There are a few different ways to remove comments from pages, and which one you will like best depends on you, your theme, and your willingness to “go into the code”.

Check the Theme Options for your Theme

First, check and see if your theme offers a theme options page, and if there is any ability to turn them “off” on pages there. Often times, the option to remove comments from pages exists there, and the theme author (in many cases) has coded the theme to not run the code at all if you’ve chosen to remove comments from pages. That means no trace discussion options are shown.

Edit the Discussion Section of the Page Edit Screen

The built-in-to-WordPress way to remove comments on a page is to uncheck the “Allow comments” and “Allow trackbacks and pingbacks” boxes in the Discussion section of the page edit screen. Save the page.

In some themes, this is all you need to do. In other themes, a message appears when you edit the discussion options. If you don’t mind that, then you’re done. But if you do, and would rather nothing appears on your pages, then you can…

Remove the Code in the Page.php File

Now, this sounds scarier than it really is. But be brave – you’re only looking for one line of code and you’re just going to take it out and save the change to the template.

In your Appearance menu, click Editor.

You’ll be taken to a screen that shows all your theme’s files listed at the far right, and the style.css will be displayed in the editor window in the midde of the screen.

Look down the list for the Page Template (shown at the right.) This is known as the default page template. Click it so that it is displayed in the editor window.

Now, scroll down the page and look for this line of code:

Now, delete that line! (Don’t delete ANYthing else!)

Save your changes by clicking the “Update File” button under the editor window. Now you won’t see any trace of comments on your pages, no matter what your settings say (because you’ve taken out the code that puts that functionality on the page!)

Comments Still Showing?

The most likely culprit is another page template that’s being used rather than the default. Most of the time you can tell what template is being used by editing the page and looking over to the right in the Page Attributes section. If there is another page template in use for this page, the Template drop-down box will read something other than “Default Template.”

Alternate page templates are pretty easy to identify by matching up what you see in the Template drop-down box with the name of the templates on your Editor screen. If your page is using an alternate page template, you simply need to remove the line of comment code from this page template, too. Save your changes and comments are all gone, buh-bye!

Related posts:

1. Sales Pages in WordPress? Yes, You Can!
2. WordPress 2.7 Feature: Reply to Comments from the Admin Dashboard
3. Link to Your Own Content Without Mucking Up Your Comments

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

(Hmmm….who among you would have expected to find Kipling quotes on a blog about WordPress? If this is your first visit, this type of thing is just another one of the value added services around here. LOL)

To an impressionable child with an insatiable curiosity, this was heady stuff!

Mrs. Williams said no essay, no question, really, was ever complete without addressing all six. That stuck with me.

So, when I think in terms of this blog’s readers, I realize that I would better serve you by giving you the whole story. So, we’ll try it out and we’ll see how it goes, ok? And, as always, your voice is heard through the comments. Don’t be bashful.

Who, What and Where

The ability to make a post “sticky” was introduced with WP 2.7 and is a way to keep a particular blog post showing as the first one on your blog (a.k.a. the most recent one.) Remember, blog posts are typically shown in reverse chronological order, meaning the most recent one shows first, the one before that shows next, and so on.

Why and When

Well, what if you had a reason to want a particular post to always show first? How would you do that? Previously, you’d always have to be monkeying around with the date or use a plugin. As of WP 2.7, this ability to make a post “sticky” is built in.

You might want a particular post to show first because it is an announcement of some sort, or it’s an explanatory post you want everyone coming to your blog to see first.

How

How you make a post “sticky” is really very easy.

There’s a setting in the Publish section, a check box labeled, “Stick this post to the front page” and you check it, update the post and there you are!

Easy peasy!

And how do you “un-stick” it when you no longer want it to be the first post?

Just uncheck the box, update your post, and it falls back into the flow of posts according to its post date.

Can you make more than one post sticky?

Oh yes…and they’ll order themselves according to their post dates. So, if you make two posts sticky, the one with the most recent date will show first, then the other one, and then the rest of the blog posts will show.

Note: This works on blog pages where the “normal” blog stream shows. It doesn’t affect custom home pages, magazine-style pages, etc.

Related posts:

1. What Are Categories and Tags and How Are They Used?
2. Turn Off Post Revisions for Single User Blogs
3. Give Extra Link Love by Using the CommentLuv Plug-in

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

O-M-G!! I’m in love with them both.

Then a few days ago, I noticed a new plugin called WPTouch that displays my site “iPhone-style” when I visit it using my iPhone. So, I decided to try it out. (See it over there in the picture? That’s THIS site as viewed on my iPhone.)

