A Hack to Fix WP Category Sort Order Bug

I noticed that my categories (displayed on the right hand side of the page in the sidebar) were not displaying in the correct sort order (e.g. alphabetically). Instead they were appearing in the order they were created within WP 1.5 itself. A quick search of the WordPress Support Forum led me to a post in which users had identified an issue with WP 1.5, and the fact that the sort order did not work correctly. Some changes are required in the Template-functions-category.php file within the core WP application in order to correct this issue. This tutorial will explain what changes are required and where to make them.
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Headspace Modification Tutorial

Well, I finally got this Headspace theme more or less where I want it. There were several tweaks required along the way, so I’m knocking out a quick tutorial on how to modify the theme for anyone who follows. The original theme is fine to begin with (and most of all it’s pretty much compatible with most browsers), but I wanted to do some specific changes to improve it. This tutorial will describe (in brief) the key changes I’ve made with accompanying code examples. Hopefully it will make life easier for anyone else who wants to do the same.
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WordPress 1.5 Installation & Configuration Tutorial

OK, so it’s finally here at last. This is my first cut at the Never RTFM tutorial for getting WordPress downloaded, configured, installed and customised on your webserver
I hope you find it useful. If you have any suggestions for improving the content, or you find any errors or omissions in the text, please do not hesitate to leave a comment on the article and I’ll do what I can to improve it.

WordPress Installation & Configuration

1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose
1.2 Intended Audience
1.3 Prerequisites
2. Technical Requirements
3. Downloading the software
4. Initial Configuration
5. Uploading to your webserver
6. Installation
7. Blog Configuration
7.1 Configuration Items
7.2 Essential Configuration
8. Themes
8.1 Finding an appropriate theme
8.2 Installing a theme
8.3 Activating a theme
9. Known Issues
10. Customising your blog engine

1. Introduction

This is the first of several tutorials which will chart my progress as I build up the functionality at avalon5.com. This tutorial is concerned with the selection, installation and configuration of an excellent blogging engine called WordPress. I’ve never written a tutorial before so please feel free to provide any feedback or comments on this when you read it if you think it can be improved.

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this tutorial is to provide a shortcut for the basic installation and configuration of the WordPress blog engine. In other words, if you don’t want to RTFM, you don’t have to. Just follow the instructions and you will be up and running in no time at all.

1.2 Intended Audience

The intended audience for this tutorial is people like myself (bluffers!) who have a desire to learn by doing, and wish to get a blogging engine online with the minimum of effort and programming required. You do not need to have any specific technical knowledge to complete this installation.

1.3 Prerequisites

The only knowledge prerequisites for this are as follows:-

• Some basic understanding of internet architecture (e.g. webservers, databases, scripts etc.)
• A willingness to learn ‘just enough’ to get by for each issue.

2. Technical Requirements

The following technical requirements must be met if your installation is to succeed:-

• Access to hosted domain (e.g. www.avalon5.com) which supports either IIS or Apache Webserver
• PHP V4.1 or higher supported on your webserver
• MySQL V3.23.23 or higher supported on your webserver
• Access to FTP software which also supports CHMOD functionality (my choice was coreFTP)
• Access to a MYSQL database setup (if you don’t know how to do this, take the easy route and ask your hosting provider to create a database for you)
• Decide on the folder structure on your website where you wish to implement the blogging solution (e.g. www.avalon5.com/blog)

3. Downloading the software

Downloading the software couldn’t be easier. Simply browse to www.wordpress.org/download and download the appropriate file for your intended operating system/webserver. The screenshot on the left shows what you should be looking for.
In my case this was the ZIP file. I saved this onto my local desktop filesystem into a safe folder structure (e.g. E:\development\wordpress). The zip file then needs to be extracted into the existing folder structure, preserving the folder path.

4. Initial Configuration

Now that you have the local files on your desktop, you need to make a quick edit to one of them. Look for a file called “wp-config-sample.php”. Once located, edit this file and replace the following variables with your own database and domain information:-

5. Uploading to your webserver

First things first. Load up your FTP program and connect to your webserver. Create a new folder structure (eg. www.mydomain.com/blog). Now make sure within the FTP program you navigate your DESTINATION to the www.mydomain.com/blog folder on your webserver.
Navigate your SOURCE to the top level folder on your local desktop (eg. E:\development\wordpress). Then upload all the wordpress files to the webserver, making sure to preserve the folder/file paths.

