With the release of the latest version of WordPress 2.3 came the added functionality of tagging. I’ve recieved several emails and questions from client to clarify what tagging is, exactly. The most popular question by far:

Why use tags when I can use categories? Aren’t they, essentially, the same thing?

Yes…. and no. I look at it this way - I can use tags to further describe and archive my posts by topic, but I don’t have to have a super huge long category/subcategory listing mucking up my theme and the tag clouds are trendy at the moment - so what the heck? Tags also get indexed with the rel=”tag” attribute, making them attractive to tag crawling services like Technorati and search engines, like Google, because tags are treated like keywords (because of the rel=”tag attribute).

I used to use Bunny’s Technorati Tag plugin prior to WordPress 2.3 - - and the new 2.3 version gave me a handy converter so I could convet all my Bunny Technorati Tag to WordPress tags - - it also gives you a nice converter for Ultimate Tag Warrior and away to convert your current WordPress categories to tags. Looks like they covered everything.

Why would anyone want to use tags instead of categories on a WordPress blog? It’s a matter of choice really..personal preference and all that.

In your WordPress admin. panel, you’ll now see an area beneath the post edit window where you can input tags - separated by commas. (Find it by clicking the Write tab in the main menu). You simply input your tags before you publish and walla: Tags!

But how to display them?

Well, if you’re using a Widgetized theme (and really, in this day and age - who isn’t?) - you can use the handy Tag Cloud widget to display a tag cloud in your sidebar.

You can display them underneath your post by adding this bit of code into your template (within the Loop):

<?php the_tags(); ?>

The available parameters for the the_tags() template tag here in the WordPress Codex: Template tags - the_tags

You can also display a tag cloud elesewhere in your theme, other than your sidebar. For instance, on the xMark Theme - the Sitemap now has a tag cloud included. As does the xMark 404 Error page.

The template tag used to display the tag cloud is as follows:

<?php wp_tag_cloud(); ?>

The available parameters for the wp_tag_cloud template tag here in the WordPress Codex: Template tags - wp_tag_cloud

No problem. The easiest way is to create a new template and name it: tag.php. This becomes the primary template for displaying any tag. Display the tag currently being browsed by placing this template tag as the title of the page:

<?php single_tag_title('Currently browsing '); ?>

An example would be my tag page for the Blog Design tag - you can see the name of the tag is pulled into the top of the page, so visitors always know where they are at.

• Tags Manager - This plugin changes this behaviour and adds a page under Management>Tags. Here you can manage your tags!
• Tags4Pages - This plugin allows you to insert tags to pages too and not only to posts.
• PB-Techtags is filter for WordPress (2.3+) that adds an image with a link to Technorati to each tag.
• Technorati Tag Cloud - This plugin allows the user to display a Technorati tag cloud instead of the native tags in WordPress 2.3. It uses WordPress 2.3’s native tagging/taxonomy system. The formatting of the output is the same as of the native tag cloud system: wp_techtag_cloud();

So.. yea - have fun tagging!

I was happy to be able to grab some time over this past weekend to upgrade my xMark theme for use with WordPress 2.3 and WordPress MU.

xMark did not work with WordPress MU prior to this due to a problem in the WP Theme Toolkit that xMark was utilizing for its functions. Big thanks to Jason Ling for providing the fix I was seeking to solve this problem - - now xMark is fixed and does work with WordPress MU. (I have tested it with WordPress MU version 1.2.4)

The following upgrades have been made to xMark:

• Upgraded for WordPress 2.3 : Added tag listing in the index.php and single.php templates; Added tag cloud display on the 404.php and Search Results page; Added some CSS styling for tags
• Cleaned up some CSS issues - mainly font handling. Also cleaned up the RSS Widget title display and the FlickrRSS widget title display. Some folks also wrote in about the too small text some have found in the Asides area and the comment section when using threaded comments - this issue has been resolved.
• Upgraded the functions.php so the the xMark theme now works with WordPress MU
• Previously xMark was released under a Creative Commons license and is now released under the GPL license.

