{"id":71063,"date":"2014-01-19T14:53:10","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T06:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=71063"},"modified":"2025-04-04T01:41:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T17:41:41","slug":"wordpress-tweaks-for-post-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/wordpress-tweaks-for-post-management\/","title":{"rendered":"29 WordPress Tweaks to Enhance Posts and Pages"},"content":{"rendered":"

WordPress is a fantastic CMS, but sometimes its default settings, especially how posts are displayed, might not fit everyone\u2019s needs. Personalizing your website is key to creating a unique brand and making a lasting impression on your visitors. Over the years, both bloggers and developers have worked hard to customize the display of posts to make each site stand out.<\/p>\n

In this article, we\u2019ll explore a range of clever modifications you can apply to enhance your WordPress posts. These tweaks are perfect for anyone aiming to improve user experience, boost revenue, or increase page views. The best part? Most of these adjustments don\u2019t require a plugin. They are straightforward to implement \u2013 usually, it\u2019s just a matter of copying and pasting the code we provide.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re working on a personal project or a professional one, these tweaks are here to help you refine your site. So, let\u2019s dive into customizing your WordPress experience!<\/p>\n

\n

Tweaks for the WordPress Front-End<\/h2>\n

1. Change Your Excerpt Length<\/h3>\n

The tweak below will change your excerpt length, and you can just add the following lines of code into your functions.php<\/em> file, with the value 75<\/strong> as the excerpt length.<\/p>\n

