TechCats » Tips & Tricks

How To Fetch First Image of Your Post as Thumbnail in WordPress

Smashingeeks — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:30:46 +0000

The Latest WordPress Themes comes with feature of generating thumbnails with your desired width and height. But those wordpress themes which does not allows you to place thumbnails on Post Page and Category Archives, for these themes , there are many methods of generating thumbnails. The most used method is generating thumbnails via Custom Fields provided in WordPress. Other is creating function in order to generate thumbnails. This post is a tutorial which allows your theme to generate thumbnails as the First Image of your Post. Just follow the following steps.

Open the file named functions.php from your WordPress Themes Directory in your favorite text editor. If you does not have functions.php in your WordPress Theme, then create one and include that file in the Theme.

Open the file and after it, just paste the following sort of code into the functions.php file and save it after pasting the code.

//Custom Thumbnail

require_once(ABSPATH .'/wp-admin/includes/image.php');
require_once(ABSPATH .'/wp-admin/includes/media.php');
define("TFE_ALIGN","right");
define("TFE_SIZE","160");
define("TFE_MAXSIZE","no");
define("TFE_SPACE","5");
define("TFE_LINK","yes");
define("TFE_CLASS","imgtfe");
define("TFE_CREATETH","no");
define("TFE_TITLE","no"); 

add_filter("get_the_excerpt", "putThumbnailForExcerpts");

function putThumbnailForExcerpts($excerpt){
 if(is_single()) return;
 global $wp_query, $wpdb;
 $id = $wp_query->post->ID;
 if(!TFE_SIZE)
 $tfesize=get_option("thumbnail_size_w");
 else
 $tfesize=TFE_SIZE;
 $files = get_children("post_parent=$id&post_type=attachment&post_mime_type=image");
 if($files){
 $keys = array_keys($files);
 $num=$keys[0];
 $thumb=wp_get_attachment_thumb_url($num);
 echo "";
 }*/
 $content = $wpdb->get_var('select post_content from '.$wpdb->prefix.'posts where id='.$id);
 $pos = stripos($content,"",$pos));
 $pos = stripos($content,"src=")+4;
 $stopchar=" ";
 if("".substr($content,$pos,1)=='"'){
 $stopchar = '"';
 $pos++;
 }
 if("".substr($content,$pos,1)=="'"){
 $stopchar = "'";
 $pos++;
 }
 $img1 = "";
 do{
 $char = substr($content,$pos++,1);
 if($char != $stopchar)
 $img1 .= $char;
 }while(($char != $stopchar) && ($pos < strlen($content)));
 $tit = "";
 if(stripos($content,"title=")!==false){
 $pos = stripos($content,"title=")+6;
 $stopchar="|";
 if("".substr($content,$pos,1)=='"'){
 $stopchar = '"';
 $pos++;
 }
 if("".substr($content,$pos,1)=="'"){
 $stopchar = "'";
 $pos++;
 }
 do{
 $char = substr($content,$pos++,1);
 if($char != $stopchar)
 $tit .= $char;
 }while(($char != $stopchar) && ($pos < strlen($content)));
 }
 $alt = "";
 if(stripos($content,"alt=")!==false){
 $tit1="";
 $pos = stripos($content,"alt=")+4;
 $stopchar="|";
 if("".substr($content,$pos,1)=='"'){
 $stopchar = '"';
 $pos++;
 }
 if("".substr($content,$pos,1)=="'"){
 $stopchar = "'";
 $pos++;
 }
 do{
 $char = substr($content,$pos++,1);
 if($char != $stopchar)
 $alt .= $char;
 }while(($char != $stopchar) && ($pos < strlen($content)));
 }
 if($alt!="")
 $tit1=$alt;
 else if($tit!="")
 $tit1=$tit;
 else
 $tit1="";
 $img2 = str_replace(".jpg","-".get_option("thumbnail_size_w")."x".get_option("thumbnail_size_h").".jpg",$img1);
 $img2 = str_replace(".png","-".get_option("thumbnail_size_w")."x".get_option("thumbnail_size_h").".png",$img2);
 $img2 = str_replace(".gif","-".get_option("thumbnail_size_w")."x".get_option("thumbnail_size_h").".gif",$img2);
 if(!file_exists(realpath(".")."/".substr($img2,stripos($img2,"wp-content"))) && (TFE_CREATETH=="yes")){
 if(get_option("thumbnail_size_w")>0)
 image_make_intermediate_size( realpath(".")."/".substr($img1,stripos($img1,"wp-content")), get_option("thumbnail_size_w"),get_option("thumbnail_size_h"),true);
 else
 image_make_intermediate_size( realpath(".")."/".substr($img1,stripos($img1,"wp-content")), TFE_SIZE,TFE_SIZE,true);
 $img2 = str_replace(".jpg","-".TFE_SIZE."x".TFE_SIZE.".jpg",$img1);
 $img2 = str_replace(".png","-".TFE_SIZE."x".TFE_SIZE.".png",$img2);
 $img2 = str_replace(".gif","-".TFE_SIZE."x".TFE_SIZE.".gif",$img2);
 }
 if (file_exists(realpath(".")."/".substr($img2,stripos($img2,"wp-content")))){
 $condsize = "width";
 if(TFE_MAXSIZE=="yes" && (get_option("thumbnail_size_h") > get_option("thumbnail_size_w"))){
 $condsize = "height";
 if(!TFE_SIZE)
 $tfesize=get_option("thumbnail_size_h");
 }
 echo (TFE_LINK=="yes"?"":"")."".(TFE_LINK=="yes"?"":"");
 }
 else {
 $condsize = "width";
 if ((TFE_MAXSIZE=="yes") && extension_loaded('gd') && function_exists('gd_info')) {
 $im = imagecreatefromjpeg(realpath(".")."/".substr($img1,stripos($img1,"wp-content")));
 if(imagesx($im)":"")."".(TFE_LINK=="yes"?"":"");
 }
 }
 return $img.$excerpt;
}
?>

