The Code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*/index.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)index.php$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Put the above code in your .htaccess file in your root folder (create one if you don’t have it using a text editor). Obviously change index.php to index.html, index.htm etc. depending on your setup.

I know you can specify the fields if you manually register your custom posts (see the WordPress codex). However if it is a custom post type generated by a plugin etc. you can use some simple CSS to hide it.

The Code:

Add the following to your functions.php file:

// HIDE THE EDITOR ON CERTAIN CUSTOM POST TYPES
add_action('admin_head', 'hide_editor');
function hide_editor() {
if(get_post_type() == 'CUSTOM_POST_NAME') {
?>
<style>
#postdivrich { display:none; }
</style>
<?php
}
}

What it does:

It simply checks to see if the admin page you are viewing is a specified custom post type, and if so it adds a small bit of CSS to the header to hide the editor (or any other piece of content you wish to hide).

I found the whole editor area was wrapped in a div with the ID “postdivrich” so that’s the area I chose to hide. If you want to hide something else just check the source code and find the id or class of whatever you want to remove.

Alternate Method:

You can also simply remove the entire editor using the ‘remove_post_type_support‘  function:

// HIDE THE EDITOR ON CERTAIN CUSTOM POST TYPES
add_action('init', 'hide_editor');
function hide_editor() {
remove_post_type_support( 'CUSTOM_POST_NAME', 'editor' );
}

However for most situations I was dealing with I still needed/wanted support for the TinyMCE visual editor for other multi-line fields. The ’remove_post_type_support‘ function disables WordPress’s built in support for the visual editor, whereas hiding via CSS does not.

Simply put the following code in your ‘sidebar.php’ template file (or anywhere else you wish to).

The Code:

I have also placed the code here: http://snipt.org/ugghf0 (which preserves the code formatting better)

<!-- START LATEST POST EXCERPT -->
<div id="latest-post-excerpt">
  <h3>Latest News:</h3>
  <?php
  $recentPosts = new WP_Query();
  $recentPosts->query('showposts=1');
  ?>
  <?php while ($recentPosts->have_posts()) : $recentPosts->the_post(); ?>
  <h4>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
  </h4>
  <p>
    <em>Posted on: <?php the_time(get_option('date_format')); ?></em>
  </p>
  <?php the_excerpt(); ?>
  <p><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">&raquo; Read more</a></p>
  <?php endwhile; ?>
</div>
<!-- END LATEST POST EXCERPT -->

It will display the most recent post excerpt complete with post date underneath the title and a ‘read more’ link (as pictured above).

If you would like to display more than one post simply edit showposts=1 to whatever number you wish to display. I have formatted the above with header tags and paragraphs but you may wish to use an unordered list instead.

The breadcrumbs (once enabled via the settings in the admin panel) display a breadcrumb trail on your product pages. by default is looks something like this:

Store Name » Products Page » Category Name » Product Name

To edit the output you need to edit the function in the theme files. The function is:

<?php wpsc_output_breadcrumbs (); ?>

You can pass an array of arguments to the function. Your options are:

'before-breadcrumbs' => '<div class="wpsc-breadcrumbs">',
'after-breadcrumbs'  => '</div>',
'before-crumb'       => '',
'after-crumb'        => '',
'crumb-separator'    => ' &raquo; ',
'show_home_page'     => true,
'show_products_page' => true,
'echo'               => true

Now simply pass your arguments to the function, for example:

<?php wpsc_output_breadcrumbs ( array (
 'crumb-separator'    => ' &gt; ',
 'show_home_page'     => false,   
) ); ?>

The above would display breadcrumbs with ‘>’ as a separator and removes the homepage:

Products Page > Category Name > Product Name

I also think its best to put your breadcrumb function in a separate file e.g ‘wpsc-breadcrumbs.php’ then include it in each instance:

<? include "wpsc-breadcrumbs.php"; ?>

This way you don’t need to edit it multiple times should you decide to change something in the future.

I hope this can be of help to someone!

It’s no accident that a lot of fast food restaurants use vivid red & orange colours.  Studies have shown that these colours tend to stimulate appetite, and large corporations spend vast sums on colour research for marketing purposes.

Choosing a Colour Scheme

Where do you begin? Let’s look at different types of colour combinations.

Monochromatic

Monochromatic colour schemes use variations of a single colour. Differing values of the chosen colour can be used to create the feel of different colours. Monochromatic colour schemes can feel harmonious and peaceful.

Analogous

Analogous colour combinations use colours that are related, but not the same, to create visually appealing schemes. A selection of blues and purples, or reds and oranges create an analogous colour scheme.

Contrasting colours

Contrasting colours are complimentary and distinguishable. Colours that are opposites create contrasting colour schemes. For example… yellow and purple or red and green are contrasting colours. Contrasting colour schemes generally use a warm colour and a cool colour, such as orange & blue.

