Speed is a crucial factor in improving the user experience on website. While reducing the attention span, make sure to reduce website load time and make it smooth.
Research indicates that “if a site takes more than three seconds to load, 40% of users are likely to leave“.
Therefore, focusing on website speed and performance to keep users engaged and satisfied is an essential step to improve user experience.
You can follow the given strategies to reduce the page loading time and performance of your website, such as:
minimizing large images,
utilizing efficient coding practices,
compressing multimedia files,
implementing lazy loading,
and trimming unnecessary plugins.
These practices can significantly improve website speed and performance while improving the user experience on website.
You can also explore the benefits of a content delivery network (CDN) to optimize your website for better UX.
Enhance Navigation and Structure
While designing the website’s navigation and structure, consider it a map that guides users to the information they seek.
Avoid cluttering menus and excessive layers of submenus, which can overwhelm users.
Consider implementing a “sticky” navigation bar that remains visible as users scroll, especially on pages packed with content.
A “clear and well-organized navigation system” will reduce user frustration and enable quick & easy engagement with your content.
Improve Mobile Responsiveness
Mobile traffic surpasses desktop usage, so optimizing your website’s user experience on mobile devices is essential.
To achieve this,
implement a responsive design that adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes.
Ensure that buttons are touch-friendly and navigation is intuitive for mobile users.
Additionally, all media, text, and functionalities should be easily accessible & visually appealing on smaller screens, which will help improve the user experience on website.
To pinpoint areas needing enhancement, “consider utilizing Google’s mobile-friendly test tool“.
This proactive approach will enhance the user experience and boost your site’s performance across devices.
Streamline Content Presentation
When creating content, remember that its value lies in readability. To enhance the user experience on website, prioritize larger fonts, generous line spacing, and a high-contrast color scheme.
Don’t overlook the importance of including “alt text for images” and “using the descriptive link text.”
Accessible navigation is crucial for users who depend on screen readers.
Performing website accessibility improvements is a best practice for UX and reflects a commitment to being a user-centered brand that welcomes everyone.
Add Interactive Elements
Your website needs prominent call-to-actions that guide visitors toward desired actions.
Use concise and action-oriented button text, such as “Start Free Trial” or “Get Started Now.”
You can engage your visitors by incorporating strategically placed feedback mechanisms. with visual progress indicators:
Short pop-up surveys after specific actions
Rating systems for content or products
Contact forms with minimal required fields
Live chat widgets for immediate assistance
You can also transform the static elements into dynamic experiences with thoughtful hover effects
by applying subtle animations to navigation menu items, product images, service cards, and more.
To maintain consistency, test these elements across different devices and browsers for optimal engagement.
Conclusion
Enhancing user experience on website is fundamentally about prioritizing the needs of your visitors.
It involves creating an engaging, enjoyable, and valuable interaction with your content.
Key elements to consider include speed, accessibility, mobile-friendliness, and intentional design.
Focusing on these aspects can help you craft a digital environment that delights visitors, fosters trust, and drives business growth.
A website boosting exceptional UX is an invaluable asset; it’s time to leverage its full potential.
The Subscribe to Comments feature in WordPress allows users to receive email notifications when new comments are made on posts or pages they follow.
This boosts user engagement by informing readers and encouraging them to return for discussions.
Enabling this feature helps website owners improve user interaction, build community, and increase repeat visits, leading to better user retention and site activity.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through the steps to set up comment subscriptions on your WordPress website.
Table of Contents
Why should users be allowed to subscribe to comments in WordPress?
Allowing users to comment on your WordPress blog is a great way to increase engagement.
Many users leave comments on a website and never return.
By allowing them to subscribe to comments, the plugin will send them a comment reply email notification whenever an individual comments on that same post. It will remind them about their comment and bring them back to your website.
Utilize the subscribe to comments feature, enabling individuals to efficiently track comment threads that spark many discussions or heated debates.
Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t allow visitors to subscribe to comments by default.
But there is no need to worry.
Various WordPress plugins will notify you when someone replies, likes, or dislikes your comments. They’ll get a WordPress comment approval email to enable it.
Hence, you can use these WordPress plugins to like and dislike comments after they subscribe to comments on your website, such as Thrive Comments.
Using Thrive Comments Allow Users to Subscribe to Comments
The Thrive Comments plugin is the easiest way to offer a comment subscription feature.
It is the most popular WordPress comments plugin. It is part of the Thrive Themes set of plugins that lets users subscribe to comments with a button click. It also includes many features to improve comment interaction, including upvote/downvote, comment badges, etc.
For further details, see our review of the Thrive Comments.
First, visit the Thrive Themes website and sign up for an account.
When you are done with that, the account will be created. You can now head to the account dashboard.
Press the ‘Download and install the Thrive Product Manager plugin’ link from here.
After that, install the Thrive Product Manager plugin on your WordPress site.
After activation, you can access the Product Manager option from your WordPress dashboard.
Press the ‘Log into my account’ option.
Once you have logged in to your account, you can see the Thrive Product Manager dashboard.
To install the ‘Thrive Comments‘ plugin, go to it, select it, and then click the ‘Install selected products‘ option.
After the plugin is installed, you can receive a success message, ‘Ready to use.’
After that, press the ‘Go to the Thrive Themes Dashboard’ option.
Finally, you will see all your Thrive Themes plugins installed on your site.
Press the ‘Thrive Comments’ option.
How to Set Up Comment Notifications in Thrive Comments?
After that, you will be directed to the Thrive Comments settings.
Press on the ‘Notifications’ option.
Then, connect an email delivery service to notify comment subscribers.
To do this, click the ‘+ Add new’ button and select an email marketing service to connect with Thrive Comments.
From this point on, you should be able to see a dropdown menu with various email tools.
Select the email delivery service you want to connect with.
Thrive Comments will prompt you to input the API key or API token for your selected tool.
You can find the API key in your email marketing tool’s dashboard or account area. The steps for retrieving the API key may vary for each service, so we suggest reviewing their documentation.
