Sounds too good to be true : the Carrington wordpress theme framework, developped by Colorado based CrowdFavorite, implements what we’ve all been waiting  for :  AJAX/ drag & drop  wysiywg page structure management. It builds on the existing core WordPress theme structure and functionality and uses core WordPress theme functions for easy adoption by experienced theme authors.

Announcement : http://crowdfavorite.com/wordpress/carrington/

For those who are running small servers and wish to accelerate their worpdress installation, we recommend the installation of eaccelerator but also the wp-super-cache plugin. There is just a small hack for wordpress 3.0 menu users : the cache should be totally refreshed when a menu is modified, and this is performed via the wp_update_nav_menu action, instantiated in the wp-cache-phase2.php / wp_cache_phase2 function

add_action("wp_update_nav_menu" , 'wp_cache_clear_cache' );

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Yes it is possible to host multiple sites for multiple customers with Wordpress. The Multi User feature we expeted in wordpress 3.0 will satisfy bloggers only but we need something more specific. The technique I describe here is similar to the one described here in the sense that it directs the database configuration constants to specific databases instead of table prefixes as seen a lot. The advantage obviously is that you keep a single install of wordpress and only have one codebase to manage , while databases remain independant.

• create wp-domains folder, and inside one folder for each domain, example wp-domains/mysite.com
• add the following code to wp-config.php : this coding allows a defualt domain to remain active even when the configuration file does not exist, at the expense of a loss in performance. But It is useful to show what’s missing.

$domain = strtolower( str_replace( “www.”, “”, $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"] ) );
$domain = preg_replace(’[^a-z0-9\.-]‘, ”, $domain );
$domainDirectory=”/wp-domains/” .$domain;
$domainConfig= dirname(__FILE__) . $domainDirectory . “/db-config.php”;
if ( file_exists( $domainConfig ) ) {require_once( $domainConfig );} else {
$dbuser=”defaultdomaindatabase”;
$dbpwd=”password”;
if ($domain!=”defaultdomain.com”) echo “missing ” .$domainConfig;}

• replace definitions with variables in wp-config.php

define(’DB_NAME’, $dbuser);
define(’DB_USER’, $dbuser);
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, $dbpwd);

Once this is working with your default  domain, setup virtual hosts  in Apache and try a new domain. Remember on a new install to setup the upload folder in wordpress admin settings.

Multi site config for Wordpress : Compatible plugins

I’m running the following plugins and they work perfectly

• WP Super Cache : works fine because the cache filename coding alogrithm includes the domain name

Word press image upload is nice and perfectly integrated in the wysiwyg editor. If you need to specify clearly where the image will appear, you can use the post thumnbail feature that attaches a specific image to a post. But if you need to duisplay more than image per post, then you’re better off using custom fields, and a few plugins are available to let you upload image directly to a custom field

• tip : using the wordpress uploader in your plugin or theme
• Plugin : Verve meta boxes (image above)
• Plugin : Custom Field Templates, this one has the great advantage of allowing custom field per template. A bit tricky to configure but really efficient. Amateurs will like our little trick below provides a simple lightbox on images thumbnail to display full image preview
• Plugin : multi edit plugin, with nice tabbed interface, only allows wysiwyg custom fields
• Plugin : Simple fields with repeatable fields feature

Bonus : Custom Field Template Hack  displays full size image on custom image thumbnail in post / page edit in backend and additional function to automate image display in templates

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wpml is a wonderful plugin that has so many  it takes a while to get used to its power.

A new beta version of the multilingual plugin has been published for early adopters who have already switched to 3.0

What I’ve tested is interesting and allows quick setting of multilingual website

• Flag displaying is almost instant thanks to dedicated functions or specific coding as documented here. Urls paths are well preserved and extended with the 2 letter language prefix.
• Post translation is well implemented in the admin, each language displays a + button on the columns of the post / page
• Posts can share common custom values or images, technique described here
• all strings thath use the _e function in templates are translatable in the admin or in a mo file
• as of today the wordpress 3.0 menu and custom post types do not work well with wpml but work is ongoing

