I’ve been building WordPress themes since 2005 and have developed a-lot of useful little tricks along the way. I’ll be sharing a handful of my best techniques to help you work with WordPress and build themes like a pro!

1. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
Theme building
tricks of the trade
Jonny Allbut - Creative Director

2. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
‣ Working with WordPress since 2005.
‣ Involved in WPUK group & co-organiser of Birmingham
WordPress user group & WordCamp Birmingham.
‣ Likes to share:
‣ Wonderflux - free GPL theme framework
http://wonderflux.com
‣ WP-CMS Post Control - control post editing capabilities
http://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-cms-post-control
Howdy!

3. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
‣ wp-config.php
define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );
Day 1 - debug on!

4. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
‣ wp-config.php
define( 'SCRIPT_DEBUG', true );
No minified core CSS/scripts

5. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
‣ wp-config.php
define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );
No editing files in admin

6. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
‣ Make your debugging easier to read
‣ Interrogate what data you are working with
‣http://wider.io/brum-debug
Turbo debug function

7. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
$my_value = 1;
printf( _n( 'Counting just 1 time', 'Counting %s times, whoot!',
$my_value, 'mytheme' ), $my_value );
‣http://wider.io/brum-num
Formatting string of text

8. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
function mywfx_archive_posts_pp($query) {
if ( !is_admin() && $query->is_main_query() ) {
$query->set( 'posts_per_page', 5 );
return $query;
}
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'mywfx_archive_posts_pp', 1 );
Interacting with main query

9. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
function mywfx_archive_order_by_title($query) {
if ( !is_admin() && $query->is_main_query() ) {
if ( is_post_type_archive( ‘kitty’ ) {
$query->set( 'orderby', 'title' );
$query->set( 'order', 'ASC' );
}
return $query;
}
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'mywfx_archive_order_by_title', 1 );
‣http://wider.io/brum-posts
Interacting with main query

10. http://jonnya.net@jonnyauk http://wider.co.uk
function mywfx_empty_menu() {
$page_data = wp_list_pages(array(
'post_type' => 'page',
'post_status' => 'publish',
'echo' => 0,
'number' => 3,
'title_li' => ''
));
echo '<ul class="menu">';
echo $page_data;
echo ( current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) ? '<li>' . '<a href="' . admin_url( 'nav-
menus.php' ) . '">' . 'Edit this menu' . '</a>' . '</li>' : '';
echo '</ul>';
}
‣http://wider.io/brum-menu
Empty menus be gone!