After you connect the email delivery tool, you will see it as an active connection.
With Thrive Comments, you have the option to personalize your comments and post notifications according to your preferences.
This allows you to modify the default notification messages that users will receive when they leave a comment, someone responds to their comment, or a new comment or reply is posted to a specific article.
For example, if you click the ‘Customize Comment Notification’ option, you can edit the email subject line, content, and more.
You can also add notification shortcodes to the email text, such as the site title or comment author’s name.
Likewise, if you select the ‘Customize Post Notification’ option, you can edit the email that users receive when someone leaves a comment on the thread.
The plugin allows you to modify the email text and use shortcodes to add more details to the content.
Once you have finished, remember to save your settings by clicking on the ‘Save‘ button.
After that, go to your WordPress website and scroll to the comment section under any post or page. Find the ‘Subscribe to comments’ option at the end.
Additional Tips for Managing Subscribe to Comments on your WordPress Website
Now that you have added a comment subscription option on your website, you can take further steps to manage comments effectively.
One such step is integrating Google reCAPTCHA into the comment form to filter spam. To pass the test, users must tick the checkbox indicating that they are not a robot or select a set of images.
Apart from that, you can also manage your comment email notifications. WordPress has default email settings for comment notifications and moderation alerts.
However, different WordPress plugins allow you to send notifications to users as well. For instance, you can email a user when their comment is approved.
Alternative plugins are available to enable subscribe to comment setup on your WordPress. One such is Better Notifications for WP; let’s learn more about that.
Better Notifications for WP
Are you interested in sending email notifications to your commenters about new replies?
If so, then you should check out Better Notifications for WordPress comment plugins.
By default, WordPress sends comment notifications only to the site administrators and the article’s author. But with this plugin, you can customize the types of notifications that are sent out and who receives them.
For instance, you can create a new notification for replies, allowing users to respond and respond to the latest feedback on their comments, which can help increase engagement.
Advantages of Better Notifications for WP
It has an easy-to-use interface for setting up notifications and creating email content.
Customizable rules for those who receive certain emails are great for site admins who want to avoid receiving too many notifications.
Disadvantages of Better Notifications for WP
As with other WordPress email features, you may experience email deliverability problems.
Sending notifications to users about new replies is an excellent way to increase user engagement and obtain more comments. Therefore, we recommend this subscribe to comment plugin.
Conclusion
Now, we better understand why allowing users to subscribe to comments in WordPress is crucial. Subscribe to comments can significantly enhance engagement and draw more returning visitors to your site.
Users will receive email notifications about new replies, which can spark lively discussions and increase overall engagement on your website.
Change WordPress admin menu position is essential for improving user experience and workflow efficiency.
By organizing the menu, administrators can prioritize frequently used items like plugins, simplify navigation, and reduce clutter.
This is especially important for websites with complex setups or multiple contributors, as it helps users access vital tools quickly.
Rearranging the menu boosts accessibility, saves time, and makes training new users easier. Take control of your admin interface to enhance productivity.
Understanding WordPress Admin Menu Position
Default Admin Menu Structure
The WordPress admin menu position follows a hierarchical structure, displaying various options in a specific order.
By default, the main menu items appear in this sequence:
Dashboard (position 2)
Posts (position 5)
Media (position 10)
Pages (position 20)
Comments (position 25)
Appearance (position 60)
Plugins (position 65)
Users (position 70)
Tools (position 75)
Settings (position 80)
Menu Position Priority Numbers
WordPress uses a numerical priority system to determine menu positioning:
Lower numbers appear higher on the menu
Numbers range from 0 to 100
Core WordPress items use increments of 5
Custom menu items should use different numbers to avoid conflicts
Multiple items with the same position number are ordered alphabetically
Identifying WordPress Menu Hooks and Filters
WordPress provides several hooks and filters to manipulate menu positions:
admin_menu: Primary hook for adding/modifying menu items
admin_init: Hook for initializing admin-specific operations
menu_order: Filter for reordering menu items
custom_menu_order: Filter for WordPress change menu order
parent_file: Filter for highlighting active parent menus
Essential Methods to Modify WordPress Admin Menu Position
Using the menu_order parameter
The menu_order parameter is one of the simplest ways to reposition WordPress admin menu items.
By setting numerical values, you can control where each menu item appears.
Lower numbers move items higher in the menu, while higher numbers push them lower.
function debug_menu_positions() {
global $menu;
if(!is_array($menu)) {
error_log('WordPress admin menu
structure is invalid');
return;
}
// Continue with menu modifications
}
Now that we’ve covered the implementation examples, let’s look at some best practices to ensure your menu modifications work flawlessly across different WordPress installations.
Best Practices for WordPress Menu Management
Maintaining Menu Hierarchy
When reorganizing your WordPress admin menu position, maintaining a logical hierarchy is crucial for optimal user experience. Consider these key principles:
Group related items together (e.g., all content-related items like Posts, Pages, and Media)
Place frequently used items at the top
Keep core WordPress functions in familiar positions
Limit menu depth to three levels to prevent navigation confusion
Performance Considerations
Proper WordPress menu management directly modify wordpress admin panel performance:
Minimize the use of custom menu position numbers to avoid conflicts
Use priority values wisely (lower numbers appear higher in the menu)
Cache menu structures when implementing complex customizations
Avoid redundant menu items that could slow down admin page load times
Plugin Compatibility Checks
Before implementing menu changes, ensure compatibility with your WordPress ecosystem:
Test menu modifications with all active plugins
Document any WordPress admin menu position numbers used by third-party plugins
Use unique position numbers (avoid common values like 5, 10, 20)
Implement fallback positions for conflict resolution
A well-organized admin menu enhances workflow efficiency and reduces user errors.
Conclusion
In conclusion, change WordPress admin menu position enhances user experience, streamlines navigation, and improves workflow efficiency. Use the code adjustments mentioned to tailor the menu to your site’s specific needs. This includes reordering items, creating custom menus, and adjusting submenu positions.
