I recently started working with WooCommerce for a client project. WooCommerce is an eCommerce solution for WordPress that was forked from Jigoshop. There are now many eCommerce solutions to choose from with WordPress.

My personal favorites are Shopp and WooCommerce coming in a close second. It really depends on the type of project I’m working on as it should for you as well.

Make WooCommerce adhere to image order:
While working with adding images to a product in WooCommerce I noticed that it disregarded image order when displaying the product on the front-end.

To fix the issue I copied the function from ‘Woocommerce_template_functions.php’ into my functions.php and added “order and orderby” to the array.

The complete code is below for you to grab. This is a simple fix but often I’m the one looking for those simple fixes so I’m sure others are out there.

If there’s a more elegant way to fix this please share. Thanks!

By default, WordPress automatically inserts paragraph tags into your content while using the post editor – this often gets in the way when you’re trying to space out your text, and could also create validation issues.

As a result, if you want to strip the automatically inserted paragraph tags from your content, simply insert this line in your PHP template file above ‘the_content’ tag:

*For the less tech savvy this solution requires you to FTP into your web site and access your theme template files. Once in there you’ll need to add this snippet of code directly above the ‘the_content’ snippet. Make sense? Hit me up in the comments if not.

Hopefully this helps others remove those pesky paragraph tags. Cheers!

My favorite DJ, DJ Divsa, recently released his latest Mixtape on his web site. He generally gives his podcasts and mixtapes away for FREE. However, this time he’s asking for donations with all proceeds going to Butterfly Communities:

A grassroots organization based in Toronto dedicated to building mass awareness of atrocious living conditions that exist in the lower income areas of the city.

Since Divsa has been so generous with all these awesome mixtapes I figured I would help out by promoting the new release. Eclectica II picks up where Eclectica I left off by continuing to blend all old school R&B and Hip Hop from the 1990s and early 2000s. Part two gets even better with some oldies but goodies mixed together perfectly. Believe me, throwing down two dollars is worth it for the music alone…but to help out a charity is even better.

Tracklist:

1.  Method Man, LL Cool J – Hit em High
2.  Kardinal – Runaway
3.  Baby Cham, Foxy Brown – Tables will Turn (Divsa Remix)
4.  Monica, Brandy – Boy is Mine (Divsa Remix)
5.  Nas – Nas is Like
7.  Talib Kweli, Jay-z – Get By (Remix)
8.  Dilated People, Kanye West – This Way
9.  2Pac – Do For Love
10.  John Legend – Used to Love U (Divsa Remix)
11.  A Tribe Called Quest – Award Tour
12.  Q-Tip – Let’s Ride
13.  Alanis Morissette – Hand in my Pocket (Divsa Remix)
14.  Lil Cease, Lil Kim, Notorious BIG – Crush on You (Remix)
15.  George Michael – Faith
16.  Missy Elliot – Get ur Freak on (Divsa Remix)
17.  A Tribe Called Quest – Electric Relaxation
18.  Lauryn Hill – Lost Ones
19.  2pac – R U still down?
20.  Tamia, Talib Kweli – Officially Missing you (Remix)
21.  Da Brat, Tyrese – What Chu Like (Divsa Remix)
22.  White Town – Your Woman
23.  Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop (Divsa Remix)
24.  Common – The Light
25.  Musiq – Just Friends
26.  Beyonce – Summertime
27.  Bobby Valentino, Lil Wayne – Tell me
28.  Bobby Valentino – Slow Down
29.  Aaliyah – If your Girl only Knew
30.  Jay-z, Aaliyah – A Million and One Questions
31.  Montel Jordan – Something for the Honeys
32.  A Tribe Called Quest – Find my way
33.  TLC – Creep
34.  TLC – Unpretty
35.  City High – Caramel (Remix)
36.  Jonel, Method Man – Round & Round (Remix)
37.  Next, Big Pun – Still Love You (Remix)
38.  Mya – Case of the Ex
39.  Obie Trice, Nate Dogg – The Setup
40.  Alicia Keys – Fallin (Remix)
41.  Ruff Ryders – Ryde or Die Chick
42.  R Kelly, The Game – Playas Only (Divsa Remix)
43.  Nick Cannon, R Kelly – Gigalo
44.  Cassidy, R Kelly – Hotel

Thanks to @Divsa for all the great mixtapes. It makes the work day go by so much quicker. Cop the new mixtape here on his blog.

I’ve become a big fan of Spotify ever since they launched in the U.S. a few weeks ago. Service reliability has improved and the social features are starting to become useful now that my friends are signing up. Granted, It’s a much better experience after you pony up a few bucks a month to become a premium member.

However, with that being said, there’s a lot to be desired from their dedicated Mac player. Sometimes I hate the distraction of working with the full app all the time. I wish Spotify would integrate a mini version of their player like iTunes. Hopefully we’ll see something from them eventually.