In summary…

Colour choice is crucial. Sometimes the website will already have it colour scheme determined if the company already has one established, although generally it will need adapting for its web environment and many companies do not have any colour scheme in place, therefore the task is left to the designer.Thankfully, there are plenty of online resources from which to gleam inspiration and find that perfect colour scheme for your website.

Resources:

A multitude of resources related to colour picking, colour moods and more can be found by a quick Google. Here are a few of our favourites to get you started:

Sample Colour Schemes:

• ColourLovers.com
• Kuler from Adobe

Online tools to help you develop your own custom scheme:

• ColorSchemeDesigner.com
• DigitDesigns.com Color Picker
  

CSS can fix most visual problems however sometimes the javascript used by a plugin throws up an ugly error message, a common one in IE6 & IE7 versions is: “An error has occurred with a script on this page”. It prompts the user to choose whether to stop running all scripts or not.

The scenario…

You have just installed a brand spanking new plugin, everything looks great but then you decide to do some cross-browser compatibility checks. Lo and behold the older IE versions start spewing out error messages. Your options are:

• Ditch the plugin.
• Try and debug the error… but the chances are it will take a while and fixing it may limit the functionality of the script.
• Keep the plugin and curse the people still using IE6 or IE7 anyway.
• Display a friendly alternative to your widget to the users of older browsers, yet still keep the entire functionality of the widget for everyone else.

Thankfully by using a PHP browser detect plugin, it’s very easy to target specific browser versions in WordPress. I believe WordPress already has an inbuilt browser detect functionality, but unfortunately it only seems to be able to detect browser type and not version, e.g it can detect whether the browser is IE or Firefox, but not if its IE6 or IE8.

The solution…

Install the PHP Browser Detection plugin (Developed by Marty Thornley). Open up your sidebar or other template file containing the widgetized area, and edit the call to grab the widget. You current markup might be:

<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar
('widgetarea1')) : else : ?>
<div class="pre-widget">
<p><strong>Widgetized area 1</strong></p>
<p>This panel is active and ready for you to add some widgets via the
 WP Admin</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

This would display whatever widgets you place in your widget area 1 in the admin panel. To keep things simple for this process it would be advisable to only install one widget per area, so that each one can be specifically swapped out. Now to make a specifc browser version display a different widget you can use th following markup:

<?php if (is_lt_IE8()) : ?>
<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar
('widgetarea1')) : else : ?>
<div class="pre-widget">
<p><strong>Widgetized area 1</strong></p>
<p>This panel is active and ready for you to add some widgets via the
WP Admin</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php else : ?>
<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar
('widgetarea2')) : else : ?>
<div class="pre-widget">
<p><strong>Widgetized area 2</strong></p>
<p>This panel is active and ready for you to add some widgets via the
 WP Admin</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endif; ?>

Using the code <?php if (is_lt_IE8()) : ?> all users of IE versions older than IE8 will see the widget displayed in the widget area 2, and all other browsers will see the widget you place in area1. You can choose a nice compatible version of the widget to display to the older browsers whilst retaining the full functionality for modern browsers. You don’t even need to replace it with another widget you could simply place some other content there.

Of course your not just limited to  targeting just browsers later than IE8, you can use <?php if ( is_IE6() ) { alternative content here }; ?> to target just IE6 for example, or you can even target mobile specific browsers e.g <?php if ( is_iphone($version) ) { alternative content here }; ?> will target iphones only. For a full list see the plugin page.

If you only have one widget area and need to add more for this simply add more dynamic sidebars to your functions.php file:

register_sidebar(array(
'name' => 'widgetarea2',
'id'   => 'widgetarea2',
'description'   => 'This is the widgetized area2.',
'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
'after_widget'  => '</div>',
'before_title'  => '<h3>',
'after_title'   => '</h3>'
));

Once done you can rest assured that all visitors to your website regardless of browser still receive a fulfilling experience free of glitches and error messages.

Google Business Listings is basically Google’s version of the yellow pages. These listings appear on the top left hand side of Google search results, typically when a user types a service followed by place or city name. The image below shows the search results for the search phrase “dry cleaners york”. The search results page lists Local Business results at the top of the page alongside a map with a link and telephone number beside up to ten listings. Below that the regular search results are displayed.

How to add your business to Google Local Business Listings

It’s quick, easy and best of all completely free! to add your business to the Local Business index. Simply go to www.google.co.uk/lbc login with a Google Account if you already have one or alternatively sign up for one. Then all you have to do is submit your business details and your business will be added to the Google Local Business directory. With careful optimisation of the listing you can help yourself to rank highly in the local business results, gaining a valuable top spot on the search result pages.

