OK so I used a technique I found here: http://www.problogdesign.com/wordpress/advanced-wordpress-comment-styles-and-tricks/ to setup advanced, nested comments for effutio.

It all works fantastically untill I used the same technique on another site which used more Pages than Posts. There are two parts to the problem that happened on this site.

Firstly the “Reply” link (allowing you to reply to a specific user comment) didnt work and once the first comment was made on the page the comment form would disappear!

The fix to these bugs are as foloows:

1. In your comments.php theme file replace:

with this

2. In wp-includes/comment-template.php at line 1012 change:

$comment = get_comment($comment);
$post = get_post($post);

to:

$comment = get_comment($comment);
$post = get_post($comment->comment_post_ID);

Upload the updated files and hey presto the comment form shows on pages with a comment and you can now use the “Reply” link to respond to specific comments. Ahhhhhh the world has been put right once again. Incase you are wondering no1 above fixes the comment form disappearance and no2 fixes the Reply link bug!! Enjoy!

• Login directly from a page in Wordpress using a sidebar login form
• Display your Wordpress posts on other pages
• More Advanced Menu only logged in users or certain users can see
• Using Google Adsense for Search in Wordpress
• Hide Wordpress Update Nag Without a Plugin

Holy smokes, well this took me around 2 hours to sort out so Im writing it all down so I can save people some time and remember it myself!!

Right OK if you are diving into WP you will undoubtably want to try some wonderful things with the loop, if like me to display posts from a certain category on a page. Well its pretty easy to do but doing so breaks any pagination you may have i.e. WP-Pagenavi or posts_nav_link(). Whatever you are using it will not work if using a custom loop containing a query_posts() or $wp_query() function.

A lot of people will tell you it cant be done and just to use showposts to display all your posts or there is a few blogs out there sporting fixes which dont work….I dont know if they ever have or if its using a different version or if I had missed something (as others said it worked for them but I tried lots of variations on the theme). Anyhoo I finally picked up on a couple of comments, I combined two ideas and hey presto it worked….I couldnt believe it.

So here it is, this is what your loop should look like:

query('cat=20&paged='.$paged); ?>

....loop content


....alternative content

This line is key and a few other fixes out there use it with query posts like this:
$paged = (get_query_var(‘paged’)) ? get_query_var(‘paged’) : 1; query_posts(‘cat=3&showposts=12&paged=’.$paged);

That didnt work for me and I picked up on a comment suggesting that wp_reset_query() wouldnt work with query_posts(), then I found another comment posting a different solution utlising wp_query->query(). Well it was 1am and I thought ‘ah well nothing to lose’ and it worked. Well Im very relieved to have found a solution that works for me and I hope it save you time and works for you too.

Oh yeh and remember if you have adapted loops on other pages, always include wp_reset_query(); at the end of the loop on each page.

Share and Enjoy!

• Login directly from a page in Wordpress using a sidebar login form
• Display your Wordpress posts on other pages
• Using Google Adsense for Search in Wordpress
• Page Templates in Wordpress
• Using multiple/different headers, sidebars, footers and comment templates in Wordpress

Banus Jeans are a new fashion label with a range of mens luxury designer jeans. I recently bought a pair of 801 Ronda orange label because I was sick of paying £20-£30 for jeans that fall apart in a month. Yes really a month!

I do have a tendancy to be very hard on my jeans, in the way that I wear them almost everyday! Yes I probably should wash them more but hey I dont feel like they get dirty except around the leg hem. Anyway basically I have around two pairs of jeans that I wear constantly, usually within a week the leg hem will disintegrate (you get that annoying raggidy bit at the back), then within 4-6 weeks the front fabric becomes worn and rips (I use a laptop constantly).

Looking at the Banus site and the quality of the jeans in their gallery I thought Id spend a little bit extra on jeans that might last longer. Well it was a good move and worth the little extra cash as Ive had them around 6 weeks, worn them pretty much constantly and they remain in completely one piece!!