A quick review of the original fuctions of xMark:

Welcome to xMark, a fully fluid, three column WordPress theme designed with the end user in mind. You know who you are - you bloggers who just want to get on with the business of blogging and don’t want to tinker with all the technical mumbo jumbo… Yea, you! I have done my utmost at making this theme as easy as possible. Straight out of the box, xMark will be a perfectly functional theme for you - however, xMark has numerous options and highlights available to you - check this stuff out:

• 3-column, fluid CSS layout
• A print.css files to maximize print output
• 2 sidebars, both fully widget compatible
• Admin options menu that gives you the option(s) to:
  • Display the authors name in the post byline.. or not
  • Custom date displays for the posts
  • Display the authors name in the byline on static pages…or not
  • Allow comments on static pages…or not
  • Set up ‘Asides’ for your blog
• XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliance
• Successful cross-browser rendering
• Currently supports the following plugins:
  • FlickrRSS
  • ShareThis
  • WordPress Sidebar Widgets
  • Related Entries
  • Clean Archives
• Includes optional coding for displaying an ad beneath the first post on the page. This site displays a 336×280 Google Adsense ad block - however, you can choose to display any type of banner ad you’d like. If you don’t want to display any ads beneath the first post - don’t worry, if you don’t add in the advertising code, nothing displays at all
• Category pages that display post excerpts with date, comment count and ‘read more’ link. Each Category page displays the name of the category you are browsing!
• Monthly archive pages that display post excerpts with date, comment count and ‘read more’ link. Each Monthly page displays the name of the month and year you are browsing in!
• Custom search results page gives a display of post titles, excerpts, date, post comment count and ‘read more’ link
• Custom 404 “Page Cannot Be Found” page
• An optional Archives page - - you can see my archives here
• An optional SiteMap page - you can see my sitemap here

A quick look at the documentation should answer any burning questions you have on installing and using this theme. xMark comes as is - free for you to use and relased under a GPL license.

The Credits page give an idea of some folks who indirectly helped make this happen. The Plugins page shows the plugins this theme currently supports.

Looking for a demo of the theme? You’re looking at it. Currently the xMark Blog Theme Site is using the current version of xMark on WordPress version 2.3.

Download the xMark WordPress Theme v2.0

I’ve done my best with testing this puppy out - however, that being said, if you find a bug or somewhere within the code that I tripped up, be sure to let me know and I’ll get a fix right quick!

I hope you enjoy xMark as much as I enjoyed creating it. Please do leave a comment if you end up using it on your site!

I’m so pleased with how well my XMark theme has been recieved and want to thank everyone for their great feedback (and some of you for your very generous donations!).

I finished writing the WordPress for Dummies book in April. I’ve just recently entered into what my authors refer to as the “Final Author Review” - which is where they give me the entire book back, edited and formatted, and allow me the opportunity to revise the text I’ve written to reflect any changes, updates and upgrades to the WordPress software that has happened since I finished in April.

Whoa! Yea - you’re telling me - - that’s a LOT! It really is - the WordPress folks have been busy bees over in the WordPress factory and have surely been keeping me on my toes with my writing! I’m super excited, though, as it’s nearing completion and this project is coming to an end….and coming to a bookshelf near you!

The WordPress for Dummies book has been a huge project for me - both professionally and personally. I, of course, have had to put many things on hold during the course of writing it because they were cracking the whip pretty harsh on the deadlines I had to meet.

On of my projects that got put on the side burner is this XMark theme. I’ve gotten so much great feedback and requests for new features, and I want to be able to accomodate all your requests - - plus a few of my own!

So - that being said.. consider this an open thread for your thoughts and ideas. Leave ‘em here in the comments, and I”ll keep a running tally of what you’d like to see for the XMark theme.

A few things I have in mind:

• Updating the theme so that it works with WordPress MU. Currently, the Theme Toolkit I’m using to power the functions an options is not compatible with MU.. so I need to fix that
• Several CSS fixes and a large amount of clean up (yes, yes - The display of the RSS Widget headers is planned!)
• Inclusion of several popular WordPress plugins (threaded comments is just one I have in mind)
• Ability to easily change header graphics and color schemes for the overall theme

What about you? Thoughts?