WordPress no doubt is one of the best content management systems on the planet. Rise & popularity of WordPress can be seen in WordPress users produce about 59.3 million new posts each month and this number is growing exponentially. So knowing how to use the tool that your online business is built upon is only smart.
Let me showcase some of the tips and tricks and also the custom functions I gathered through optimizing Wordpress built sites. Caution: backup any file before you edit to avoid site breakage.
Custom WordPress Functions
How to Change the Default WordPress Avatar
Locate your functions.php file (you can do this either through Dashboard > Appearance > Editor > functions.php (if you’re using a child theme, then Select Theme to Edit option on top right hand side) and go towards the end of your function and insert
/**Custom Gravatar**/
function rankya_custom_avatar ($avatar_defaults) {
// Simply first upload an image to your media library for your custom avatar (size can be 90x90px or higher or lower)
// Then change the below image URL path to match your own custom avatar URL path
$rankyavatar = 'https://www.rankya.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/rankya_gravatar_icon_150x.png';
$avatar_defaults[esc_url($rankyavatar)] = "Custom Avatar";
return $avatar_defaults;
}
add_filter( 'avatar_defaults', 'rankya_custom_avatar' );
Once you insert this function and update functions.php go to Dashboard > Settings > Discussions > Default Avatar and select your new custom avatar.
Remove Head Scripts to Footer Section
Great for improving page load times and SEO if you make the default scripts and CSS files to be called in footer instead of the default <head> section. Here’s the WordPress actions to do this
function remove_head_scripts() {
remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_print_scripts');
remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_print_head_scripts', 9);
remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 1);
add_action('wp_footer', 'wp_print_scripts', 5);
add_action('wp_footer', 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 5);
add_action('wp_footer', 'wp_print_head_scripts', 5);
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'remove_head_scripts' );
Remove Dynamic CSS and JS Version Information
Depending on your WordPress setup, you may have dynamic CSS version information being blurted out, remove them using this function
function rankya_remove_version_for_cssjs( $source) {
if( strpos( $source, '?ver=' ) )
$source = remove_query_arg( 'ver', $source);
return $source;
}
add_filter( 'style_loader_src', 'rankya_remove_version_for_cssjs', 1000 );
add_filter( 'script_loader_src', 'rankya_remove_version_for_cssjs', 1000 );
Custom Comment Heading Message
Use this function to test different call to actions on comment headings. This changes the default comment reply text for better conversions
/**Custom Comment Heading**/
function rankya_comment_heading($defaults) {
$defaults['title_reply'] = 'Have Your Say! Comment';
$defaults['title_reply_to'] = 'Have Your Say. %s';
return $defaults;
}
add_filter('comment_form_defaults', 'rankya_comment_heading');
Enable Shortcode in Widget
By default, shortcodes in text widgets are not enabled in WordPress. However, since the text from a text widget runs through a filter called widget_text you can enable it
add_filter('widget_text', 'do_shortcode');
Create Shortcodes
At the end of the day, it can be difficult to blurt out certain HTML code as the formatting is removed for security reasons. But you use shortcodes to overcome this
function myshortcode(){
return 'Now you can use shortcodes for various reasons, including in posts, pages and widgets';
}
add_shortcode('insertmyshortcode','myshortcode');
// To use it, simply paste this [insertmyshortcode]
Set HTML Editor as Default
Know bit about HTML? This will save you one click less when you want to create your next post, goes straight to HTMl editor instead of Visual Editor
add_filter( 'wp_default_editor', create_function('', 'return "html";') );
How About HTML5 and Structured Data?
Using structured data on your WordPress site? If so, then you may find it difficult to add HTML5 content, particularly itemprop on hyperlinks as the formatting is removed on save (or visual editor switch). I came up with this solution
function rankya_tinymce_config( $init ) {
$valid_a = 'a[accesskey|charset|class|contenteditable|contextmenu|coords|dir|download|draggable|dropzone|hidden|href|hreflang|id|lang|media|name|rel|rev|shape|spellcheck|style|tabindex|target|title|translate|type|onclick|onfocus|onblur|itemprop]';
// Add to extended_valid_elements if it already exists
if ( isset( $init['extended_valid_elements'] ) ) {
$init['extended_valid_elements'] .= ',' . $valid_a;
} else {
$init['extended_valid_elements'] = $valid_a;
}
// Pass $init back to WordPress
return $init;
}
add_filter('tiny_mce_before_init', 'rankya_tinymce_config');
Change Image Quality
Although I actually wouldn’t recommend using this for most sites, you may depending on your WP setup find it of use.
//apply_filters ( 'jpeg_quality', int $quality, string $context )
//wordpress will still compress it, but this now means it will compress at the highest quality
//Source file: wp-includes/class-wp-image-editor.php default is 82
function rankya_jpeg_highest_quality( $quality, $context ) {
return 100;
}
add_filter( 'jpeg_quality', 'rankya_jpeg_highest_quality', 10, 2 );
So far I shared with you WordPress tips and tricks you can easily incorporate on your own WP setup, simply use any of these functions by first by making sure that you backup your current functions.php file and also make sure that you can access your web hosting account just in case something goes wrong so that you can restore the backup.
Video Lesson Showing How to Use These WordPress Function
WordPress Built on Apache Server
Put this in .htaccess file, it has directives for https and security as well as couple of web page speed related directives
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload" env=HTTPS
Header set Connection keep-alive
Header add Timing-Allow-Origin "*"
Header add X-DNS-Prefetch-Control "on"
Header add Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin"
Header add Content-Security-Policy "upgrade-insecure-requests; block-all-mixed-content;"
Header add X-Frame-Options "sameorigin"
Header add X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
Header add X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
Header unset X-Powered-By
Header always unset X-Powered-By
<FilesMatch "\.(appcache|atom|bbaw|bmp|crx|css|cur|eot|f4[abpv]|flv|geojson|gif|htc|ico|jpe?g|js|json(ld)?|m4[av]|manifest|map|mp4|oex|og[agv]|opus|otf|pdf|png|rdf|rss|safariextz|svgz?|swf|topojson|tt[cf]|txt|vcard|vcf|vtt|webapp|web[mp]|webmanifest|woff2?|xloc|xml|xpi)$">
Header unset X-XSS-Protection
</FilesMatch>
Header unset ETag
<FilesMatch ".+\.(css|ico|png|jpe?g|gif|webp|pdf|gz)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=31536000, public"
</FilesMatch>
<FilesMatch "\.(js)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=31536000, private"
</FilesMatch>
</IfModule>
FileETag None
Because to master WordPress, we must be brave with adding all these extra bits of code to really optimize sites built on WordPress Content Management System.
Love your tips and tricks! And your Facebook group as well. Keep up the great work and thanks.
Thanks Mike for your continued support of #RankYa #SEO (I am getting new followers from United States lately, which is great to hear as SEO in the US does need new fresh WordPress Optimization techniques for 2018) (currently gathering all the code snippets to be shared with RankYa Fans for 2018) talk later, till then