All you need is to add this to your functions.php

Then anywhere in your template you can get posts dynamically by the tag slug.

Note: Add this code into your functions.php

I searched endlessly through plugins only to be disappointed. Some don’t work well or AT ALL with Wordpress 3.0; some won’t even install. Some don’t use the gallery function, therefore can’t have different slideshows on different pages. Some of the best ones were flash, so that wouldn’t work. And others just only called the image, while the functionality of one just didn’t make sense. Now I don’t want to call anyone out and call their hard work, bad work, so I won’t link any of the offending plugins here.

I began thinking; it cannot be that hard to build a slideshow in wordpress using the functionality that already exists. Besides if I didn’t use a plugin it wouldn’t break/would be easier to fix after a wordpress update. So using the jQuery cycle plugin I utilized wordpress’s built in calls and made my own 100% dynamic, married to gallery functionality slideshow.

Now onto the good part, how it’s done:

Go to the jQuery cycle page and download the necessary files/get links for necessary js. You’ll need to put the jQuery source and the jquery cycle scripts into your header and then call it in the document ready function as shown below:

So here’s the hard part, figuring out exactly how to call the image, title and description. I’m sure this would have been a lot easier if i actually knew PHP (don’t worry I’m learning), but each time I figure something out, PHP makes a little more sense.

In your template file after if (have_posts)… add the following code:

Now let’s break down the code:

post_type => attachment : tells wordpress database to call the attachment instead of post content
numberposts => -1 : call all attachments
post_status => null : can be changed to draft, published, etc
title => $attachment->post_title : defines the title of the attachment
post_parent => $post->ID : defines the current post
description => $attachment->post_content : calls the images description

This part says find all of the above and then display as written: find the image, make the size full (can be changed the thumb etc), find the title and wrap it in an h2, find the description and wrap that in the p tags, and finally wrap the entire thing in a div. Now I’m not sure why, but the 2 single quotes before and after the_attachment_link were necessary to make it not break. If you wanted to wrap just the image in say a div class then you could do this:

So that’s my sans plugin wordpress slideshow. Questions?

So what you get is the one on the right. Yea that’s right Microsoft computers/software, I hate you. Thanks for converting me to mac.

After reading these articles I thought about my own experiences with growing up in the beginning age of the internet popularity. It was very early on that I realized the dangers of cyberbullying and withdrew myself from the drama as fast as possible, but I’m not going to deny that it didn’t hurt. In my day, it was Livejournal that all the kids were into. It was an online journal, in all senses a blog really, and many other kids didn’t understand the ramifications of writing hurtful things about one another. You had the choice to make an entirely private blog, or one that could be read by only friends, or have it open to the entire public internet. Many chose to have it open to the public and the problem with this was all you really needed to know was who someone else was friends with to find their live journal. I soon learned I could find things were people were saying about me that I didn’t want to or need to know. Why did I need to know that whats-her-name liked my ex-boyfriend or that such-and-such thought I was a “stupid bitch”. Luckily, when Myspace came along, we were all a little more adult and I had learned some valuable lessons.

The one reason I survived this is because for a few years through high school the internet wasn’t something I was really allowed to use a lot. I wasn’t allowed to have AIM, even though all the kids did. I had limited internet access and I wasn’t allowed to sign up for anything I wanted to on the internet. You’re probably thinking I could just sign up for it and they would never, know right? No, wrong, my parents checked my email. Yes this sucked and I hated it, but they were protecting me and it worked.

Do NOT be afraid to not allow your kids to do whatever they want. Formspring isn’t the problem, you are. If it’s not that it’s going to be something else. Why does your 10 year old have an ipod touch with unfettered access to the intenet, music, texting, and all else. Why does your 10 year old have a cell phone? When did I get a cell phone? I think I was 16. Maybe older. And look, I survived. The worst part is you probably don’t know what formspring is. It’s a site where you allow other people to write anonymous things about you. And your kids aren’t smart enough to know that’s not something they want to be involved in.

Your kids don’t need to be cool, because you know what, it’s the non-cool kids that try harder, and are more determined, and will make something of themselves. They’re going to face adversity and bullying, but you can protect them from some of the torture they’re inevitably going to endure. If you allow your kids to have complete control of their internet life at an early age you’re a contributer. Like I said it’s not the internet that’s the problem, it’s you, for letting your kid have unfettered, unfiltered access to the world. You’re not their friends, you’re their parents.

This past week I was working on a site and came across the strangest problem, ie6 wouldn’t even load, it just crashed no matter what page of the site I was on. So I went on a mission to find out why. Eventually by process of removing and replacing parts of the site, I discovered it was crashing because of the signup form. A signup form?! I hadn’t even linked it yet. It was just html and css. Basic.

So I started rebuilding the form. So far so good. Now this form has 4 fields, First Name, Last Name, Zip Code, and Email address. I decided I wanted to build it from the bottom up. Email address. Check. No crash. Zip code. Check. No crash. Last Name. Boom. Dead. There was nothing wrong with this newest field, the Last Name, since it was copied and pasted from Zip code.

I was convinced it was javascript, there was plenty in the header, even some not related to the form. I removed all of it. Every possible offending piece. Boom. Dead. Still.

I cannot take credit for figuring it out. It was another coworker that discovered the offending line of code that was causing ie6 to die. Wait for it. A single line of css on the input class…”float:left;”. Are you serious? IE6 taken down by a simple float:left;.

If anyone out there has ANY idea why this would happening please let me know. It was easy enough to fix, I am just curious why it happened. The only thing I could find was something about Transitional doctype sending IE6 into quirks mode, but that doesn’t completely explain it for me.

The fact that a float:left can bring ie6 to a screeching halt just adds fuel to my fiery battle against IE6.