Download Per Page Sidebar blocks plugin for WordPress

This plugin is being submitted to the WordPress repository. For now, you can download it here: Download Per Page Sidebar Blocks v1.0

The plugin is now available in the WordPress repository: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/per-page-sidebar-blocks/

Background and goals of this plugin

Part of offering WordPress as a CMS to my clients involves giving them as much control over the future of their website as possible. One pitfall I experience is offering per-page sidebar customization.

Sidebar templates and conditionals

I find myself creating several sidebar-name.php templates and using conditionals to display them where I want. Functions like is_page(), is_tree(), is_ancestor(), is_single(), etc. let me plan ahead for which sidebars should show on which pages. However, these functions do not truly allow customizing sidebar output for pages created in the future outside the scope of my preemptive conditionals.

Page-specific blocks of content in the sidebar

Per Page Sidebar Blocks lets you, the theme developer, create several sidebar templates using WordPress’ naming convention sidebar-name.php.

Automatically finds your sidebar templates

PPSB will scan the current theme’s root directory for all your sidebar templates and let you decide which ones get displayed on each individual page by simply checking a box on that page’s Edit area.

Control the display order

Sidebar blocks control would not be complete without the ability to specify a display order.

Drag and drop

Just drag and drop each item into place on the PPSB Settings page (under the Settings menu), and see your changes reflected on the frontend. Changes are saved immediately via ajax, so no save button is necessary.

Integrate into your theme

Integration is very simple. Put the following code into your sidebar.php file. This line checks if the plugin is activated, then shows enabled sidebars (if a box is checked) on the page being viewed.


<?php if( function_exists( 'ppsb_show_sidebars' ) ) echo ppsb_show_sidebars(); ?>


Obviously, you will have to use < ?php get_sidebar() ?> in your page templates (page.php, index.php, sidebar.php, etc.) where require sidebar output.

Why is this sidebar plugin different?

There are other solutions that offer sidebar content control per page, but PPSB approaches the problem differently.

I don’t like widgets

Widgets don’t offer the level of consistent control that I need in the markup, and they open the door for my client to unintentionally “break” their website at some point. Client control is great, but too much control can introduce problems.

Custom sidebar building blocks

Instead of simply letting you select a full sidebar for a page (which you could certainly setup using this plugin), I go a step further and let you create different blocks of content. Let’s say your client has a list of Company Partner’s logos, and they want to list them on the About and Services pages. Rather than create a specific sidebar for each of those pages, create a sidebar-partners.php block and just enable it on every page it’s needed; use sidebar templates as building blocks to customize sidebar content as needed.

Just another tool

This solution is not ideal for every situation. For instance, your client may be confused if you have a 1 column page template, and they overlook that sidebars are not meant to be displayed on such pages. It may also become tedious to rebuild the sidebar for every page, whereas conditionals would automate this process. Then again, you could mandate certain blocks with conditionals and let your client control the others.

Hopefully, though, it’s niche of functionality will be suitable for some projects.

How does it work?

For those that are interested, you will notice the sidebar values are reiterated in the Custom Fields box; the checkboxes assign a yes or no value, but with a much more intuitive interface for your clients. The visibility of each sidebar template is stored in the wp_postmeta table of the database, and WordPress offers nice functions – get_post_meta() and update_post_meta() – to pull it all together.

Future goals of this plugin

• Set certain sidebar templates to be visible by default on all pages
• Set certain sidebar templates to be hidden from the Edit Page’s checkbox list

Per Page Sidebar Blocks plugin for WordPress is a post by Immense Networks

New company sign on Coursey Blvd. is a post by Immense Networks

After much research, I can only assume this special price issue not working properly is a bug in Magento. The only accepted solution was to visit the admin page System > Configuration and Reindex the Data for Product Prices. Fine, but I can’t tell my client to log into his admin every morning and clear his indices.

Create cron jobs

Instead, I created some cron jobs to clear the indices and cache storage every night at midnight.

Reindex all Magento indices

Create one cron using the following command:

php /home/path/to/magento/shell/indexer.php reindexall

Clear all cache

To clear all Magento cache, we will need to create a script file that deletes everything in /var/cache/.