\r\nadd_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');\r\nfunction my_excerpt_length($len) { return 75; }\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
2. Display Dates in a Twitter-Style \u201cTime Ago\u201d Format<\/h3>\n
Most people don\u2019t know that WordPress has a built-in function to display the date using the \u201cTime Ago\u201d format, and the snippet below can be pasted to anywhere within the loop to display the date with the format.<\/p>\n
\r\n<?php echo human_time_diff(get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp')) . ' ago'; ?>\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
3. Include Post Thumbnails in Your RSS Feed<\/h3>\n
Introduced in WordPress 2.9, the the_post_thumbnail()<\/code> function is very useful to add and display a thumbnail attached to a post. The bad news is there\u2019s no built-in method to display the thumbnail in your RSS feed. The function below will solve this problem. Simply paste it into your functions.php<\/em> file, save it, and the post thumbnail will be automatically displayed in your RSS feed.<\/p>\n
\r\n\/\/ show post thumbnails in feeds\r\nfunction diw_post_thumbnail_feeds($content) {\r\n    global $post;\r\n    if (has_post_thumbnail($post->ID)) {\r\n        $content = '<div>' . get_the_post_thumbnail($post->ID) . '<\/div>' . $content;\r\n    }\r\n    return $content;\r\n}\r\n\r\nadd_filter('the_excerpt_rss', 'diw_post_thumbnail_feeds');\r\nadd_filter('the_content_feed', 'diw_post_thumbnail_feeds');\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
4. Restrict Search to Post Titles Only<\/h3>\n
You can add this snippet into the functions.php<\/em> file of your WordPress Themes<\/a> to limit the search to post titles only.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction __search_by_title_only( $search, &$wp_query ) {\r\n    if (empty($search))\r\n        return $search; \/\/ skip processing - no search term in query\r\n    $q = &$wp_query->query_vars;\r\n    \r\n    \/\/ wp-includes\/query.php line 2128 (version 3.1)\r\n    $n = !empty($q['exact']) ? '' : '%';\r\n    $searchand = '';\r\n    foreach ((array) $q['search_terms'] as $term) {\r\n        $term = esc_sql(like_escape($term));\r\n        $search .= \"{$searchand}($wpdb->posts.post_title LIKE '{$n}{$term}{$n}')\";\r\n        $searchand = ' AND ';\r\n    }\r\n    $term = esc_sql(like_escape($q['s']));\r\n    if (empty($q['sentence']) && count($q['search_terms']) > 1 && $q['search_terms'][0] != $q['s'])\r\n        $search .= \" OR ($wpdb->posts.post_title LIKE '{$n}{$term}{$n}')\";\r\n    if (!empty($search)) {\r\n        $search = \" AND ({$search}) \";\r\n        if (!is_user_logged_in())\r\n            $search .= \" AND ($wpdb->posts.post_password = '') \";\r\n    }\r\n    return $search;\r\n}\r\nadd_filter('posts_search', '__search_by_title_only', 10, 2);\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
5. Display an Incremental Number on Each Post<\/h3>\n
The tweak below will let you display an incrementing number on each post, and implementing it is pretty simple. First, paste the following function into your functions.php<\/em> file:<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction updateNumbers() {\r\n    global $wpdb;\r\n    $querystr = \"SELECT $wpdb->posts.* FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE $wpdb->posts.post_status = 'publish' AND $wpdb->posts.post_type = 'post' \";\r\n    $pageposts = $wpdb->get_results($querystr, OBJECT);\r\n    $counts = 0;\r\n    if ($pageposts):\r\n        foreach ($pageposts as $post):\r\n            setup_postdata($post);\r\n            $counts++;\r\n            add_post_meta($post->ID, 'incr_number', $counts, true);\r\n            update_post_meta($post->ID, 'incr_number', $counts);\r\n        endforeach;\r\n    endif;\r\n}\r\n\r\nadd_action('publish_post', 'updateNumbers');\r\nadd_action('deleted_post', 'updateNumbers');\r\nadd_action('edit_post', 'updateNumbers');\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
Once you\u2019re done, you can display the post number with the following code. Note that it has to be used within the loop.<\/p>\n
\r\n<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'incr_number', true); ?>\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
6. Exclude a Post from the WordPress Feed<\/h3>\n
Looking to exclude certain posts from your feed? Here\u2019s the tweak for you. Please be noted that you should only filter where you want to filter; in our example it is in our feed $wp_query->is_feed<\/code>. If you didn\u2019t make it that way, the filter would also run in your back end and these posts won\u2019t be shown on post overview.<\/p>\n
The function has two parameters. You give the first parameter $where<\/code> an extension of the SQL string, which will be taking care of the filtering based on the ID<\/strong>. Then, within the brackets you need to insert the IDs of the posts<\/strong>, which you like to filter.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction fb_post_exclude($where, $wp_query = NULL) {\r\n    global $wpdb;\r\n    if (!$wp_query)\r\n        global $wp_query;\r\n    if ($wp_query->is_feed) {\r\n        \/\/ exclude post with id 40 and 9\r\n        $where .= \" AND $wpdb->posts.ID NOT IN (40, 9)\";\r\n    }\r\n    return $where;\r\n}\r\nadd_filter('posts_where', 'fb_post_exclude', 1, 2);\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
7. Redirect to Post When Search Query Yields a Single Result<\/h3>\n
Put this snippet into the functions.php<\/em> file of your WordPress theme to redirect your search to the post automatically when WordPress only returns a single search result.<\/p>\n
