So your WordPress 2.5 theme doesn’t support Gravatars?
WordPress 2.5 has built-in Gravatar support, but if your theme’s author didn’t include that functionality in your favorite theme, your SOL—or not.
Easy Gravatars is a WordPress 2.5 compatible plugin that will add Gravatar support to any theme. And as it’s name indicates, it really is easy.
Head on over to WordPress and download the plugin, upload it to your server and activate it. It works right out of the box.
You can add styling right in the options, no need to edit your style sheet. You can also set a default size and a default Gravatar and rating.
It took all of three minutes to set it up for this site, using the Neoclassical Theme.
Thanks Dougal.
Painless upgrade to WordPress 2.5
Upgrading to the new and improved WordPress 2.5 was a painless affair at this site.
To upgrade, I followed the standard recommendations: deactivating all plugins and uploading the new WordPress files to my host.
When flashing up with the fresh files in place, WordPress reported that a database upgrade was required. A click on the “Upgrade WordPress” link had me in business quickly and without incident.
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Displaying code in your blog entries
Many bloggers have experienced the frustration of getting code to display properly in their blog entries. Instead of displaying the code, WordPress executes it.
There is a simple method which will display your code as code—no plugins required.
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What is the Simple Web?
The Question
How can I get visitors, subscribers, comments, inbound links, and people saying good things about what I do?
The Answer
Evaluate every action, every possible change, and every existing feature of your blog or website, and ask: Is it gripping? Can the reader resonate with it? Does it make it easy (and rewarding) to interact? And most importantly: is it easy (or rewarding) to talk about?
The above question and answer are opening paragraphs in Skellie’s free, 27-page eBook version of a post series that appeared on Skelliewag in 2007.
As bloggers and webmasters, we want most or all of these things: more visitors, more subscribers, more comments, more money, more inbound links, and more people saying good things about us. Our wants aren’t in question. It’s the how that gets us. It’s the how that has us reading a dozen blogs a day, trying to find the answer (or at least a little piece of it).
Want to improve your design, content, readership and subscriber base? Snag a copy of this free eBook.
Upgrading to WordPress 2.5
WordPress theme designers, plugin authors, and bloggers should all be aware of important changes in version 2.5.
Significant changes were implemented in the new version that may affect your site when upgrading to WordPress 2.5. So as usual, it’s wise to upgrade a test installation before upgrading your live installation.
In doing so, you can peruse your site looking for anything that isn’t behaving as it should and make the required adjustments, taking notes along the way. Once you’re satisfied everything is good to go, upgrade your live installation and implement your documented changes.
If you don’t already have a test installation, putting one in place is relatively easy. Just install WordPress into a subdirectory, e.g.: testsite.yourblog.com/ and upload the same theme and plugins that you’re using on your main site.
By doing some homework you’ll save yourself some grief when upgrading to new versions of WordPress.
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Categories ain’t what they used to be
Perusing a lengthy category list for something of value is usually a waste of time and effort, leaving one with a lost and empty feeling.
As Chris Pearson explains, there are far better ways to present your content than through a long, boring list of categories.
We think of them as navigational tools and guides for users, but in reality, categories are a powerful tool that bloggers can use to exercise precise control over content in a dynamic environment.
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As far as blogs are concerned, categories are the single biggest contributor to both page bloat and link dilution, two of the most abominable SEO sins.
Fortunately, I read Chris’ article while my site was relatively new and was able to quickly adjust and avoid this common category catastrophe.
Below, I explain how this new-found knowledge was applied.
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