I have installed the Tiny MCE Editor in an attempt to improve the posting experience
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Personally I don't like emoticons as I have a reasonable vocabulary, but we now have them and can also change the colour of text using the Select text color button. There is also a less useful Select background color button. You can combine the two if you really must.
Users must update their User Profiles to ensure that the box next to 'use the visual rich editor when writing' is unchecked.

1. You use the left hand (yellow) 'Insert Image' icon to upload from your PC.
2. Click on the lower 'Upload' button, the one right next to the filename, once you have Browsed to the image (I am not sure what the upper one does).
3. You can then drag the image into the Post or better still,
4. Click on the Image for a menu of options and decide just what you want to insert - although some don't seem to work.
5. If you select the image and click the right hand (tree) Insert/edit Image icon, you can set alignment although there seem to be some minor issues there e.g. bullets can overlap an image - my numbering here is manual.
There don't seem to be any problems with text alignment around images.
The Problem
The WordPress editor seems to be full of bad ideas about how to format what you have so carefully typed in, so at times it is worth delving into the HTML version of the text to attempt a clean up.
The sort of HTML the editor produces is rather like the code that a word processor uses to ‘markup’ the text you enter, making it appear formatted. The tags are invisible in the editor and output, but they are there in the background.
You can experiment as much as you like at your own risk and can’t do too much harm, but remember that basic HTML formatting instructions should have both opening and closing tags - the latter having the / to cancel the format effect. There are however plenty of exceptions and quirks.
I can’t show you tags here accurately as the editor would interpret them, so I will use [ and ] where ‘real’ tags would have the left and right angle brackets (aka ‘less than’ and ‘greater than’ signs).
[strong]bold text[/strong] will appear as bold text.
What to do about it
You will mostly want to remove unnecessary tags that the editor puts in to your posts e.g. extra centering tags.
Here are two methods, basically the same, but the second is more cautious.
Method One - Reckless (but I do it all the time)
- Manage the post in question through Site Admin.
- Click on the HTML button to display a window revealing the HTML code behind your text.
- Strip out the tags shown here in bold [div align="center"]keep the text though![/div]
- Be careful to avoid the similar ones with the image details.
- The tags should come in balanced pairs as stated above - i.e. before and after text (could be left/right or above/below) BUT sometime there are extra spurious opening ones with no balancing closing tags.
- Click on the Update button to update the HTML.
- Check the results in the preview window before saving the post.
Method Two - Slightly less Reckless
- Manage the post in question through Site Admin.
- Click on the HTML button to display a window revealing the HTML code behind your text.
- Click in the HTML window and select all the text (Ctrl + A or use the mouse)
- Copy all the text (Ctrl + C or use the right-mouse menu)
- Paste the text into a fresh Notepad document that you remembered to open before you did anything else (Ctrl + V or use the right-mouse menu)
- In the Notepad window, strip out the tags shown here in bold [div align="center"]keep the text though![/div]
- Be careful to avoid the similar ones with the image details.
- The tags should come in balanced pairs as stated above - i.e. before and after text (could be left/right or above/below) BUT sometime there are extra spurious opening ones with no balancing closing tags.
- When you think you are finished, reverse the process by
- Selecting all the revised text in the Notepad window
- Copying it
- Pasting it into the WordPress HTML window
- Click on the Update button to update the HTML.
- Check the results in the preview window before saving the post.
Notes
- You could even save the code posted to Notepad in Method Two / 5 as a backup file.
- You might even create posts in Notepad, but I think you will still have to add the images with the WordPress editor and it will probably undo you good work when you do!
Backup
The default backup plugin (WordPress Database Backup) has been deactivated.
A new, more comprehensive, plugin, WP-DB Manager has been installed in replacement.
It is accessible from options on the the Database tab
Perform regular (at least monthly) backups
Optimise
Perform at least once a month from the Database/Optimise DB tab
I have loaded the ‘Adhesive’ plugin, which controls sticky posts on the home page and in categories.
I haven’t investigated it fully, but it seems capable of keeping a post on top of the home page even if it isn’t the newest. This is why I wanted it i.e. it keeps a particular item (e.g. a Welcome post) at the top of the front page. You may want to alter its content from time to time, but it stops new posts pushing it down the page/screen, preserving a little bit of structure.
The Archives page currently lists posts by month and by category.
Adding and Maintaining Links
Instructions
- In Site Admin, create a new link by clicking on the [Links] menu item and then the [Create Link] tab. You can also update existing links using the [Manage Links] tab.
- Start entering details on the form with the URL or web address e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/
- Enter a Link Name e.g. Amazon
- Enter a Short Description e.g. Online book shop
- Choose an appropriate Category for the link from the drop-down list e.g. maps
- In the Advanced section, you will normally want to select the radio button for _blank as the Target i.e. you will want the linked website to open in a new window. This does not always seem to work, and when it doesn’t users will have to use the browser back button to get back to the FAARTALS site
- Check your handiwork
- Click on the [Publish] button
- Click on the (View site>>) link in the header to check it on the site if you like
The Links Page
This is for listing hyperlinks to other websites.
The page uses two special plugins
- runPHP - a general plugin designed to allow PHP code to run on posts or pages. The Links Page has use of this this option enabled.
- iMP Links - s specific plugin that groups the links by category on the Links Page.
The actual PHP used is the default:
- [?php iMP_Links();] (note the opening and closing angle brackets have been replaced with [ and ]
Changing the text on the Links Page almost inevitably destroys the plugin code leaving the links page linkless. So the Links Page is best left alone.
