Send Email Notifications When User Profile Updates In WordPress

Adding this snippet to your functions.php file will send an email to the user when the user updates their profile. It's really great way to provide more security to your users. It's also a great trick if you're running a WordPress site with BuddyPress or bbPress. It makes your website look more advance, and keeps your user secure from hackers.

Just add following to your functions.php:

function user_profile_update( $user_id ) {
        $site_url = get_bloginfo('wpurl');
        $user_info = get_userdata( $user_id );
        $to = $user_info->user_email;
        $subject = "Profile Updated: ".$site_url."";
        $message = "Hello " .$user_info->display_name . "\nYour profile has been updated!\n\nThank you for visiting\n ".$site_url."";
        wp_mail( $to, $subject, $message);
}
add_action( 'profile_update', 'user_profile_update', 10, 2);

Restrict Access To WordPress Media Uploads

Ever wanted to restrict access WordPress media upload mime/format? Yes, that's why you guys are reading this post. You can perform this trick with directories such as /uploads/, /upgrade/, and /backups/. All you need a .htaccess file for the directory.

Create an .htaccess file for your /uploads/ directory (or use existing file if present). Add following code to the .htaccess file:

# restrict access to uploads directory
<Files ~ ".*\..*">
    Order Allow,Deny
    Deny from all
</Files>
<FilesMatch "\.(jpg|jpeg|jpe|gif|png|tif|tiff)$">
    Order Deny,Allow
    Allow from all
</FilesMatch>

The above code denies access to all files but only to the specified types of mime in the 6th line. You can also add more file types to the code such as .zip, .mp3, .mov, or anything.

You can also use same technique in other directories such as /upgrade/, /backup/, and more. Just create an .htaccess file in the directory and add the above code.

Add QR Code For Posts And Pages In WordPress

QR Code (Quick Response Code) is a great way to promote your content, and is very easy for users to use them. They can visit a webpage without even typing the entire web address. Just scan the QR Code and that's it.

The QR code system was invented in 1994 by Toyota's subsidiary, Denso Wave. Its purpose was to track vehicles during manufacture; it was designed to allow high-speed component scanning.[

Would you like to add a QR Code to your posts and pages in WordPress? It's easy just add the following snippet to your single.php file of your WordPress theme in the location you wish to display the QR.

<img src="http://api.qrserver.com/v1/create-qr-code/?size=100x100&data=<?php the_permalink(); ?>" alt="QR:  <?php the_title(); ?>"/>

To adjust the size of the QR Code just change the following within the src size=100×100.

How To Hide Post View And Post Preview Buttons From WordPress Post Editor

Ever wanted to remove "preview post" & "view post" option from the WordPress' post editor? Here is the solution how to do this. Just add following snippet to your theme's functions.php file and don't forget to update the post type array in the following code:

function posttype_admin_css() {
    global $post_type;
    $post_types = array(
                        /* set post types */
                        'post_type_name',
                        'post',
                        'page',
                  );
    if(in_array($post_type, $post_types))
    echo '<style type="text/css">#post-preview, #view-post-btn{display: none;}</style>';
}
add_action( 'admin_head-post-new.php', 'posttype_admin_css' );
add_action( 'admin_head-post.php', 'posttype_admin_css' );

How To Remove URL Field From WordPress Comment Form

For some WordPress sites, such as themes, review, and all, you may want to remove Website URL field from the WordPress' comment form. Removing the field could be used for product reviews or if they created a support tickets theme that does not require a url field.

It's not much hard to remove/unset the website url from the comment form. Just add following snippet to your functions.php file and it's done:

add_filter('comment_form_default_fields', 'unset_url_field');
function unset_url_field($fields){
    if(isset($fields['url']))
       unset($fields['url']);
       return $fields;
}

Change Post Color By Status In WordPress Admin Panel

It's a great trick if you manage a WordPress site with multiple writers/contributors.It's a great trick if you manage a WordPress site with multiple writers/contributors.

Adding this snippet to your theme's functions.php file will change the background colors of the post / page within the admin based on the current status. Draft, Pending, Published, Future, Private.

add_action('admin_footer','posts_status_color');
function posts_status_color(){
?>
<style>
.status-draft{background: #FCE3F2 !important;}
.status-pending{background: #87C5D6 !important;}
.status-publish{/* no background keep wp alternating colors */}
.status-future{background: #C6EBF5 !important;}
.status-private{background:#F2D46F;}
</style>
<?php
}

How To Login To WordPress Using Your Username Or Email Address

By default, WordPress only allows us to login to WordPress powered sites only with our username. But most of us prefer to enter our email address to login because remembering your email is more simple than usernames.

