The important elements on the code-side for such functionality is to use the built-in WordPress “login_redirect” filter, and to store information on whether or not the user has gotten the “first login” treatment. There are a couple of possible approaches to store the information, either in a cookie or in the user’s meta information (stored in the WordPress database in the “wp_usermeta” table).

Here is some sample code you can use in your theme’s functions.php file or in a plugin:

Cookie-based solution

// Send new users to a special page
function redirectOnFirstLogin( $redirect_to, $requested_redirect_to, $user )
{
    // URL to redirect to
    $redirect_url = 'http://yoursite.com/firstloginpage';
    // How many times to redirect the user
    $num_redirects = 1;
    // Cookie-based solution: captures users who registered within the last n hours
    // The reason to set it as "last n hours" is so that if a user clears their cookies or logs in with a different browser,
    // they don't get this same redirect treatment long after they're already a registered user
    // 172800 seconds = 48 hours
    $message_period = 172800;

    // If they're on the login page, don't do anything
    if( !isset( $user->user_login ) )
    {
        return $redirect_to;
    }

    $key_name = 'redirect_on_first_login_' . $user->ID;

    if( strtotime( $user->user_registered ) > ( time() - $message_period )
        && ( !isset( $_COOKIE[$key_name] ) || intval( $_COOKIE[$key_name] ) < $num_redirects )
      )
    {
        if( isset( $_COOKIE[$key_name] ) )
        {
            $num_redirects = intval( $_COOKIE[$key_name] ) + 1;
        }
        setcookie( $key_name, $num_redirects, time() + $message_period, COOKIEPATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN );
        return $redirect_url;
    }
    else
    {
        return $redirect_to;
    }
}

add_filter( 'login_redirect', 'redirectOnFirstLogin', 10, 3 );

Download the cookie-based redirect on first login plugin

User meta table based solution

// Send new users to a special page
function redirectOnFirstLogin( $redirect_to, $requested_redirect_to, $user )
{
    // URL to redirect to
    $redirect_url = 'http://yoursite.com/firstloginpage';
    // How many times to redirect the user
    $num_redirects = 1;
    // If implementing this on an existing site, this is here so that existing users don't suddenly get the "first login" treatment
    // On a new site, you might remove this setting and the associated check
    // Alternative approach: run a script to assign the "already redirected" property to all existing users
    // Alternative approach: use a date-based check so that all registered users before a certain date are ignored
    // 172800 seconds = 48 hours
    $message_period = 172800;

    // If they're on the login page, don't do anything
    if( !isset( $user->user_login ) )
    {
        return $redirect_to;
    }

    $key_name = 'redirect_on_first_login';
    // Third parameter ensures that the result is a string
    $current_redirect_value = get_user_meta( $user->ID, $key_name, true );
    if( strtotime( $user->user_registered ) > ( time() - $message_period )
        && ( '' == $current_redirect_value || intval( $current_redirect_value ) < $num_redirects )
      )
    {
        if( '' != $current_redirect_value )
        {
            $num_redirects = intval( $current_redirect_value ) + 1;
        }
        update_user_meta( $user->ID, $key_name, $num_redirects );
        return $redirect_url;
    }
    else
    {
        return $redirect_to;
    }
}

add_filter( 'login_redirect', 'redirectOnFirstLogin', 10, 3 );

Download the user-meta based redirect on first login plugin

Some extra notes:

• The code can be modified so that you don't actually redirect the user anywhere different than normal users, but set the user meta information or cookie and read that data to show a special pop-up or box to the user.
• WordPress has some default limitations disallowing redirects to URLs outside of your site's domain. If you need to redirect users elsewhere, you'll have to add the URLs to the "allowed redirect" list with code similar to this.
• If you have more sophisticated login redirect needs, you can adapt the code as an extension to this fully-featured redirect plugin.

