Here’s a new security update for my fellow WordPress bloggers. Version 3.1.3 is available with assorted improvements. Check out the change log for more details on how they go about making various tweaks to the platform.
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Using the old fashioned centering closed pair method
Use Cascading Style Sheets to Position Images In WordPress
Google is just the most darned amazing tutorial service in human history. A few years ago when I adopted WordPress for my blogging platform the WordPress forums for getting questions answered were so convoluted I just wanted to scream in frustration. Thank goodness, Google has expanded it’s indexing to cover pretty much every subject. And fortunately more people are contributing helpful hints on all subjects especially those of us in the realms of blogging, web design, software engineering and animation.
I found a few great links that are helping me learn some quick Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) formatting tips using a few fundamental HTML commands. It’s been a good refresher as I now know how to center an image or shift it left or right, and how to wrap text around a picture. In these examples I’ll use the Blacks Gone Geek icon to illustrate the examples.
Here’s how it looks using straight HTML.
<center>Image file HTML goes here</center>
When I use the new CSS method that WordPress has incorporated I shouldn’t see any difference than when I use the traditional HTML method above.
Using the CSS centering method
<div class="cent">
<strong>Image file HTML goes here</strong>
</div>
Success! Of course more text between images always keeps things neatly spaced even when a style sheet is helping the alignment in the background.
But what I really want to accomplish is lining up an image to the right or left as I please. To begin, here’s my effort to align an image to the right by adding the right alignment command. The picture has been repositioned to the right and the text now wraps around the left side of it. As I continue to type the text should wrap around the bottom of the picture and continue. So Let’s just see if that really is the case as I continue from this point to type nonsensical sentences just to fill up the space to test the programming technique behind the scenes in the WordPress editing panel. Ah, success again!
So aligning an image to the left would be slightly different, merely changing the align command to left, rather than right. And as you might imagine if you were typing nonsenical gobbledygook (yes, that’s how it’s spelled) to test a programming concept you would allow your fingers to ramble across the keyboard just as I’m doing now. And were we succesful? Yes a third time.
So there’s a hint of what you can do with good CSS scripting. It’s literally custom made to control the layout design of your page and it applies to much more than the images you use. To learn more about it I also encourage you to read “HTML, XHTML, and CSS” by Rob Huddleston which I have found to be immensely helpful in getting me up to speed on all things CSS related. Hope you found this helpful and if so share the post with a friend.
Install A Facebook Share Link Button On Your Blog Site
Have you been wondering how to add the Facebook share button to each of your blog posts? Simple. It’s as easy as using this share button Javascript directly from Facebook’s site. I just Googled facebook share links and it was the first item on the search list.
It gives you options to make it a button or a link. With the button option you can display a counter above the button, to the side or have no counter at all.
For those of you using the WordPress platform, copy the code and paste it into the body of the single.php file within the loop. I recently stumbled upon the ease of editing the PHP code by accidentally clicking in the editing window of one of the files. That’s all you have to do. To add code click on Presentation > Theme Editor > Single Post and click in the editing window. It will change from gray to white. Then paste the script and click the Update File button.
Placing the code in the Single Post file is what automatically creates the share button on each post. Give it a shot and see if you don’t have those great posts you’re writing passed on to a wider audience.
YouTube Embed Tutorial
It took buying “WordPress for Dummies” for me to learn about the YouTube embed in post process so here goes.
Wow, it’s simple. Find your favorite YouTube clip, click on the nondescript “Embed” label in the right column. The code for the clip will be hi-lited in blue. Then copy the code and paste it into your post. I feel like a smart cookie today.
Since it’s Sunday morning, let’s jam out to some Israel and New Breed throwing down on their hit “Again I Say Rejoice”.
There’s other cool stuff in the book that I’ll be sharing with my fellow WordPress users as I go along in my reading. This has been my first aha moment and there seem to be plenty more to come in the four or five key chapters that should prove to be effective in improving my blog design skills.
More to come later. Enjoy the video and share it with a few friends.
Experimenting with WordPress Features
I FTP’d the all-in-one-seo-pack into my WP directory with all my other WordPress files and activated it this morning. While doing that I stumbled upon this file default upload feature that was part of the existing theme and I think I know how to add picture files to a post now.
Yep it works. Now to add it to the main file somehow, somewhere on the page. The all-in-one is overlaying itself rather sloppily in my Manage screen though. It’s covering the Post Password and Post Slug boxes from the default instead of everything shifting and sharing space. I’ll have to play around with it and see if its what I thought it was.
Just downloaded a Technorati tag cloud plugin too. Hasn’t changed a thing though. Maybe the seo pack cancelled it out or something. Oh well, at least I can download and install in the right directory. Now I just have to optimize my optimizing tools (LOL).
I think I’ll have to make life easier on myself and buy one of those WordPress for Dummies books too.
Changing A WordPress Theme
I finally figured out how to do it! Man, it only took forever. Who else has been struggling with this platform? Fear not, Marty’s giving a tutorial, right here, right now.
O.K. First you have to find your WordPress files on your host server. Specifically, you’ll need to locate the folder listed as wp-content/themes. If you use Godaddy like me here’s how you get to it.
(1) Log in to your account.
(2) Click on Hosting and Servers on the menu bar.
(3) Click on My Hosting Account in the drop down.
(4) Click the Control Center link. If you have more than
one URL account click on the one where your blog
resides.
(5) Click on the Content bar.
(6) Click the File Manager icon.
(7) In the “html” file folder click on “wp-content”.
(8) Finally click on “themes” to find your blog theme file folder by name.
This is where you’ll transfer new theme files whenever the feeling hits you. Here’s how you do that on a Mac. You’ll have to figure out the equivalents on a PC.
(1) In the theme viewer click thru the list of selections that you prefer and download the theme(s) of your choice. Yes, you can store as many as you like which allows you to change your template at will in the future.
(2) The file will download to your desktop. I moved the file to my Applications folder because the ftp client couldn’t detect my Desktop folder.
(3) I used Godaddy’s ftp client to transfer the file into the wp-content/themes directory.
(4) Go back to your blog site and click on the Site Admin link.
(5) Click the Presentation option on your administrative menu bar and that will take you to the screen that shows all the themes that you’ve saved onto your server.
(6) Click on the theme of your choice and that will make it active.
Voila, you’re in business with a new theme. My next challenge is to figure out which file contains the code to add widgets, buttons and any custom code I might like to include. Hopefully I’ll be throwing in some new stuff soon. I’m really proud of myself! Major hurdle finally lept.
If you guys have any other helpfull hints that might be unique to a PC platform go ahead and comment here. I’m sure all tips will be appreciated by everyone with the many assorted systems out there. Don’t be shocked by any changes over the next few days. I’m going to play around now that I know what I’m doing. Later.
First MartyBLOGs Post on WordPress
I found the administration panel. This is where you write and edit posts, design the layout etc. Nice system. I’m duly impressed with WordPress and all I’ve done is write this first little note. I don’t yet see where the tag section is but maybe that’s for the best and I can start fresh with a smarter list of SEO search terms.
Tomorrow I’ll look for the tag and template features. Gotta shake up some of those default sidebar headings. But hey, send comments and feel free to point me in the right direction. By this time next Friday I’ll be back to writing more serious material. The next few days I’ll just take you on my trip thru the learning curve with an interview or life observation thrown in here and there.
Happy weekend people. MartyBLOGs is on WordPress!
