Though titled Backing up your ZenCart database in phpMyAdmin, the instructions will work the exact same for WordPress database files.

See Backing up your ZenCart database in phpMyAdmin

Related posts:

1. Backing up your WordPress files in cPanel
2. Backing up your osCommerce files in cPanel
3. Backing up your ZenCart database in cPanel

See Backing up your ZenCart files in cPanel

Related posts:

1. Backing up your osCommerce files in cPanel
2. Backing up your WordPress database in cPanel
3. Backing up your ZenCart files in cPanel

Widgets allow you to add/remove content in your side bars without editing your template files. Excellent for users who are HTML/PHP challenged.

The first step is to edit your theme’s functions.php file

NOTE: If your theme does not include a functions.php file, create one using Notepad (leave it blank) and then upload it via FTP into your themes folder.

Open your functions.php file in your WordPress admin area. Paste the following code into the file.

<?php
if ( function_exists('register_sidebar') )
register_sidebar();
?>

Save this file.

Now, add the following code into your sidebar.php file:

<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar')
|| !dynamic_sidebar() ) : ?>
<?php endif; ?>

NOTE: This code can be placed anywhere in this file.

Save this file.

That’s it!

You can now click on Widgets” to the left under the Appearances tab to add widgets.

If you run into any troubles, let me know below

Related posts:

1. How to install a new WordPress theme
2. How to add an author box after my post in WordPress
3. Displaying recent posts as thumbnails in sidebar

Here is a snapshot of my author box:

The first step to creating your own is to add your author bio in the WordPress admin area.

Login to your WordPress admin area.

Click on “Your Profile” under the Users tab.

Once the page loads, scroll down a bit until you see:

Enter your biography into the box. Click on Update Profile.

We will now add the author box code to your theme.

Click on the “editor” link under the Appearances tab.

We will need to edit two files: your stylesheet (usually stylehseet.css) and your post page (usually single.php)

First click to open your stylesheet.css

Add the following code at the end of the file:

#authorbox{ background:#000; border:1px solid #000; width:550px; margin:0 auto; margin-bottom:10px; overflow:hidden; }
#authorbox h4{ font-size:16px; color:#fff; margin:0; padding:10px 10px 5px 10px; }
.authortext{ padding-left:100px; }
#authorbox img{ margin:0; padding:10px; float:left; }
#authorbox p{ color:#fff; margin:0; padding:0px 10px 10px 10px; }
#authorbox h4 a{ text-decoration:none; }
#authorbox p{ color:#fff; }

You can play around with this code to fit your own theme. For sure you will probably need to edit the following options:

• Background color of the author box (currently set to black)
• Width of the author box (currently set to 550px)

Once you add this code, save the stylesheet.

Now open your post template, usually single.php

Add the following code wherever you would like your author box to appear. I added mine right before the comment section (< div id = ” comment ” >).

<div id="authorbox">
<?php if (function_exists('get_avatar')) { echo get_avatar( get_the_author_email(), '80' ); }?>
<div class="authortext">
<h4>About <?php the_author_posts_link(); ?></h4>
<p><?php the_author_description(); ?></p>
</div>
</div>

Save the file and your author box should now appear.

If you run into any troubles, let me know below.

Related posts:

1. How to add HTML into a WordPress post
2. How to add a post in WordPress 2.6
3. How to change the background color in ZenCart

Upgrading is super easy, just look for this alert near the top of your admin area:

Click on “Please update now” to get started.

The following page will appear:

AFTER making a backup of your files and database, click on “Upgrade Automatically” to continue.

In a few moments, the following message will appear:

And that’s it!

You have successfully ugraded to 2.7.1.

Related posts:

1. How to upgrade to WordPress 2.8
2. Upgrading to WordPress 2.7: Part II
3. How to upgrade to WordPress 2.7

Once you have your back up created, you can finish the upgrade. To do so, you will need the following:

1. An FTP program (I like FileZilla and will be using it in this tutorial)
2. Your FTP information as provided by your web host (this is usually yourdomain.com or ftp.yourdomain.com, your username and a password)

Open your FTP program and connect to your domain using your FTP information.

You will be replacing your current wp-admin and wp-includes folders and all of their contents.

1. Delete your current wp-admin and wp-includes folders
2. Move over the wp-admin and wp-includes folders we unzipped earlier
3. Move over all of the files in main wordpress folder – overwriting the current files

IMPORTANT: Do not overwrite the wp-configure.php file.

Once you have finished, open your browser and type in:

http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com/WORDPRESSFOLDER/wp-admin

PLEASE make sure you replace YOURDOMAIN and WORDPRESSFOLDER with your actual information!

You should see this page:

Click on “Upgrade WordPress” to continue.

After a few seconds, you will see this page:

Click on “Continue” to complete the upgrade.

That’s it!

WordPress has now been upgraded to 2.7.

Related posts:

1. How to upgrade to WordPress 2.7.1
2. How to install WordPress: Part II
3. How to upgrade to WordPress 2.7

For this tutorial it is recommended that you are connected to the Internet, browsing the internet with Firefox and have FileZilla installed.

First, you will need to visit the WordPress website (http://www.wordpress.org) to download the script files. When you get to their main page, click on one of the two download buttons as illustrated below.

When the download page opens, click on the download button as shown below. I recommend downloading the script as a .zip file. You can download it as a .tar file, however this tutorial will be specific to the zip file.

A new box should open as seen below. Please select “Save to Disk” and then click on the “OK” button.

