I just came across a post published today which goes over “the right way” to highlight author comments in WordPress. Basically, instead of the usual code that inserts the “admincomment” class for just the first user (user ID 1). In the post, that code is adapted for any post author, no matter what the user ID is, which can be especially useful to multi-author blogs.

Ever since WordPress 2.7 was released over a year ago, a new function was introduced to display comments called wp_list_comments which is known for supporting threaded comments as well. In addition to threaded commments, it also outputs a class automatically which can be used to style author comments in WordPress 2.7.

Screencast

In this screencast, I go over the various classes added to a comment made by a post author. I also go over how to style the .bypostauthor class.

Code Examples in Video:

• .bypostauthor { background: #000; } /* Sets a black background on post author comments. */
• .bypostauthor { background: #000 !important; } /* Overrides any other background colors. */
• .commentlist .bypostauthor { background: #000; } /* Another way to override other background colors (depends on how your theme is coded) */

In case you’re wondering, I was using the Firebug Firefox extension to inspect the element as well as test out the CSS code. Definitely a must-have addon for coders.

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Recently there’s been a WordPress hack going around which has been using cloaking to target Google IP addresses. That means, the spammers/hackers are somehow getting into your WordPress blog, and generating a bunch of spam content and links that only Google can see.

This particular hack uses some particularly dirty methods which include inserting spam keywords into your own content, which is probably to control your keyword density.

Also they don’t seem to place more than a couple spam links on the page, which is probably because they don’t want you to get banned (so you can still pass link juice to them). Kind of like a parasite not trying to kill it’s host.

I’ve made a quick screencast to go over what the hack does and how to see if it’s happened to your site.

What We Know So Far

• Altered content is only visible to search engines like Google and Yahoo, regular visitors won’t notice.
• There are probably “rogue” files on somewhere on your WordPress install that need to be deleted.
• Existing WordPress files may be altered with encrypted code added.
• There might be duped admin accounts on your WordPress install as well that need to be removed.
• Update: There is a discussion going on about this hack at the WP Tavern forums.

If you have any other information, please leave a comment below. I’ll update this post with new information periodically.

For anyone who uses the WordPress.com stats plugin, you’ll notice it inserts a small smiley image in your footer. This image needs to be loaded to track the stats.

Some people might think this little smiley face is “cute”. The rest of you will find the smiley image unsightly (and possibly evil looking) and will look for ways to remove it. This post will go over:

• First of all, what not to do when hiding the smiley
• How to properly hide it, with some extra absolute position goodness for certain layouts
• If you’d rather not hide it, how to easily center the smiley image

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