1. Create a file called clearcache.sh in the directory one level above public_html (so it’s not publicly accessible)
2. Put the following lines into that file:

    #!/bin/bash rm -rf /home/path/to/magento/public_html/var/cache/*

3. Edit the path to your Magento installation and /var/cache/ directory as necessary.
4. Create the cron job using the following command:

bash -s < /home/path/to/clearcache.sh

Magento special price still showing after expiration is a post by Immense Networks

I recently came across Peacemaker, an app by Futuremark, that tests your internet browser for javascript performance. The image above shows my results after running it in Chrome, Firefox, and IE9. I should also note that I had 4 other tabs going in Chrome during the test, including Slacker Radio, but it didn’t seem to phase it. Was a bit surprised by the Firefox score…

What versions am I running?

I updated each browser immediately before the test to their latest versions:

• Chrome v16.0.912.63
• Firefox v8.0.1
• Internet Explorer v9.0.8112.1642

Test your web browser for javascript performance is a post by Immense Networks

What software to use?

No need to over-complicate things by learning some new fancy software. You can use Microsoft Word, Wordpad, Open Office, or any familiar text editor. I prefer Microsoft Word because it helps markup my content into something search engines and browsers can understand. If you don’t know HTML, this is the route for you. More on this later.

Keep your content focused

Writing focused content takes discipline. Whether it’s a how-to article or a movie review, remember the core purpose of the content and stay on topic. The more your content supports the overall topic of your article, the better your chances of ranking higher in search results for that topic.

Search engines have a job to do

Search engines are designed to list pages that are the most relevant to a user’s search query. Straying too far from your main topic will make your page less relevant to one specific thing. For instance, if you’re writing about the life expectancy of 6 cell lithium batteries, don’t tell me about your 8th grade science experiment where you powered a light bulb for 42 minutes with a potato. Though interesting, it’s irrelevant to the core goal of the page and your search results rank may suffer.

Start with a list of keywords

The simplest way to spark your creative mind is to make a list of words and phrases that describe your topic. Think of things that someone would type into a search engine to find this exact article. Use this list to create an outline, including sections or subtopics, that supports your overall topic.

Don’t go overboard with your keywords. You want to purposely include them in your sentences (for search engines), but keyword stuffing is penalized. In general, write about your topic as if you’re speaking to an actual person (because you are), and let the keywords naturally fall where they may; don’t play buzzword bingo in your content.

Get to the point

If you write about something using 60 words, but you can say the same thing more directly in 40 words, then do it in 30. Keep your sentences short and simple, and avoid using fluff. Remember, you are not trying to meet a minimum word count. You are trying to provide meaningful information as clearly as possible.

Break content into sections

It can be overwhelming to visit a page full of paragraph blocks. Break a large article into sections using headings and bulleted lists to make it more easily digestible.

HTML headings, briefly explained

Anyone who maintains information on a website must understand how to use headings properly. Headings not only organize content for your readers, they also help search engines understand hierarchy. Give search engines what they want to increasing your rank in search results.

Headings are numbered in order of importance like Heading 1 (most important, usually the title), Heading 2 (less important), Heading 3, and so on. Imagine you want to write an article that briefly describes some Popular Computer Laptops.

1. The Heading 1 will be the title of the article: Popular Computer Laptops.
2. We want to organize specific laptops into sections for each brand. These will be Heading 2.
3. Each brand will have specific laptops listed there. These will be Heading 3.

How to create these headings

The method for making your headings will vary by application, but most systems have a visual WYSIWYG editor. The editor in WordPress is very intuitive, which is one of the reasons we use it, but the best solution for you may be Microsoft Word. I made a special style set to help assign these headings, bullets, links, etc. in Word. Then, most editors will give you a Paste from Word option, which automatically codes the content for you.

Horizontal rules

The horizontal rule has been around for a long time , and its usage is equally beneficial then as it is today. I use them to break content on a page into sections, which helps you better-focus on one topic at a time.

Use meaningful images

Images are a great way to explain yourself in a different medium, and they break up large amounts of text. The right image could summarize the text of several paragraphs, which is a powerful way to quickly convey your message.

But you should never rely solely on imagery to explain yourself. For starters, search engines can’t index images as well as text. More importantly, not everyone can see. Screen readers scan the text on a page to relay that content to your visually impaired readers.

Final thoughts

People learn in different ways. Some like to read, some scan for images, some only read headings, etc. Your goal should be to appeal to as many learning styles as possible while keeping your content simple and focused. Search engines pick up on keyword stuffing, so write genuinely as if you’re speaking to a real person, and the rest should take care of itself.