Optimize your dashboard by following best practices, such as maintaining a logical hierarchy and testing for plugin compatibility, to ensure an efficient and organized WordPress experience.
Internal linking in SEO is considered one of the most powerful strategies for boosting a website’s performance.
It can enhance navigation, increase page authority, and even give your site a competitive edge in search engine rankings.
In this post, we’ll explore the seven dynamic benefits of internal linking in SEO and show you how they can improve everything from user experience to SEO performance.
Let’s get started!
7 Benefits of Internal Linking in SEO
Improve Website Navigation
Internal linking impacts SEO on-site navigation and helps users quickly find related content on your site, making the user experience more seamless.
When users can navigate your site easily, they are likelier to stay longer and explore more pages, which makes it one of the vital benefits of internal linking in SEO.
Enhanced User Experience: Organized and instinctive navigation contributes to a smoother user experience, making it easy for visitors to find information and engage with the site.
Reduced Bounce Rates: Practical navigation helps retain visitors by guiding them to relevant content, thus decreasing the likelihood of them leaving immediately.
Longer Time-on-Site Metrics: When users can navigate your site quickly, they are much more likely to stay longer and explore more pages, making internal linking a benefit of SEO.
Enhance Search Engine Crawling
By strategically placing internal links, you help search engine bots discover and index your content, among the significant benefits of internal linking in SEO.
This ensures that all your important pages get recognized and ranked. There are several ways to insert internal link anchor text, including contextual links and footer links.
Faster Website Indexing: A well-built and optimized site allows search engines to locate and index pages smoothly, improving their visibility.
More Efficient Distribution of Link Equity: Strategically placing internal links helps search engine bots discover and index your content, which is one of the significant benefits of internal linking in SEO.
Improved Site Structure Recognition: Clear structure helps search engines understand the site’s hierarchy and content value.
Enhanced Crawl Budget Usage: Optimized navigation ensures search engines use their crawl budgets more efficiently, focusing on critical pages.
Increase Page Authority
Internal linking distributes page authority throughout the site
that can increase the ranking potential of your pages. The distribution of authority is also a vital benefit of internal linking in SEO.
By linking high-authority pages to others, you can help improve the search engine rankings of those linked pages.
Strategic Link Power Distribution: Effective management of internal linking increases the flow of link juice, increasing the authority of individual pages.
Strengthened Topical Relevance: Focusing on relevant content and links enhances pages’ perceived relevance and authority on specific topics.
Enhanced Domain Authority: Improved internal linking and content relevance contribute to higher overall domain authority, increasing your pages’ ranking potential.
Higher Search Rankings
Effective internal linking encourages users to analyze more of your content, increasing their time on your site.
This reduces the bounce rate, a notable benefit of internal linking in SEO, as search engines view more extended site visits as a positive signal of content relevance and quality.
Improved Keyword Relevancy: By aligning content closely with targeted keywords, search engine algorithms can better understand and rank pages for relevant queries.
Better Content Connectivity: Effective internal linking strategies enhance the relationship between content pieces, improving the site’s overall coherence and authority.
Competitive Edge in SERPs: By optimizing on-page and off-page elements, the site can surpass competitors in search engine results pages.
Local SEO Benefits: Targeting local keywords and optimizing for local searches help the site rank higher in geographically specific queries.
Boost Content Discovery
When new content is published, internal links can direct users and search engines to it.
Internal linking in SEO provides key benefits, such as increased visibility and discoverability of new content, ensuring that all your content gets the attention it deserves.
Resurfaces Older Content: Through strategic internal linking and content recommendations, valuable older content is highlighted, ensuring it doesn’t go unnoticed.
Promotes Related Articles: Links to relevant articles encourage users to explore more content, increasing site engagement.
Increases Page Views: By guiding visitors to additional exciting content, the site effectively boosts the number of pages viewed per visit, enhancing overall site metrics.
Maintain Content Hierarchy
Internal links help establish your website’s structure. This organization of content, driven by the benefits of internal linking in SEO,
ensures that critical pages are easily accessible, which can improve overall site usability and search engine rankings.
Clear Topic Clusters: The content is organized into clear, easy-to-follow sections so users and search engines can quickly find and understand what they’re looking for.
Stronger Topical Authority: Well-organized content clusters help build the site’s credibility on specific topics, establishing it as a trusted and authoritative source.
Better Information Architecture: A clearly defined hierarchy improves the overall layout and organization of content, helping users and crawlers locate valuable information efficiently.
The internal linking structure of a website looks like this, which maintains the content hierarchy.
Enhance User Engagement
Natural Content Flow: Connected content seamlessly guides users through the site and increases their chances of exploring further and engaging with it.
Reduced Bounce Rates: By providing logical next steps and related content, visitors are less likely to leave the site, reducing the bounce rate.
Improved Content Context: Strategically interlinked content helps users better understand information, making their experience more meaningful.
Higher Conversion Rate: Reserved visitors who interact with well-organized content are likelier to continue their journey toward conversion.
I hope you have learned enough about the Benefits of Internal Linking in SEO, and you must have understood why SEO internal linking best practices for website running.
But I think you should also know about the types of internal linking on the whole website or page.
Conclusion
Embracing the benefits of internal linking in SEO is a game-changer for your website’s success.
It enhances user experience, boosts search engine crawlability, and helps distribute page authority effectively.
By connecting your content thoughtfully improves navigation and keyword optimization, increases engagement, and reduces bounce rates.
So, dive into internal linking and watch your site’s performance glide!
After activating WPForms, go to WPForms > Add New page from your WordPress dashboard.
To add a date field in WordPress, navigate to the ‘Select a Template‘ page.
It’s always a good idea to give your form a name so that you can quickly identify it later.
Here, you will find a variety of pre-made form templates, many of which already include a date and time picker field.
We will use the Simple Contact Form template to add WPforms with a date picker.
However, feel free to select the template that best suits your needs.
Once you choose your template, click the ‘Use Template‘ button to create WPform.
