10 hacks for the Thesis WordPress theme

Thesis is a very cool WordPress Theme and it have many built in options. But as you know, I really love to tweak WordPress to make my blogger life easier.
This is why, when I started to use the Thesis theme here on Cats Who Blog, I searched the internet for hacks and played a lot with the theme.

Today, I’m glad to show you 10 of the most awesome Thesis hacks, to get the most our of your favorite WordPress theme!

Include a clickable logo

Out of the box, it is not possible to include a logo in your Thesis theme header. Though, it can be done easily using internal hooks.
To apply this hack, paste the following code into your custom_functions.php file.

function add_header_image () {
echo "<a href=\"http://www.yourblogurl.com/\" title=\"Your Blog Title\">
<img src=\"THE-URL-OF-YOUR-LOGO-GOES-HERE\" alt=\"Your Blog Title\" height=\"170\" width=\"528\" style=\"border:0px\" /></a>";
}
add_action('thesis_hook_after_title', 'add_header_image');

Source : http://www.sugarrae.com/thesis-hooks-dummies-tutorial/

Place Thesis menu below header

By default, Thesis places navigation menu above the blog header. It is quite cool but some people prefer to have the menu below the header. If you do, just paste the following in your custom_functions.php file to make the menu appearing below the header:

remove_action('thesis_hook_before_header', 'thesis_nav_menu');
add_action('thesis_hook_after_header', 'thesis_nav_menu');

Source : http://rumahabi.com/how-to-move-thesis-main-navigation-below-header.html

Changing Thesis Footer

A sure thing is that Thesis users are very familiar with the “Get smart with the Thesis WordPress Theme” phrase displayed automaticaly in the footer. Using the following hack, you’ll be able to replace it by the text of your choice. Remember that you have to keep a link to Thesis website, excepted if you’re owning a developer licence.

Once again, this code have to be pasted in your custom_functions.php file.

remove_action('thesis_hook_footer', 'thesis_attribution');

function add_custom_footer () { ?>
	   <p>&copy; 2008 Ourblog.com – All rights reserved. – <a href="http://www.ourblog.com/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a></p>
<?php }

add_action('thesis_hook_footer', 'add_custom_footer');

Source : http://www.sugarrae.com/thesis-hooks-dummies-tutorial/

Add a “Subscribe to RSS” message below your posts

In order to build a strong readership and increase your Feedburner count, you should definitely add the well known “Subscribe to RSS” box below your posts.
Paste this code into your custom_functions.php file. And of course feel free to modify it to fit your needs. It can, for example, be used to let your reader know about your latest ebook or product.

function subscribe() {
    if (is_single()) { ?>
        <p class="alert" style="text-align:center;">Did you enjoy this article? Please subscribe to YOUR LINK to receive all the FREE updates!<p/>
    < ?php }
}

add_action('thesis_hook_after_post', 'subscribe', '1');

Source : http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/thesis/8-thesis-theme-design-tips-to-make-your-blog-better/

Add 125*125px Advertisments on Thesis sidebar

125*125 pixels ad banners are very popular and you should sell some of your blog space to advertisers and make yourself some dollars.
First, paste the following in your custom_functions.php file:

function custom_ADS() { ?>
<div class="ads">
   <h3>Franklin's Sponsors</h3>
   <a href="#"><img src="add1.gif" alt="" /></a>
   <a href="#"><img src="add2.gif" alt="" /></a>
   <a href="#"><img src="add3.gif" alt="" /></a>
   <a href="#"><img src="add4.gif" alt="" /></a>
   <a href="#"><img src="add5.gif" alt="" /></a>
   <a href="#"><img src="add6.gif" alt="" /></a>
  </div>
<?php }
add_action('thesis_hook_before_sidebars', 'custom_ADS');

Once done, paste the CSS code in your custom.css file:

.custom .ads { text-align: center; }
.custom .ads img { margin: 5px; }

That’s all. Don’t forget to create a killer “Advertise” page to sell your ad spots!
Source : http://franklinbishop.net/thesis-tutorial-ads-in-sidebar

Optimise your posts for Adsense

As you probably know, Adsense scans to content to display related ads to your visitors. The only problem is that sometimes ads aren’t as relevant as you wish they were.
To fight irrelevant ads, you should definitely implement what web marketers are calling section targeting.
It is an Adsense approved method of telling the ad serving algorithm which parts of your websites to pay attention to and which parts to ignore.