How to write user-friendly website content, optimized for search engines is a post by Immense Networks

Overall appearance

At first glance, the email seems legitimate enough. However, I notice inconsistencies in the design. You don’t have to be a graphic designer to get an overall blegh feeling  from this email. There’s at least 5 different types of fonts, too many font colors, and just an overall unprofessional feeling. Take notice of these details as a warning that something isn’t quite right.

Notice the details

Your bank will hire professionals who care about all the little details in a website, advertisement, even an email. If it feels like it was thrown together haphazardly, then it probably was, and you should be concerned.

• Check out the grammar and punctuation in the email: random capitalization, missing periods, etc.
• The from address says sent from Elastic Email on behalf of Uppercase Two. None of my legitimate emails from Uppercase Two were sent by some other company on their behalf, so why would this one be any different?
• The Find a bank link at the top right is not clickable. I suppose Uppercase Two could have forgotten to link this text, but that’s unlikely.
• The width of the logo bar up top is not as wide as the body of the email.
• The 800 number in the footer is for a completely different bank.

Banks won’t email you

Sure, you’ll get emails about some new promotion that your bank is offering throughout the year. You may even get an email when your statement is ready, or after you change the phone number on your account. But, your bank will never email you with a link regarding your account specifically. The most your bank will do is notify you of a potential issue, then ask you to contact your local branch for assistance.

Know where links are pointing

You should know where a link will take you before clicking it. Outlook makes this easy by just hovering your mouse over the link; a box will pop up . If you’re checking mail in your browser, the destination address will typically be located at the bottom left or right of the window when you hover over a link.

The goal of this whole email is for me to click the big blue Please Click Here To Start link in the center. Hovering over this link reveals that it will take me to some page on lvvq.net, which is not Uppercase Two’s website.

Now, the link here tries to trick you by putting the bank’s website as a subdomain – convincing for some. The trick here is to do the following:

1. Ignore the http:// and www (if present)
2. Scan through the link, and find the next forward slash / character, which is usually after the last .com, .net, or .org.
3. When you find that first forward slash, there will be something like word.com or word.net or word.org immediately before that. THIS is the actual domain of the site.
4. This example shows that this link will bring me to lvvq.net, which is not the correct website.

Get a good browser, already!

You’ve heard that Internet Explorer is less secure than other browsers, and the proof is below. Notice how each browser handles the link from this email. Firefox and Chrome stop me dead in my tracks, warning me of a potential threat. But, Internet Explorer gladly loads the page for me to proceed with handing over my bank account information. Thanks, Microsoft!

General knowledge

You should never use a link in your email as the starting point for a potential problem with any of your online accounts. If an email warns you of an issue, you should visit the website directly in your browser and log into your account there. Otherwise, find the number of your nearest branch (in Google Maps or a phone book) and call the bank directly.

Phishing with fraudulent emails from your bank: how to spot and stop them is a post by Immense Networks

The code is listed below or you may clone a copy from github.

Save the code below in a file lib/task/PropelPruneClassesTask.class.php

Usage: ./symfony propel:prune-classes –exclude=”MyCustomFormClass.class.php MyCustomFileInModel.php”

The –exclude flag is optional. If you have any custom classes of your own that reside in your lib/model, lib/filter or lib/form folders you include a space-delimited list of them in the exclude option.