2. Install the WPForms Plugin and Choose a Template
By default, the Simple Contact Form only has the name, email address, and comments field added to the form.
In the left column, scroll down to the Fancy Fields section, where you will find the “Date/Time” field.
Drag and drop this date range and time field to the desired location on your form.
Here, we have placed it just below the Email field.
After adding the field, click on the “Date/Time” field to edit it. To open up the “Field Options” tab on the left-hand side of your screen, please follow these steps.
From here, you can change the field label, date format, and description text to give more context for what the user needs to enter in the field.
You can also check the ‘Required’ box to make this a mandatory field.
It seems that the WPforms with a date picker requires the user to select a specific date range and time before they can successfully submit it.
Once you have made all the necessary changes, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your form settings.
Today’s Tip
If you want to ensure that your users can easily input specific dates for their stay using the WPforms with a date picker, then use the Hotel Reservation Form template. This template is specifically designed to include two date picker fields, one for the arrival date and one for the departure date, making it incredibly simple for your users to select the dates they want to stay.
3. Configure the Advanced Options for the Date Time Picker
After adding the date picker field to a WordPress form, the question arises, “How to change date format in WPforms?“
The WPforms with a date picker field has a default calendar and a time dropdown menu. This section will explain how to change the date format in the WPforms.
The current date range is selected by default, but the user can choose a different date. The date format is month/day/year, while the time dropdown defaults to a 12-hour clock with 30-minute intervals.
Users can select a time slot that suits them. However, sometimes you may need to change the date and time picker field settings.
For instance, if your country follows the day/month/year or 24-hour date and time formats instead of the default ones.
You need to switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab at the top of the left-side panel.
To customize the size of the date picker field, simply navigate to the Date section and make the necessary adjustments.
If the form has limited space and the default calendar view looks too small, you can switch to a date dropdown menu instead.
Adding WPforms with a date picker will make your users’ experience more user-friendly and make it easier for them to select a date from a list.
You can also change the date format in WPforms from month/day/year to day/month/year.
If you choose the calendar date picker, you can insert placeholder text in the “Date” field to let users know what format you are using so they don’t get confused.
To adjust the date range that can be selected, you can enable the “Limit Days” switch. This is particularly useful if you want to disable past dates and operate only on certain days of the week.
You can also disable past dates to prevent users from selecting previous dates.
In the “Time” section, you can change the interval to 15 minutes or 1 hour instead of 30 minutes. You can also input placeholder text to show your time format.
The time picker defaults to a 12-hour clock, but you can switch to a 24-hour clock.
You can also turn on the ‘Limit Hours’ setting to specify the start and end times of your services.
You can enter a CSS class name for the date picker field to override the form’s style using code later.
Lastly, you can hide the form field label and sub-label if necessary.
Once you are satisfied with your form, you can save it as WPforms with a date picker by clicking the “Save” button at the top right corner of the screen.
4. Embed the WordPress Form on Your Website
To add your new WPforms with a date picker to your website, click the ‘Embed’ button at the top of the form builder.
This will bring up a pop-up asking you to either select an existing page to add the new form with a date picker or create a new page for the form from scratch.
If you want to add the form to an existing page, click the ‘Select Existing Page‘ button and choose one of the pages on your WordPress website.
If you prefer to add WPforms with a date picker to a new page, click the ‘Create New Page’ button and give the new page a name.
Both options will take you to the block editor, where you can add the date field in WordPress form block to the page.
To do this, click the ‘+’ add block button, type ‘WPForms’ into the search bar, and drag and drop the block to where you want it on the page.
Next, click the dropdown menu and select the WPforms with a date picker that you just created.
In the Block settings sidebar, you can customize the form field, label, and button styles to match your WordPress theme.
You can also change each element’s size, border radius, and colors.
Once satisfied with the settings, click the “Update” or “Publish” button to make the form live on your website.
If you want to add the WPforms with a date picker to a post instead of a page,
you can create a new post or open an existing one in the block editor and follow the same steps.
Different ways to use WPForms with a Date Picker
In this section, you will learn how to use the date picker form as a widget or embed it as a shortcode.
It will help you quickly integrate your WPforms date picker on your website.
Method 1
WP form with Date Picker as a Widget
Below are the easy steps to add the WPforms Block to a Widget-Ready Area.
You can display it if you have a classic WordPress theme and your form is short enough to fit in a widget-ready header, footer, or sidebar area.
To add the WPforms block to such an area, go to Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin area.
Afterward, find the widget-ready area where you want your form to appear, and click the white ‘+’ add block button inside it.
Then, search for the WP Forms block and select the form you want to add.
You can customize the design in the Block settings sidebar to match your WordPress theme.
Once done, click the “Update” button to save your changes.
Method 2
Use Date Picker form as a Shortcode
Remember that this method won’t work if you use a block theme.
Alternatively, you can embed your WPforms with a date picker using a shortcode.
If the WPForms block or widget doesn’t work, click the ‘Use a shortcode’ link in the ‘Embed in a Page’ popup.
You will see a shortcode you can copy and paste into a page, post, or widget-ready area.
Customizing WPForms Date Picker Settings
Customizing date picker settings enables developers to “optimize the user experience“
by fine-tuning how users select dates in web forms or applications. Let’s start with setting a date ranges:
1. Setting Date Ranges
Let’s discuss about setting date ranges in your WPforms date picker. To set a date range, you’ll usually need to define a start date and an end date.
Here’s how you might do it:
Choose a minimum date (the earliest date users can select)
Set a maximum date (the latest date users can pick)
For example, if you’re booking a vacation, you might want to set the range from today to one year from now.
This way, users can’t book too far in advance or choose dates in the past.
For example, if you’re booking a vacation, you might want to set the range from today to one year from now.
This way, users can’t book too far in advance or choose dates in the past.
Pro Tip
Consider your users needs when setting date ranges. Too wide a range can be overwhelming, while too narrow might be restrictive.
2. Formatting Date Display
Now, let’s make those dates look good! Formatting your date display is all about making the dates easy for your users to read and understand.