Until they get on board I found a third-party app called Simplify that takes care of my mini player desire while looking pretty doing it.

Features include:

• Mini PLayer with access to player control and volume.
• Simplify displays the currently playing track on your desktop with album artwork.
• Control Spotify the way you want with customizable controls.
• The developer(s) seem pretty active. They’ve released a screenshot of new features on their twitter account. Cheers!

Simplify will set you back $2.99 on the Mac app store.

Update: August 2, 2011
Spotify appears to have fixed the random songs not playing issue. Over the past two weeks I haven’t run into a song that hasn’t played successfully. In fact, songs that previously wouldn’t play now play perfectly. Kudo’s to the Spotify team for getting the issues figured out. Now if they could somehow integrate a built in mini-player for Premium users…

I recently signed up for a premium account with Spotify. Overall, I’ve enjoyed the service so far. However, now that I’m a paying customer I’m pissed off that some tracks won’t play. No, I’m not talking about the tracks that aren’t licensed to play in the United States. Spotify usually provides an alert when that happens. Rather, I’m referring to those songs that simply don’t play at all and no reason is given.

Apparently I’m not the only one experiencing this problem. Perform a simple search on Twitter and I noticed others are having the same issue.

Has anyone received an official response yet?

I recently ran into an issue on a WordPress project that required multiple variations of the “single.php” template file based on a blog category. Unfortunately, there isn’t any built in support for multiple “single.php” template files like there are for categories. As a result, the quickest workaround is to convert your “single.php” into a PHP If Statement.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. Create two new template files based on the single.php template.
• Example:  single-blog.php AND single.unique.php
2. Copy the contents of your single.php file to your two new template files.
• Customize the code of a template file to make it unique from the other.
3. Replace the contents of your single.php file with this PHP If Statement:

Find your Category ID Number:
You can find the category ID number by navigating to your ‘categories’ manager in WordPress. From there hover over the category name and look at the link. It should have an ID associated with that category.

Hit me up in the comments if you need help. Cheers!

Over the years I’ve noticed a growing trend, particularly on news based websites, of Internet commenters leaving racially tinged or controversial messages often not shared in public discourse. Internet users continue to hide behind the freedom of anonymity that has graced the Internet since it’s inception. However, according to a New York Times Article published in April, major online news publications are changing their comment policies to help keep opinions more civil.

Comment Policies of Indianapolis Major Media Outlets

IndyStar.com
The IndyStar.com requires users to become members to post comments on Articles. However, during the signup process your first and last name are optional fields. As a result, your comments are tied to a screen name that never reveals your true identity. This policy falls short of other major media outlets but at least they require account registration.

In addition, I noticed that article comments are harder to find than in the past. For example, in the past, comments used to be directly listed underneath each article. Today, comments are no longer listed beneath each article (non-logged in users) but rather hidden behind a ‘comment’ link that requires user interaction. Which could be a sign of the Star placing less importance on user comments tied directly to the article.

WTHR.com
WTHR comment system also requires registration before a user can leave a comment on an article. Unlike the IndyStar.com their sign up form requires the user to provide their first and last name. However, all posted comments are currently displayed by the users provided user name. In addition, a user can sign-in to the comment system via other popular social networking accounts such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter to leave comments.

I think this is probably why WTHR.com tends to have one of the cleanest comment systems of all major media outlets in Indianapolis. Finally, I notice that the news outlet chooses to only display the first three (3) comments after the article. Viewing the remaining comments are hidden and confusing to find from a usability stand point.

WISHTV.com
WISHTV comment practices are more lax than WTHR.com but at least require a first name when registering for a new account to leave comments. User accounts are required to comment on any article. I found WISHTV statement of comment conduct, located immediately following the article, to be refreshing. It’s a fresh reminder to watch what you say and be accountable for your verbal actions. However, similar to the other networks, all comments are tied to user provided screen names. Profile Pictures, often referred to as avatars, are available but optional.

INDYCHANNEL.com
The IndyChannel used to be one of the worst offenders for anonymous commenters. It was often worse than a bar room brawl. However, it appears that recently the IndyChannel integrated the same system that powers the WTHR.com system. I’m assuming because both websites are powered by the same Content Management System.

IndyChannel does not have a separate registration system like that of WTHR. Users are offered nine (9) different social services to login to the comment system. The only option I have a problem with is the ‘blogger’ service as it’s often used for inappropriate purposes and does not require much in the identity department.