< ?php
class PropelPruneClassesTask extends sfBaseTask
{
	private $prefixes;
	private $postfixes;
	private $tableNames;
	private $exclude;
	private $toDelete;
	public function configure() {
		$this->namespace = 'propel';
		$this->name      = 'prune-classes';
		$this->briefDescription = 'Removes unused model, filter and form classes';
		$this->addOptions(array(
      new sfCommandOption('application', null, sfCommandOption::PARAMETER_REQUIRED, 'The application name', 'frontend'),
	    new sfCommandOption('env', null, sfCommandOption::PARAMETER_REQUIRED, 'The environment', 'prod'),
	    new sfCommandOption('exclude', null, sfCommandOption::PARAMETER_OPTIONAL, 'A space delimited list of files to exclude from removal', "BaseForm.class.php BaseFormPropel.class.php BaseFormFilterPropel.class.php"),
		));
	}
	public function execute($arguments = array(), $options = array()) {
		$this->toDelete = array();
		$deleteCount = 0;
		$this->exclude = array("BaseForm.class.php", "BaseFormPropel.class.php", "BaseFormFilterPropel.class.php");
		if (!is_null($options['exclude']))
			$this->exclude = array_merge($this->exclude, explode(' ', $options['exclude']));
		$schemaXmlFile = sfConfig::get('sf_config_dir')."/schema.xml";
		$fp = fopen($schemaXmlFile, "r");
		$contents = fread($fp, filesize($schemaXmlFile));
		$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($contents);
		foreach ($xml->table as $table) {
			$rawTableName = $table['name'];
			$this->tableNames[] = str_replace(' ', '', ucwords(str_replace('_', ' ', $rawTableName)));
		}
		$libDir = sfConfig::get('sf_lib_dir');
		$modelDir = $libDir.'/model';
		$baseModelDir = $modelDir."/om";
		$mapDir = $modelDir."/map";
		$formDir = $libDir.'/form';
		$baseFormDir = $formDir.'/base';
		$filterDir = $libDir.'/filter';
		$baseFilterDir = $filterDir.'/base';
		$this->prefixes = array();
		$this->postfixes = array('Peer', 'Query');
		$this->buildFileRemovalList($modelDir);
		$this->prefixes = array('Base');
		$this->postfixes = array('Peer', 'Query');
		$this->buildFileRemovalList($baseModelDir);
		$this->prefixes = array();
		$this->postfixes = array('TableMap');
		$this->buildFileRemovalList($mapDir);
		$this->postfixes = array('Form.class');
		$this->buildFileRemovalList($formDir);
		$this->prefixes = array('Base');
		$this->postfixes = array('Form.class');
		$this->buildFileRemovalList($baseFormDir);
		$this->prefixes = array();
		$this->postfixes = array('FormFilter.class');
		$this->buildFileRemovalList($filterDir);
		$this->prefixes = array('Base');
		$this->postfixes = array('FormFilter.class');
		$this->buildFileRemovalList($baseFilterDir);
		if (count($this->toDelete) > 0) {
			$doDelete = $this->askConfirmation("The following files are scheduled for deletion: \n\n".implode("\n", $this->toDelete)."\n\n Perform deletion? (y/n)");
			if ($doDelete) {
				foreach ($this->toDelete as $d) {
					if (unlink($d)) {
						$this->logSection('file-', $d);
						$deleteCount++;
					}
					else
						$deleteError[] = $d;
				}
				if (count($deleteError) > 0)
					$this->logBlock("The following files could not be removed: \n\n".implode("\n", $deleteError), 'ERROR_LARGE');
			}
		}
		if ($deleteCount == 1)
			$this->logBlock($deleteCount." file pruned", 'INFO_LARGE');
		else
			$this->logBlock($deleteCount." files pruned", 'INFO_LARGE');
	}
	private function buildFileRemovalList($dirPath) {
		$deleteError = array();
		$dirHandle = opendir($dirPath);
		$masterFileList = $this->tableNames;
		foreach ($this->prefixes as $prefix) {
			foreach ($masterFileList as $tableName)
				$masterFileList[] = $prefix.$tableName;
		}
		foreach ($this->postfixes as $postfix) {
			foreach ($masterFileList as $tableName)
				$masterFileList[] = $tableName.$postfix;
		}
		$appendPhpExt = function($filename) {
			return $filename.".php";
		};
		$masterFileList = array_map($appendPhpExt, $masterFileList);
		while (false !== ($file = readdir($dirHandle))) {
			if ($file[0] != '.' && !is_dir($dirPath."/".$file) && !in_array($file, $this->exclude)) {
				if (!in_array($file, $masterFileList))
					$this->toDelete[] = $dirPath."/".$file;
			}
		}
		closedir($dirHandle);
	}
}
?>

Propel Prune Classes Task is a post by Immense Networks

This plugin is being submitted to the WordPress repository. For now, you can download it here: mycomp-menu-v1.0.zip
The plugin is now available in the WordPress repository: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/my-company-menu/

Background and goals of this plugin

This plugin is intended for theme developers who build WordPress websites for other businesses. WordPress has become my CMS of choice for so many reasons, and I find myself exploring ways to give my clients a better experience. The MCM plugin, overall, helps my clients manage their content a little bit easier.

My Company Menu tab in admin panel

For starters, MCM adds a new tab in the Admin’s Sidebar, which links to a page to manage standard business contact information and social networking links.

Add your own custom subpages

I also use this new menu to organize Pods, like a Work Portfolio or Team Member Manager. This lets me create custom managers for my client and consolidate them under one menu, keeping the sidebar simple and clean.