Nothing’s changed about how you view this site with a computer, but now, for iPhone, Blackberry, Android and other touch-enabled smartphone users, my site is a WHOLE LOT easier to navigate than with the theme you see here with your computer.

Here’s the skinny from the plugin page at WordPress.org:

With a single click, WPtouch transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application-style theme, complete with ajax loading articles and effects, when viewed from an iPhone, iPod touch, Android or BlackBerry touch mobile device.

The admin panel allows you to customize many aspects of its appearance, and deliver a fast, user-friendly and stylish version of your site to your iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini mobile, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm visitors without modifying a single bit of code (or affecting) your regular desktop theme.

The theme also includes the ability for your visitors to easily switch between the WPtouch view and your site’s regular theme.

Install WPTouch (here’s how) and make navigating your site easier for touch-enabled smartphone users without changing your theme!

I’m off to install this on the rest of my sites. If you have a touch-enabled smartphone, or you want to make life easier for your readers who do, try it out and let me know how you like it in the comments below!

P.S. If you got the new iPad yesterday, this will work for it, too!

Related posts:

1. The Easy Way to Put YouTube Videos On Your WordPress Site or Blog
2. DIY SEO: Step 5 – Make Navigating Your Site Easy
3. Web/Blog Site Stats – An Introduction

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

• YouTube

• Vimeo
• DailyMotion
• blip.tv
• Flickr (both videos and images)
• Viddler
• Hulu
• Qik
• Revision3
• Scribd
• Photobucket
• PollDaddy
• Google Video
• WordPress.tv (only VideoPress-type videos for the time being)

So, how exactly do you do it?

First, get the URL of the video. I’ll use YouTube as the example. The image to the right shows you where to find the URL for a YouTube video. (You’ll find that block on the right side of the page.)

All you need to do to embed something into a post or page is to post the URL to it into your content area. Make sure that the URL is on its own line and not hyperlinked (clickable when viewing the post).

For example:

Check out this cool video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTDNLUzjkpg

That was a cool video.

WordPress will automatically turn that into a YouTube embed when the post is viewed. (And for those of you who avoid the HTML editor like the plague, this works using the Visual editor, too.)

Pretty slick, huh? And easy, too!

Related posts:

1. How to Upgrade Your Plugins (and How to Know When They Need It)
2. How to Install Plugins You’ve Downloaded as .ZIP Files
3. 13 Plugins Make My WordPress World Go ‘Round

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

Login to your Dashboard and click on ‘Add New‘ in the plugins menu at the left. Click on ‘Upload‘ as indicated. You’ll want to upload the .zip file you saved to your computer, and then WordPress will take care of the rest. So, browse to the plugin zip file you downloaded and then click the Install Now button.

WordPress will tell you that it successfully installed the plug-in and ask you what action you want to take next: Activate Plug-in | Return to Plug-ins Page. You want to Activate Plug-in. WordPress will activate the plug-in for you and return you to the plug-ins page. You should now see the plug-in in your list.

See? Spectacularly simple!

Related posts:

1. How to Install New Plug-ins in WP 2.7
2. How to Upgrade Your Plugins (and How to Know When They Need It)
3. 50+ WordPress Plugins and Hacks

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

Here’s the good news: It’s really very easy to do!

The one thing to remember is to work with the HTML editor in WordPress, not the Visual editor. (I’ve got the Visual editor turned off on my sites because I don’t use it at all, so I won’t be able to show you which is which in the following video. But the tabs to choose which one you’re working with are at the top right of the post/page edit box…way out to the right of where you upload images.)

(If you’re reading this through RSS, click through to the site to see the video.)

P.S. Here’s the plugin I mention in the video: XHTML Video Embed. (Here’s how to install new plugins in WP 2.7.)

Update 1/7/2010: With the release of WordPress 2.9, embedding video is ridiculously easy.

Related posts:

1. Make Your WordPress Site/Blog More User-Friendly for SmartPhone Users
2. DIY SEO: Step 5 – Make Navigating Your Site Easy
3. Web/Blog Site Stats – An Introduction

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

Keeping your plugins upgrade to their latest versions is just as important as keeping WordPress, itself, upgraded. Check out this 3-minute video to see just how dead simple this is! (If you’re reading this through the feed, please click through to the site to see the video.)

