One of the greatest feature of WordPress, on the side of code, is the way filters and hooks make you life really easy when you try to modify default behaviours.

In this tutorial we assume you are already comfortable with hooks and filters. If not so take a look at the codex to learn more about the hooks/fillters logic.

WordPress users contact details usually looks as shown in picture:

As default, we only have few fields: E-mail, website, AIM, Yahoo IM and Jabber / Google Talk. So how can we add more fields (or remove some unused ones) to fit our needs?

The solution is the user_contactmethods hook. By assigning a custom callback function to this hook (in the functions.php file of our theme for example) we will be able to manipulate all above fields (except for e-mail field)

So, for example, if you want to add more fields just put these lines of code inside functions.php:

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function my_contactmethods( $contactmethods ) {
 
	$contactmethods['my_other_website'] = 'My Other Website';
	$contactmethods['my_phone_number'] = 'My Phone Number';
	$contactmethods['my_skype'] = 'My Skype Contact';
	$contactmethods['my_credit_card'] = 'My Credit Card Number ;)';
 
	return $contactmethods;
}
add_filter('user_contactmethods','my_contactmethods',10,1);

All available fields are enclosed inside an array, called $contactmethods, so, by using a callback function, you can easily add or remove any field you want.

In the example above we add 4 fields which will be available, through user_metadata, to every user.

If you just want to remove some unused field, do as follow:

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function my_contactmethods( $contactmethods ) {
 
	unset($contactmethods['aim']);
	unset($contactmethods['yim']);
	unset($contactmethods['jabber']);
 
	return $contactmethods;
}
add_filter('user_contactmethods','my_contactmethods',10,1);

Using unset will remove the contact methods from the form.

Code is poetry ;)

TweetMeme is a service which aggregates all the popular links on Twitter to determine which links are popular. TweetMeme categorises these links into Categories, Subcategories and Channels, making it easy to filter out the noise to find what you’re interested in.

So, how to use this service to help your visitors and share your posts? As always, when you need something about WordPress there is already a ready plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweetmeme/

To use the plugin you just need to upload it in the Plugins directory of your WordPress installation, activate it and go to the preferences page to set it to work properly.

If you want to style the button to fit your blog’s design you can easily do it through the css id given to the button. Once activated the button will have an id tweetmeme_button

That’s all. Enjoy your TweetMeme button

If you want to add a simple and easy to use contact form to your blog, easy-contact is the choice for you.
Thanks to easy-contact and shortcodes you just have to type “[easy-contact]” (without quotes) anywhere in your posts/pages to display the contact form.

Easy-contact is not very sofisticated and lacks some features other similar plugins have (multilanguage support for example) but it will
be the right choice if you don’t need any advanced features from you contact form.

Installing the easy-contact plugin is, as WordPress customary, very easy: just put the plugin files into the plugins directory of
you WordPress installation and activate the plugin from the admin panel.

An option page named “Contact” will be added under the Settings menu allowing you to set some basic preferences.

To display the form you will have to put the shortcode “[easy-contact]” (without quotes) inside the page/post where you want it to be displayed.

Remember that you may need some css work to make the displayed form suit your theme because it comes with no particular styles embedded.

Enjoy

Fast and easy: to modify excerpt lenght you just have to put the following lines inside the functions.php file inside your theme:

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    function modify_excerpt_length(){
        return 20; // Modify this
    }
 
    add_filter('excerpt_length','modify_excerpt_length');

Reference:
Codex: Add Filter

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is really easy on WordPress. The platform itself has many advantages in terms of optimization even if using a basic installation with default theme active.

To improve the overall results you may need to install some extra plugins. Among these the 2 must have plugins are: All in One SEO pack and Google Sitemap Generator. Here’s what they do in detail:

Remember to always install and activate these two plugins to get the best out of WordPress and search engines

The very first step to enter the WordPress world is, of course, the installation. It is not that difficult: you only need some basic concepts, some data and a little bit of patience. We will guide you in a step by step installation to help you enter the fantastic world of WordPress.

What do we need?

In order to install WordPress we will need few technical information (database name, database username and password, table prefix) and some general information regarding the blog you are going to create (blog name, administrator e-mail address).

Is that all? Not really. Before starting the installation process we must have already created a working MySQL database. This is a typical installation mistake that may prevent someone from correctly installing WordPress.

So, how to create a MySQL database?

There are many ways to create a MySQL database. The most common way is to use phpMyAdmin (a web based tool to administer MySQL databases). We assume you have phpMyAdmin already installed and working (the installation of phpMyAdmin is not the purpose of this tutorial). Once you have access to phpMyAdmin you only have to insert the database name into the text field named “Create New Database” (shown in picture). That’s all you have created your MySQL database.

Ready to go!

Copy all WordPress files into the root directory of your you web space and then go to the corresponding URL using you web browser.

You should see a screen like this:

This is the WordPress installer interface. Click on “Create a Configuration File” to go to the next step:

Click the “Let’s go” button to begin the real installation process:

Insert all requested data:

1. Database name (previously created)
2. Database username (the username used to connect to the server)
3. Database password
4. Database server host (tipically “localhost”)
5. Database table prefix (if you use more web apps in your database may be helpful else leave it unchanged)

Now, if the installation directory on the server is not writeable (for security reason) you the following screen may appear:

If you see this screen you have to manually create a file called wp-config.php inside you installation directory and then paste the text inside the box.

If everything’s fine (or if your directory is writeable) you should see this screen:

We’re almost there. All is configured and we are ready to go. Insert the name for your blog inside the field called “Blog name” (you can change it later) and your e-mail address (use a valid e-mail address to receive automatic mail from your WordPress).

Remember to leave the checkbox “Allow my blog to appear in search engines” thicked only if you wish to allow search engines to immediately access your blog (this settings can be changed later also).

You’re done:

Really easy, isn’t it?

Have fun with your brand new blog and remember you can always contact us to request professional WordPress support