6. Installation

This couldn’t be easier. Simply run the installation script on your domaim (e.g. www.mydomain.com/blog/install.php). This will then ask you a few more questions and complete the installation of wordpress. The important thing is to write down the randomly generated password which the installation script will present you with. You will need this to login to WordPress once it’s installed.

7. Blog configuration

Once your installation is complete you may now login to your new blog system (www.mydomain.com/blog/wp-admin). Use the username/password combination you setup during the installation process in the previous step. Once logged in you will be presented with a screen similar to this image on the left.
At this point you can now configure the blogging engine to whatever level of detail you wish, however there are a few key iutems that you should focus on as noted below.

7.1 Configuration Items

Click on the OPTIONS link on your main admin screen and you will be presented with a sub menu of options which may be configured. This is your starting point now that you have the engine up and running. Work your way through each sub-menu option and take your time to configure this engine the way you want it before posting any pages or content.

7.2 Essential Configuration

There are some essential configuration items that I would recommend you set as follows:-

8. Themes

At this stage you need to think about the most appropriate theme for your blog. There are numerous options out there. I personally selected a theme called ‘HEADSPACE’ because I liked the colour scheme and the layout. There are small number of themes out there to consider, but make sure they are WordPress V1.5 compatible themes!.

8.1 Finding an appropriate theme

Simply search for sites with WordPress V1.5 compatible themes and browse through them until you find what you are looking for. Then download the appropriate zip file to your local file system.

8.2 Installing a theme

As with the WordPress installation, you now need to upload the theme files to your webserver. This means loading up your FTP software, connecting to your webserver and then creating an appropriate theme directory to receive your new theme files. For example I selected the ‘headspace’ theme, so I needed to create a folder called www.mydomain.com / blog / wp-content / themes / headspace on my webserver. Now simply upload all files from your local theme folder, preserving path names.

8.3 Activating a theme

Once the theme files are uploaded you now need to access the PRESENTATION menu option in the admin screen which will present you with a theme sub-menu. Here you will be able to select your new theme and ACTIVATE it. It really is as simple as that!

9. Known Issues

There are a few known issues that you need to take into consideration as follows:-

• Enable Referrers; WordPress requires that referrers are enabled within your browser and any firewall system you are using. To do this simply browse to the WordPress Support site and search the forums for the words “Enable Referrer”. You will find several articles that tell you how to set this up properly.
• CHMOD; If you need to set the permissions on any folders on your webserver, some FTP clients will allow you to do this but ONLY if your webserver is of the linux/apache variet. Windows webservers will not handle CHMOD, even though your FTP client seems to effect the required changes. Trust me – if you have a windows webserver, just ring your web hoster and ask them to make the changes for you. It’s the path of least resistance.

10. Customising your blog engine

Now that you have your blog engine installed, it’s up to you to either stick with the default settings and style / theme, or to change it to suit your tastes. If you have a smattering of HTML expertise, you need to look at the following files to make typical changes to presentation, navigation and functionality:-

• PHP source files (e.g. header.php, footer.php, single.php etc.)
• Style.css source file to alter the basic style settings for your theme

50/50

I’m approximately 50% through the first tutorial, which is concerned with how to install and configure the WordPress blog engine.
The difficulty seems to be knowing where to draw the line at the level of detail in the tutorial. Too little and it’s of no use to anyone. Too much and it’s not only boring, but it might as well be a sodding installation manual rather than a shortcut. Still – I should have it done by the weekend and published.

Entropy at work!

Hmm… I’ve seen two definitions for “Entropy”; a measure of disorder that exists in a system; a measure of the energy in a system or process that is unavailable to do work.I think it’s fair to say that’s how things are going tonight:) I started with decent intentions, but travelled a different path in the end, which led me to look at other things:)

I’d been mucking around getting used to using HyperSnap-DX as a screen capture and editing tool in preparation for writing the first tutorial with associated images and screenies, but gradually entropy set in. It’s just not as interesting as getting new code or utilities up and running on the site. Consequently my curiosity got the better of me and I started looking at the gallery and forum tools in more detail.

I think it’s fair to say I’m loosing interest in writing a tutorial this evening … I reckon I should put that off until I have some time to do it right, so I’m taking a quick decision to postpone the first tutorial until the coming weekend. That HyperSnap-DX tool is pretty impressive though, I can see it getting a lot of use .