Related posts:

1. 13 Plugins Make My WordPress World Go ‘Round
2. Upgrade WordPress Yourself? Yes, You Can!
3. How to Install Plugins You’ve Downloaded as .ZIP Files

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

With the recent release of WordPress 2.7, upgrading WordPress has become a two-click process anyone can do – even you! No geekiness required.

See the 5-minute video below for step-by-step instructions:

Related posts:

1. How to Upgrade Your Plugins (and How to Know When They Need It)
2. WordPress 2.7 – I'm Lovin' It!
3. WordPress Security

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

Installing Plug-ins You’ve Downloaded to Your Hard Drive

The WordPress plug-in directory is not the only place you can find great WordPress plug-ins, so when you run across one you’re interested in trying out, go ahead and download it to your hard drive (I suggest creating a folder just for Plugins and saving it there so you can easily find it later.)

Login to your Dashboard and click on ‘Add New’ in the plugins menu at the left. You’ll want to upload the .zip file you saved to your computer, and then WordPress will take care of the rest. So, browse to the plugin zip file you downloaded and then click the Install Now button.

WordPress will tell you that it successfully installed the plug-in and ask you what action you want to take next: Activate Plug-in | Return to Plug-ins Page. You want to Activate Plug-in. WordPress will activate the plug-in for you and return you to the plug-ins page. You should now see the plug-in in your list.

Installing a Plug-in From the WordPress Plug-in Directory

Installing plug-ins found in the WordPress plug-in directory is even simpler! Login to your Dashboard and click on ‘Add New’ in the plugins menu at the left.

Click on ‘Featured’, ‘Popular’, ‘Newest’ or ‘Recently Updated’ from across the top of the page, click a tag in the ‘Popular tags’ tag cloud at the bottom of the page, or enter a search and click the ‘Search’ button. All of these actions will result in a list of available plug-ins being displayed to you.

Choose the one you want and click the ‘Install’ link at the right side of it’s listing, to the right of its description. A pop-up window will appear with information about the plug-in you’ve chosen. Click the ‘Install Now’ button and WordPress takes care of the rest!

See? Spectacularly simple!

Related posts:

1. How to Install Plugins You’ve Downloaded as .ZIP Files
2. WordPress 2.8 is Available! (and my list of plug-ins that don't like it)
3. Give Extra Link Love by Using the CommentLuv Plug-in

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne

photo credit: Matter = Energy

This is the ninth and final post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series.

Whew! You made it! You rock!

By now you have some serious DIY SEO for WordPress tools in your toolbox to help you get the attention of the search engines. By no means are you now an SEO expert – sheesh, neither am I – but you’ve got the basics now and let me tell you what – that’ll take you far.

Here’s the Catch

Fat lot of good all these new skills will do you if you don’t use them!

Oy. There’s always a catch.

I’m not going to get all preachy on you, but seriously…now that you know what to do to improve your exposure and rankings in the search engines, doesn’t it make sense to actually do it? You can’t claim you don’t know how anymore, right?

Christa at GiggleOn.com is now ranked #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5 in Google for her tag line. Smart girl – she’s working on her branding, obviously.

Tom at DelightfulWork.com has 3 of his keyword phrases with top listings in search results, and one of them, while it’s #13 in Google, is #2 in Windows Live search and #5 in Yahoo. Go on with your bad self, Tom!

Get the Handy Checklist

I know all this might seem a bit overwhelming when you think about applying all these tips and tricks to your posts, but I’ve made a handy little checklist to help you. It’s free for subscribers, so subscribe to my RSS feed or get updates by email so you can download it.

I’ve laid everything out in an easy to follow format and it’s all on one page, so you can print it out and hang it up for easy reference, or you can print one out for each page/post you write. All the posts in this series are listed, so if you forget what the heck keyword density actually is, for example, you don’t have to hunt all over creation to get back to the explanation. It’s right there…and clickable (the checklist is a PDF file, so if you view it on your computer, the links in it are clickable.)

The Wrap-Up

Getting found doesn’t have to be rocket science. But you do have to have a plan. Here it is, in a nutshell:

1. Know who you are, what you have to offer, and to whom. Specifically. Write it down.
2. Do your keyword research based on your answers to #1. Take the time – it’s important.
3. Apply the DIY SEO steps to your site and posts using your keywords and phrases from #2.
4. Enjoy your success!

Related posts:

1. DIY SEO: Step By Step Instructions on SEO You Can Do Yourself Today
2. DIY SEO: Step 0 – Keyword Selection
3. DIY SEO: Step 3 – Headings, Bold and Italics

Published at Websites in WordPress - Websites you can manage yourself no matter how non-technical you are! by Suzanne