Here are some common date formats:
MM/DD/YYYY (like 12/25/2023)
DD/MM/YYYY (like 25/12/2023)
YYYY-MM-DD (like 2023-12-25)
Remember, different countries have different date formats. It’s a good idea to use the most common format in your target area or give users the option to choose their preferred format.
You can also get creative with how you display the date. Maybe you want to spell out the month or add the day of the week.
Just make sure it’s clear and easy to understand!
3. Adding Placeholder Text
Placeholder text is super helpful for guiding your users. You see that light gray text in an input field of the WPforms date picker before you start typing.
For a date picker, your placeholder might look something like this:
Select a Date
MM/DD/YYYY
Start Date – End Date (for a range picker)
The key is to make it clear what kind of input you’re looking for.
Your placeholder should give users a hint about the expected format or what they’re supposed to do.
4. Configuring Date Restrictions
Sometimes, you don’t want users to be able to select certain dates. That’s where date restrictions come in handy.
You might want to restrict dates for a few reasons:
To prevent bookings on holidays
To block out dates that are already full
To stop users from selecting weekends for business appointments
To set these up, you’ll usually need to create an array of restricted dates or define rules for what dates should be unavailable.
5. Testing your WPforms Date Picker
Alright, you’ve set everything up. Now it’s time to make sure it all works smoothly!
Here’s a quick checklist for testing your WPforms date picker:
Try selecting dates within the allowed range
Attempt to pick dates outside the range
Test all format options if you’re allowing users to change formats
Make sure restricted dates can’t be selected
Check that the placeholder text displays correctly
Test on different devices and browsers
With these tips, you’ll have a user-friendly, fully customized date picker in no time.
Conclusion
WPforms date picker on your website helps your users understand more about your services. They will also be able to understand your working pattern and value your work timings.
Hence, it will help you and your website serve your visitors more profoundly and answer their queries shortly.
Elementor is a user-friendly WordPress drag-and-drop page builder that lets you design personalized WordPress layouts without requiring any coding skills.
Here, we will guide you to create a WordPress custom layout with Elementor in a few simple steps.
Table of Contents
When should you use elementor custom WordPress layouts?
WordPress themes, whether gratis or premium, offer multiple layout options for different types of pages to create WordPress custom layouts.
However,
Sometimes, none of these pre-made layouts may fit your requirements.
But, If you are a developer and know how to code in PHP, HTML, and CSS,
you cancreate page templates or even build a child theme for your website.
However,
Most WordPress users are not developers,
So, designing or creating custom layouts in WordPress becomes challenging.
But what if you could create custom page layouts in WordPress using a simple drag-and-drop interface?
Elementor is a WordPress page builder plugin that helps you in creating custom layouts in WordPress without requiring any coding skills.
Elementor has an intuitive user interface that enables you to create WordPress custom layouts with a live preview.
It contains many ready-to-use modules for all types of web design elements.
Additionally, it has several professionally designed templates that you can use as a starting point.
Elementor’s exceptional compatibility extends across all standards-compliant WordPress themes and seamlessly integrates with many popular WordPress plugins.
This versatility ensures users can leverage Elementor’s powerful features without limitations, allowing for a seamless and efficient website-building experience.
So, let’s look at how Elementor will help you in creating custom page layout in WordPress.
Let’s Start with Elementor to Create WordPress Custom Layouts
To commence your journey in creating custom layouts in WordPress, acquiring the Elementor Pro plugin is essential.
This acquisition unlocks a spectrum of supplementary features and includes one year of comprehensive support.
After completing your purchase of the plugin, your next imperative is to install, connect and activate the Elementor Pro plugin.
After activation, you must configure the plugin settings by visiting the Elementor – Settings page for creating custom layouts in WordPress.
Elementor is initially set up to work with posts and pages. However, you can activate It specifically for custom post types.
Now, finalize your adjustments and click the “Save Changes” button to preserve your settings.
Making WordPress Custom Layouts with Elementor
Step 1:
To create custom page template in WordPress pages or posts, click on the ‘Edit with Elementor’ button on the post-editing screen.
Step 2:
This action will open up the Elementor user interface, allowing you to personalize your page effortlessly using Elementor’s intuitive drag-and-drop page builder.
Step 3:
Craft your page from scratch with custom sections, or opt for a pre-designed template to streamline your workflow.
Elementor is also a WordPress custom layout plugin that allows you to make your own page templates that you can customize to meet your requirements.
To start with a template, click the ‘Add Template’ button.
Step 4:
A popup window will appear, showing all available templates. Select the template that suits your page layout.
For example, if you want to create a contact page, select the template accordingly.
Step 5:
Select a template and click the ‘Insert’ button to add it to your page.
Elementor will then load the template for you, which you can customize further.
To edit the template, click on any element, and Elementor will display its settings in the left column.
Step 6:
After completing your edits, you can access various save settings by clicking the dropdown arrow next to the ‘Publish’ button.
Please remember that choosing “Save Draft” or “Save as Template” for a page layout does not result in publishing the page on your WordPress site; instead, it saves the progress for future use.
You can preview your page or go to the WordPress dashboard to save or publish it.
Let’s discuss what you must remember while creating WordPress custom layouts.
Elementor page layouts are created using containers, sections, columns, and widgets.
Containers / Sections are blocks you place on your page, and each container or section can have multiple columns.
You can customize each container, section and column’s styles, colours, and content.
Elementor widgets are content blocks you can add to your sections and columns.
These widgets provide a wide range of design elements for your website, such as sliders, videos, headings, carousels, text, images, maps, icons, testimonials, galleries, etc.
Save Custom Layouts as Templates in Elementor
Elementor is an excellent tool for saving your custom WordPress layouts as templates.
It will help you reuse your templates and create new pages even faster in the future.
To create a page template in Elementor, open the page you want to save as a reusable template.
Select the arrow adjacent to the ‘Publish’ button to access additional actions.