Above is a function which creates the thumbnails and displays them in Post And Category Pages. This function automatically re sizes the Images for the Thumbnails. You can also change the height and width of the thumbnails by changing the values to your desired in the initial part of the code. You can also change the position of the thumbnails by using values Left or Right.

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How To Check The Subscription box Checked Permanently in Subscribe To Comments Plugin

Rajesh Kanuri — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:30:51 +0000

Subscribe to comments is the best wordpress plugin which helps in engaging users with the comment feeds and allows them to participate in the discussions actively. In the earlier versions, there is an option to check subscribe to comments checkbox permanently, which is no more available in the recent versions. Couple of my readers asked me about how do I manage to set the subscription box checked permanently at TechCats. I think it is better if I share the code lines which I have changed to set the checkbox checked permanently.

Select subscribe-to-comments/subscribe-to-comments.php

Search for following code

/>

In addition, replace that with the following code

/>

Save the changes and subscribe to comments will be checked permanently.

Ask me if u have any doubts in configuring this. Feel free to Contact Us if you have any questions related to blogging…? I love to solve questions.

5 Important SEO Customizations You Need To Do For Your WordPress Blog

Rajesh Kanuri — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:30:12 +0000

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the most important thing for every blog to be successful. Although referral traffic helps a blog in stand in the blogosphere organic traffic determines the blog’s success. Every blogger (including me) works on SEO and to get major share of organic traffic. WordPress blogs also requires some optimization to get maximum share from search engines.

Meta Description: Meta description is the first area crawled by the search engines and I recommend you to use a long description to your blog stuffed with keywords not more the 160 words. These were buzz like Meta keywords were no longer considered in SEO but there is no official announcement on that so go ahead and stuff every possible keyword for your blog in Meta description.

Proper URL Structure: I have written a detailed post on Understanding The structure of Permalinks Make Them SEO Friendly, it helps you to determine the importance of permalinks.

Sitemap Generator: Create Sitemap and allow search engines to crawl the sitemap maximizes the exposure of your blog. I suggest you to use Google XML Sitemap Generator help you in creating the XML sitemaps and ping them to the search engines.

Keywords: Although Keywords were very important to drive traffic but using short keywords like “wordpress” “blogging” SEO” doesn’t make sense and help you in driving traffic instead I suggest you to use long keywords like “wordpress SEO blogging to get traffic” will help you rank top in SERP results.

Robots.txt: Configuring the robots.txt is the most important thing and common mistake done by most of the bloggers. Configuring the blog according to search engines won’t complete your work, at the same time you have to allow access and restrict them at particular locations from crawling. I recommend to you to use a custom robots.txt for your blog. You check out the robots.txt sample at http://www.techcats.net/robots.txt

Let us know about more SEO tips and customizations that will enhance the blogging traffic.

Understand The Structure Of WordPress Permalinks & Make Them SEO Friendly

Rajesh Kanuri — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:30:30 +0000

WordPress by default is 60-70% Search Engine Optimized blogging platform and the rest should be customized to make it complete SEO friendly. Permalinks were the first most things which should be customized and also it is the most essential and very important thing to make the blog SEO friendly. Customizing permalinks helps in driving good organic traffic to the blog and the plugins like All in SEO or themes like Thesis helps in making things much better.

What is Permalink?

