Have Wordpress problem ? I'll help you for free

14 years ago

I guess I will post my problem here as you asked instead of sending you a private message. I guess my problem would be that I am overwhelmed with wordpress at the moment. I got a seo/keyword friendly theme from somewhere online (free), and the problem is, there was no tutorial video. Another problem is that the plugins that they suggested are either outdated, or changed. Therefore, the way that they edited things in the video, I can't edit the same way. Granted, I'm not dumb, so a lot of times, I just looked around the dashboard until I found what they were talking about.

For instance, the theme has a "sponsor" section in the top right hand corner of it, and I want to put a banner there. I downloaded the "banner" plugin and don't really know how to use it.. I guess my problem is, is that I just need a wordpress tutor.. I don't expect you to take time out of your schedule to do that by any means, so if you could A.) give me some helpful advice, and B) help me with the sponor section and getting that damn banner plugin to work.. I think that by me at least accomplishing that, it will get me back motivated to begin working on my site again. Thanks. -Jonathan

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OpenBookSupport

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JTread

I guess I will post my problem here as you asked instead of sending you a private message. I guess my problem would be that I am overwhelmed with wordpress at the moment. I got a seo/keyword friendly theme from somewhere online (free), and the problem is, there was no tutorial video. Another problem is that the plugins that they suggested are either outdated, or changed. Therefore, the way that they edited things in the video, I can't edit the same way. Granted, I'm not dumb, so a lot of times, I just looked around the dashboard until I found what they were talking about.

For instance, the theme has a "sponsor" section in the top right hand corner of it, and I want to put a banner there. I downloaded the "banner" plugin and don't really know how to use it.. I guess my problem is, is that I just need a wordpress tutor.. I don't expect you to take time out of your schedule to do that by any means, so if you could A.) give me some helpful advice, and B) help me with the sponor section and getting that damn banner plugin to work.. I think that by me at least accomplishing that, it will get me back motivated to begin working on my site again. Thanks. -Jonathan

I feel happy today so just P.M me your site details and plugins they mentioned and I'll try to help you as much as I can

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Rough Outline

14 years ago

Hi jackdeff,

Thanks for offering the free advice.

On my WP site (in my sig), I want to the articles on the home page to show up fully but they only show as excerpts.

I think it might be embedded into the theme, anyway around this?

Also I want to create a custome banner to spruce my site up but I don't know a) where to put the image file for the banner and b) what the dimensions for the image are, can you help?

Thank you very much,
Matt

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aandersen

14 years ago

Rough Outline Writing,

I will bite. Here is the page you need to look at :

Function Reference/the excerpt WordPress Codex

to summarize, you need to edit your theme (appearance > editor)

if you are not using a static front page (i do not think you are) you should edit home.php, if this file does not exist edit index.php

If you have a static front page you will need to edit page.php, if there is not a page.php then you need to edit index.php.

now, if there is a custom template for your static page, then you must edit that template specific template (probably is not)

either way once you decide which file to edit...

scroll about half way through and look for a line that starts like this :

<?php the_exceprt(__('Read more'));

and change it to

<?php the_content(__('Read more'));

save the file and reload the page on your website and see if there is a change.

There may be other instances of the_exceprt that you want to change, but you should understand which template files to edit before messing with them. this page will explain all that for you

Template Hierarchy WordPress Codex

if you change from the_exceprt to the_content and find that you desire the exceprt-style post from time to time, you can still achieve this result by usign the  tag

read more about that here
Customizing the Read More WordPress Codex

If this is too much for you, just get a new theme

I'll let someone else answer about the banner

good luck, hope this helps

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Istvan Horvath

14 years ago

Originally Posted by aandersen

If you have a static front page you will need to edit page.php,

I am quite sure there is no a need for editing the page.php for this purposes

Ab ovo, page.php is not able to display excerpts. Ever.

(I still have to see a theme that uses the_excerpt in the page.php template file...)

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aandersen

14 years ago

It is funny how every time someone starts one of these "give me your WP questions" threads Istvan ends up being the one answering the questions.

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

I am quite sure there is no a need for editing the page.php for this purposes

Ab ovo, page.php is not able to display excerpts. Ever.

(I still have to see a theme that uses the_excerpt in the page.php template file...)

i never tested it. my post was off the top of my head. now that i think about it, i have never tried to use excerpt on a page. i can't really think of any good reason to.

I know that you know your WP stuff. so I will take your word on it, if you say it won't work, it probably won't

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GrantFreeman

14 years ago

I'm having problems deciding what theme will work for my blog/cms. I've got several, but I don't want the public to see the changes.

Is there a way where I view the new theme, and have the old theme viewable to the public?

I've been building static sites for a while, but there's got to be an alternative to re installing wordpress into a different directory. Isn't there?

Grant

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Istvan Horvath 14 years ago

Originally Posted by GrantFreeman

Is there a way where I can see this with my own content and not the public?

If I am understanding well, you are askign for a preview of a theme before activating it.

Don't you have a "lightbox" preview window before clicking on the Activate link?

Otherwise search for theme preview - admin theme preview etc. keywords. There used to be a couple of plugins for that but now since the introduction of that lightbox thingy I don't think anybody bothers developing/upgrading them.
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OpenBookSupport

14 years ago

Originally Posted by GrantFreeman

I'm having problems deciding what theme will work for my blog/cms. I've got several, but I don't want the public to see the changes.

Is there a way where I view the new theme, and have the old theme viewable to the public?

I've been building static sites for a while, but there's got to be an alternative to re installing wordpress into a different directory. Isn't there?

Grant

Wordpress has built in preview window before you activate the theme .

Also always when you develop site install a local server and test your themes as you like that way your visitors have a nice time and you do your job without losing any lead .

