January 31st, 2011 by Mike

So many of my clients rely on Testimonials on their site. And usually a simple page, or often posts are used for the process. However, there are major drawbacks to using either. The main one being that they are ordered according to entry, and thus when one opens the page they see the same ones in the same order until it is manually changed. Not good.
So, I figured I would see what plugins might exist. so I searched for “random testimonials” and was surprised at the number or results. That lead to the tedious task of testing each one. What I found was not a single one randomized the testimonials when placed on a page. However, in reading through the posts for one of the plugins I found someone who had kindly figured out a way to fix the problem and make it work. Now, hopefully, the author takes this into consideration and updates the plugin accordingly on his next update. Given the edits, the plugin now works great and provides great flexibility when it comes to styling as you can customize both the html and css from within.
The plugin is LTW – Testimonials by LessThanWeb.
For those wanting to give it a try, install the plugin as usual. Then Edit the following two files:

1)pages/testimonials_settings.php – This creates an “Random Order” option

- goto line 25, you should see the form options. Add the following option after the </option> tag for option 3

<option value=”4″<?php echo get_option(‘ltw_tes_sort_testimonials’) == ’4′ ? ‘ selected=”selected”‘ : ”; ?>><?php _e(‘Random Order’, LTW_TES_UNIQUE_NAME); ?></option>

- Save
2) ltw-testimonials.php This adds the code to sort by random
-goto the bottom of the page and search up for the “ltw_tes_shortcode_all() function”
- add the following code after the closing ‘}’ for option 3
else if (get_option(‘ltw_tes_sort_testimonials’) == ’4′)
{
$ltw_testimonials_order_sql = ‘ ORDER BY RAND() ‘;
}
- Save
And you are good to go.

January 14th, 2011 by Mike

Welcome graduates. At this stage you have been so inundated with such great, valuable and important information that you don’t know where to begin. Well, you have made it this far so you have either taken some great notes or have a great memory. In either case, you have hit this blog site as Joel has undoubtedly mentioned that I can help you get a “blog” website up and running. Most likely he also mentioned that I don’t charge enough. Lucky for you, he might be right on both accounts, but here is the catch that he may not have mentioned. In order to provide you with a quality site and matching service, and at a reasonable rate I can only handle a few projects at a time. So. if you are serious about this, then time is of essence. Please complete the simple questionnaire (see link below). I will review it and be in touch as soon as possible.
If after our initial consultation (Free of Course) I feel it is a project that I can handle and you are are truly ready to proceed we can discuss terms, options and fees.
This endeavor will require some dedicated time on your part as this is not a project where I build you a custom site, and give you the basics and send you on your way. What I offer is a complete web and training course. In the end, you will not only have a great custom site, you will have the necessary training and understanding to maintain and control your own site. My goal is to hear from you only on the Holidays (to say hi) and should some issue arise that you need some extra help or support.
So, if you are ready to take on the challenge with me, the click the link below and let’s get the party started.

Questionnaire