Simply copy the code below and paste it on the custom_functions.php file of your Thesis theme.

function open_adsense_targting() {
    echo "<!-- google_ad_section_start -->";
}

function close_adsense_targting() {
    echo "<!-- google_ad_section_end -->";
}

add_action('thesis_hook_before_post','open_adsense_targting' );
add_action('thesis_hook_after_post', 'close_adsense_targting');

Source : http://www.wolf-howl.com/blogs/thesis-tutorial-adsense-section-targeting

Customize your 404 page

Ever wanted to customize your 404 page? It is possible to do it using a simple hook. All you have to do is to paste the code below into the custom_functions.php of your Thesis theme directory and edit it a bit to fit your needs.

function custom_thesis_404_title() { ?>
    YOUR 404 PAGE HEADING HERE
<? }

remove_action('thesis_hook_404_title', 'thesis_404_title');
add_action(thesis_hook_404_title', 'custom_thesis_404_title');

function custom_thesis_404_content() { ?>
    <p>WHATEVER YOU WANT YOUR 404 PAGE TO SAY HERE</p>
<? }

remove_action('thesis_hook_404_content', 'thesis_404_content');
add_action('thesis_hook_404_content', 'custom_thesis_404_content');

Source : http://www.sugarrae.com/thesis-tutorial-custom-404

Insert TweetMeme Button Without a Plugin

If you’re a blogger yourself, I’m pretty sure that you already experienced how many quality visitors Twitter can bring to your blog. This is exactly why so many blogs display those “Tweetmeme” button which allow your readers to share your blog posts on Twitter and also show how many time the blog post has been retweeted.

Just insert this portion of code into your custom_functions.php file and the Tweetmeme button will be automatically displayed on all your posts.

function author_avatar() {
if (is_single()) {
    echo '<div style="float:right; padding-left: 5px;"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script></div>';
   }
}
add_action('thesis_hook_before_headline', 'author_avatar');

Source : http://mattflies.com/tech/3-easy-and-highly-requested-thesis-theme-tutorial/

“List style” Archive page template

Out of the box, Thesis comes with an “Archive” page template. Althought the template is pretty cool by default, some users, including myself, prefer an “Archive” page which list all posts.
Paste the following code in your custom_functions.php file in order to replace the default archive template by a list of all posts.

function my_archive() { ?>
	<ul>
		<?php
		$my_query = new WP_Query('showposts=-1');
		while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
				<li><?php the_time('d/m/y') ?>: <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
	<?php endwhile; ?>
	</ul>
<?php
}

remove_action('thesis_hook_archives_template', 'thesis_archives_template');
add_action('thesis_hook_archives_template', 'my_archive');

Add author info after each post

Is your blog powered by multiple authors, or do you often invite guest-bloggers? If yes, you should definitely consider adding authior info, picture and bio after each post.
Again, you just have to paste the following into your custom_functions.php file to get it working.

function post_footer() {
	if (is_single()) { ?>
		<div class="socialmedia">
		<p><strong>Share this post:</strong>
		<a rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=<?php the_title(); ?> -  http://YOUR_URL.com/?p=<?php the_ID(); ?>">Tweet It</a> | <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php" onclick="window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=<?php the_permalink() ?>&t='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'facebook','toolbar=no,width=700,height=400'); return false;">Facebook It</a> | <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink() ?>">Stumble It</a> | <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=<?php the_permalink() ?>">Digg It</a> | <a rel="nofollow" href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=<?php the_permalink() ?>&title=INSERT_TITLE">Delicious It</a></p></div>

		<div class="postauthor">
			<?php echo get_avatar( get_the_author_id() , 120 ); ?>
			<h4>Article by <a href="<?php the_author_url(); ?>"><?php the_author_firstname(); ?> <?php the_author_lastname(); ?></a></h4>
  			<p><?php the_author_firstname(); ?> has written <strong><?php the_author_posts(); ?></strong> awesome articles for us. <?php the_author_description(); ?></p><p>If you liked this post, you will definitely enjoy our others. Subscribe to the feed via RSS or EMAIL to get instantly updated for those awesome posts soon to come.</p>
		</div>
	<?php }
}

add_action('thesis_hook_after_post_box', 'post_footer');

Once you’re done with it, insert the following styles in the custom.css file:

.postauthor { background: #F5F5F5; border-top: 1px solid #e1e1e0; border-bottom: 1px solid #e1e1e0; overflow: hidden; padding: 1.5em; }
.postauthor img { border: 5px solid #e2dede; float: left; margin-right: 1.5em; }
.postauthor h4 { color: #666; font-size: 2em; margin-bottom: 5px; }
.postauthor p { color: #515151; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 12px; }
.socialmedia { background: #FFFBCC; border-top: 1px solid #E6DB55; border-bottom: 1px solid #e1e1e0; overflow: hidden; padding: 1em; text-align: center;}
.socialmedia p { color: #515151; font-size: 1.3em;}

Source : http://mattflies.com/tech/10-ways-to-customize-thesis-and-enhance-your-blog/

I hope you enjoyed these hacks and that they’ll help you to get the most out of your Thesis theme! By the way did you checked out my gallery of the 10 most awesome Thesis customizations?

Tagged as: thesis, wordpress