when you're talking about meta tags, or feedburner RSS feeds, or custom title tags, you're talking about things you don't want to break when you change themes. and there's no reason for them to. this is how i do it: i wrote a plugin.

Gasp! Shock! horror!
not really. if you can handle everything in the post above, you can handle this plugin. here's how it starts:

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: archGFX Functions
Plugin URI: http://archgfx.net/
Description: all the things that i hack into themes, now they have their own file
Version: 1.0
Author: SunBurntKamel
Author URI: http://archgfx.net/
*/

you need to have a name, the rest of it's optional.

so, all that fun stuff that you want to add to the head of your blog? dump it into a function:

function archGFX_head() { ?>
<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="archGFX is the brand name used by Adam Freetly. This portfolio represents personal and collaborative work." />
<meta name="keywords" content="adam freetly, architecture, blog, portfolio, design, rendering" />
<META NAME="geo.position" CONTENT="41.92;-87.70" />
<META name="geo.region" content="US-IL" />
<META name="geo.placename" content="chicago" />
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.archgfx.net/images/blogrdfbg.jpg" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/archGFX" />
<link rel="search" href="http://archgfx.net/opensearchdescription.xml" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="archGFX" />
<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-91088-3";
urchinTracker();
</script>
<?php }

obviously i have a few more things than average. google analytics scripts, geo tags, favicon, etc. you can call the function whatever you want, just remember it. now that we've got all our code, we need to insert it:

add_action('wp_head', 'archGFX_head');
?>

that's it, save the file, activate your 'plugin', and you're good to go. naturally, i do a few more things with this. i also handle my footer copyright notice the same way, with

add_action('wp_footer', 'archGFX_foot');

i add the mybloglog widget to my dashboard with
add_action('activity_box_end', 'archGFX_MBL');

and, i don't have to worry about forgetting to add any of it next time i switch themes.  the only thing that i don't put in the plugin is my title tags.  you can only have one of those.  so while i could add mine with a plugin, i'd have to delete the theme's title manually.

So, the plugin is nice, but you can also do it in themes, just add:

 <?php if ( is_category() || is_archive() || is_search() || is_author() ) { ?>

    <meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow"><?php

} ?>

<?php if (function_exists('is_tag')) { if ( is_tag() ) { ?>

    <meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow">

<?php } } ?>

to header.php. The UTW stuff (is_tag()) is a little annoying, but other than that, it's boilerplate.

• Putty (download)
• PuttyGen (same as above)
• WinSCP (download)

Putty and PuttyGen are just executable programs, they don't install. After you've installed winSCP and rebooted, go to your SF.net Admin Menu and choose Shell/DB/web. On this page, they list the location of your web files. The important one is Path to htdocs directory: (/home/groups/P/PR/PROJECTNAME/htdocs). That's just reference right now.

PHPMyAdmin

First set up our MySQL database. Halfway down the page, there's a link to "Manage Project Databases", which takes you to a page where you will set your passwords. I use the same password for all 3. not the most secure, theoretically, but i can't think why i would be sharing any of the passwords with anyone. After you set your password, use the link on that page to log into PHPMyAdmin with your admin account. first thing you'll do is create a database:

i just put wp or wordpress on the end of it, but you should leave the project number as a prefix.

PuttyGen

To log in to your site, you need to set up an SSH key pair. Open up PuttyGen.exe. we're going to follow these instructions. When you click 'generate key', you'll see this:

so be ready to shake your tail feathers pointer finger, it only takes a few seconds. Once it's generated (i didn't bother entering a passphrase, but you might want to) edit the 'Key comment' field like so (the key automatically updates):

Copy everything in the Public Key field, and click over to your Account maintenance page. Near the bottom, click the [Edit SSH Keys for Shell/CVS] link. Paste your key into that field. Make sure you click the "Save Private Key" button, and then close PuttyGen.

WinSCP

Open winSCP. on the configuration screen, click New:

the private key file is the one you saved from PuttyGen a minute ago. You'll also want to go to the directory page, and set the remote directory to your htdocs directory. Save your settings, and click Login. winSCP will warn you about the accepting the key fingerprint, click yes.

You can either unzip wordpress locally, and upload the whole thing, which takes a while, or you can just upload the *.tar.gz file and unzip it on the server. Techtite just posted an explanation of this, although there are a few differences I'll explain in a minute.

Putty

When you open Putty.exe, you'll need to configure it much the same way you did winSCP:

Save your settings, and login. You'll be prompted for your username, and then you'll want to type cd /home/groups/P/PR/PROJECTNAME/htdocs. Following Ajay's instructions, the wget command doesn't work, because your shell account doesn't have access to anything that's not on SF.net. so here are the commands i used:

tar xzvf wordpress-2.1.2.tar.gz
cp -rf wordpress/* ./
cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php
vi wp-config.php

vi is a text editor. Once it opens, the first thing you should do, is type 'i'. That puts you into insert mode (the default is view). enter the information from the "Manage Project Databases" page, like so:

You can paste into Putty by placing the cursor where you want, and right-clicking on the window. And yes, we're changing that '99% chance you won't need to change this' line. You'll need to use the admin username and password. after you're done editting, press 'ESC' to switch back to view mode, and then ':wq' to write the file and quit.

now you're ready to run install.php! while you're setting up all your favorite options, you'll note that

• you can't set up akismet. not sure what to do about that just yet.
• you can't upload files. or add custom headers. not sure what to do about that either.
• when you edit your permalink structure, it won't save. you'll have to fire up vi to do that as well.

