NASA GRC Wordpress Users Guide

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Update to Issues and Changes with Upgrading NASA Wordpress Theme to Wordpress 2.3

Regarding previous post about Wordpress 2.3 issues.

1. TinyMCE Advanced 2.1: A simple reset of the CSS styles from within the TinyMCE Advanced management page will fix the page-rendering issues when using the TinyMCE Advanced editor: To fix, access the Tiny MCE Advanced settings via “Manage > TinyMCE Advanced,” then select the checkbox next to “If the editor doesn’t look right, reset some of the CSS styles,” then select the “Save” button. Also refer to this graphic (TinyMCE Advanced 2.1 Reset Illustration) for a quick visual guide. We still recommend being careful when editing/re-editing complex tables. Feedback on this table issue is welcome.
2. WP Lasts Posts 1.1: We will continue to use the old version (1.0) of this plugin for the time being. Be sure to use the version that Josh configured for this site until a more elegant solution is devised for including posts on a static homepage. To get a copy of the 1.0 version of the plugin, download WP Last Posts 1.0 Revised and install.
   
3. News a.k.a. Posts Page, including Archives, Categories and Search Pages: The issue where the left navigation disappears on these pages has been fixed in the new version of the theme (now revised to version NASA GRC WordPress Theme (for 2.3) 1.2).

Issues and Changes with Upgrading NASA Wordpress Theme to Wordpress 2.3

The following issues have been found when upgrading the NASA Wordpress template to Wordpress 2.3. With the upgrade to 2.3, all plugins were also updated to their most recent versions, based on recommendations provided on the Wordpress.org site and respective plugin sites. (This NASA GRC Wordpress site will be upgraded after issues have been resolved.)

You can always see what plugins this site is using via the Plugins Used page.

1. TinyMCE Advanced Plugin (v 2.1): The content form area takes on the background color of the body (black); hence, editing text is made impossible. We currently recommend turning the plugin off. With the table editing function now unavailable, however, we’ve also found that existing tables do not get “wiped” or irreversibly/destructively altered when editing a page with a complex table. Current Recommendation: Keep the plug-in deactivated until further notice, and edit data tables in a separate HTML editor (then paste into your Wordpress site). Most other common editing functions are available in the built-in editor. Update/Resolution: Upgrade to v 2.2)
2. Breadcrumb Navigation XT (v 1.10.0): This plugin has been updated for WordPress 2.3 and the plugin’s administration options now work correctly, so the specific programming to get this plugin to work correctly in the NASA Wordpress theme has been removed from the 2.3 theme. The simple, basic usage found on the Breadcrumb Navigation XT website should suffice. However, the plugin’s administration options will need to be documented to ease both creation of new sites and configuration of existing ones. Screenshots to ease configuration will appear here shortly in the documentation section. Update/Resolution: Upgrade to latest version of plugin.
3. WP Lasts Posts (v 1.1): The new version no longer insert posts inside a page. The plugin now provides a template tag instead to put inside the “Landing Page” template. However, both this version and the previous version do not work with Wordpress 2.3 in the NASA Wordpress theme. We will take a look at revising this plugin (again!) or looking at alternate options. I suspect that the current version simply needs the code tweaked to a) work with the “Landing Page” template page and b) the code cleaned up to not break the page. Update: Investigating alternate solution with new version of plugin.
4. News a.k.a. Posts Page, including Archives, Categories and Search Pages: Navigation disappears or other errors. Currently investigating. Update: Fixed in theme.

Importing Complex Tables into a Wordpress Post or Page

Note: This issue assumes you are using the TinyMCE Advanced plugin, latest version.

If you have a complex data table that you need to import into a Wordpress post or page, here are a few tips for success:

1. Complete the table in another HTML editing program of your choice.
2. Strip the HTML of all paragraph (hard) returns and redundant (double, triple, etc.) spaces in another program such as MS Word. (In MS Word, simply replace “^p” with either nothing or a blank space.)
3. Paste the code in Wordpress into the Code (not Visual) view.
4. Save your page (”Save and Continue Editing”).
5. Review and do any final editing on the page in either Visual or Code view, as necessary, then Publish!

The second step (stripping the HTML of all paragraph returns, and spaces) is most important, because then default/installed Wordpress page-content editor can format the code with spacing and hard returns as it needs to. Without this step, toggling between Visual and Code views may inadvertently (and unfortunately) remove portions of your data table.

Note: Starting from scratch with a table in Wordpress will avoid the above issues, since you’re working within the Wordpress environment from the beginning.

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