It will give you more options to save your post. Just press the ‘Save as Template’.
A popup will display with a simple click. It allows you to specify a name for your template.
Once you have entered the name, click the ‘Save’ button.
That’s it!
You have now saved your page as a template.
When you want to create a WordPress custom layout again, you can select your saved template from the ‘My Templates’ tab.
Just click on the ‘Insert’ button.
You also have the option to export this template for use on other WordPress sites utilizing Elementor.
To do this, click the three-dot icon and then click the ‘Export’ option. The template will then be downloaded to the system.
Conclusion
Creating custom layouts in WordPress layout builder is a straightforward process that empowers you to design visually stunning and functional websites without any coding skills.
With the steps in this elementor custom layout blog post and leveraging Elementor’s powerful features, you can transform your website design concepts into reality and make a lasting impression on your audience.
Experiment with different layouts, widgets, and styling options to create a unique website by using WordPress custom layouts.
Use one of the top WordPress Comment Plugin to enhance your website’s comment section. And, provide users with various functions, such as liking and disliking comments, replying to comments, and more.
You can also allow them to enable or disable notifications to stay notified of any new activity. And you can perform this task manually on WordPress pages.
Top 7 WordPress Comment Plugins
Plugin 1
JetPack Comments
JetPack Comments plugin is one of the best WordPress comments plugins, compatible with various platforms, such as WordPress.com, Google, Facebook, Twitter (now X), and more.
A social media section in the comments helps users share the top comments to their social media handles. It is the best way to bring traffic to your posts and boost engagement.
Advantages of JetPack Comments
Multi-purpose WordPress comment plugin with multiple features at zero cost
Allows users to comment through their social media handles
Compatible with WordPress themes
Disadvantages of JetPack Comments
Since it is a multi-purpose plugin, it may conflict with some pre-existing or new plugins.
This WordPress comment plugin allows users to comment using their social accounts that will boost engagement on your website through social platforms.
Plugin 2
WPDiscuz
WPDiscuz is one of the top comment plugins, offering several features, such as post rating, media support, and reduced spam.
This plugin will help you make your website look good and visually appealing to users.
Hence, using this plugin enhances your website’s appearance while boosting engagement.
Advantages of WPDiscuz
Offers blog rating and commenting features to allow users rate your blog
Provides custom-made templates for different posts
Users can leave comments by using their social media accounts
Disadvantages of WPDiscuz
You may face some issues with their support team.
You can encourage users to comment using the WordPress plugin by providing a custom-made, socially interactive, engaging comment section.
Plugin 3
Akismet
Akismet is one of the best anti-spam WordPress comment plugins, trusted by over 100 million websites.
You can use this WordPress plugin to block spam comments, and its protection features prevent spammy comments from appearing in your comment section.
It also provides detailed statistics to help you keep track of the amount of spam that Akismet has blocked.
Advantages of Akismet
Easy-to-use plugin with immediate activation
Automatically deletes spam comments, if left unreviewed for 15 days
Offers analytics to track spam and blocked comments
Disadvantages of Akismet
Sometimes, marks genuine comments as spam ones
Overall, Akismet as an effective solution for combating spam comments on WordPress and maintaining a positive user experience.
Plugin 4
Thrive Comments
Thrive Comments, provided by Thrive Themes, is an exceptional and one of the top recommended WordPress comment plugins.
It enables you to respond, delete, and even assign comments to other admins, which is impossible with the default WordPress commenting system.
Using these WordPress comment plugins, you can allow your users to subscribe to comments and get email notifications if there is any new activity.
Advantages of Thrive Comments
Manage comments effectively and assign them to admins
Offers post-comment actions to improve the user stay time
Provides subscribe to post comment feature to get email notification
Disadvantages of Thrive Comments
There is no free version available for this plugin
It is one of the best WordPress comment plugins and a fantastic way to improve user engagement and retention metrics.
Using thrive comments on your WordPress website provides features, such as notifying users of any activity on their comments and improving engagement.
Plugin 5
Comment Moderation Role
If you have multiple people who moderate comments, the Comment Moderation Role plugin is one of the most recommended WordPress comment plugins.
This plugin creates a new user role called ‘WPB Comment Moderator‘ in WordPress.
This role enables the assigned user to log in and moderate comments without accessing other areas of your admin.
It is beneficial if you have a support team or staff members responsible for moderating comments.
Advantages of Comment Moderation Role
It is a free WordPress comment plugins
Easy to install plugin with specific user role to moderate comments
Grant access to WordPress comments page to hep site secure
Disadvantages of Comment Moderation Role
Provides limited features and functions
If you need a no-frills plugin to manage comment moderation, the Comment Moderation Role is the better solution.
This tool can remove the ‘Website URL‘ field from the comment form, preventing users from inserting spammy or malicious links into their comments.
Additionally, this plugin can automatically remove hyperlinks from existing comments on your WordPress website.
Advantages of Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools
Gives option to delete pending, spam, and all comments in one click
Offers premium version with advanced features like AI auto-comment replies, comment up-votes, etc.
Easy-to-use interface without any complex setup
Disadvantage of Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools
It won’t stop website URL, if WordPress theme modifies standard core comment functions
Overall, if you want to quickly remove the Website URL field and all existing links from your comments without any coding, Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools can be a great solution.
Adding custom fields to the standard WordPress comment form has never been easier. Therefore, it is the best WordPress comment plugin to customize your comment section.
Depending on your preference, you can configure the fields as visible or invisible. Moreover, you can set rules for when these fields should appear in the comment section.
Advantages of Comment Extra Fields
Easy-to-use interface that allows to add custom fields qickly
Offers premium version with 10-days refund-policy
Convert comments into leads to elevate comments’ potential
Disadvantage of Comment Extra Fields
Demands premium version for advanced field options
It offers multiple field options such as single-line text, text area, checkbox, color picker, number, radio buttons, URL, file input, etc.
This plugin offers various options to customize your comment section and make it more interactive.
Conclusion
Having these WordPress comment plugins on your website will help you provide ample opportunities to your users.