\r\nadd_action('template_redirect', 'single_result');\r\nfunction single_result() {\r\n    if (is_search()) {\r\n        global $wp_query;\r\n        if ($wp_query->post_count == 1) {\r\n            wp_redirect(get_permalink($wp_query->posts['0']->ID));\r\n            exit;\r\n        }\r\n    }\r\n}\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
8. Automatically Generate Meta Descriptions from the_content<\/code><\/h3>\n
Adding this snippet into the functions.php<\/em> file of your WordPress theme will automatically create a meta description from your WordPress post, striping out all shortcodes and tags. Also ensure that you have it in the header.php<\/em> of your WordPress theme or this snippet will not function.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction create_meta_desc() {\r\n    global $post;\r\n    if (!is_single()) { return; }\r\n    $meta = strip_tags($post->post_content);\r\n    $meta = strip_shortcodes($post->post_content);\r\n    $meta = str_replace(array(\"\\n\", \"\\r\", \"\\t\"), ' ', $meta);\r\n    $meta = substr($meta, 0, 125);\r\n    echo \"<meta name='description' content='$meta' \/>\";\r\n}\r\nadd_action('wp_head', 'create_meta_desc');\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
9. Automatically Replace Words with Affiliate Links<\/h3>\n
To replace words by affiliate links automatically, simply paste the code below into your functions.php<\/em> file. Remember to enter your words\/links as shown in the example code below.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction replace_text_wps($text){\r\n    $replace = array(\r\n        \/\/ 'WORD TO REPLACE' => 'REPLACE WORD WITH THIS'\r\n        'thesis' => '<a href=\"http:\/\/mysite.com\/myafflink\">thesis<\/a>',\r\n        'studiopress' => '<a href=\"http:\/\/mysite.com\/myafflink\">studiopress<\/a>'\r\n    );\r\n    $text = str_replace(array_keys($replace), $replace, $text);\r\n    return $text;\r\n}\r\n\r\nadd_filter('the_content', 'replace_text_wps');\r\nadd_filter('the_excerpt', 'replace_text_wps');\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
10. Add a \"Read More\" Permalink at the End of the_excerpt<\/code><\/h3>\n
Adding this snippet below into the functions.php<\/em> file of your WordPress theme will add a \u201cread more\u201d permalink at the end of the_excerpt<\/code>, pretty much like what the_content<\/code> does.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction excerpt_readmore($more) {\r\n    return '... ID)%20.%20'\" class=\"readmore\">' . 'Read More' . '<\/a>';\r\n}\r\nadd_filter('excerpt_more', 'excerpt_readmore');\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
11. Display Related Posts Without Using a Plugin<\/h3>\n
Installing the code below will make your WordPress site display related posts based on the current post tag(s). You need to place it inside single.php<\/em>, or simply anywhere you want to show the related posts.<\/p>\n
\r\n<?php\r\n$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);\r\nif ($tags) {\r\n    $tag_ids = array();\r\n    foreach ($tags as $individual_tag) {\r\n        $tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;\r\n    }\r\n    $args = array(\r\n        'tag__in' => $tag_ids,\r\n        'post__not_in' => array($post->ID),\r\n        'showposts' => 5, \/\/ Number of related posts that will be shown.\r\n        'caller_get_posts' => 1\r\n    );\r\n    $my_query = new wp_query($args);\r\n    if ($my_query->have_posts()) {\r\n        echo '<h3>Related Posts<\/h3><ul>';\r\n        while ($my_query->have_posts()) {\r\n            $my_query->the_post();\r\n            ?>\r\n            <li><a href=\"<?php the_permalink() ?>\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>\"><?php the_title(); ?><\/a><\/li>\r\n            <?php\r\n        }\r\n        echo '<\/ul>';\r\n    }\r\n}\r\n?>\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
12. Create Your Own Popular Posts Sidebar<\/h3>\n
Setting up a sidebar widget to display popular posts is very easy. Just copy and paste the code below into your sidebar.php<\/em> file. If you need to change the number of posts shown, you can change the 5<\/strong> at the end of line 3 to any number you prefer.<\/p>\n
\r\n<h2>Popular Posts<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n    <?php \r\n    $result = $wpdb->get_results(\"SELECT comment_count, ID, post_title FROM $wpdb->posts ORDER BY comment_count DESC LIMIT 0, 5\"); \r\n    foreach ($result as $post) { \r\n        setup_postdata($post);\r\n        $postid = $post->ID; \r\n        $title = $post->post_title; \r\n        $commentcount = $post->comment_count; \r\n        if ($commentcount != 0) { \r\n        ?> \r\n        <li><a href=\"<?php echo get_permalink($postid); ?>\" title=\"<?php echo $title ?>\">\r\n        <?php echo $title ?><\/a> {<?php echo $commentcount ?>}<\/li>\r\n        <?php \r\n        } \r\n    } \r\n    ?>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
13. Set a Post Expiration Date\/Time<\/h3>\n
Below is a useful code that you can put into your WordPress Themes<\/a> to enable the possibility of creating post expiration based on date and time. Edit your theme and replace your current WordPress loop with this \u201chacked\u201d loop:<\/p>\n
\r\n<?php\r\nif (have_posts()) :\r\n    while (have_posts()) : the_post();\r\n        $expirationtime = get_post_custom_values('expiration');\r\n        if (is_array($expirationtime)) {\r\n            $expirestring = implode($expirationtime);\r\n        }\r\n        $secondsbetween = strtotime($expirestring) - time();\r\n        if ($secondsbetween > 0) {\r\n            \/\/ For example... the_title();\r\n            the_excerpt();\r\n        }\r\n    endwhile;\r\nendif;\r\n?>\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
To create a post with date\/time expiration, you can just create a custom field. Give expiration<\/strong> as a key and your date\/time (format: mm\/dd\/yyyy 00:00:00<\/strong>) as a value. The post will not show up after that particular timestamp.<\/p>\n
