Posting screen

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Helios_Multi TPoxygen11final

[Anonymum]

In my posting screen, below the usual post box, image upload box etc, there are other options I've never explored. These are:

Original excerpt: Just an empty box.

Trackbacks: This is a box labelled "send trackbacks to" and it tells me to seperate multiple URL's with a comma.

Custom fields: here I see a drop down that has different numbers in it  which are 1598-1628, {it also shows} _enclose me and ping me, and another box beside that which is blank, and beside that a 3rd box named "value"

I know what a trackback is, and a URL obviously, but that's as far as my understanding goes with these boxes.
At the risk of sounding like an idiot {not unusual for me when it comes to some of the more complicated items} could someone enlighten me as to what they're for and how to use them if indeed I need to be using them.
EDITED TO ADD: Even a link to somewhere it explains the purpose in some semblance of language I'd be able to absorb?

[FormerAdmin]

In my posting screen, below the usual post box, image upload box etc, there are other options I've never explored. These are:

Original excerpt: Just an empty box.

Trackbacks: This is a box labelled "send trackbacks to" and it tells me to seperate multiple URL's with a comma.

Custom fields: here I see a drop down that has different numbers in it  which are 1598-1628, {it also shows} _enclose me and ping me, and another box beside that which is blank, and beside that a 3rd box named "value"

I know what a trackback is, and a URL obviously, but that's as far as my understanding goes with these boxes.
At the risk of sounding like an idiot {not unusual for me when it comes to some of the more complicated items} could someone enlighten me as to what they're for and how to use them if indeed I need to be using them.
EDITED TO ADD: Even a link to somewhere it explains the purpose in some semblance of language I'd be able to absorb?

Hi,

the only one of these I use is custom fields - using the Mimbo theme, I add an Image field and the name of the thumbnail that goes on the front page of On Blogging Australia.

Cheers, Andrew

[StephenCronin]

If you want more info on the trackbacks, Meg has a good article How to Create a Trackback. It's worth noting that you don't really need to use this - WordPress will automatically try to ping any links you include in your post.

If you enter an excerpt, it will be shown on your home page and the archive pages etc (instead of what is shown now). If you use the full post on your home page, then you don't want to do this. If you use the <!--more--> tag to show only the first part of the post, then you may want to consider using excerpts instead - this is a little nicer, as you can provide a true summary of the post, rather than just the start of the post.

Custom Fields are extremely powerful, but most users never need to use them. I use them a fair bit for my hacks. For example, I hacked the Sociable plugin to only display on a Page if a certain Custom Field is present (I want it on my plugin pages, but not on my about page). I also wrote a small unreleased plugin to include CSS entered via CustomFields (so I don't have to add it to my CSS file if I only need it for one post). If you already have values in there, then you are probably using a plugin which stores information in the Custom Fields (such WP-PostViews).

Hope this isn't making it less clear.

[Meg]

What Stephen said 

But to add - maybe it's my theme, but I've found if I'm linking to more than a couple of sites, WP just gives up sending trackbacks unless I put them all in that section. Reason I know this is I've gone in to edit a post sometime later and trackbacks that haven't gone (i.e. my own) then get sent. Have you ever got a trackback from someone ages after the post? I reckon it's because of that...

With regard to the custom fields - I think different plugins change what you see there. I use the "All in one seo" plugin, so my custom fields are a little different to yours.

[Sephyroth]

One thing that I've found is that if you have more than one link to a site, the auto-trackback function will only send them to the first link you include in the post - if you update, then it goes to the second, et cetera. Strainge, but that's what I've found...

[StephenCronin]

One thing that I've found is that if you have more than one link to a site, the auto-trackback function will only send them to the first link you include in the post - if you update, then it goes to the second, et cetera. Strainge, but that's what I've found...

Yes, that's true that you can only send one trackback at a time to each site - it's part of the built in Anti-spam stuff I believe. There is a plugin called (from memory) WP Ping Server, that fixes it on the incoming server side (it won't help your trackbacks to other sites, but it will help people send trackbacks to yours).

[Sueblimely]

I also wrote a small unreleased plugin to include CSS entered via CustomFields (so I don't have to add it to my CSS file if I only need it for one post).

I would find this plugin really useful Stephen - are you going to publish it at some point? I have just been adding custom css to the post itself  to have the  so that my stylesheet does not become too big and slow.

[Anonymum]

Thanks guys.
I'll be honest and say some of it wasn't making sense, but what Stephen said made perfect sense, and it penetrated my thick skull!
Getting there, bit by bit...
 

[StephenCronin]

I also wrote a small unreleased plugin to include CSS entered via CustomFields (so I don't have to add it to my CSS file if I only need it for one post).

I would find this plugin really useful Stephen - are you going to publish it at some point? I have just been adding custom css to the post itself  to have the  so that my stylesheet does not become too big and slow.

Hi Sue,

I'll tell you exactly what it does, then if you want it, I can email it to you.

For posts I want to add some custom CSS to, I create a Custom Field called customstyle and put the CSS in the value field. For example on one of my posts, I added the following in customstyle:

Code:

<style type="text/css" media="screen">
.headerrow {height: 3em; width:100%; background:#B9C9D3;font-weight: bold; border-right:solid;border-width:1px; border-color:#CCCCCC}
.oddrow {height: 3em; width:100%; background:#DDDDDD; border-top:solid;border-right:solid; border-width:1px; border-color:#CCCCCC}
.evenrow {height: 3em; width:100%; background:#E6E6E6; border-top:solid;border-right:solid; border-width:1px; border-color:#CCCCCC; }
.cell {height: 100%;float:left; width:80px; border-left:solid; border-width:1px; border-color:#CCCCCC; vertical-align: middle;}
</style>

The plugin checks for the existence of customstyle when loading the page / post. If it exists, it adds the contents to the HTML head. If not, it does nothing. I can then use these styles in the post body.

The main benefit of this (over inline CSS) is that I can easily change it in the custom field, instead of going through every line that it's used in the post. If it's simple CSS, inline is probably easier, but if it's a bit more complicated and you may need to play with it a bit, this plugin may help.

One possible problem: I'm not sure what will happen on the home page. I use the <!--more--> tag and haven't needed the styles to be used on the home page yet. I might have to do something special for the home page or archive pages if this is a problem.

It's very simple at present - about 9 lines of code that actually do something. Of course, you could use it to add other things to the head section as well.

Anyway, if you want it, PM me with your email address.