C. Bavota from bavotasan.com found a great way to allow your users to use either their username or email address to log into WordPress without any plugin. Just add following code to your functions.php file:

function login_with_email_address($username) {
    $user = get_user_by_email($username);
    if(!empty($user->user_login))
        $username = $user->user_login;
    return $username;
}
add_action('wp_authenticate','login_with_email_address');

Kevin Chard improved this trick by adding a snippet to it, which will change the text on the login page from “username” to “username / email.” Add following snippet to your functions.php just below the first code:

function change_username_wps_text($text){
       if(in_array($GLOBALS['pagenow'], array('wp-login.php'))){
         if ($text == 'Username'){$text = 'Username / Email';}
            }
                return $text;
         }
add_filter( 'gettext', 'change_username_wps_text' );

How To Change WordPress Author URL Slug

In WordPress, an author's profile is by default accessible by using the yoursite.com/author/name. But it's really easy to change the default author url slug/base. All be just need is a simple snippet.

Kevin Chard found a great code to change the default yoursite.com/author/name to yoursite.com/profile/name. Just add following snippet to your functions.php file:

add_action('init', 'cng_author_base');
function cng_author_base() {
    global $wp_rewrite;
    $author_slug = 'profile'; // change slug name
    $wp_rewrite->author_base = $author_slug;
}

Replace profile on line 4 by any slug you want.

Add Short URL Below Posts In WordPress Without Plugins

Previously I shared a post on this blog about adding a Short Link Widget Below Posts In Blogger, which is a great tutorial for Blogger admins. But I never shared anything like that for WordPress blogs. There are a lot of plugins to add this short link widget below your posts, but we're going to do this without any crappy plugin.

Plus, instead of going with one short link service, you can choose between two short links services. Both services are well known, and easy to use. These two short links services are tr.im and TinyURL.

Add Short URL Below Posts In WordPress:

Add one of the following two codes to your functions.php file:

For tr.im:

function getTrimUrl($url) { $tinyurl = file_get_contents("http://api.tr.im/api/trim_simple?url=".$url); return $tinyurl; }

For TinyURL:

function getTinyUrl($url) { $tinyurl = file_get_contents("http://tinyurl.com/api-create.php?url=".$url); return $tinyurl; }

After adding one of the above codes to your functions.php file, add following code in your single.php file, within the loop:

<?php $turl = getTinyUrl(get_permalink($post->ID)); echo 'Tiny Url for this post: <a href="'.$turl.'">'.$turl.'</a>' ?>

Above code is for a hyperlink style short link. You can also add a text box style widget with the following code:

<?php $turl = getTinyUrl(get_permalink($post->ID)); echo 'Tiny Url for this post: <input readonly="true" type="text" value="'.$turl.'"/>' ?>

Save your files, and That's IT!

5 Professions For Being A Good Blogger

Before moving to very specific nuances of blogging every new person in this field of Internet acting should consider certain basic things. We are talking about that skills which are greatly required for a successful blogging career. These five professions are truly advised to master for a proficient blogger.

Profession #1 A Writer:

The ability to compose a text is the most important skil for any blogger. Even if you have a photo blog, you still have to write a title and subheadings in a correct way.

Advice: There is no need to know how to write compositions on a certain topic. to know how to write advertising texts is a more important skill!

How to become a skillful writer? There is only one possible answer! You simply need to write. Yes, it will be extremely difficult at the beginning but in time you will learn how to express thoughts and feeling “on the paper.” Classic book on how to write advertising texts can be rather helpful for a new writer. For example, it will help you with an advice on how to pick headings for articles. You can also read heading of teaser advertisings to see the way genius copywriters work.  

Profession #2 A Proofreader:

Of course, you need to write without any sort of mistakes. Sometimes misprints happen with everyone, still if you are the author of a misprint it’s you who will feel embarrassed for it! It’s of vital importance not to make mistakes. 

How to become a good proofreader? The only way out here is to read without stopping. Reading classic literature works helps a lot. Why should you choose classic literature for reading? Anyone will agree that literature of the past is reach with beautiful expressions and good grammar. At the same time not every novel by modern writer is of the same literature quality as classic work.  At the moment we themselves are working on our writing quality.

Profession #3 Marketing Specialist:

To be more specific you need to become a professional Internet marketer. It’s highly recommended to have at least basic knowledge on SEO and SMM. You can use another ways of blog advertising, like writing the website on the pavements, why not? However if you choose more traditional ways of website promotion you’d better get to know more about SEO and SMM.

Profession #4 A Programmer

To make a blog using Blog hosting services doesn’t require specific skills except of browsing. In case you have a desire to create your own blog you will have to learn how to use HTML and PHP as both of them are to be useful rather frequently.  

Profession #5 You Choose:

If you are not going to write posts on such topics as “I woke up. Today is a nice weather” you need to decide on a topic of your blog. Obviously, you have to be a professional in everything concerning the topic you choose. In other words another profession is to be mastered!

Author - Paul Smith works at fastcustomwritinghelp.com. He likes different innovations and if you have something new and interesting to share with him, you are welcome to the site, where he is currently working. Paul can be contacted via Google+
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