme

I don’t use twenty eleven, can I still use your style theme? Yes, just open the “style.css” and update the following lines to suit your own installation.

Theme Name: Twenty Eleven Child Theme 
Theme URI: http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/twentyeleven/
Description: Child theme for customizing Twenty Eleven.
Version: 1.0
Author: WordPress Ann Arbor
Author URI: http://wordpressannarbor.com/
Template: twentyeleven

@import url("../twentyeleven/style.css");

A quick explanation of each line:

  • Theme Name: (required) Child theme name.
  • Theme URI: (optional) Child theme webpage.
  • Description:(optional) What this theme is. E.g.: My first child theme. Hurrah!
  • Version: (optional) Child theme version. E.g.: 0.1, 1.0, etc.
  • Author: (optional) Author name.
  • Author URI: (optional) Author webpage.
  • Template: (required) directory name of parent theme, case-sensitive.
  • @import url(“../twentyeleven/style.css”); Change twentyeleven to the directory name of parent theme, case-sensitive
Goog Luck, if you have any questions please leave comment below.

Really Useful WordPress Plugins

by Declan O'Neill on September 27, 2011 in Plugins with No comments
useful-plugins

The following is a list Free and Paid WordPress plugins that I recommend for use on your WordPress website. They are part of a session I gave at WordPress Ann Arbor. If you have any other suggestions you think should be added to the list, please feel free to leave your recommendations in the comments below.

Gravity Forms

gravity-forms

Contact Forms for WordPress Just Don’t Get Any Easier than Gravity Forms. Quickly build and design your WordPress forms using the form editor. Select your fields, configure your options, and easily embed forms on your WordPress powered site using the built in tools. Gravity Forms requires a minimum of WordPress version 3.0, MySQL 5 and PHP 5 in order to function properly. Please note that Gravity Forms is not compatible with the WordPress.com hosted service. Gravity Forms costs $39.99 for a personal license.

http://www.gravityforms.com/

WP-Table Reloaded

WP-Table Reloaded
WP-Table Reloaded enables you to create and manage tables in your WP’s admin area. No HTML knowledge is needed. A comfortable backend allows to easily edit table data. Tables can contain any type of data and additional JavaScript libraries can be used to extend it with features like sorting, pagination, filtering, and more. You can include the tables into your posts, on your pages or in text widgets by using a shortcode or a template tag function. Tables can be imported and exported from/to CSV, XML and HTML.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-table-reloaded/

WP-DB-Backup

wp backup
WP-DB-Backup allows you easily to backup your core WordPress database tables. You may also backup other tables in the same database.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/

Redirection

redirection

Redirection is a WordPress plugin to manage 301 redirections, keep track of 404 errors, and generally tidy up any loose ends your site may have. This is particularly useful if you are migrating pages from an old website, or are changing the directory of your WordPress installation.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/redirection/

Broken Link Checker

Broken Link Checker

This plugin will check your posts, comments and other content for broken links and missing images, and notify you if any are found.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/broken-link-checker/

Search and Replace

search and replace

A simple search for find strings in your database and replace the string. You can search in ID, post-content, GUID, titel, excerpt, meta-data, comments, comment-author, comment-e-mail, comment-url, tags/categories and categories-description. It is possible to replace the user-ID in all tables and the user-login for more security in the WordPress-Application

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/search-and-replace/

Widget Logic

widget logic

This plugin gives every widget an extra control field called “Widget logic” that lets you control the pages that the widget will appear on.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/widget-logic/

Cart 66

cart66

The Cart66 WordPress ecommerce plugin makes it easier to make money online than ever before. Not only can you sell physical products, digital products, and services, Cart66 will also turn your WordPress site into a membership website allowing you to sell subscription access to your content.

http://cart66.com/
Free Version: http://cart66.com/lite/

Theme My Login

theme my login

This plugin themes the WordPress login, registration and forgot password pages according to your current theme. It replaces the wp-login.php file by using a page template from your theme. Also includes a widget for sidebar login.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/theme-my-login/

WordPress SEO Plugin

WordPress SEO Plugin
WordPress SEO is the most complete WordPress SEO plugin that exists today for WordPress.org users. It incorporates everything from a snippet preview and page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your pages content, images titles, meta descriptions and more to XML sitemaps, and loads of optimization options in between.

http://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/

Woopra Analytics for WordPress

Woopra
This plugin adds Woopra’s real-time analytics to any WordPress installation

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/woopra/

Akismet

akismet

Akismet filters out your comment and track-back spam for you, so you can focus on more important things.

http://akismet.com/

WordPress Ann Arbor – September Meetup

by Declan O'Neill on September 26, 2011 in Meetups with No comments
WordPress Ann Arbor Sept Meetup

WordPress Ann Arbor have two presenters covering basic, intermediate and advanced WordPress topics. The session will last approx. 90 minutes, with 15 minutes of questions and answers. Networking before and after along with general Q&A and help requests.