Here’s a quick and simple, do-it-yourself guide to overriding a canonical URL whenever you make use of a specifically named custom field. As of WordPress 3.3, the default function that handles the canonical URL feature is rel_canonical in wp-includes/link-template.php:

function rel_canonical() {
    if ( !is_singular() )
        return;

    global $wp_the_query;
    if ( !$id = $wp_the_query->get_queried_object_id() )
        return;

    $link = get_permalink( $id );
    echo "<link rel='canonical' href='$link' />\n";
}

To override this function, you have to build your own copy of it in your theme’s functions.php file (or in a plugin):

// A copy of rel_canonical but to allow an override on a custom tag
function rel_canonical_with_custom_tag_override()
{
    if( !is_singular() )
        return;

    global $wp_the_query;
    if( !$id = $wp_the_query->get_queried_object_id() )
        return;

    // check whether the current post has content in the "canonical_url" custom field
    $canonical_url = get_post_meta( $id, 'canonical_url', true );
    if( '' != $canonical_url )
    {
        // trailing slash functions copied from http://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/18660/canonical.6.patch
        $link = user_trailingslashit( trailingslashit( $canonical_url ) );
    }
    else
    {
        $link = get_permalink( $id );
    }
    echo "<link rel='canonical' href='" . esc_url( $link ) . "' />\n";
}

// remove the default WordPress canonical URL function
if( function_exists( 'rel_canonical' ) )
{
    remove_action( 'wp_head', 'rel_canonical' );
}
// replace the default WordPress canonical URL function with your own
add_action( 'wp_head', 'rel_canonical_with_custom_tag_override' );

Then, on any post or page on which you want to override the canonical URL, add a custom field with the name “canonical_url” and the full URL value that you want to use:

In the future, there could be a more efficient, “pluggable” way to accomplish this. The current way that WordPress handles this, you could end up with multiple plugins overriding the canonical URL feature, resulting in duplicate or clashing custom functions (as an example, the Simple:Press forum plugin has its own override function). There’s an open ticket on the topic of adding a filter in the rel_canonical function to make this process cleaner. Some of the example code above was taken from a patch in that ticket.

Whether you run a blog as part of a bigger business or your blog stands on its own, it’s important that you have an ability to reach out to your audience and they have an ability to reach right back to you. The comment section is one way to do that, but not all communication is intended to be public. That’s why contact forms are so useful.

There are many different contact form plugins available for WordPress, but most require you to create a separate page for the contact form. That’s not the case with the Slick Contact Forms plugin. Instead, it uses jQuery and AJAX so the contact form can be rendered on any page. There is no page refresh needed.

The contact form can simply float or drop down as a tab. If you prefer, it can aslo be a sticky, slide-out tab. In any case, the contact form can be placed as a widget at all kinds of places around the web and includes three text input fields, as well as a text intro. To fight spam, it uses a “honeypot” mechanism with a blank input field hidden to users but visible to spambots. This is more streamlined that a Captcha-style system.

Learn more about the Slick Contact Forms WordPress plugin on Design Chemical, which is the site of the people responsible for the plugin. Screenshots, installation instructions, a live demo, shortcode information, and the free download link can all be accessed from that page.

There are many different ways that you can go about displaying your blog. Some people like to have the full text visible right from the main page and main archive, much like what you see here on the BlueFur blog. However, for blogs with longer posts, this may not be as appropriate.

Depending on the theme that you are using, there may already be an automatic function to create excerpts, but this may not be the case. That’s why something like the Auto Read More Generator plugin can be so simple and so useful.

It serves a single function. For every post that you publish, it will automatically insert a “read more…” link after the first image and first paragraph. If there is no image, then the “read more…” link will be placed after the first paragraph. This creates the excerpt and streamlines the main page.

You can find the Auto Read More Generator through the WordPress Plugin Directory as normal. And also as normal, this plugin is available as a free download too.

In an effort to provide the best possible user experience on your blog, you may have added a series of widgets for more functionality and easier access. However, this may have had a significantly negative impact on the load times for your pages.

This is especially true when it comes to widgets that rely on external data sources, like an Amazon shopping widget or a Facebook page widget. To help improve the reader experience, you may want to consider adding the Lazy Widget Loader plugin for WordPress.

In short, this widget will “postpone loading the content of those widgets you choose, so that the their content is loaded after the main content of the page that is displayed.” By doing this, the main content is there and accessible, rather than being delayed behind the slower-loading widgets.

The mechanism allows the loading of any content only when needed, including the ability to “lazy-load” content anywhere on the page. Head on over to Itthinx.com for more information about the Lazy Widget Loader. It’s also there that you’ll find the FAQ, screenshots, demo, and download link.