You can provide them with various features, including a subscription feature that will help them stay notified of new activity in their comments.
Hence, using these WordPress plugins for comment moderation allows you to keep users engaged.
By adding a search bar to your WordPress website, you can improve user experience and functionality.
It offers visitors a direct and efficient way to find the content they seek, shortening their time on the website by helping them find the blog they want manually.
Now that we have enough information about what and why, we should jump right into our query to understand how to add a search bar in WordPress.
In this blog, we will examine the advantages of adding a search bar WordPress function and the process of adding your WordPress website seamlessly.
Various Methods to Add Search bar in WordPress
Creating a new search bar on your WordPress website is easy and can be done using several different methods.
Here’s a guide to help you create a search bar for your WordPress website:
The easiest way to create a search bar in WordPress is by using the built-in WordPress Search Widget.
Go to the WordPress Dashboard and log in to your WordPress admin panel.
Now navigate to the Widgets Section – Go to “Appearance”> Widgets.
Add the Search Widget.
Find the Search widget in the list of available widgets.
Drag and drop it into one of the widget areas, like the Sidebar, Header, or Footer (depending on your theme’s widget areas). Optionally, you can rename the widget’s title or leave it as the default Search.
Save and View. After placing the widget in the desired area, click Save. Visit your site to see the search bar in action.
Method 2:
Using the WordPress Theme Customizer
If your theme supports it, you can create a search bar directly from the Customizer. This method will let you add a search bar in WordPress without a plugin.
Go to the WordPress Dashboard and log in to your WordPress admin panel. Navigate to the Customizer Go to “Appearance” > Customize.
Find the Header or Widgets section. Depending on your theme, you may find an option to add a search bar in the “Header” or “Widgets” section.
Add the Search Bar If your theme allows adding a search bar in the header, enable the option (it could be listed as Search Form or something similar).
Save and Publish After selecting your settings, click Publish to save the changes.
Method 3:
Adding a Search Bar in the Header or Footer Using Code
If you’re comfortable with the codes, you can learn in this method how to add search bar in WordPress header or footer with the theme files.
Edit Theme Files Go to Appearance > Theme Editor.
Open the file where you want the search bar to appear (e.g., header.php or footer.php). Insert the Search Form Code.
Add the code where you want the search bar to appear. It will insert the default search form (searchform.php) template in the specified location
Save Changes after you have added the code, refresh your site to see the search bar after saving.
Method 4:
Using a Plugin for Advanced Search Features
A plugin can improve your default search bar in WordPress with additional features like search suggestions, filtering, or live search.
Install a WordPress search bar plugin Go to Plugins > Add New. Search for a plugin like
Relevanssi, SearchWP, or Ajax Search Lite.
Install and Activate the Plugin. Click Install Now, then Activate.
Every plugin has a settings page where you can customize the search experience. Follow the instructions to set up features like custom post type search, live search, or filtering.
Add the Search Bar: Every plugin integrates with your site’s search functionality, but some may also offer additional widgets or settings to place the search bar in a custom location.
Method 5:
Add Search Bar in WordPress Using a Page Builder (Elementor)
If you are using a page builder, for example, you are adding a search bar in elementor.
It is one of the best page builders out there, and you can add a search bar directly through its drag-and-drop interface.
Edit with Elementor: Open the page where you want to create the search bar and click Edit with Elementor.
From the Elementor sidebar, search for the Search widget and drag it to the desired section.
Customize the widget’s style and settings, then save the page.
Importance of Search bar in WordPress
Improved User Experience: Easy Navigation & Convenience
Better Content Discovery: Access to Relevant Content & Increased Interaction
Boosts SEO and Site Usability: Improved Internal Linking & Lower Bounce Rate
Enhanced Website Functionality: Customizable Search & Integration with Plugins
Improved Conversion Rates: Guiding Users to Desired Products or Services & Call-to-Action (CTA) Opportunities
Analytics and Insights: Search Data
Mobile-Friendly: Responsive
Conclusion
Hopefully, this is enough for you to understand the most common methods of adding a search bar in WordPress.
Whether you’re using a widget, theme customizer, code, plugin, or page builder, adding a search bar enhances usability, making it easier for your visitors to find content and engage with your site.
Have you ever needed to identify the WordPress theme a website is using? We often receive requests from readers eager to discover the themes they’ve encountered on others’ sites.
This knowledge empowers them to find WordPress themes and replicate that design and layout on their WordPress websites.
Here, we will show you exactly how to find out which WordPress theme a site is active.
Why Find Which WordPress Theme Is Active on a Website
When building a WordPress website, choosing a theme is a crucial decision that demands your full attention. You should view WordPress theme options carefully.
There are numerous factors to evaluate to select the perfect WordPress theme, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you check website theme WordPress options.
If you find a website with layout, features, icon fonts, and design that you love, use that as a valuable shortcut in your search for the right theme.
While some websites may utilize custom themes that are inaccessible to others, many opt for free WordPress themes or popular premium options, which can easily be identified using a WordPress theme detector.
In these cases, you can quickly discover the theme’s name and either download it or purchase it for your site.
Now, let’s dive into how to determine which theme a specific site is using. Ther are three methods to do so.
1. WordPress Theme Detector Tool
The simplest method to identify a WordPress theme is to use our free theme detector tool. Just enter the website’s URL and press the ‘Analyze Website’ button.
The WordPress theme detector scans the website’s code to identify its WordPress theme, if available.
For instance, if a website uses the popular Divi theme, you might see something like this:
If the theme you are looking for is less popular, our tool may display the theme’s name without an accompanying image or a “Get This Theme” button.
In such cases, we suggest that you copy the theme’s name and paste it into a search engine, like Google, to find more information.
2. Use IsItWP to Detect The WordPress Website’s Theme (With Plugins)
You can also use the free tool IsItWP, a WordPress theme detector. This tool not only identifies the WordPress theme used by a website but also provides additional information, such as the plugins the site is using.