So if you are looking for an alternative luxury designer jean brand then give Banus a try! I think Im going to buy a more dressy jean next time….Im leaning towards the 701 Montoro!!

Anyway so far so good, they are holding up to my brutal wearing regime and Im definitely going to buy some more!

[View with PicLens]

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• Noahs Classifieds Review – DO NOT BUY IT
• Blackberry Bold 9700 Review

Well for some reason or other sometimes your Wordpress feed will break, which I recently discovered here at effutio. This is normally down to a blank line (error will be on line 1 column 1 or some such) being inserted at the top of the xml file (feedburner especially doesnt like these blank lines)? This extra line could be caused by a plugin or something else, who knows and whos got the time to bloody look through everything to try and fix it. Not I.

Luckily there is a simple and effective fix (provided by www.Wejn.org) and here it is:

Download this file

Put it in your Wordpress ROOT folder so the one with wp-config.php and wp-settings.php (DO NOT put it in your theme root folder!). Upload file to your server.

Then add this line to the index.php in Wordpress ROOT folder so it looks like this:

Upload the updated index.php file and you now have a working RSS…..Awesome!

• Hide Wordpress Update Nag Without a Plugin
• Pre-installation Wordpress checklist
• Display your Wordpress posts on other pages
• Page Templates in Wordpress
• Using multiple/different headers, sidebars, footers and comment templates in Wordpress

A lot of Wordpress website owners either need or want a forum. After all they can add another social interaction tool, its another place to put your content and place ads. So we are agreed that a forum is cool and adds extra dimensions to your WP site but there are a few options out there but one for me stands out head and shoulders above the rest: SimplePress Forum (SPF).

SPF was born in 2006 after creator Andy Staines found existing forum plugins to be sub-standard and set about creating a simple yet effective forum plugin for his website. People started asking about it and for it and it was released as a plugin, from then on its gone from strength to strength with more features being added by request of SPF users.

I personally have been using SPF since 2008 and for me it is the most complete and feature rich forum plugin available today and Andy and Steve should be congratulated for all their hard work and unrivalled support (remember and donate too)!

SPF seemlessly integrates with Wordpress, meaning users need only log in once to the website. You can also write posts in the usual way in WP admin and create Forum topics using said post. Even the comments on the WP Post and SPF Topic can be integrated. Users can build a comprehensive profile with an Avatar (although for a small minority of people this could become an issue…Ive explained more below) and expect all the features that the dedicated Forum scripts deliver like phpBB and vBulletin.

Well all in all SPF for me is THE best forum plugin for WP and has unrivalled functionality and support; Andy, Steve and helpers really do a fantastic job. However as mentioned above Avatars could cause a slow down issue for a minority of SPF users. I discovered this when I changed servers for one of my sites running SPF. I asked in the SPF Support forum and both Andy and Steve have been extremely helpful in trying to solve this problem (the full support thread is here). I also asked my server support guys and they said that the site is making loopback requests that are being blocked by the firewall???? Doi?

Andy eventually got me to try switching of the forums Avatar display. This resulted in my 10+ post topics to load in 4-5secs compared with the 35secs they were taking!! Of course I was thrilled to have a quick forum again but I had lost functionality which I like and users like; its a personal identifier which can portray a little about you or simply puts a face to a name.

So I kept annoying Steve and Andy over on the SPF support forum and they have been very patient and keen to solve the issue even if it is for a small minority of users!! So we tested varying sequences of Avatar calls and for me the tests revealed that the SPF Default Avatars and ther Uploaded Avatars seemed to be causing the slow down for some reason (which is still a mystery).

Andy then directed me to here: /library/sf-common-display/php and the function is sf_render_avatar() which is where the Avatar code is. I noticed the two case statements which seemed to be causing my slow down shared this variable: SFAVATARURL. After a number of bumbling tests I actually found something that worked!! It now displays the offending Avatars and does it quickly….so here it is; in Case 2 I changed line 257 from this:

$url = SFAVATARURL.$avfile;

to this:

$url = "www.mywebsite.com/wp-content/forum-avatars/".$avfile;

And in Case 3 I changed line 284 from this:

$url = SFAVATARURL.$image;

to this:

$url = "www.mywebsite.com/wp-content/forum-avatars/".$image;

Im still trying to work out exactly why this works for me and so are Andy and Steve, if we can determine why this is working then Im sure they will release a bug fix with this included. However I would be really interested in knowing if this fix works for others suffering a topic load slow down!! Then Steve, Andy and I will know its not just me and my server being weird!!