Note: The actual appearance varies according to browser viewing the page. Internet Explorer is better than ’strict’ browsers such as Firefox.
This image is 760 pixels wide and 200 pixels deep (high).
It is saved as …/wp-content/themes/pixelgreen-10/images/headerphoto.jpg
Note: Only njb can change the image, as this cannot be done through a WordPress Site Administration function.
This is a two stage process
A. Write a new Sub-Page with the details of the Walk
B. Add a Link to the new Sub-Page in the Walks (Parent) Page
Instructions
A. Write a new Sub-Page with the details of the Walk
Note: It is best to avoid composing posts or pages in Word and then pasting them into the Wordpress Editor form. Instead either compose directly using the WordPress Editor, or cut and paste clean text into it from Wordpad. You can always add bold to the headings and italics where required using the WordPress Editor. These techniques avoid adding lots of unnecessary tags that slow things down and make minor edits with the WordPress Editor risky. No matter how you compose the text however, you will have to upload any images you want in the page or post using WordPress and insert them via the WordPress Editor. You can’t just paste in a Word document with images.
So
- Create a new page by Clicking on the [Write] menu item in Site Admin
- Then click on the [Write Page] tab
- In the form that opens, enter a title for the walk e.g. Pennine Way in an afternoon (on one leg)
- Paste or type in the text of the walk article, using whatever technique (see above ) you have chosen.
- You may use a template with headers and this could be saved in Wordpad. There are sophisticated (aka complicated) templates in WordPress that may be the subject of a future Instruction post.
- Expand the [Discussion] box on the right by clicking on its [+] sign and decide whether you want to allow Comments and/or Pings. Tick or untick appropriately.
- Expand the [Page Parent] box and choose ‘Walks’ from the drop-down list to make your new sub-page a sub-page of the Walks index page.
- Expand the [Post Slug] box and type in a unique short link name (no spaces, use -s instead)
Note: You can omit this step, and after saving the page, go back in via [manage] Pages and note the Page slug that WordPress has automatically entered for you. It will usually be the page title with hyphens replacing all the spaces.
- Check your handiwork
- Click on the [Create New Page >>] button
- Click on the (View site>>) link in the header to check it on the site if you like
B. Add a Link to the new Sub-Page in the Walks (Parent) Page
- In Site Admin click on the [Manage] menu item
- Then click on the [Pages] tab
- Next, click on the ‘Edit’ link of the ‘Walks’ page entry. The form for the Walks page will open.
- In the main ‘Page Content’ box, add a new bullet to the list of links to walk sub-pages.
- Do this by positioning your cursor at the end of the text of the last item (or the item above the point where you want to insert the new link) and hit the return key.
- Type in the link text, which will normally be the title used for the walk sub-page
- Select the link text you have just typed, using your mouse or a keyboard technique
- Click on the WordPress editor ‘hyperlink tool’ which is represented by a small graphic that looks like the link of a chain.
- A popup form will appear. You only need to complete the top field (URL), so leave the middle (Target) field as “open link in the same window” and leave the last field (Title) blank.
- So, in the URL field type in the full URL of the walk sub-page. This will be something like:
http://faartals.co.uk/walks/Post slug/ Note: replace Post slug with the value from the ‘Post slug’ field on the new walk sub-page.
- Check your work
- Click on the [Update] button to close the popup link window
- Check your handiwork
- Click on the [Save >>] button
- Click on the (View site>>) link in the header to check the site if you like
Adding an Calendar Event is a variation on making an ordinary post.
Instructions
- Create a new post e.g. by Clicking on the [Write] menu item in Site Admin
- Start entering details on the (default) [Write Post] form (click that tab if you have navigated away)
- Enter a title for the event e.g. Christmas Day or Nick’s Birthday
- Enter extra text in the box below if you really need it. For a basic date you probably won’t, but for an entry to get people to do something or go somewhere you will.
- Expand the Discussion menu on the right by clicking on its [+] sign.
- Untick the ‘Allow Comments’ and ‘Allow Pings’ boxes as you won’t usually want comments against a calendar event.
- Scroll down to the ‘Event Editor’ section and expand it by clicking on the Start [+] sign.
- Enter a start date/time
- Tick the ‘All Day’ box for an anniversary etc. or enter an End Date/Time
- Note, when you expanded the Event Editor, you automatically assigned the post to the Events category. That category box is ticked and greyed out (to stop you unticking it) in the expanded Category section to the right.
To prevent the post appearing on the blog as well as in the Event Calendar, untick all other categories (e.g. Uncategorized).
- Check your handiwork
- Click on the [Publish] button
- Click on the (View site>>) link in the header to check it on the site if you like
Note: Only the next 5 upcoming events appear below the Calendar on the front page. The rest generate shading on the dates as you view the months of the calendar.
The little box at the top right of the front page is meant for short messages that you want members to spot.
To change the Announcement:
- In Site Admin, click on the [Presentation] menu item
- Click on the [Sidebar widgets] tab
- You will see a representation of the sidebar (annoyingly on the left when it’s on the right of the actual page)
- The boxes on that ’sidebar’ represent the ‘widgets’ or small elements of content that appear there
- The top one is labelled [Text 1]
- Click on the configure icon on its right hand end
- Update the text in the pop-up box. You can change both the header (e.g. Announcements) and the text that will appear below that header. Continually altering the header will make the site less easy to use, so stick to whatever you decide on (Announcements or something else). You could use Stop Press, Newsflash, Oi! etc.
- Check your work
- Close the pop-up box by clicking on the [X] in its top right hand corner
- Click on the [Save changes >>] button below the box
- Click on the (View site>>) link in the header to check it on the live site