So Obvious You Miss It!WordPress Tips

WordCamp Miami 2014

Copyright vizred.com

vizred.com

See Me?Bet You Missed Me!

vizred.com

Screen Options

Many WP dashboard screenshave their own

Screen Options button.

vizred.com

We can checkmarkthe options we want to be visible

Screen Options let us changethe details we see

in the screen we are viewing

vizred.com

Help!

Many dashboard screenshave their ownHelp buttons

vizred.com

Click the Help Tabto reveal help for

the admin screen you are on.

vizred.com

Organize the Dashboard

vizred.com

Drag & Drop Panels

Put dashboard panel widgetswhere you need them.

Click & hold to move them around

vizred.com

Collapsible Panel Widgets

vizred.com

Look for the Arrows

See one of these

arrows on a panel

widget?

Click it to open or

close the widget the arrow is on

vizred.com

Edit Faster

vizred.com

Quick Edit

Post, page & other admin screenshave

‘Quick Edit’ options

vizred.com

..disable comments, change publish dates, switch the author name.. and

more

Use Quick Edit to..

vizred.com

Bulk Edit

Quick Edit’s Big Brother.Checkmark the box at the column head then

select a Bulk Action

vizred.com

Find Faster

Search posts, pages and comments...

vizred.com

Sortable Columns

Click the triangle in a column headerto sort rows

alphanumerically

vizred.com

Filters

Filter by date and category.Different screens have different filters.

vizred.com

To Edit or Not to Edit..

Some files should not be edited

vizred.com

Never Edit WP Core Files

Need to edit the core code?

vizred.com

WordPress core files are overwritten when WP updates. File edits are lost.

Use a plugin, a child theme or add a code snippet in functions.php

vizred.com

Create Child Themes

Use the Plugin: Child Theme Configurator

vizred.com

3 Reasons to use Child Themes

Easy to make

We can edit the code

Template edits are safe whenthe parent theme updates

vizred.com

Rename Plugins

When we customize a plugin,we rename the plugin & its folder

to protect against the original plugin’s update releases

vizred.com

To rename a plugin..

Open the plugin’s main php file,change the “Plugin Name” and

rename the parent folder.

vizred.com

When we rename a plugin,the old plugin & the new plugin

cannot usuallybe active at the same time..

..without the new plugin’sfunction names

being renamed first.

vizred.com

Snippets of Code&

Functions.php

vizred.com

Hooks and filtersare found in

core WP code,themes,

&some plugins.

Use action hooks & filters to....plug code into WordPress.

vizred.com

When you write a code snippetlike the one below

that adds text to the footer..

vr_foot_text() {echo ‘<p>Some text</p>’;

}add_action(‘wp_footer’,’vr_foot_text’, 14)

..you canadd the snippet to functions.php

vizred.com

Code snippets can beput into

the active theme’sfunctions.php file

vizred.com

Look Before Leaping

vizred.com

Read Changelogs When Updating

Plugins & Themes

vizred.com

Changelogs tell us about..

new features,bug fixes,

plugin name changes,whether settings will be lost,

WP version compatibility,warn of product end of life (EOL),

& more

vizred.com

We have learnedScreen OptionsThe Help Button

Drag’n’Drop PanelsCollapsable Widgets

Quick EditBulk Edit

Sortable ColumnsSearch Filters

Never Edit Core FilesUse Child Themes

Rename the Plugins We Customize

Use functions.php

Read Change Logs

vizred.com

Blanca Stella MejiaSocial Media Consultant/Blogger

blanca@vizred.comTwitter: @miamishines @micaminar

Lee HodsonWeb Developer/Tech Blogger

leehodson@vizred.comTwitter @lee_hodson

@vizred