Week 4 Content
- Comments & Pingbacks
- Plugins: find & install plugins
- Popular and useful plugins
- Adding Functionality & 3rd party services
Class Presentation
Assignments
1) On the WordPress site Dashboard, select Settings, then select Discussion
Verify that “Allow people to post comments on new articles” is enabled
Notice that: “Comment author must fill out name and e-mail” and “Users must be registered and logged in to comment” are DISABLED, which is NOT a good idea because it invites spammers! [But this is a “test” server, so it’s OK for a demo of what NOT to do.]
On the WordPress site Dashboard, select Posts, all posts
Select one of your posts, and verify that “Allow comments” is enabled for that specific post.
On the WordPress site Dashboard, select Comments
Take a quick look at the long list… of SPAM!
2) Click on the Home dashboard on the top toolbar of your browser
Select visit site and select a post you did not create!
Go to the bottom, to the “Leave a Reply” comment section and enter some nice text. Notice the two options: “Notify me of follow-up comments by email.” And “Notify me of new comments by email.” Click on “POST COMMENT” button.
Notice that the comment is entered in the page because you are a registered USER!
3) Log out from the LAB server or open a new browser window as Anonymous or Incognito
Select the same post as before or a different one, preferably one you did not create! Enter a new comment [Notice there are a few more fields to fill in] then click on “POST COMMENT” button.
After the page refreshes, only you can see your new post, since it reads: “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” Try viewing this page in a different browser or clear the cache…
4) Look into the SPAM section of WordPress and explore some of the options for Spam plugins https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/spam/
5) Contact Form Plugin steps:
a) Install a CONTACT FORM plugin
b) activate plugin
c) create a new contact form and get a shortcode from plugin
d) create a new page with title: YOUR NAME CONTACT FORM, and then insert shortcode into page
e) publish page… and it should show up in the menu!