So I hope this helps the few SPF users which may be experiencing slow topic loading and hopefully a bug fix can be intergrated into the next release of SPF. Please if this does help you report back here and let me know as it will be a big help!!

Below are my forum avatar settings just incase you need these too:

My forums avatar settings found in Forum->Profiles->Avatars

• Login directly from a page in Wordpress using a sidebar login form
• Menu only logged in users or certain users can see
• Display your Wordpress posts on other pages
• More Advanced Menu only logged in users or certain users can see
• Page Templates in Wordpress

Yes the annoying update/upgrade notice that appears at the top of the admin screen can be a bit annoying. It can also be quite dangerous. DANGEROUS you say…how so?

Well if you have designed a CMS for a client using wordpress and added extra things even its its simple things like changing the admin images or the memory usage. All will be wiped when the client upgrades and their precious site suddenly looks different or doesnt work at all.

Taking the top update nag isnt the only way to update via the admin panel of course buts its the most obvious one.

So lets get rid of it:

First open: wp-admin/includes/update.php

Scroll to line 135 (if file is in original condition)

Find this line:

add_action( 'admin_notices', 'update_nag', 3 );

And simply comment it out like thus:

/* add_action( 'admin_notices', 'update_nag', 3 ); */

or

// add_action( 'admin_notices', 'update_nag', 3 );

Both will work, once uploaded hey presto no more top update nag. Nag nag nag…your not my Mum Wordpress!!

• Pre-installation Wordpress checklist
• Login directly from a page in Wordpress using a sidebar login form
• Page Templates in Wordpress
• Using multiple/different headers, sidebars, footers and comment templates in Wordpress
• Wordpress RSS Error – Blank Line Fix

The Blackberry Bold 9700 is a fantastic little phone! It really is and as a test I’m actually writing this review on my new 9700 on a bumpy bus to Dundee.

So what can I tell you about it? Well let’s start with the look and feel of the thing. The combination of polished black, chrome and the tactile leathery finish on the back give the 9700 a sleek, sexy and professional business look. The leather feel back also helps grip when typing on the dinky full qwerty keyboard.

Its definitely the most stylish looking business orientated smart phone I’ve seen.

And it really is smart and works for your business. Setting up your emails is super easy and they come through immediately! Not only that but a multitude of email attatchments can be downloaded and opened, even microsoft office documents.

Of course its all about the apps these days and there is plenty useful apps to choose from. Ubertwitter is one of mine and of course the Wordpress app allowing me to write this review on the bus. Totally awesome! I love how easy it is to update my websites on the move.

Aside from the powerful business functions the 9700 boasts the usual features like mp3 playback and a 3.2 megapixel camera. One of the best featurews for me though and a real iphone beater is the use of SD card memory, allowing me to expand and swap my memory cards, something the iphone won’t let you do!

In conclusion I love the new BB Bold. The design and proportions are just right, it helps me make money and I can run various aspects of my business on the move and of course look good doing it.

I think its an iphone beater!!!

What are your thoughts?

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• Noahs Classifieds Review – DO NOT BUY IT
• Simple:Press Forum Review – Is it the best forum for WP?

Just yesterday my bestest buddy and I ventured down to Edinburgh Grosvenor Hilton Hotel where Knowledge to Action Ltd where holding a free seminar.

Their website found here: http://www.knowledgetoaction.co.uk is how shall I put it a bit spamy looking. You know the type a one page hash of sales jargon and impressive figures that are too good to be true.

However it was my friend who found it and I hadnt seen the website until today. Anyway it was free and I thought what the hell it sounds quite interesting.