When you run any kind of blog, it’s important that you update it on a regular basis. This also means that it helps when you have an ongoing list of post topics, ensuring that you always have something to write about.

Saving these topic ideas as “draft” posts, sometimes with some quick bullet points to jog your memory, can be very helpful, but it’s not always convenient to access all your drafts. That’s where the simple yet effective Drafts Dropdown plugin comes into the picture.

Created by Crowd Favorite and Alex King, well known names in the world of WordPress development, Drafts Dropdown grants you faster access to your draft posts and pages. Assuming that you are logged in, you can see the drafts pulldown menu from every page on your blog via that gray toolbar that stays persistent across your site. It’s that simple.

Head on over to the WordPress Plugin Directory to get the FAQ, installation instructions, and screenshots for this plugin. It is also there that you can access the free download link. The current version is compatible with WordPress 3.2+.

Growing a popular blog is very much a double-edged sword. It’s great when you have lots of new readers leaving lots of new comments, but that also means that your site is more likely to attract all the comment spammers and spambots out there.

Akismet has been the go-to tool for this problem for quite some time, but it is not without its flaws. It “detects” many false positives: comments that are legitimate can oftentimes be flagged as spam and never seen by the blog owner. An alternative to Akismet is GASP and it claims to be more accurate in this regard.

Developed by Andy Bailey, the same guy who made the popular CommentLuv plugin, GASP stands for GrowMap Anti-Spambot Plugin. It works to combat spam from spambots by implementing a very simple feature. There is a checkbox that needs to be ticked before a comment can be posted. The text next to this reads, “Check box to confirm you are NOT a spammer.” Real comments get through and spambots do not.

Check out Basic Blog Tips for more information about GASP. The plugin can then be found as a free download through the usual WordPress.org Plugin Directory.

Blogs are a great way to showcase your latest work as the default configuration uses a reverse chronological order for your content. At the same time, this means older content can easily be lost and forgotten. How can you fix that?

A great WordPress plugin called Top 10 helps draw attention to some of your most popular posts. It keeps track of the page views on your blog, both on a daily basis and with all-time page views. The page view count can be shown on the individual posts themselves, but that’s not where the real value lies.

Instead, it’s much better to output this top 10 list as a widget to be shown in your sidebar or footer. This way, if someone arrives on your site reading one post, he or she will quickly and easily see what other posts are popular on your site. There are many features and options in this plugin too, allowing you to tweak it to suit your needs.

Head over to the developer’s site to get more information about how this plugin works. You can access the free download link on that page or via the WordPress.org Plugin Directory.

Have you ever wanted to make a minor alteration to one of your blog posts? Surely you have, but going back into the administration area of WordPress can prove to be such an extra hassle when all you want to do is make a minor edit.

That’s why the Front End Editor plugin for WordPress is so useful. Instead of diving back into the WP Dashboard to fix a typo, you can edit your content directly from the site’s front end. A simple “edit” button appears for those with permissions to edit the posts and pages.

In fact, Front-end Editor can also be used to edit comments, widgets, and many more elements that are common to WordPress-based sites. The editor is not just for fixing basic text either, in case the changes are a little more substantial. This plugin utilizes a WYSIWYG editor, giving you the ability to change the font, add links, add italics, adjust images, and so on.

Find more information, as well as screenshots, at the WordPress Plugin Directory. This is a free download, so you can find the link on that same page.

One of the most common items that a website visitor wants to find is a means to contact you. You may already have some great information on your site about your products and services, but they may want to know more before placing an order.

A contact page is a great start, especially if you have a contact form set up for e-mail communication. You might also list your phone number, but what if your customer is calling from another locale and doesn’t want to pay long distance? That’s where the Contact Call Plugin can come in very handy.

The biggest advantage here is that the plugin can embed a “call us” button right on your website. When a visitor clicks on that, they call you from within the web browser. It’s that simple. Your call can then be received via Skype, mobile, GTalk, or landline. It works through the Push2Call protocol.

Go to the WordPress Plugin Directory for more information on Contact Call, including an introductory video on the Push2Call service. Naturally, that page is also where you will find the free download link as well.