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aandersen

14 years ago

Originally Posted by jackdeff

Wordpress has built in preview window before you activate the theme .

Also always when you develop site install a local server and test your themes as you like that way your visitors have a nice time and you do your job without losing any lead .

i'm not completely against a local copy. if your doing a bunch of stuff or making your own theme thats a good way. also, you could just us another WP instance on your server to test with until your happy with the results.

or yet another option is to use
WordPress › Theme Test Drive WordPress Plugins

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GrantFreeman

14 years ago

Istvan,

Man, you're quick. Thanks for the fast response.

I have that default one in the admin section but that only shows the preview that came with the theme itself.

Yes. I need something like you stated- a preview or light-box that allows me to see more than the home-page.

It's searching I go.. again! Thanks

Grant

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Derwin

14 years ago

I have many word press problems and I want to solve them but I have not lot of experience in word press. Can you tell me how to convert a PSD into HTML and then later how I can create custom themes in word press. I want to learn making themes. Can you help me?

Thanks
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Istvan Horvath

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Derwin

I have many word press problems and I want to solve them but I have not lot of experience in word press. Can you tell me how to convert a PSD into HTML and then later how I can create custom themes in word press. I want to learn making themes. Can you help me?

No, nobody can help you in a forum with one post.

Converting PSD into HTML - is NOT a wordpress question! That's for starters. Sorry, let's not mix every BS in the "wordpress problem" category.

Do you know (X)HTML? Do you know CSS? Have at least a vague idea how PHP works? - If yes, you can start downloading tons of themes, study their files, dissect them, learn from them... learn by heart the Codex, WP's online manual etc.

After that creating custom themes will be a breeze

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OpenBookSupport

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Derwin

I have many word press problems and I want to solve them but I have not lot of experience in word press. Can you tell me how to convert a PSD into HTML and then later how I can create custom themes in word press. I want to learn making themes. Can you help me?

Head over to

Nettuts+ | Web development tutorials, from beginner to advanced.

they have a lot of wordpress tuts and Xhtml/CSS tuts , and if you love

books Sitepoint just released a new book I looked at it today and it looks nice

Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes by Allan Cole, Raena Jackson Armitage, Brandon R. Jones & Jeffrey Way

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GrantFreeman

14 years ago

Actually I overlooked the preview link- it's already in there. Should have seen it before. Shows ya how much I know 'bout Wordpress! Thanks again.

Grant

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Istvan Horvath 14 years ago

Originally Posted by GrantFreeman

Actually I overlooked the preview link- it's already in there.

- that's what I called the "lightbox thingy"...
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Istvan Horvath

14 years ago

Actually, many others give answers in those threads - including yourself

I know some people don't like if I am answering questions in "their" WP threads... but I can't help. If I know the answer or if I see an incorrect advice I feel an urge to jump in. :p

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OpenBookSupport

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

Actually, many others give answers in those threads - including yourself

I know some people don't like if I am answering questions in "their" WP threads... but I can't help. If I know the answer or if I see an incorrect advice I feel an urge to jump in. :p

There is no problem with me

We are all part of the WP community.

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Kuma

14 years ago

Thanks for your generous offer. I´ll be glad to take advantage of it.
I have upgraded my old wp blog (2.5 or similar) to most recent one (3.01?)
Although I followed the wordpress.org instructions I can´t see my posts (only by means of navigation bar)
The posts etc are still there.
The website is home-wind-turbine.info
I have made a backup of the database and the files and also by means of ftp.
I just can´t find out where the mistake is maybe just a small twist ??
Thanks a lot

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OpenBookSupport

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Kuma

Thanks for your generous offer. I´ll be glad to take advantage of it.
I have upgraded my old wp blog (2.5 or similar) to most recent one (3.01?)
Although I followed the wordpress.org instructions I can´t see my posts (only by means of navigation bar)
The posts etc are still there.
The website is home-wind-turbine.info
I have made a backup of the database and the files and also by means of ftp.
I just can´t find out where the mistake is maybe just a small twist ??
Thanks a lot

Are you sure that you have posts ?
Have you tried to change the def. theme ?

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Kuma 14 years ago

Originally Posted by jackdeff

Are you sure that you have posts ?
Have you tried to change the def. theme ?

Fixed it!
Problem was Settings>Reading Front page displays must be set to "Your latest posts" instead of "Static Page"

Thanks anyway
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phylwol

14 years ago

I installed a new theme but now I get error 404 instead of my previous posts. The posts still show up in the Dashboard but do not seem to load into the theme. How do I get around this?

Dirk Wolbers

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Istvan Horvath

14 years ago

Delete the theme folder via FTP from the wp-content/themes directory.
It will revert back to the default theme.
After that you can set again whichever theme was working before.

(as for the cause: most likely you didn't upload all the theme files)

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phylwol

14 years ago

Thanks for that
Dirk

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DogScout

14 years ago

Mr. Horvath knows more about WP than anyone else I have met. (No offense to anyone else). I have yet to see him give wrong advice. He is one of those people that you KNOW, know what they are talking about and can be comfortable following his re-coding. The thing with re-coding is, it only takes one character to screw the pooch and I have yet to see Istvan do that. Lol.

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Doug Pretorius

14 years ago

Any suggestions for a plugin to manage banners and text links from the backend?

What I'd absolutely love is something similar to the way Contact Form works. In the 'admin page' you can insert your code or link and then you paste a tag wherever you want that ad to appear. That way I could change banners/links across my blog without editing each page.

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Istvan Horvath

14 years ago

What about widgets? You can put your banner/ad code in widgets and change them as you want.

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Doug Pretorius 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

What about widgets? You can put your banner/ad code in widgets and change them as you want.

There are a few places where I'd like to put ads that aren't accessible to widgets in my theme.
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