Adding your Theme

you can keep an up to date copy of your theme installed via SVN. Just:

cd wp-content/themes/
svn co http://PROJECTNAME.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/PROJECTNAME/trunk/ PROJECTNAME

don't forget the /trunk. since you're doing this via command line, you'll need to make sure your capitalization matches.  and that last PROJECTNAME is whatever you want to call your theme folder.

The last thing you'll need to do is add your sourceforge code.  The code is on that Shell/DB/web page, about halfway down.

1. Regiser for the site. (create account, in the top right of any page). the name you choose is going to be the name of the lead developer. it doesn't have to be a real name if you don't want it to.
2. Register your project. i know, that's an absurd number of options. you have to save each option (trove) before moving on to the next one. your UNIX name should probably start with 'wp-' for clarity and findability. The descriptive name should start with 'WP Theme -' for the same reason. The Basics:
   • Intended Audience :: End users/Desktop
   • Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Dynamic Content
   • OS Independent (Written in an interpreted language)
   • User Interface :: Web Based

   Your description is probably not the one that shows up in the dashboard. it should start by explaining that this is a wordpress theme. It should explain what sets you apart from other themes, whether that's aesthetics, options, or plugin support. This would be a good place to describe your layout, and basic colors.
   from this point on, everything will be done through the admin menu. on the top right of your project page:

3. Upload a screenshot. You can upload more once after you're set up.
4. fire up your ftp client. connect to upload.sourceforge.net, and upload your zip file
5. now go to Admin > File Releases. select the file from the list at the bottom of the page . Don't worry about your first changelog/notes entry. 'initial public release' is good enough.

Setting up SVN:

Nobody wants to use CVS anymore. go to Admin > Subversion, and tick the checkbox. From here on out, I'm assuming you're using tortoise SVN, because it's easy, and i can take screenshots

right click in any folder on your computer, and choose the repo-browser:

You'll be prompted for a repository to browse. the address is on that SVN page you just ticked the box on: https://wp-unixname.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/wp-unixname. You'll want to create 3 folders: Trunk, Tags, and Branches. Right click on the main folder. When you choose create folder, and name it, you'll be promted for your sourceforge username and password.

Trunk is where your project lives, Tags are snapshots every time you release a new version. Branches are like tags, only they both make progress. You might use this if you were making a version 2 of your theme, while continuing to support version 1.

To start your SVN repository, right click on the folder that has the release version of your file, and choose "Import" from the tortoise submenu. It will prompt you for the address of your repository, make sure you add the /trunk to the end of the url! This puts your files on sourceforge. Users can now browse your code online.

Now your code is set up on the server, but you still don't have a local copy that you can easily update. Now you want to make a new folder for your theme in your local /wp-content/themes/ folder. right click on it, and choose "SVN Checkout". Again, make sure to put /trunk on the end of the url.

I'm assuming that this is a new theme that you're already ready to release. If that's true, the first thing you should do, is right click on the folder you just checked out, and choose "Branch/Tag". That brings up this window:

Change the URL to /tags/1.0. and leave everything else. You can use the specific version if you release a version and forget to tag it. You probably only want to switch your working copy to a branch, not a tag.

New Versions

Now when you fix a bug, or tweak your CSS, after you save, you can just right click on the file, and choose "SVN Commit". you'll be prompted to enter a description of the change, and possibly your password the first time. when you want to release a new version, right click on your folder, and choose "Export". you'll be prompted for a folder to save to, you probably just want to make a folder on your desktop. This just copies all the files except the .svn folders, so you can zip it up and upload it to sourceforge via FTP. then just tag the new version, and you're all set. You'll probably also want to post about it on your development blog, which I'll explain how to set up in part 2.

<span class="jsmail"><!--
document.write("<a href='mailto:put your scrambled address here' class='jsmail'> wp-admin [at] archgfx [dot] net</a>"))
// --> 

</script>

</span>

I also changed the 'contact us!' text to a human readable, but not copyable version of the email address. Now, get your email turned into an image, and we're going to use the image in CSS, so that even if a real person is browsing the site with javascript disabled, they'll still see the email address:

.jsmail {

display: block;

width: 129px;

height: 11px;

background: url('http://safemail.justlikeed.net/e/dd6330802be7d20f41dc95336e2acbfa.png') no-repeat 0 0;

text-indent: -9000px;

}

i like it. it's not completely accessible, but it's pretty good. it's reliable, and it won't be confusing to people with older browsers or strict security settings. Here's an example.