by Sheldon Nesdale on 20 August 2010
[This is Day #5 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days]
Unfortunately inserting tables of data into WordPress is quite difficult to do.
In fact there are only 3 ways you can do it:
- Hand coding it in HTML view (no thanks!)
- Copy/pasting it into HTML view from an HTML editor like Dreamweaver (annoying!)
- Or by using the WP-Table Reloaded plugin for WordPress (yay!)
I chose the 3rd option every time.
Download the WP-Table Reloaded plugin for WordPress Now
Now, I will admit, the interface is a little tricky to use at first, but once you’ve got used to it, you’ll love it as much as I do for sure.
4 Reasons Why You Need the WP-Table Reloaded Plugin
- Once you’ve added CSS styles it can look really cool
- Row highlighting when your mouse hovers over is a cool effect and only takes a click to activate
- Once you get used to the interface (which is a little bit crazy the first time), it is very easy to use
- It is easy to duplicate a table you’ve created (so you don’t have to start from scratch)
Screenshots Of The Interface
Screenshot showing how you add data into the table cells
Screenshot showing the buttons for adding rows and columns
Screenshot showing the styling options
Screenshot showing changes to CSS to improve appearance
What’s Next?
- Install it and have a play
- Have you found a WordPress plugin for tables that’s even better? Tell us in the comments below
- Have you used WP-Table Reloaded? Tell us what you think about it in the comments below
Tagged as:
5 Plugins in 5 Days,
Favourite WordPress Plugins,
Free WordPress Plugins,
Plugin Review,
Tables in WordPress,
WordPress Tables,
WP-Table Reloaded
by Sheldon Nesdale on 19 August 2010
[This is Day #4 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days]
The Facebook Fan Box plugin is the easy way to add a Facebook Like Box to your sidebar.
3 Reasons Why You Need the Facebook Fan Box Plugin
- If you want “Likes” of your Facebook Business Page, a Facebook Like Box is essential
- Facebook provides you with a Wizard to help you setup a Facebook Like Box, but if you want to change the dimensions or settings later you’ll have to keep going back to Facebook and restarting the wizard, which is a pain.
- It’s pretty easy to set up, and easy to tweak to get it looking perfect
Download Facebook Fan Box Plugin For WordPress Now
How To Set Up The WordPress Plugin: Facebook Fan Box
- Once you’ve installed the plugin, just add it to your side bar as a Widget (that’s where you configure it)
- Title: I leave this blank because its obvious at a glance that it’s a Facebook Fan Box
- API Key: You can get an API key or leave it blank (it still works!)
- Profile ID: This is the ID for your Business Page. The easiest way to find it is Login to Facebook, find your Business Page and click on “Edit Page”. Copy/paste the 12 digit number in url – this is your Profile ID
- Stream: Un-tick this box. If checked it would show your status updates which looks messy
- Connections: The more the better. I like to display lots like 3 rows of 11 = 33 connections. It takes up about 980px in height. This motivates people to “Like” you because they see that they have a good chance of seeing their own profile photo in this panel
- Width/Height: This takes a bit of fiddling to get it looking right. Keep at it until you are happy
- CSS. Leave this blank
- iFrame. Tick this box
- Logo. Tick this box. But if it looks naff just un-tick it. Facebook does a poor job of automatically resizing your logo so it’s up to you to decide if it looks ok
- Language. Leave as default “en_US”
3 Things I Like About Facebook Fan Box
- You can turn off the stream and everything else so your web visitors see what they really want to see – their own profile photo!
- Web visitors can “like” you with one click
- Web visitors can visit your Facebook Business page with one click
Screenshots of the Interface
Screenshot of the finished Facebook Fan Box
Screenshot of widget configuration panel for Facebook Fan Box
What’s Next?
Tagged as:
5 Plugins in 5 Days,
Facebook Fan Box,
Facebook Fan Box WordPress Plugin,
Favourite WordPress Plugins,
Free WordPress Plugins,
Plugin Review
WordPress Plugin Review: Subscribe To Comments – How To Let People Know When You’ve Responded To Their Comments
August 17, 2010[This is Day #2 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days] The Subscribe to Comments plugin for WordPress does just 1 thing and it does it really really well: It provides people who are writing comments on your articles with a tick-box. If they tick the box, they will get emailed whenever a new comment is [...]