Functions Plugin for WordPress

Helpful Info Dashboard Widget

The whole idea of a WordPress website is the client will be able to manage his or her own content. With my Helpful Info Dashboard Widget, I provide the new client with general information on managing a WordPress website, as well as links to great tutorial resources, stock image resources, and my email and phone number when it comes to support. I’ve even built in the ability for us developers to upload "how to" videos and provide them right on the dashboard.

Edit Tab Content

Open helpful-content.php for editing and modify data as needed.

Edit Contact Info

Click the Contact tab to view the info there. To edit this info, open helpful-info.php and uncomment and edit Email and Phone options at the top of the file.

General Info
Images
Custom Videos
Links
Contact

Get up and running with WordPress. If you are the 'book' type, your local book store will have several titles available on working with WordPress. If you choose to purchase a "How To" WordPress book, look for the most recent publications.WordPress has had many robust updates as of late. In reality, I expect you will most likely figure it out as you go along, so log in and get started with adding and or editing pages, posts etcetera. Please note, this information is not specific to your site, but instead is a general guide that will suit most WordPress websites.

Google and or Bing are Your Friends :: The quickest and easiest way to get help would be searching Google or Bing for solutions to your questions.

Shortcodes

Included are some shortcodes I find handy when managing clients content. They include:

Clear All | Useful with forcing a clearing break, or breakall where content must be forced onto a new line.
Usage: [clear]

Spacer | Forces in a determinable amount of vertical space.
Usage: [spaceme height=X] Enter number for X. Height is measured in pixels.

Private | Allows admins and editors to leave comments in the page/post editor. Useful when providing explanations to others working with the website content.
Usage: [hidden] This content will only appear in the back-end and will be hidden from the public website visitors.[/hidden]

Security Measures

Common security tweaks are enabled via this plugin. They include:

No Generator | Automatically removes the WordPress version from your header. WordPress version numbers clue hackers in as to what may or may not work in attempts to hack your site.

Login Errors | Allows you to customize the login error text. Instead of telling hackers that their username or password failed, it keeps them in the dark.

Auto Core Update

Themes and Plugins Too! | Gives you the ability to determine whether you want WordPress to automatically update its core files. Choose from:

Add/Edit/Delete Contact Methods

This plugin removes several not so popular contact fields from the administrative user profile screen. They include:

Two new contact methods have been added - Facebook and Twitter I approve

This behaviour can be edited and added to. Open the plugin file and take a peek. You will see it is pretty simple.

Add the following to author.php, or other website template to display your new data:

*OPTIONAL* Add Additional Menu Areas

So many great themes out there, yet so many themes don't have more than one menu area. Most seem to lack the ability to accommodate footer links! Edit the plugin files to activate two additional menu areas, then call those new menus in your theme with the following code:

*OPTIONAL* Remove Attachment Page Commenting

Spammers have figured out how to add links to Gucci bags, Viagra, and their favorite porn sites by inserting such spam as a comment on image attachment pages; have you noticed? Thwart those nefarious actions by removing the ability to add comments to attachment pages. Edit the plugin file to uncomment this function. That's all there is to it.

*OPTIONAL* Add Favicon

Easy Peasy - Upload your favicon to your site root folder, uncomment the favicon code in the plugin.

*OPTIONAL* Remove Attachment Page Commenting

Spammers have figured out how to add links to Gucci bags, Viagra, and their favorite porn sites by inserting such spam as a comment on image attachment pages; have you noticed? Thwart those nefarious actions by removing the ability to add comments to attachment pages. Edit the plugin file to uncomment this function. That's all there is to it.

*OPTIONAL* Custom Login Logo

Upload your logo to your stylesheet directory. The function is looking for a image file named "login-logo.png". Rename your file or edit the script as needed, then uncomment the login logo code in the plugin. Suggest 274px x 63px, otherwise you'll have to edit the css responsible for controlling that space.

Note: The custom header/logo size varies per theme.

Flash Buddy