Comment Service Wrap Up

Overall I think each of the news agencies could do a better job of holding users accountable for their online opinions. More obviously needs to be done to educate Internet users that anonymity is a privilege and not a right. WTHR and the IndyChannel are both guilty of offloading the verification to third-party services. Often times these other services have limited resources to verify the true source behind a comment. The IndyChannel gets a nod from me for placing less emphasis on user comments. However, the main reason I wrote this article is because of this blatantly bigoted comment regarding a Hispanic driver involved in a automobile accident:

Why is a name that sounds Hispanic automatically illegal?
I want to write this lady a letter and educate her on how ignorant she sounds. I wonder if she would come to the same conclusion if it was my last name in a bad article? Actually, based on this comment, I don’t have to wonder because chances are that she would come to the same conclusion. The problem is often that the user has never met an educated HIspanic person that debunks his/her stereotypes and prejudices. Well my blog is my outlet and this is my answer to the user and anyone else that thinks the same way as this person.

While this person in the article may very well be illegal you cannot legitimately come to this conclusion based on a name. I think the commenter would have never written such a bigoted statement if his/her public name was tied to the account. I call on all major media outlets to hold users accountable when they choose to engage the media property by leaving article comments. User comments not only represent themselves but also the web property where they reside. A great place to start is by following the lead of other major news corporations in the United States.

I’ve been a huge fan of Internet radio service Slacker since I first read about the service on Techcrunch back in 2007. Since that time the service has gone through some growing pains with their team moving away from hardware devices and dedicating all resources to their software on third-party devices. I can’t blame them since their G2 Hardware player isn’t very reliable and the mobile device market continues to grow.

Situation:

So you think with the recent refocus of the team that their slacker.com radio service would deliver a top-notch radio experience? My buddy Ben, who I encouraged to try out the service, recently called me with bad news:

Friend: Dude, I think I got a virus…..
Me: How?
Friend: I was listening to Slacker radio and this message came up…all I could click was ‘okay’ and then all these pop-ups started popping up.
Me: …..Be there in 15 minutes

Ben works for one of my clients so I naturally went through the process of helping him remove the virus by granting me remote access to his computer. I got about 5 minutes in and realized that the trojan virus locked his computer down hard. This one was going to cost me a trip to the clients office, fun fun. I’ll detail in my next post how I successfully removed the infection from his computer.

Real Threat Lives in Advertisements:

The thing that pissed me off is that this happened not only once but twice. Honestly, I was skeptical at first because I’ve been listening to slacker for a long time on a mac . The second time it happened I was there and was able to close Internet Explorer via task manager. Yeah I know, who uses IE anymore? Shrug, that’s not the point since 68% of the population still use the inferior browser. Anyway, so I headed over to the Slacker Forums to complain and found a thread of complaints had already been started.

Apparently the trojan/virus infections are being delivered through advertisements displayed to users who use the free service. Free users are subjected to three rotating adverts and audio adverts in exchange to listening to great music. Unfortunately, the new trade off that no on ever talked about is being subjected to PC infections.

Slacker’s Slacker Response:

Listen Slacker, I understand that it’s not necessarily your fault that viruses are being delivered since you don’t directly control the adverts that are delivered. However, I think you have to do better than that since most of your user base won’t believe the explanation. You’ll lose trust in your user base each time this happens (potential premium subscribers). The first thought that came to my head…..why doesn’t this happen when using Pandora?

Slacker Solution?

The fact of the matter as that we both know it happens no matter what service you use. However, your radio service has a choice when picking a vendor to deliver your adverts. Maybe you should consider choosing a company that has a better track record. Delivering virus infected adverts is for the birds and I think you’ll start losing users unless you address the issue head on. I know I didn’t appreciate seeing the warning on my friends computer.

A picture of “Benny Blanco from the Bronx” may have been more fitting since that’s usually the first question I get from fellow dudes that meet me. Have you ever seen that movie Carlito’s Way? Honestly, the first time I was asked was in 9th grade by a freshman football coach and it was awkward. He approached the whole subject timidly probably out of fear of getting in trouble for bringing up a gangster movie that I probably wasn’t old enough to see. Little did he know that it’s one of my favorite movies.

Anyway, so I’m finally getting around to launching my personal blog. It’s been in the works for over a year. My developer, Mike Lundy, helped me work on it early last year when we had some down time between projects. Then we got busy and the project took up space on our server until earlier this week. Glad I finally took the time on this Memorial day weekend to dust off the files and get it launched!

What to expect:

This blog will serve as my outlet for both personal and business matters. The majority of posts will cover my thoughts on the tech industry and its impact on the Indianapolis area. In addition, I have a strong background in IT and may share tips/tricks on the most annoying PC issues. However, I have to admit that at times I may touch on social issues that are not always popular to discuss. I may try to steer the social discussions towards their potential impact on the technology industry. Being a Mexican American I think it’s important to use this opportunity to transcend the industry beyond stereotypes and the inherit ‘Good old boy Network’ that I’ll call out whenever applicable.