Simply visit the IsItWP website and enter the URL of the site you want to analyze.
IsItWP confidently checks whether a website is built on WordPress.
If it is, IsItWP effectively acts as a WordPress theme detector, identifying the WordPress theme and presenting the results.
It will also attempt to identify the site’s WordPress hosting provider and any plugins being utilized.
IsItWP will provide download links for these plugins, along with reviews, so you can select the best WordPress plugin for your needs, just as a WordPress theme detector helps you identify a website’s theme.
Please note that IsItWP might not be able to display information for custom WordPress themes or child themes. As a result, you may occasionally receive a result indicating that it cannot find specific details.
However, IsItWP will still provide the name of the theme, allowing you to search for it online to see if it is available for download or purchase.
3. Check Manually Active WordPress Theme Used by a Website
Website owners often change the name of their WordPress themes to enhance security and make it more challenging for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities.
However, this practice can interfere with the functionality of theme-detection tools like WordPress Theme Detector and IsItWP.
If these tools fail to retrieve information about a website, you can take matters into your own hands by inspecting the website’s code for clues about the theme in use, regardless of any name changes or the presence of a child theme.
Every WordPress theme includes a style.css file that is crucial for identifying it.
This file contains a theme header with essential information such as the theme’s name, author, version number, custom fonts, and more, along with the CSS styles utilized by the theme.
To find this file, use your browser’s Inspect tool.
While the steps may differ between browsers, in Chrome, simply right-click anywhere on the website you wish to analyze and select ‘View Page Source.’ Take control and discover the underlying theme for yourself.
Opening the page’s source code in a new tab is the first step. Once there, confidently locate a line that looks similar to this:
You will often encounter multiple style.css files within the page source, so it’s crucial to identify the one that includes “/wp-content/themes” in the URL.
In the example provided, that’s http://example.com/wp-content/themes/theme-name/style.css?ver=1.1.47.
To access the style.css file, copy the URL and paste it into a new tab. This action will reveal all the code contained in the style.css file.
On the top, you will find the theme header block, which presents essential information about the site’s theme. It typically appears as follows:
This section may also include the URL of the theme or the theme author’s URL, which can help you learn more about it.
Locating Parent Theme
Many users confidently create a child theme for their WordPress website. As a result, you’ll often find important details about the parent theme included in the header of the child theme.
For Example:
In the example above, you will notice a crucial line labeled ‘Template’ in the theme header block. This line specifies the parent theme that the website employs.
We are confident that this article has equipped you with the knowledge to successfully identify the WordPress theme a site utilizes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, finding which WordPress theme is active on a website is straightforward and can be accomplished through various effective methods, including using a WordPress theme detector.
For a thorough analysis, examining the website’s CSS or HTML files or employing WordPress-specific plugins and theme detection services will yield valuable insights.
It’s crucial to recognize that some websites intentionally conceal or modify theme information for privacy or security reasons.
Nevertheless, these techniques are essential tools that empower developers, designers, and inquisitive users to understand the aesthetic and functional foundations of any WordPress site.
In WordPress, activate plugin within a theme are essential components that work in unison to elevate the functionality and design of your website.
A theme dictates the visual presentation of your site, while plugins expand its capabilities beyond the default options offered by WordPress.
There are critical scenarios where activating a plugin only when a specific theme is active is not just beneficial but necessary.
This approach is vital for custom theme development and specialized WordPress websites, as it ensures seamless compatibility between themes and plugins.
Why Activate Plugin Within a Theme in WordPress
By restricting plugin activation to specific themes, you eliminate errors, prevent conflicts, and reduce unnecessary resource usage. This guarantees that the plugin functions optimally within the theme’s design framework.
Establishing this crucial connection between themes and plugins empowers developers to create dynamic, efficient, and stable WordPress environments.
It provides users with a seamless experience while effectively mitigating potential conflicts arising from incompatible theme-plugin interactions.
Here, we will outline the straightforward process of activating a plugin when a specific theme is active in WordPress and explain the importance of this practice for achieving a harmonious and optimized WordPress site.
Recently, I effectively employed the TGM Plugin Activation function for a theme developer, demonstrating the power of this method.
TGM Plugin Activation
TGM Plugin Activation is an essential PHP library that empowers you to require or recommend plugins for your WordPress themes and plugins with ease.
It allows you to install, update, and automatically activate plugins—whether individually or in bulk—using the native WordPress classes, functions, and interfaces.
You can confidently reference bundled plugins, plugins from the WordPress Plugin Repository, or plugins hosted on other sites.
Make plugin management seamless and efficient for you with TGM Plugin Activation.
Process After TGM Plugin Activation
Once you add these files to your theme and configure them, they will automatically install and activate plugins directly from the theme.
Although you’ll find many more files in the zip package downloaded from GitHub, you only need to work with two of them.
To use the `class-tgm-plugin-activation.php` file, you can place it in the root directory of your theme or in any location within your theme. Here is how it appears in my theme on my test site.
For the `example.php` file, you can copy all the PHP code from it and paste it at the end of your child theme’s `functions.php` file. After doing this, make sure to update the settings in the code as needed.
Update Settings in Code
Here is the relevant section of the code from the example.php file that has been set up in my functions file.
To proceed, you need to create a new folder called “plugins” in your child theme and upload the plugin’s zip file into that folder.
Below is the file structure that illustrates how I organize it:
In this example, I have placed the zip folder for the Soliloquy Slider plugin directly into the plugins folder.
Consequently, whenever this theme is activated, a prompt will appear, instructing the installer to install and activate the plugin.
Now, it’s time to install the required plugins.
Conclusion
Activate plugin within a theme in WordPress is essential for maintaining a streamlined and conflict-free website.
This strategy not only enhances site performance by ensuring that unnecessary plugins are not running but also effectively prevents compatibility issues between plugins and themes.
By selectively enabling plugins based on the active theme, you establish a more stable and efficient WordPress environment.
This practice is crucial, particularly when dealing with custom-built themes or specialized functionalities.