\n
14. List future posts<\/h2>\n
WordPress allows listing future posts, and to achieve this feature, simply paste the code to wherever you\u2019d like your future posts to be displayed:<\/p>\n
\r\n<div id=\"zukunft\">\r\n    <div id=\"zukunft_header\"><p>Future events<\/p><\/div>\r\n    <?php query_posts('showposts=10&post_status=future'); ?>\r\n    <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>\r\n    \r\n    <div>\r\n        <p><strong><?php the_title(); ?><\/strong><?php edit_post_link('e',' (',')'); ?><br \/>\r\n        <span class=\"datetime\"><?php the_time('j. F Y'); ?><\/span><\/p>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n    <?php endwhile; else: ?><p>No future events scheduled.<\/p><?php endif; ?>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
15. Show AdSense Only to Search Engine Visitors<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s possible to display the AdSense to the visitors from search engines\u2019 results, and here\u2019s the code to achieve it, just paste the code below into the theme\u2019s functions.php<\/em> file.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction scratch99_fromasearchengine(){\r\n    $ref = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];\r\n    $SE = array('\/search?', 'images.google.', 'web.info.com', 'search.', 'del.icio.us\/search', 'soso.com', '\/search\/', '.yahoo.');\r\n    foreach ($SE as $source) {\r\n        if (strpos($ref, $source) !== false) return true;\r\n    }\r\n    return false;\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n
$SE<\/code> array is where you specify the search engines. You can add new search engine by adding new element to the array, then just paste the following code anywhere in the template where you want your AdSense ads to be displayed, and it\u2019s done! The ads will only be displayed to visitors from search engines\u2019 results.<\/p>\n
\r\nif (function_exists('scratch99_fromasearchengine')) {\r\n    if (scratch99_fromasearchengine()) {\r\n        INSERT YOUR CODE HERE\r\n    }\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
Tweaks for WordPress Backend\u201d<\/h2>\n
1. Enable Additional HTML Tags in the Editor<\/h3>\n
By default, WordPress editor doesn\u2019t allow HTML tags which aren\u2019t compliant with the XHTML 1.0 standard. However, the code shown below will force the editor to accept more tags. You can paste it into your theme\u2019s functions.php<\/em> file, save it, and the function is good to go.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction fb_change_mce_options($initArray) {\r\n    \/\/ Comma separated string of extended tags\r\n    \/\/ Comma separated string of extended elements\r\n    $ext = 'pre[id|name|class|style],iframe[align|longdesc|name|width|height|frameborder|scrolling|marginheight|marginwidth|src]';\r\n    if (isset($initArray['extended_valid_elements'])) {\r\n        $initArray['extended_valid_elements'] .= ',' . $ext;\r\n    } else {\r\n        $initArray['extended_valid_elements'] = $ext;\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    \/\/ maybe; set tiny parameter verify_html\r\n    \/\/$initArray['verify_html'] = false;\r\n    return $initArray;\r\n}\r\nadd_filter('tiny_mce_before_init', 'fb_change_mce_options');\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
2. Set the Default Editor<\/h3>\n
Snippet below modifies the default editor in WordPress admin. You can go with the Visual Editor<\/strong>, or you can choose the HTML Editor<\/strong>, just add one of them into the functions.php<\/em> file.<\/p>\n
\r\n# This sets the Visual Editor as default\r\nadd_filter('wp_default_editor', create_function('', 'return \"tinymce\";'));\r\n\r\n# This sets the HTML Editor as default\r\nadd_filter('wp_default_editor', create_function('', 'return \"html\";'));\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
3. Apply Different Editor Stylesheets for Various Post Types<\/h3>\n
With the following code pasted into your functions.php<\/em> file, you can setup different editor stylesheets for different post types. You will need to adapt it, depending on your post types, and remember to change the stylesheets names<\/strong> as well.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction my_editor_style() {\r\n    global $current_screen;\r\n    switch ($current_screen->post_type) {\r\n        case 'post':\r\n            add_editor_style('editor-style-post.css');\r\n            break;\r\n        \r\n        case 'page':\r\n            add_editor_style('editor-style-page.css');\r\n            break;\r\n        \r\n        case 'portfolio':\r\n            add_editor_style('editor-style-portfolio.css');\r\n            break;\r\n    }\r\n}\r\nadd_action('admin_head', 'my_editor_style');\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
4. Allow the Upload of Additional File Types<\/h3>\n
For certain reason, WordPress Uploader won\u2019t let you upload certain file types, such as Textmate\u2019s .tmCommand<\/em>. If you need to upload those kinds of files to your WordPress site, here comes a functional snippet that allows you to do it, and you just need to paste it into your functions.php<\/em> file. You can also add more file types by adding them on line 4, separated by a pipe (|).<\/p>\n
\r\n\r\nfunction addUploadMimes($mimes) {\r\n    $mimes = array_merge($mimes, array(\r\n        'tmbundle|tmCommand|tmDragCommand|tmSnippet|tmLanguage|tmPreferences' => 'application\/octet-stream'\r\n    ));\r\n    return $mimes;\r\n}\r\nadd_filter('upload_mimes', 'addUploadMimes');\r\n<\/pre>\n
\n
5. Enable TinyMCE Editor for Post Excerpts<\/h3>\n
Putting the following snippet into the functions.php<\/em> file of your WordPress theme will add the TinyMCE editor to the post excerpt\u2019s textarea.<\/p>\n
\r\nfunction tinymce_excerpt_js(){ ?>\r\n