So the speaker talked for over 2 hours and to be honest didnt really give to much away……obviously! It was basically an extended sales pitch and drive to recruit people on their intensive course where you are taught Greg Secker’s proven strategies by experts. Fair dos I spose.

There was some quite interesting info in there though and it definitely wetted my apetite to investigate the Forex market more. I dont think I will be joining Knowledge to Actions course costing £2000 though, plus you have to get down to London which is even more expense! No, I think I would much rather invest that £2K in the market and have a bash once Ive read up on the basics a bit more. This of course was frowned upon by the speaker who informed us all that the money was well spent on the course as you will lose your first £2k if you dont know what you are doing.

I wondered about his and Im sure a lot of the successful traders today didnt take their course or any other. My friend has a degree in economics and we are both fairly intelligent and we picked up some good tips from the seminar, we will do a lot more reading and maybe do some investing this summer, funds permitting.

The types of investment can vary and I still dont fully understand some of them as the seminar just touched upon them briefly. Some require a bit more initial capital and others can be utilised with a smaller budget.

All in all if you are interested in starting to invest in Forex then dont be afraid of going to this free seminar, it does have some useful tips if you can cut through the bull and sales pitch.

All I would say is look out for the contradictions, one minute its easy to make money with this system and its so simple, next the speaker cant complicate things by telling you any of the “secrets” now! Hum, oh well make your own mind up.

No related posts.

Opencart v1.4.0 has been released and is available to download here.

First off lets review the store front. This continues to improve and has definitely done so with this new release, it is probably now the prettiest cart out of the box! For those without the skills or time to change the template it offers a good look to simply start selling…it hardly needs any setting up and is simply thebest option for any online selling noobs out there. It does however give a wealth of functionality and flexibility for the more expert user but i digress. Being a ‘designer’ (perhaps not a very good one) the overall look is a bit young and cartoony for me, I dont like all the little icons and never have, these are easy to get rid of if you want to however. On the plus side the new drop down boxes for currency and language are cool and a nice improvement. Overall its very neat and tidy; a great platform to sell from.

OK lets review the admin side (user: demo password: demo). This is the area that has seen the most change. It now spans your screen instead of being fixed width and has a much more professional look. The menu bar is very nice with its see through dropdown list although it sometime does take a few mouse hovers to get the dropdown to actually drop (I noticed this in previous versions too and may be an Internet Explorer thing). The functionality has been improved and my quick whiz through the admin screens shows me a higher level of control to the administrator and the improved layout makes it so much easier and intuitive to work with. The admin really is a marked improvement from the previous version and as usual has great out of the box functionality, with Google Base, Sitemap and Talk all ready to blast off! Oh yeh and there is a neat new advanced search feature, plus the initial search allows users to search via category…..awesome!!

Code and database wise Im not sure what has changed as yet, I havent had a chance to delve that deeply, however as far as Ive seen people have upgraded and reuploaded their database without any problems.

I think Opencart is fantastic and will be huge like Magento (eventually). The one area that has to be improved upon to capture more users is the upgrade/module system. If there could be a more Wordpress-like automatic upgrade of core files, database and modules that would just be incredible and Im sure Opencart would take over the world and become a leader in its field! For now though Im just happy to be a small part of it and shall contribute anyway I can. As should you, if you download this free software why not contribute something to the cause, donate some money, write a review, link to the site and moan at your host to setup an auto install feature for Opencart.

Please let me know what you think of the new Opencart v1.4.0 below:

• Password box different size from text box in IE
• Opencart – Possibly the best open source shopping cart software!
• Page Templates in Wordpress
• Using multiple/different headers, sidebars, footers and comment templates in Wordpress

I decided to start a classified ads website for my local area a few months ago. I searched Google for a couple of days and couldnt find software that was quite right.

I found Noah’s Classifieds and although I was not totally sold buy their website and demo of the software, I did find the recent feature of a bridge to Wordpress very interesting and useful. So having found nothing better I decided to purchase the latest E-Commerce SEO version at $199.95 and the Wordpress Noah Premium Widgets at $49.95 (I believe the actual bridge is free).

