I was searching for some WordPress hacks the other day. Actually, I was desperately looking for one particular hack that would restore my WordPress dashboard. I wasn’t sure what went wrong (I am now, a plugin added an extra screen option that I didn’t want).
At the time, no idea how to fix it – so, the search was on.
Lucky me, I ran across a valuable post on WordPress hacks from Kevan Lee at Smartblogger.
According to Kevan Lee,
These little-known hacks will transform you from a WordPress wimp into a WordPress wizard.
Kevan wrote a killer article, going into detail with 27 different hacks. While I knew a lot of these (or at least a workaround), some were new and ALL are a valuable read.
Here’s the short version list:
- Go full screen for zero distractios
- Adjust the editor to perfectly match your blog layout
- Switch heading styles
- Find the ‘read more’ button easily
- Inserting links without touching your mouse
- Let WordPress find the internal links
- Avoid formatting when pasting rich text into your post
- User-reference for your own shortcuts
- Keep tabs on your word count
- Using ’em’ dashes
- How to use quick edit
- Skip the media library – I like this one a lot
- How to make a post ‘sticky’
- Manage your teams roles – good for guest bloggers too
- Create a workflow using ‘pending review’
- Add code without doing any coding – good one
- Use auto-embeds – I use this one often
- Change WordPress dashboard
- Screen options – that’s what I’m talking about
- Eliminate ‘uncategorized’ posts as default
- Using drafts
- Add categories and tags in bulk
- Insert perfectly sized images – love this
- Change login background image – see * at bottom on these ones
- Change post excerpt length
- Change default avatar
- Add a custom call to action
Okay, that’s the not so short list.
* My BIG caveat on #24-27 – messing with functions.php. Not as easy as it sounds on the post. One missing curly bracket and your site is DOWN, nada, broke. Make VERY sure, if you decide to mess with functions.php, is to make a copy of the original before you start messing around so you can always restore things to normal if you can’t find your mistake.
I also recommend using FTP over the wordpress editor. With FTP you have a way to get back into your site and fix things if you mess up. If you’re not comfortable using FTP you’re not ready to edit functions.php. Enuf said.
That being said, this is a fabulous list of wordpress hacks to have on hand.
For the detailed instructions on this list, head on over to read the full article over at Smartblogger