Permalink is nothing but the URL of the website page. The default URL structure for wordpress blog is “http://www.techcats.net/p=102” and if you check the URL of my blog it will be like “http://www.techcats.net/name-of-the-post.html”. A custom permalink structure lets you define which variables you want to see in your permalinks.

Here are the default custom structures you can choose from:

%year% displays 4-digit year (e.g. 2009)

%monthnum% displays month in 2 digit number format (e.g. 03 for March)

%day% displays day in 2 digit number format (e.g. 17)

%hour% displays 2 digit time in 24 hour (e.g. 18 for 6 p.m.)

%minute% displays minutes in 2 digit format (e.g. 07 for 7 minutes)

%second% displays seconds in 2 digit format (e.g. 08 for 8 seconds)

%postname% displays the name of the post separated by hyphens (e.g. for a post with title “this is my first post” it displays “this-is-my-first-post”)

%category% It displays the name of the category (e.g. for a post under category “permalink” it displays “permalink”)

%author% It displays the name of the post author (e.g. for a posted by me (Rajesh Kanuri) it displays like “rajesh-kanuri”)

For example if you want your permalink to show the category, and post name, you have to select the Custom Structure in the Customize Permalink Structure page and type the following tags in the text box and save the changes.

/%category%/%postname%/

Then a post named “How to install Google Chrome OS” Under the category Google, will display like this: “http://www.techcats.net/google/how-to-install-google-chrome-os/”

Note: Make sure that you include the slashes before, between and at the end of the tags,to ensure that wordpress creates correct and working permalinks.

How To Solve Missed Schedule Error In WordPress 2.9

Rajesh Kanuri — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:05:18 +0000

WordPress 2.9 is released and has loads of interesting features in wordpress 2.9 but also the problems started arising in the latest. One such problem is “Missed Schedule” this arises for those who have the habit of scheduling the posts. This is a peculiar problem raised in wordpress 2.9.

Although this problem is there in earlier versions of wordpress this becomes the habit in WordPress latest version.

This have found a quick and temporary recommended solution, which is using a plugin named “Missed in Action” Using this plugin ensures that you the posts will be published according to the schedule.

Hope wordpress will find the permanent solution which helps in rectifying the problem. Will update with the latest fix. Mean while let me know if you find any permanent fix to solve this problem.

How To Edit Images Using Inbuilt Features of WordPress 2.9?

Rajesh Kanuri — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:30:21 +0000

WordPress 2.9 was all set to release this weekend (as per the official announcement do not blame me guys if it gets late ) just released ( Checkout how to update WP from Dashboard safely) and it has loads of new features which include trash, gallery, image editing and lots more. You can check full features of wordpress 2.9 in my earlier post. In this post, I would like to discuss about the unique and entirely new features of the wordpress, which deals with image editing.

Previously once after you upload the image the default screen deals with the alt text, size of the image, alignment and linking options. In wordpress 2.9 there is a brand new option named “Edit Image”

Click on Edit Image to resize the image, adjust the aspect ratio, cropping, rotating, scaling and lot more features to play with which I will elaborate more in this post. The following screenshot helps you in identifying the features included.

How To Crop the image?

After you enter the editing options of the image, just click and drag on the image to select the portion of the image and click on save to save the selection.

How To Rotate the images?

It works as simple as paint program just click on various rotate options to make the image rotate and save the final selection. You can also invert the images for mirroring.

How To Scale Image?

Click on Scale image and enter the dimensions of the desired output and save the image.

Christmas started sparkling and earlier we came up with the collection of Themes & Plugins for your WordPress blog, which helps you in making over your blog this festive season.

How To Add Snow Effect For Christmas In Blogger (BlogSpot) Blogs

Rajesh Kanuri — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:30:01 +0000

Christmas is just 10 days away and everyone is in festival mood. TechCats brought up with loads of WordPress Themes & Plugins to make over your wordpress blogs but for those who blog at blogger will definitely miss the fun as they cannot use the Plugins. I checked over the web to get snowflakes on the blogger blogs. Credits to the code author Kurt Grigg.

Adding snowflake is fun and best way to decorate your blog for this Christmas. Here is the simple hack to get snowflakes in your BlogSpot blog, follow the steps to get that in action at your blog.

Download the java script snow.js (Right click on snow.js and click on “save as” to download the java script).
Upload and host the java files to the webserver.
To know how to upload java files for with unlimted checkout this article.
Add the following code in the section of your template page.

Check out the demo to see the snowflake working in action. I hope that you will love this and decorate your blog with this widget.

Visit btemplates for loads of templates for your blogger blog.