So having just spent $249.90 I was eager to get started. The email arrived from Steve (the owner) with the script and plugins etc, it also contained a link to a video guide for installation.

I watched the installation and carried it out without to much bother. So I had a Wordpress installation with a Noah installation in a sub folder. I then initialised the premium widgets/plugins and the bridge. I then set about getting used to Noah (as Im pretty good with Wordpress I thought I would leave that until last), this I found was no easy feat. The admin is poorly laid out, illogical and clunky. The code is also not the best Ive seen, a lot of use of tables and inline styling. It also feels like it hasnt been built from scratch, more like its been adapted from something else.

Anyway having fiddled around with it a bit I decided to make a start on my Wordpress theme. Upon trying to log into the Wordpress admin area I found I couldnt. It threw an error and gave me no access. I asked Steve for help and he couldnt understand my problem and why I was having difficulties and told me to simply start again. Install Wordpress then Noah then initialise the bridge. I did this and it seemed to work until I tested out the functionality of the bridge and widgets.

The bridge hardly functioned at all; I created an account in Wordpress and tried to login to Noah with those details….it didnt work. I also found out from another Noah user that the bridge only works one way! So it only works if users register through Wordpress…well it didnt even do that for me, but even so releasing the bridge in this state seems like its only half done.

So obviously I looked to Steve for support and found none, he simply replied “nobody else seems to have these problems”. Which is obviously a lie as there is numerous people unhappy with the software and Steve’s lack of support, he replies to your emails quick enough if you are interested in buying Noah but as soon as you hit any problems you will be lucky to get a reply!

After countless attempts to get it working, contacting Steve (to get no reply) and visits to the ‘cleverly’ called Norum which is the owners forum (which also uses a horrible forum script, thats slow, clanky and looks rubbish) that is rather sparsely populated and you will need to wait for a reply if you get one at all. Steve also doesnt support his product through the forum, he lets other Noah customers do the work for him.

It got to the point where I was so annoyed with everything I asked for a refund, to which Steve replied with an email basically saying that nobody else had any of my issues and that other noobs to the software manage fine and so its my fault. Doing his usual and not addressing the issue raised. I pushed the matter further and now receive no feedback whatsoever.

I thought I would check the terms and conditions on the Noah website and found these two lines:

“REFUNDS: Payments made to Noahsclassifieds.org are final and shall NOT be refunded under any circumstance.”

“REFUNDS: Payments made to Noahsclassifieds.org are final and shall NOT be refunded under any circumstance. Unless you elect for a 30-day Money Back Trial Period.”

I dont remember an option for a 30-day money back trial period when I made the purchase….funny that!

I suppose its my own fault. If you look at the Noah website, the checkout system, the forum. Non are particularly good and well designed so why would the classifieds script be any different. I hope by writing this review that people looking to purchase a classified script will avoid Noah like the plague and realise the lack of support should you run in to difficulties.

Im currently looking into other options and think I found a good alternative which I will write a review on when I have tested it. Still Im angry that I have wasted over £150 on rubbish that I no longer want to use and have no hope of getting a refund for.

UPDATE: I have found a really good out of the box classifieds software called ikiclassifieds. Its very easy to setup and has excellent admin customisation options. It also boasts excellent adsense and banner ad integration. You can set top ads (featured ads) and homepage placement ads payable via Paypal. Overall the site is excellent with phpBB included. I havent customised the code too much as I havent felt the need to, everything is almost perfect straight out the box…a highly recommended bit of software. Support is slightly slow (think the time difference effects it) but so far so good, they have answered all my comments etc. I also think its quite new so cant wait for updates!

UPDATE: Please read all the comment before purchasing iki. There may be a better option for you like using Wordpress and a custom theme like Classipress or Classifieds Theme.

• Pre-installation Wordpress checklist
• PS3 Slim Review – Is skinny better?
• The Path Hosting Launch
• Blackberry Bold 9700 Review
• Simple:Press Forum Review – Is it the best forum for WP?