In wordpress when you have created a long post, you don’t want the entire post on your front page, so by clicking the more button it is cut at that point and the reader has to go to the permalink page to read the entire article. Most everyone starting with WordPress knows that, but did you know there are many other ways to use the More Command?
While working on a couple recent sites for friends, one asked if he could use his own text instead of the word “more”. After a quick search I came across Customizing the Read More page on the WordPress site. On this page they walk you through using your own text (IE.. To read more click here) or changing font for the message and how to pull in the post title into the more command. Another plus is the the_excerpt() command instead of the the_content() command in your theme will pull just the first 55 characters of your post and add the more link after it.
With customizable functions like this, it’s no wonder WordPress is taking over in the blogging world.

Lately, I’ve been having a few people comment on my blogs that would say terrible things, They weren’t commenting on the post and it wasn’t spam, they are just being asses. Not any more, Yesterday I came across a page of wonderful plugins. GaMerz plugin page has a couple plugins I’ve been wanting and I’m sure some that you’ve been looking for also.

The first one I downlaoded was WP-Ban, which will allow me to ban any IP that I want, If I wanted I could start to go through my spam list and add their IP’s but since my spam blocker stops most of them, no need for the extra work. But for those that are just adding obscene comments, I can now easily ban them.
The next was WP-PageViews, This plugin you actaully have to add a small spot of code to your theme, but it’s worth it, I will now be able to see the count of each story and have an idea of what my readers like and dislike. I’m testing it right now on my other blog about the Atlanta area and it seems to be working correctly, I’ll run it a couple more days to make sure.
There are about 10 different Wordpress Plugins on GaMerz page, make sure to chek it out.

Many know the new version is out, but most haven’t updated yet. I haven’t seen any problems yet with plugins, widgets or changes in code that I’ve done. But this is probably a good time to think about what changes you’ve done to your site.
Luckily, most the changes, including code changes, we’ve made are in the actual theme. When we update wordpress we’re not updating the theme which helps us, but what about when a large update comes through and themes have to be updated or you want to change your theme?
I usually keep a file on my system that has the bit of original code and then what I changed it to, just like my post, so I remember and can visually see what I’ve changed.
This would probably be a good dashboard plugin that you can add changes. One field would be file name, next original code and last the new code. What other fields would you add to this plugin if you were creating it?

Soon after WordPress 2.1 came out, many started noticing that if they used the < -- more -->
in their post, that it also breaks the RSS Feed into parts and the reader has to visit the owners page to read the rest. While most would like this, I still believe in sending the entire post over RSS. If a reader wants to visit my page great, but i’m not going to make them.
As with most features that some like and some don’t, those that want it changed bad enough do something about it. CaveMonkey50 has created a wordpress plugin called Full Text Feed that prevents the break in your feed. Just download, unzip, upload to your site and activate.. Done!

Heads up from Quick Online Tips

I talked about the Ben’s Flickr Widget in Widget Quickies, last week. While completely redoing my wife and my personal website, I needed to use the Flickr Widget. The problem I came across was I wanted two lines of pics. The widget allows for you to have one line of pics either vertical or horizontal but allows you to choose the amount of photos used.

To make the layout 2 lines, in the options of the widget make sure to choose vertical. Then edit the Flickr Badge Widget code

Look for this in the plugin code:
<table id="flickr_badge_uber_wrapper" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" border="0"><tr><td> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=<?=$count?>&display=< ?=$display?> &size=< ?=$size?>&layout=< ?=$layout?>&source=< ?=$source?>&user=< ?=$flickrid?> &tag=< ?=$tag?>&group=< ?=$flickrid?>"></script> </td></tr></table>

We are going to add a table so there are 2 tables side by side. There may be a better way to do this but this works great.

Change the above code to:

<table><tr><td><table id="flickr_badge_uber_wrapper" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" border="0"><tr><td> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=<?=$count?>&display=< ?=$display?> &size=< ?=$size?>&layout=< ?=$layout?>&source=< ?=$source?>&user=< ?=$flickrid?> &tag=< ?=$tag?>&group=< ?=$flickrid?>"></script> </td></tr></table></td> <td><table id="flickr_badge_uber_wrapper" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" border="0"><tr><td> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=<?=$count?>&display=< ?=$display?> &size=< ?=$size?>&layout=< ?=$layout?>&source=< ?=$source?>&user=< ?=$flickrid?> &tag=< ?=$tag?>&group=< ?=$flickrid?>" target="_blank"></script> </td></tr></table></td></tr></table>

Now by choosing 2 photos in the options, you will have 2 lines of 2, you can see it in action at RichandStephanie.com

Note: To fit on the page I added breaks on the src= line, it should be one long line, pull each of the &’s back up a line

I’m sure this is documented with Ultimate Tag Warrior, since the plugin does have great docs, but who reads those
I noticed today that a couple of my post had 8 or more related post listed below them. I needed to cut that down to 4 so it was time to dive into the code.
To edit a plugin, there is a submenu off the plugin menu to edit plugins. Choose Ultimate Tag Warrior to edit.

Look for the code:

function UTW_ShowRelatedPostsForCurrentPost($formattype, $format="", $limit = 0) {

Change the limit = 0 to limit = 4 or how ever many related post you want.

BP-Blog has come out with BP-BookMarks. Not only does this add the social bookmarks to each post but it also adds 2 widgets to add social bookmarks links and feed links to your sidebar.
I’ve been looking for an easy to install bookmark bar for the bottom of my post and it looked like this was the perfect one for me. Well almost, I know the developer is working on it more and this is only 1.0, so don’t think I’m trash talking about it because I’m not. The one thing that this plugin needs to change is the digg button. Not the looks but the link its self. If you look at the link created by the large digg button on this story, it grabs the permalink, title and some of post to auto start your digg submittal (if you’re logged in). yes I’m being picky..
This is easy to install and the developer has already said they were going to add other popular bookmarking and feed syndication services. I’m sure this will be one of the plugins I add in the near future. I like how easy it was to install (no adding code to WordPress) and it’s layout is simple and uncluttered.
Check it out for yourself

I’ve been wanting to add a one line advertisement to the bottom of my RSS feed for some time now. There are some companies that will do this for you like feedburner and Text Link Ads but I don’t have the numbers yet that they want, so I’ve been looking for a plugin that does what I want without a 3rd party.

PostPost Plugin
To my rescue comes PostPost, this plugin allows you to add ads to the begining and/or end of your rss feed, it also has options for before/after post and pages (I’m guessing either full post pages or it’s when someone clicks older post or next page). For the next week I’ll be testing this. I want to see how it looks with my feed, since i already have related post added to my feed. I will probably also test the other options and see just how they do.
I’ll let you know just what I think, I’m sure it will be good.

Adding MyBlogLog Avatars Next to Comments and making it look good

Some may have noticed I added the plugin MyBlogLog Avatars, This plugin adds the commenter’s avatar from MyBlogLog to their comment. Problem is that you have to add a small piece of code to your comments area.
The code looks like this:
< ?php if(function_exists('MyAvatars')) MyAvatars(); ?>

Not that hard, but to make it look good to your readers may take a little bit more than some bloggers know, so here’s some help.

The latest plugin that I’ve installed is ST_AddRelated2Feed, this plugin allows you, like the name says, to add a list of related post to your RSS feed. You must have Ultimate Tag Warrior installed and activated, but this will allow those reading your RSS feed to get links to other post on your blog. Great Plugin a must have!