Demo page mcm_menu.php

I include a Demo Page (mcm_menu.php located in the plugin directory). If you have no need for additional subpages, just check the Hide Demo Page box on the Help/Settings page to remove it. Otherwise, move mcm_menu.php from Plugins to your Uploads directory to customize it as needed (this will ensure your tweaks remain after an update).

The file mcm_menu.php has ample template functions and recommendations for creating your own custom pages.

Customize menu title and icon

Change the menu’s title and icon to match your client’s branding on the Help/Settings Page.

Manage company contact information

Give your clients an interface to manage typical contact information, such as:

• Phone number
• Toll free number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Disclaimer
• Physical address

Manage social media links

With MCM, just echo the company_name() function in your template file to display icons for fields with a URL. Now, your client can add URLs for new icons to display automatically.

Supports Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Vimeo—standard business-related networks.

Icons load as an unordered list with a class of mcm_social. Soon, you will be able to specify your own images.

Customize social media icons

New in 1.0.5 Now you can customize the upstate and hover state of your social media icons by using an image sprite.

Just upload your sprite image, specify the width and height of individual icons, and give the background position coordinates for each.

Shortcodes and Functions

Each field has a shortcode beneath it that can be used on posts and pages to show the contents of the related input box. Theme developers can use the same shortcode as PHP functions in templates to display the data.

All shortcodes will return Boolean values. You should verify if each field has a value, then echo something based on success/failure. Each shortcode shares the name of the function for your template pages.

For example, the shortcode for the Company Phone Number is [ company_phone ]. So, incorporate this into your template with:

<?php
  if(company_phone()) { // check if has value
    echo company_phone(); // if yes, display value
  } // if not, nothing is displayed
?>

<?php
  if(company_phone()) { // check if has value
    echo company_phone(); // if yes, display value
  } else {
    echo 'No phone number entered'; // if not, display message
  }
?>

The following shortcodes are available at this time.

• Phone Number: [ company_phone ]
• Toll Free Number: [ company_tollfree ]
• Fax Number: [ company_fax ]
• Email Address: [ company_email ]
• Disclaimer: [ company_disclaimer ]
• Address (multi-line): [ company_address ]
• Address (one line): [ company_address_oneline ]
• Google Plus: [ company_gplus ]
• Facebook: [ company_facebook ]
• LinkedIn: [ company_linkedin ]
• Twitter: [ company_twitter ]
• YouTube: [ company_youtube ]
• Vimeo: [ company_vimeo ]
• RSS Feed: [ company_rss ]
• List social icons: [ company_social ]

TinyMCE integration

Easily add the company’s phone number or email address into a post by clicking the new buttons in your WYSIWYG editor.

Future goals of this plugin

• Custom social media icons
• Interface for adding Pods as subpages (currently a manual process in mcm_menu.php)
• Google Maps integration

My Company Menu plugin for WordPress is a post by Immense Networks

Multiple instances of Finder

I setup the drives to mount at startup, but each drive opens a separate instance of Finder after login. I found quite a few people with the same issue and a pile of workarounds from native Mac OS settings to commands in terminal. None of these worked for me, so I wrote my own script.

Write your own script for OSX

Connect to the server and login with the user’s domain credentials, saving them on the keychain.

• Do not mount the drives in the OS.
• Do not set any drives to load at startup through account preferences.

Instead, go to Applications > Utilities and open AppleScript Editor.  Use the following code for each share you want to mount:

tell application "Finder"
mount volume "smb://(server name)/(share name)"
end tell

Mounting multiple shares

If you have multiple shares to mount, use the same 3 lines (separated by line breaks) for each new share.

• Save the script as an application.
• Go to account preferences and under login items select the script to boot up at login.

Now when you login, your drives should show up on your desktop as icons instead of opening Finder windows. If your drives aren’t showing on your desktop, go to Finder Preferences and select Connected servers to appear on the desktop.

Mounting multiple network drives in Mac OSX is a post by Immense Networks

The Problem: Unexpected results

I love using the Paste from Word feature for marking up text with proper tags like p, h2, a, li, etc. But the default style set will attach inline styles for color and font-size, and I don’t want that! I want my stylesheet to control the visual effects and just let Word add the markup tags.

The Fix: Use this style set

I have made a style set that has been working well for me. Upload this Word style set for markup to the following directory:

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\QuickStyles

Note, this was made in Word 2010 – may or may not work in previous versions.

Problems with Paste from Word in TinyMCE WYSIWYG for WordPress is a post by Immense Networks