Once the file has finished downloading, you need to open the file you just saved. Usually, your computer will automatically save the file to your desktop. If you saved the file elsewhere, you will need to go to that location to open it. Once you find the file, double-click (click twice) on the file icon to open it.

A new box should open in your window as shown below. Because the file we saved was a .zip file (this is a compressed file – which makes it faster to download), we now need to “unzip” it.

First, click on the file name (it should be wordpress) one time with your mouse. Now, double-click the words “Extract all files” and a new window will (again) open:

For this tutorial, I will be extracting the files to my desktop. If you choose to extract the files to another location on your computer, please remember where you saved them to for later! Once you have your location chosen in the circled box above, click on the “Extract” button.

Your computer will then extract the zipped files to your specified location.

You are now ready to move these files to your web host and finish the upgrade.

How to upgrade to WordPress 2.7: Part II

Related posts:

1. How to install WordPress: Part I
2. How to install ZenCart: Part I
3. Installing new templates in ZenCart

First, login to your GoDaddy hosting control panel.

Once logged in, choose “Go Daddy Hosting Connection” under the “Content” tab:

The following screen will then appear:

To the left, click on the link “Blogs”

The menu will expand with options. Click on “WordPress”

When the next screen appears, click on “Install Now!” to start the installation.

GoDaddy will ask you to accept theit erms of use. Click on “I Agree” to continue.

You will then be asked to choose the domain you want to use for the install.

Check the box next to your domain name and then click on “Continue”

You will then be asked to select a password for your database. Enter a password and click on “Next”

You will now need to enter a name for the folder that WordPress will be installed to. Examples would be blog, wordpress, or similar. Leave this BLANK to have WordPress installed in the main directory.

Click on “Next” to continue.

You are almost finished!

The last step is to enter your configuration details. These can all be changed later.

You will need to enter the following (write these down in case you forget them):

1. Admin Name – can be your name, admin, owner. whatever you like.
2. Admin Password – choose a password and verify it
3. Email – enter your email address
4. Blog Title – the name of your blog

Click on “Finish” once you have entered everything.

That is it! The following message will appear letting you know that your install request has been submitted. Your WordPress blog will be up and running shortly.

Related posts:

1. How to install ZenCart at GoDaddy
2. How to install WordPress on HostGator
3. How to install WordPress: Part II

First, you will need to login to your cpanel.

Now, scroll down until you see:

Click on “Fantastico De Luxe”

To the left, you will see “WordPress” listed under Blogs.

Click on WordPress.

Now click on “New Installation” as shown below:

The following screen will then appear:

You will need to enter the following information:

1. Install on domain – select your domain name from the drop down list
2. Install in directory – for example: blog, leave blank to install in main directory
3. Administrator username – enter your desired username. for example: admin
4. Password – enter desired password
5. Admin nickname – for example: editor, or your actual name
6. Admin e-mail – enter your email address
7. Site name – enter the name of your blog (you can edit this later)
8. Description -enter a short description of your blog (you can edit this later)

Once you have entered your details, click on “Install WordPress”

A screen will appear letting you know that the server will create the necessary database for the blog. Click on “Finish installation” to complete the install.

WordPress has now been installed! Totally painless right?

Be sure you email yourself the username and password for future reference:

Related posts:

1. How to install ZenCart at HostGator
2. How to install osCommerce at HostGator
3. How to install WordPress at GoDaddy

I have been busy working on a custom word press theme for one of my clients. One request was to display recent posts as text AND as thumbnails. Specifically, they wanted to pull an image from the post to display in the side bar. I tried a variety of plugins but none worked for our exact needs. I played around with some code and finally came up with something that worked. It doesn’t create thumbnails automatically, they have to be created first, but it works close enough for the client.

NOTE: I have only tested this code with WordPress 2.7

The first thing you will need to do is edit your sidebar.php (or similar) file in WordPress. I am assuming you already know how to edit your theme files, but just in case…

1. Login to your admin area for WordPress
2. Click on Editor under “Appearance” in the left side menu

3. Open the sidebar.php file

Okay, now you will need to decide where you want the thumbnails to appear in your side menu. Once you have the spot picked, copy and paste the following code into the file:

<?php $myposts = get_posts(‘meta_key=post_thumbnail’);
foreach($myposts as $post) >
<?php $thumbnail = get_post_meta($post->ID, ‘post_thumbnail’, true); ?>

<a href=”<?php the_permalink(); ?>”>
<img src=”<?php echo $thumbnail; ?>” alt=”<?php the_title(); ?>” />
</a>

<?php endforeach; ?>

You can add special parameters for the way thumbnails are displayed including:

• orderby=title (to display thumbnails in order by post title)
• order=ASC (to display ABC order)
• order=DES (to display ZYX order)
• numberposts=XX (number of thumbnails to display)

These would be added directly after meta_key=post_thumbnail using the symbol “&” to separate each.

Save your sidebar.php file

We can now add in the thumbnails to your posts.

Click to edit the post you would like to add a thumbnail for. Once the post has opened, scroll down until you see a section titled “Custom Fields” as shown below:

Click on “Enter New” and type in post_thumbnail

FYI: After adding it the first time, you will be able to select this option from a drop down menu in the future

In the “Value” box, type in the URL to your thumbnail image.

Click on the button “Add Custom Field” to add your thumbnail image.

That’s it! Your thumbnail should now appear in your sidebar.

Related posts:

1. How to widgetize your WordPress theme
2. Recommended plugins for wordpress
3. How to add an author box after my post in WordPress