Techniques

Short How-To articles, similar to Case Studies but on a smaller scale.

By Jeff - 8/12/2020
Cats: Techniques · Tags: Blogging, WordPress

WordPress Manual Excerpts: Why, When, & How to Use Them

Your blog’s landing page (aka Blog Archive) is like a magazine’s table of contents. Both have the same purpose: to grab the reader’s attention and to steer him or her to content of interest.

WordPress supports three methods for displaying blog post summaries on archive pages: automated excerpts; excerpts defined by the placement of the WordPress more tag within the body of a blog post; and manual excerpts. Which method should you use? In this article I explain why manual excerpts are always my go-to method.

By Jeff - 6/17/2020
Cats: Techniques · Tags: FooGallery, Images, Photo Gallery, Plugins, WordPress

How to Build Stunning WordPress Photo Galleries Quickly and Easily With FooGallery PRO

Photo (image) galleries are common and popular elements for many Web sites; for some, they’re downright essential. In this article I focus on how FooGallery PRO allows you to create galleries quickly and easily using “Media Tags” as the datasource for a gallery.

I’ve been using and liking the free version of FooGallery for years. Working on several client Web sites with multiple image galleries, I looked for more efficient ways to create and maintain those galleries. The datasource feature of FooGallery PRO is a game-changer. Read on for an explanation of how this works, with detailed instructions and screen captures.

By Jeff - 8/29/2019
Cats: Techniques

How to clear cache on iPhone and iPad

Sometimes your browser will show you a cached (remembered) version of a Web site, no matter how many times you click the “Refresh” button. This can be a problem if you are using an iPhone or iPad to inspect changes made to a Web site during development. Yes, you can use “Responsive Design Mode” in […]

By Jeff - 5/10/2019
Cats: Techniques · Tags: Images, Media

Dynamic Photo Galleries with Responsive Lightbox & Gallery

Responsive Lightbox & Gallery by dFactory is a WordPress plugin I’ve used and been a big fan of for a long time — back to when it was simply called Responsive Lightbox. In this article I show you how to use the “media folders” feature to create dynamic photo galleries that update themselves when you add new images to the media library.

By Jeff - 12/21/2018
Cats: Techniques · Tags: WordPress

Automatic “Visit Web Site” Links on WordPress Portfolio Posts

If your blog includes articles about Web sites you have built, here’s a simple way to automagically and uniformly show “Visit Web Site” links at the end of all such posts. Sure, you could do this the old-fashioned way (hard coding the link), but there’s a better way. (Hint: You get to use that “Custom Fields” feature.)

By Jeff - 12/9/2018
Cats: Techniques · Tags: Plugins, Shortcodes, WordPress

How to Reuse Content in WordPress with the amr shortcode any widget Plugin

Whenever you’ve entered identical content in more than one place in your WordPress Web site, have you wished there was a better way? Well, there is. In fact, there’s a plugin for that: the amr shortcode any widget WordPress plugin. This has become a standard plugin for all of the sites I build. Read this post to find out why and how it’s used.

By Jeff - 11/27/2018
Cats: Techniques · Tags: Genesis, WordPress

Dynamic Linear Gradients for Background Images in Genesis

Many Genesis child themes natively implement what I call dynamic linear gradients over background images in homepage sections. The effect is that as the visitor scrolls down the home page, the background image gradually changes appearance, typically getting increasingly darker. This blog post shows you one way to implement dynamic linear gradients over background images in Genesis themes that don’t natively support the effect.

By Jeff - 11/16/2018
Cats: Techniques · Tags: Advanced Custom Fields, Custom Fields, Custom Post Types, WordPress

Dive Into WordPress Custom Post Types – Part 3

Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. In this post in my series on custom post types, I take a step back to discuss the larger issue of custom content – of which the custom post type is, of course, the foundational component.

By Jeff - 11/11/2018
Cats: Techniques · Tags: Shortcodes, WordPress

Add Dynamic Table of Contents to a Series of WordPress Posts

When I’m writing a series of posts on a subject — such as a multi-part tutorial — I like to include a table of contents for that series of posts. I think this helps readers navigate the content. I’ve looked for a plugin that performs this function, without success. This post describes my own home-grown solution.

By Jeff - 10/26/2018
Cats: Techniques · Tags: Blogging, Plugins, Taxonomies, WordPress

Help Your Blog Readers Find What They’re Looking For with the Search & Filter Plugin

This article shows how to use a simple, lightweight plugin — one I installed long ago, deactivated because I hadn’t followed directections, and forgot about — to filter blog posts and make it easier for you Web visitors to find what they’re looking for in your blog. After all, making our visitors’ experiences better is what it’s all about.

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