Many people are making sizable incomes through their blogs. For some, it’s a part-time endeavor with part-time money. For others, it’s a full-time job. Whatever the case, selling advertising on a blog need not be too difficult.

In place of or in addition to the various advertising networks, you may also be interested in selling private advertising. If so, you’ll want to have some good ad management software. The A.M.Y. Lite WordPress Plugin is one option that you might want to consider.

This ad management extension is a more basic version of its paid equivalent, but it still gives you the functionality that you need to run private advertising. It automatically tracks expiration dates, so you don’t need to pull expired ads on your own. The plugin allows for ad rotation too.

Go to CalendarScripts.info for screenshots and more information about the A.M.Y. Lite plugin. That is also where you can access the free download link.

There’s nothing more frustrating that going to a website via a link, only to find that the page does not exist. You don’t want that to become a common thing on your site and that’s why you need the Check and Repair 404 Errors WordPress plugin.

This plugin works a little differently than some others that seem to offer similar functionality. Rather than actively seeking broken links, it monitors when a visitor to your site receives a 404 error. It then records the URL that the visitor was trying to reach.

From there, you can log into the admin dashboard on your WordPress site and go to the report area for this plugin. There, you can look at the failed requests (from users, bots, search engines, and so on) and fix the issue manually. This is true of pages, broken outbound links, broken image links, and more. Anything that would generate a 404 error.

The Check and Repair 404 Errors WordPress plugin is developed by Tent Blogger. You can find more information on that site and then head over to the WordPress Plugin Directory to access the free download link.

There are all sorts of different plugins that can customize WordPress to suit your particular needs and preferences. Some change the reader side of things, while others change the admin side. This plugin falls into the latter category.

Called UI Labs, this free WordPress plugin “offers experimental admin UI features” that are supposed to enhance the default experience. I imagine that new features will be added to UI Labs as new versions are released.

There are two features as of version 1.1.1. The first is the addition of color-coded post statuses. Basically, this will color codes the tags in your post listing that tell you whether a post is a draft, a sticky, pending, private, and so on. This makes it easier to see the difference at a glance. The second feature is a slightly altered WordPress 3.2 admin header.

Head on over to the WordPress Plugin Directory to read the brief writeup on these “unofficial core UI experiments.” It’s also there that you’ll get a couple of screenshots and the download link.

By now, it’s fairly common practice for blog owners to integrate their comment system with gravatar. This way, when people leave a comment on the site, their avatar shows up. However, this usually only happens after the comment is submitted.

The Moo Gravatar Box plugin for WordPress takes the Gravatar integration one step further. Rather than waiting until a comment has already been submitted, it will automatically fetch the avatar image immediately after an email address is entered in the comment form.

The other major advantage is that the person leaving the comment can see whether or not their gravatar image is being pulled correctly or not. If this person does not have a Gravatar account, the plugin will automatically ask them to get one. That’s pretty useful.

Find some more information, including a FAQ on customizing the style, through the official WordPress.org plugin directory. The plugin is a free download and requires WordPress 2.8 or higher.

Do you have time-sensitive content on your blog that needs to be removed or added on certain dates? You don’t need to do this manually! Just as you can automate so many other processes in WordPress, you can automate post updates too.

You need the Before and After WordPress plugin. This is a very simple solution. All you have are two main types of tags. One will show text (and other content) up until a certain date, after which it will be automatically removed from the live post. The other tag will hide text (and other content) up until a certain date, after which it will automatically be displayed on the live post.

The syntax does not appear to allow for specific times, but you can designate specific dates. For instance, if you to show a product announcement on September 15, 2012 but not before that, you would use this syntax:

<AFTER 2012-09-15>We are proud to announce the availability of Product XYZ.</AFTER>

The Before and After WordPress plugin works in both posts and pages. Get more information on the developer’s site, though it is in Dutch. The download button can be accessed on that page too (it’s the “down” arrow at the end of the post).

Remember, the minimum requirements are changing as duly noted on the WordPress News blog last July. The latest and greatest version of WordPress will require at least:

• PHP 5.2.4
• MySQL 5.0

We've all had nearly a year to prepare for this change. If you haven't yet taken any steps to ensure compatibility now would be a good time as the clock is ticking. At the time of this writing there is only 1 active ticket on Trac.

