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A Subscription Website Using WordPress

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

Note 2010/06/09: Since I wrote this post, our client has sold her site to Morningstar, which has replaced the subscription area we developed with their own, Windows-based subscription service.

Our latest work involves development of a subscription system using WordPress on the popular financial blog, Footnoted.org. The requirements of the system were as follows:

  1. A subscriber registration and payment processing interface
  2. System tracking of subscription expiration dates
  3. Download management allowing the administrator to easily upload files as well as restricting file downloads to paying subscribers only
  4. An email notification sent to paying subscribers when a new publication is available

(more…)

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Posted in Ecommerce, plugins, WordPress | No Comments »

WordPress Plugin: Ad-minister

Monday, November 24th, 2008

Note 2010/06/09: I’ve noticed lately that the developer of this (still excellent) plugin has not kept up with WordPress compatibility. The main issue seems to be that you cannot add more than one ad widget to your sidebar. This has been remedied with another plugin by Finding Simple. Just install it, activate, and you’re set to go!

Recently, a client asked if I could create some ad spaces on his WordPress blog that he could administer himself. The requirements:

  1. ad spaces of differing sizes
  2. ad spaces in multiple locations on the site
  3. a simple administration interface with the ability to input ads with HTML code or to upload an image with a link

(more…)

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Posted in plugins, WordPress | 8 Comments »

WordPress Plugin: PHP Code Widget

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

This post is a continuation of posts about WordPress plugins we’ve worked with. I just installed a plugin called the PHP Code Widget for a client today. This plugin takes the basic function of a text widget and lets you place PHP code in it. Very useful if you’re using a widgitized sidebar and need to place some PHP code in a widget. In this particular example, I needed a links widget that would display only one link category. The default WordPress links widget displays all categories and has no options. What do I do? Well, I download the PHP Code Widget and insert my PHP widget with the code to display one category only (assuming a category number 2):

<?php wp_list_bookmarks('category=2'); ?>

Beautiful!

Posted in plugins, WordPress | No Comments »

Choosing a Developer-Friendly WordPress Theme

Monday, August 4th, 2008

The first thing you’ll do after you install WordPress is choose a blog theme. If you are going to have a developer help you with your blog at any point, choosing a good theme can also mean money if your developer is charging by the hour. You want a theme that not only looks good but also is easy for your developer to customize. Here are a few themes that I rate highly in aesthetics and ease of customization. These are developer-friendly themes, so to speak. (more…)

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Starting with WordPress

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Since we’ve been working a lot more with the free blogging software WordPress lately, this blog will record a little of what we’ve discovered along the way. WordPress.com is a good place to go if you don’t want to worry about hosting, upgrading, and general messing around with the software. However, WordPress.com is limited in three areas:

  • You are limited to the themes that are available in the WordPress.com theme library.
  • You cannot edit your theme’s code.
  • You are limited to the plugins that are available in their plugin library

(more…)

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