How to rank highly in Google Local Business Listings…

It appears the rank of your local business listing is determined by the value and obviously relevance of your business listing page. Google gives the top spots to those feeding the search engine’s ever increasing need for content. Top tips for ranking highly:

1. Photos Add as many photos as you can and a company logo.
2. Multiple Reviews It’s important that these be from real customers. You can not have too many. Don’t fake them either, it’s easy to see. It’s quite likely the number of quality review will be the most important factor in how you rank compared to local competitors. Reviews show Google your business is active and lots of reviews more than likely means your business is an authority within it’s field.
3. Use Keywords in Company Description Keep your company description rich with your business related keywords.
4. Use Keywords in Company Name Don’t be deceptive by changing your company name, but if your keywords are in the extended business name or LLC, make sure this is the name in which you register.
5. Add a Coupon Google allows printable coupons to be added by your listing.
6. Create links to the listing Add a link from your homepage to the listing and encourage current customers or website visitors to review your company.
7. Add Videos If your company already has videos on YouTube you can place them right there on the page.

If you manage to incorporate all of the the above you should be able to guarantee yourself a top ten place in the local business search results dependant on the level of competition from competitors.

To try and stay one step ahead of your rivals it would be advisable to continually update and add to the listing frequently, and continue to ask clients if they wouldn’t mind writing a quick review of your services. It’s useful to note it also seems to fetch reviews from various “Review” websites such as TripAdvisor, Qype and more, so encouraging customers to review on those also will surely help.

E-commerce systems such as a website can be used to market and sell to customers, and to provide after-sales support. E-commerce can also be an important part of strengthening relationships and improving the efficiency of your dealings with suppliers and other key trading partners.

Benefits of selling online

Selling online has a number of advantages over selling by conventional methods, including:

• Relatively low set-up and operational costs. You don’t need to pay shop assistants, rent high-street premises, or answer a lot of pre-sales queries.
• Quickly process orders & reduce costs; Customer orders can automatically come straight into your order database, without the need for any manual data entry.
• Reach a global audience.
• Compete with larger businesses by being able to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Receive payments quickly from online transactions.
• Attract new customers who would not normally have been able to investigate your type of high-street outlet.
• Enjoy the benefits of being able to easily view and compare shopping trends.
• Use your online shop as a catalogue for existing customers.

Online selling will work best for you if you have:

• Defined products or services that can be sold without human intervention in the sales process.
• Fixed prices for all types of potential customers.
• Products or services that can be delivered within a predictable time-frame.

Avoid online pitfalls

Customers will be put off by:

• unprofessional designs
• websites that appear unsecured or dishonest
• out-of-date or incorrect information
• difficult and confusing site navigation and purchasing processes
• poor order fulfilment and late delivery
• lack of customer support
• lack of vital ordering information (payments accepted, returns, deliveries etc.)

Remember – when selling through an online shop, you don’t normally have any personal contact with your customers, so you need to try harder to make sure they can find the information easily without your help. Clear product descriptions, prices and estimated delivery times will help them feel secure in purchasing from your website.

Our top tips are:

1. Create an online community or wealth of information: Starting a forum or blog on your website should encourage people to to repeat visit if they are interested in the content. Once your website becomes established as a valuable resource people will feel inclined to link to your site further boosting search engine rankings.
2. Blog elsewhere: Write blogs or articles on other websites, therefore publishing your name and your business into the wider public domain. It’s important to make sure that your articles are original and resourceful otherwise they won’t be read.
3. SEO: Even the smallest of businesses will make gains though improving their search engine rankings. You do need to be patient to see results, but by following good standard SEO practices you will make progress against competitors, and increase the quality and awareness of your brand identity.
4. Engage in Social & business networking: Add your business to the popular social networks such as facebook and twitter, create a link back to your website and encourage people to follow your online business. Maintain regular updates with useful or interesting information for your followers, and perhaps reward them with unique special offers from time to time. Business orientated social networks such as LinkedIn and XING are a useful way to interact globally with related professionals within your field.
5. Directories: Relevant and reputable directories can increase there likelihood of your business being found by potential customers. These could be business directories, or interest and subject-based directories. You should also try to boost traffic by linking to other relevant sites.
6. Advertising: Like any other form of business you should expect to set aside a budget for advertising your website. Resources such as Google Adwords can be very helpful. Yes, you have to pay but the cost can be low and it could be the key to kick-starting a profitable business. You are guaranteeing exposure and you can also carefully measure how successful the campaigns are by using analytical tools.
7. Good, old-fashioned marketing: Websites don’t have to be marketed online only. Business cards, leaflets, posters, van-side promotion, headed notepaper and even word of mouth can also work wonders. Genereally such mediums are not overly costly and can be quick to distribute.

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OpensourceCMS.com is a handy website that lets you try over 300 CMS solutions before you decide whether you want to install it or not. Its a good chance to have a play, or just see if you like the features and control panel of a new CMS you’ve been hearing about.

Take a look at www.opensourcecms.com