You should be able to see what version of PHP and MySQL your host is running by logging in to your site's control panel. If you are unable to find the information don't fret, contact your host's support department or download and install the Health Check plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory. Of course you can also install the plugin directly from your dashboard - just search for "health check".

Once the plugin is installed simply activate it after which you will see a notice at the top of the page similar to the image below.

If you get a warning message you'll need to take action. Most hosting companies already meet the minimum requirements of WordPress 3.2. If your site is not currently running the needed versions of PHP and MySQL you should be able to change that from within your control panel. If you cannot or don't know how then contact your host's support department.

If your host doesn't meet the minimum requirements and refuses to upgrade you might want to find a new home for your blog.

There’s something to be said about integration across platforms. That’s why while it is important to have a presence on Twitter, Facebook, and through your blog, it’s by connecting these profiles together that you can gain the greatest possible value.

You may have already seen a few blogs where the conventional comment system has been replaced with Facebook comments. This allows visitors to the site to post comments using their Facebook profiles and this content can be easily integrated between the two. However, this content may not be visible to Google.

The way around this is to use a WordPress plugin like Crawlable Facebook Comments. This will let Google crawl and index your Facebook comments, giving you another leg up when people are looking for certain topics and information through the popular search engine.

This plugin will retrieve the comments, including information about authors and dates, and make them visible in your source code. Otherwise, these Facebook comments would be “hidden” in an iframe that Google may not see. Crawlable Facebook Comments overcomes that shortcoming. Find it as a free download through the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Last week, I wrote about a WordPress plugin called Social Metrics that allowed you to track the statistics related to social media when it came to the performance of your website or blog. This week, we extend the stat tracking with Feed Stats for WordPress, which has been reworked since the prior version stopped receiving support.

The idea behind this WordPress plugin is that it is able to provide you with all of the information regarding your RSS feed without you having to make a separate visit to your Feedburner account. You’re more likely to check your stats when you don’t have to go somewhere else to do it, which is the same reason why there are plugins for other services like Google Analytics.

With Feed Stats for WordPress, you can gain access to such statistics as the number of subscribers, number of hits, your reach, item clickthroughs and item views. All of this information can be found through the main WordPress dashboard section of your blog’s administration panel.

As usual, you can find Feed Stats for WordPress through the official Plugin Directory on WordPress.org. Screenshots and a handy FAQ are there as well.

Any site owner will tell you about the importance of tracking your site’s performance. By and large, people have come to rely on Google Analytics for this purpose, as well as other services for tracking affiliate marketing, advertising campaigns and so forth. Another option you may want to add to the mix is Social Metrics.

This WordPress plugin effectively works as a “social media analytics tool” for your blog. Using it, you can keep track of how your site (and its various pages) are performing on popular social networking websites and services. Currently, the plugin supports such networks as Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, StumbleUpon, Digg, LinkedIn, and the recently launched Google +1.

While in the administrative panel for Social Metrics, you can see exactly how many times each individual post or page has been “shared” across these networks. This is quite different from the public display option offered by other WordPress plugins. This is particularly useful for newer or growing sites, as you may not want to show these metrics publicly to your readers. You can also filter the results based on categories and month.

Find out more information about Social Metrics on Riyaz.net, including a useful FAQ and installation guide. You can then go to the WordPress Plugin Directory to find the free download link.

As you may have noticed, Google recently rolled out a new product called Google +1 (or Google Plus One, if you prefer). In essence, it works the same way as a Facebook like button on a website or even like a “tweet” button. When you click on the +1, that webpage gets a bump in search rankings as viewed by your friends.

In some ways, this sounds like Google Buzz too, though Buzz hasn’t exactly had the kind of impact that Google was trying to get. Even so, Google +1 could prove to be a useful tool for all the webmasters and bloggers in the audience. Whatever way you can get more traffic and get higher in search rankings, the better.

You could simply install the code that is provided to you by Google, but an easier way to integrate Google +1 on your site is to use the google Plus One Button WordPress plugin. It gives you many options for sizes and styles, as well as where to put the button on your pages and posts.

As with most other plugins, this one can also be found in the official WordPress Plugin Directory. Some useful information about Google+1 itself (and a screenshot of this plugin) can be found at DragonBlogger.com, though he has no direct association with either the new Google product or the new plugin.