Main home page screenshot

specific admin widget sidebar

Custom post type for products

• wbFurnitureShop template is a customization of wordpress 3.0  template and includes :
  • the  home page with jquery slider (uses carousel) implemented as custom posts type,
  • the page and post templates : use the page for content and posts for products
  • custom query that  displays lastests posts as products thumbnails  with link to permalink.
  • Sidebar and footer use content widgets for maximum content management.
• General layout features
  • fixed 750 px Layout (change width in style : #wrapper)
  • cufont enabled, distributed with Champagne & Limousine
  • drop down menu enabled
• Content display features
  • two column layout on homepage and product pages
  • single column layout on content pages
  • Lastest products remain on bottom of all pages for best user experience and internal site navigation
• Wordpress features
  • thumbnail enabled
  • menu enabled (new function wp_nav_menu)
  • custom type for slide images
  • widget ready ( sidebar  + footer) – use textwidget to display text
• Goodies
  • is distributed in a zip that contains
    • ttf or otf  font file, cufont, jquery,
    • sample images for testing and working with the template
    • PSD for the top logo and first slide
  • included : PDF install intructions wbFurnitureShopTemplateInstallInstructions
    

BUY NOW on webmasterbulletin.net/shop

as of version 3 of Wordpress, posts and pages have three options for visibility  :

• public : everyone sees the post,  in the list and directly from the permalink
• password protected  post title is displayed only,  permalink works but content protected by password
• private : not displayed in the list for guests (non connecte) visitors, permalink returns 404

What we’re looking for today is a solution that hides the post from the list but allows certain users to see it via permalink. Of course you can give the permalink and tell the user to identify via the wp-login page, but this can be complex for beginners. Ideally you would give the permalink of a private page and if not connecetd the visitor will be presented a login prompt. Here’s a review of available  solutions, tips and plugins

• Tip : post specific template that redirects user to standard login form
  http://www.rlmseo.com/blog/require-login-for-wordpress-pages/
  found also at  : http://www.marketingtechblog.com/wordpress/login-content-wordpress-page-template/
• a specific option allows coder to redirect user to a page after login  : http://brockangelo.com/2009/12/17/redirect-users-back-to-page-they-were-on/
• wp private plugin displays a login form in place of the restricted part of the article
• Member Access plugin overrides wordpress default settings in a new menu, and redirects the restricted pages to the login screen. Indeed, does the job perfectly but the fact that it doesn’t use the default wordpress might compromize compatibility with future versions. For the moment  I’ve tested it on v3.0 beta and works fine.
• User Access Manager plugin does the same job but I haven’t tested it and seems to be inactive
• UserBase Access Control looks like a new promising development

Other privacy options and plugins are available for Wordpress. We’ve tested for our intranet project some pugins that restrict the whole blog to registered users.

• Registered Users Only Plugin comes with a simple set of options , that allow the syndication of news via public feed, useful  to publicize private work.
• Private wordpress plugin, allows configuration of login message
• Private Only Plugin allows configuration of background image too

The popular All-in-on SEO pack plugin for wordperss does more than just adding the essential meta fields to your articles and pages interfaces. For lazy writers, SEO pack will also create meta tags AUTOMATICALLY the content for these essential code addons that will boost your search engine positionning. A simple tag based configuration will allow you to set up categories, tag and archive pages optimisation via the TITLE tag, most important of all because it is the first thing visitors see when they look at search engines result pages.

Ever thought of using Wordpress as a CMS ? Today’s showcase features a perfect example of wordpress implentation for corporate advertising. Served by efficient graphic design, 4 seasons entertainment implements an event page, a list of artists via wp-page-numbers plugin, and of course the usual suspect CFORMS.

Showcase your site on webmasterbulletin

If you’re in the business of creating stunning websites powered by efficient opensource or commercial CMS, let the world know : submit your work for review at webmasterbulletin showcase !!

Today’s showcase : 4 seasons

4 Seasons Entertainment & Events has been bringing life to many major events in Dubai, U.A.E for over a decade. 4 Seasons delivers results, time and again. We pride ourselves to be one of the few agencies that renders 360 solutions for any type of event. All our resources are in-house, giving us the flexibility to support any event from small internal meetings to large conference and awards dinners or product launches with efficiency and precision.

Link : 4 Seasons Entertainment

The Foozoo design studio blog does not display images on its front page : black and white is the color of sobriety. Inside pages will feature, obviously, images, plus a nice soft blue font that highlights margins and  Based on the very simple Hemingway-19 theme for wordpress, Foozoo adds a few very interesting plugins. Most interesting is the WP-cumulus plugin that transforms the original tag cloud to a real Flash based sphere with mouse 3D effect.