It is the best time to move your blogspot blogs to migrate to self hosted wordpress as most of the hosting companies comes up with fabulous offers. Contact Us for best deals on Web Hosting. We recommend HostMonster (Read our review on HostMonster), BlueHost & HostGator.

Code Credits

How Commenting Will Increase & Drive More Traffic To Your Blog

Rajesh Kanuri — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:30:46 +0000

If you have checked the Best ways to get Instant Traffic to your blog, commenting is one among them and drives you a good traffic and also lets you to maintain good relationships with fellow bloggers. It has been 2 months I have started TechCats and now we are in position of 100+ unique visits per day, 200-300 page views and Alexa Rank close to 150k, these all happened because of the continuous efforts to make at least one post per day and also commenting on other blogs.

How Commenting will help you in driving Traffic?

This is the first question that will arise in premature blogger who just started their blogging (even I am one among them when I started blogging lolz ) and here is the live example with screenshot, This will make you understand better of what I am saying.

If you check the sources that drive traffic to my blog you can notice that more than 50% of the traffic is from referring sites and this all happened because of continuous commenting on other blogs and it also left me a blogger friends like Harsh Agarwal, Sandesh, Pavan, Ankit Puri, Ramkumar, Shivaraj, Gabe and many more to name.

Stay tuned by Subscribing to my Posts and following me on twitter (@rajkanuri) to know how to make your blog commentators as your loyal readers.

TechCats Host Provider “HostMonster” Review: It Rocks

Rajesh Kanuri — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:30:48 +0000

HostMonster is one of the oldest company which provides web hosting services to its customers since 1996 and now it hosts more than 600,000 sites where our TechCats is one among them. HostMonster has strong track record of happy customers and almost 99.99% positive feedback from its customers, This puts Hostmonster up there with the longer running web hosting providers unlike others they are not going to disappear overnight and leave sleepless nights for you and moreover it is sister concern company to BlueHost.

Plans & Features

Currently HostMonster is offering its services for just $5.95 per month, The best of the plan is it includes UNLIMITED storage space, UNLIMITED data transfer , UNLIMITED Domains and Sub-Domains. Here is the list of some of the unique and outstanding features provided with the HostMonster.

You may also check complete list of features at HostMonster

Datacenter

HostMonster uses the latest technologies in hosting and uses high performance Processors like Quad core 2-3 range Servers to provide best priority service to your web sites, 24 hours power backup to make sure that your website is running 24×365 in the event of a power cut, More over it even has mirrored storage backups, this allows your sites to be served quickly and reliably.

Control Panel & Scripting Support

HostMonster uses cPanel, which is proved to be user friendly and is the market leader in web administration Dashboard. You can check out the large base of articles available on its usage made available at Knowledge Base by HostMonster. Cpanel includes SimpleScripts which has over 50 scripts for installation, which minimizes the work of user during configuration.

Customer Support

The best and most important thing that made me attracted to HostMonster is its excellent customer support. They provide a separate and dedicated customer care team (not virtual agents) available 24/7 through LIVE CHAT (yes what you read is correct it is LIVE CHAT) with less than 2 minutes hold time, Toll Free Telephone support, User Guides for Answers to most FAQ’s. If you are not satisfied or still require support you can also raise a ticket for support. I have the best personal experience with the support when I requested to change my account settings, So I will rate 100 for the support.

Conclusion

Considering all these features we recommend HostMonster without any 2nd thought for all those who were looking for an affordable web hosting solution which is completely packed and reliable. We are Proud to say that TechCats is Hosted on HOSTMONSTER .

Stay Tuned by Subscribing to our Feeds or follow us on twitter(@rajkanuri) to receive coupon codes and promotional offers.

How to Send Auto Responses to New Twitter Followers

Rajesh Kanuri — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:27:41 +0000

As I am new to twitter and social media, I really don’t know that we can send automated personalized messages to the users after following on twitter until I got a welcome message from ShoutMeLoud Harsh after following him at twitter. This made me write a guide so that you can send a personalized welcome message like “Thank You for following”. This kind of messages helps in building relationship with your new twitter followers.

All the things you need to activate this unique feature are Twitter Account, and TweetLater Account.

How It Works and How to configure this?

First login to your Twitter account and navigate to Notices which is under settings Tab.
Check the box “Email when someone starts following me.” And save the settings.

Now Login to your TweetLater account or create one you don’t have one.
Navigate to “Add Account” which is under Account tab.
Select Twitter & Continue and now enter your twitter username and password.
Check “Automatically send a welcome message to new followers.” and enter your personal message which you would like to send to your new followers.
Save the settings to activate the changes.

For more tips on Twitter Subscribe to our Feeds or follow us on Twitter (@rajkanuri)