Date: Sept 28, 2011
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Location: Workantile Exchange, 118 S Main Ann Arbor MI 48104

Sept 2011 Speakers:

  • Declan O’Neill – Topic: Really UseFul WordPress Plugins.
  • AJ Morris – Get a sneak peak at the next generation of Headway Themes Drag & Drop WordPress Theme and how it’s going to change the WordPress theme arena. We’ll explore the new grid system, loosely based off of 960.gs, see the Visual Editor in action, and see Headway Themes’ take on a truly drag and drop WordPress theme.

Declan is the Founder of Cake.ie, a small Web Design company specializing in WordPress and MailChimp.

AJ is the Founder of SurfCubes, a small consulting firm specializing in WordPress.

Agenda and Timeline

  • Workantile Member welcomes you our group the Workantile Exchange
  • Introductions 7:00pm – 7:10pm
  • House Keeping: 7:10pm – 7:15pm
  • Speaker 1: 7:15pm – 7:45pm
  • Speaker 2: 8:00pm – 8:45pm
  • Open Discussion: 8:45 pm – 9:00pm
  • Beers – 9:00pm

WordPress A2: Redirects and Robots for Accurate Analytics Results

by Declan O'Neill on September 29, 2010 in SEO with No comments
WordPress Ann Arbor: Redirects and Robots for Accurate Analytics Results

WordPress Ann Arbor: Redirects and Robots for Accurate Analytics Results – Presentation Transcript

  1. Redirects and Robots for Accurate Analytics Results
  2. Who is This Person? Declan O’Neill - www.linkedin.com/in/declanon/ - Twitter @declanon
    I’ve been working on websites since the mid-nineties, and working with WordPress since 2007.
    I moved to the US in 2006 from Ireland.
    I am an Account Manager for Logic by Design.
  3. Scenarios?
    Newly-Launched WordPress Website.
    Google Analytics is showing results for error 404 pages.
    If you renamed a WordPress Category.
    If you renamed a WordPress Post or Page.
    Solution to a Common Problem: 301 Redirects.
  4. A 301 redirect tells the bots and user-agents:?
    …that your page has been moved permanently.
    …to bypass the old link in the future and go directly to thenew page.
    …to show the new URL in the searchresults.
  5. .htaccessfile among many other things:
    …controls and overrides the Apache server configurations.
    …provides security measures such as using passwords to restrict access.
    …prevents hot linking (using images from your site).
    …instructs your server to rewrite URLs.
    …provides instructions to any redirection of URLs.
  6. Old vs. New URLs
    Old URL = www.yoursite.com/about-us.html
    New WordPress URL = www.yoursite.com/about
    Google already knows about “about-us.html” but it does not exist anymore. So you must create a way to redirect “/about-us.html” to “/about”
  7. .htaccess is very powerful
    Edit with Caution!
  8. Tools for Editing your .htaccess File
    You need access to the Server Files.
    You need FTP software to down / upload the file.
    You need a Text Editor to edit the .htaccess file.
    FTP Software:
    http://www.filezilla-project.org (Mac + PC) / http://fireftp.mozdev.org/ (Firefox Plugin)
    Text Editing Software:
    http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/ (Mac) / http://www.pnotepad.org/ (PC)
  9. Default WordPress .htaccess File
    This is how your WordPress .htaccess file should look like before you edit it.
  10. Adding 301 Redirects
    Example: “redirect 301 /old.php http://www.url.com/new.php”
    Let’s break it down:
    redirect 301 (the instruction that the page has moved)
    /old.php (the original path and file name)
    http://www.url.com/new.php  (new path and file name)
  11. .htaccess file with 301 Redirects
    This is how your WordPress .htaccess file should look after you added the redirect.
  12. 301 Redirect WordPress Plugins
    Go to: Admin > Plugins > Install Plugins
    Search for “301 Redirect”
    Look for a plugin called “Redirection”
    URL = http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/redirection/
  13. Adding a Page Redirect
    Go to: WordPress Admin -> Tools -> Redirection
    Add the old URL into the “Source URL” field.
    Add the new URL into the “Target URL” field.
    Click “Add Redirection”
  14. Robots.txt
    Search Engines read your “website.com/robots.txt” file to get information on what they should and should not be looking for and where to find those files.
  15. What does Robots.txt File Look Like - http://wordpressannarbor.com/robots.txt
  16. How Do I Add a robot.txt File
    You have two options: 1. FTP to Server / 2. WordPress Plugin
  17. FTP robots.txt File to Server
    Open Text editor -> Add Code -> Save File -> Open FTP Software -> Add File to Root Folder -> Upload
  18. robots.txt WordPress Plugin
    Step 1. Install the Plugin
    WP admin -> Install Plugins-> Search for “KB Robots.txt” -> Install Plugin
    Step 2. Configure the Plugin
    Admin -> Settings -> KB Robots.txt -> Add your Robots Rules -> Click Submit
    View the robots.txt http://wordpressannarbor.com/robots.txt
  19. Next Talk. Anothony Montalbano 4 Tips on Deeper Google Analytics for WordPress
  20. Thank You. Custom WordPress Web Design. www.logicbydesign.com @logicbydesign