add_post_type_support( 'page', 'excerpt' );

Once you have that in place – you can then use the WordPress the_excerpt() function to show the excerpt within the theme.

Download the latest versions of WordPress: WordPress 3.2

Getting the general query together was a snap – but the orderby did not work unless I had the meta_key defined (this is documented but was overlooked initially).

Example

$now = time();
$args = array(
	'category_name' => 'Events',
	'meta_query' => array(
		array(
			'key' => 'sdac_event_time_stamp',
			'value' => $now,
			'compare' => '>=',
			'type' => 'NUMERIC'
		)
	),
	'meta_key' => 'sdac_event_time_stamp',
	'order' => 'ASC',
	'orderby' => 'meta_value_num'
 );
$events_query = new WP_Query( $args);

If you take a look at the query itself – the trick was to capture the time now ($now) and then use the compare within the meta_query. Overall – this sort of query makes working with custom fields a lot easier. If you have not checked it out yet – take a look.

Documentation
Function Reference/WP Query

Example: You have a WordPress site set up to show/sell products (in this example – you sell books and posters). You have a custom taxonomy called “catalog” that you use to organize all the products.

If you want to show all items that are marked “posters” in your custom catalog taxonomy you can simply use this query:

query_posts( array( 'catalog' => 'posters' ) );

Of course – you can create more complicated custom taxonomy queries, but this will get you started. By using custom taxonomies (and custom post types) – you can really open the door to creating complex content management systems (and/or really cool sites that need something more than your standard categories/tags/posts/pages).

Further documentation: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/query_posts

Remember – keep it simple!

Unlock the power of screen options

• Choose what you see on the dashboard (and how it is displayed)
• Show/hide fields on the edit post page
• Choose the number of posts/pages/categories/tags/plugins/users you see in those listings (great if you want to show more than the default number)
• Show/hide columns in the posts/pages/categories/tags/plugins/users listings
• Enable/disable accessibility mode (Appearance > Widgets)
• Show/hide different options in WordPress menus (like mentioned in the previous post)

If you plan to spend a lot of time in the backend of WordPress – do yourself a favor and get familiar with these options as you will at some point find something useful about those options.

function sdac_remove_from_feed( $query ) {
	if ( $query->is_feed ) {
		$query->set( 'cat',-1 );
	}
        return $query;
}
add_filter( 'pre_get_posts','sdac_remove_from_feed' );

The code above will exclude all posts that are in the category with ID 1 from your feed. If you wanted to exclude everything from the search results – you would change one line:
$query->is_feed to $query->is_search

If you wanted to only show items from the category with ID 1 – you would just need to remove the “-” before the category number.

Note: You can include/exclude items tagged, etc by changing the ‘cat’ to whatever else you would normally use in the query.

Here are some highlights that can help save you time and headaches by adding the following to your wp-config.php file:

Help for the Average User

• Change the Autosave Interval: define(‘AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL’, 30 ); (30 = 30 seconds)
• Disable Post Revisions: define(‘WP_POST_REVISIONS’, false );
• Modify Empty Trash Time: define(‘EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS’, 7 ); (7 = 7 days)
• Auto Optimize Your Database: define(‘WP_ALLOW_REPAIR’, true);
• Enable the Cache:define(‘WP_CACHE’, true);
• Define Maximum # of Revisions:define(‘WP_POST_REVISIONS’, 5);

Help for Developers

• Output Errors:define(‘WP_DEBUG’, true);
• Save Queries for Analysis:define(‘SAVEQUERIES’, true);
• Define WP Site URL (override settings):define(‘WP_SITEURL’, ‘http://’ . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . ‘/path/to/wordpress’); – great for moving sites from one host to another when the actual domain name is not yet available
• Define WP Home (override settings):define(‘WP_HOME’, ‘http://’ . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . ‘/path/to/wordpress’); – great for moving sites from one host to another when the actual domain name is not yet available

Full documentation is available: http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php

Allow this sounds pretty basic – it is a lifesaver for doing a lot of customizations.

There are multiple ways to easily find out when WordPress has been updated.

Since everyone who uses WordPress should stay on top of these updates, here are a few ideas on how to find out when a new version has been released:

1. Pay attention the the “Upgrade Now” notice when you log into WordPress.
2. Get notified by email with the Upgrade Notification by Email plugin
3. Read regularly/subscribe to the WordPress blog
4. Read regulary/subscribe to this blog

Updating is quick and easy – and should always be done after you have a database backup. Database backups are quick and easy as well with WP-DB-Backup plugin.

Not really sure if you want to do the upgrade yourself? We would be happy to do it for you – just contact us.