WordPress Plugin: MyComic Browser

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[[innerindex]]While creating the Uber-Geeks Web Comic, I wanted to keep WordPress as the backend for all my comic posting needs…which was fine. In doing so, I lacked the appropriate browsing features that seem common amongst many web comics (like Penny Arcade and RealLife).

Description

This plugin places a comic browser in a comic post (along with the comic name) providing navigation to First, Previous, Next, and Last comics.

Installation

  • Download and unzip mycomic.zip
  • Place mycomic.php in your wp-content/plugins directory
  • Log in to your WordPress admin panel and activate the plugin, then visit the new mycomic submenu of the plugins tab. This will allow mycomic to create its database tables.
  • Once installed, be sure to enable the options and consider customizing the look by adding the mycomic CSS to your theme’s CSS.
  • Edit Your Post/Page Tempates

Editing Your Post & Page Templates

Place the following line of code above the output of the content of a post/page:

< ?php if($comic=mycomic_is_comic($id)) mycomic_navigator($comic,$id); ?>

Here’s what the Uber-Geeks index.php looks like (line 14 has the code you want to insert):

< ?php get_header(); ?>

	<div id="content" class="narrowcolumn">

	< ?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

  	< ?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

			<div class="post top" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
				<h2 class="first"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to < ?php the_title(); ?>">< ?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
				<div class="postmetadata">Posted in < ?php the_category(', ') ?> by < ?php the_author() ?> | < ?php edit_post_link('Edit', '', ' | '); ?>  < ?php comments_popup_link('No Comments &#187;', '1 Comment &#187;', '% Comments &#187;'); ?></div>

				<div class="entry">
					< ?php if($comic=mycomic_is_comic($id)) mycomic_navigator($comic,$id); ?>
					< ?php the_content("<span class=\"continue\">" . __('Continue reading','') . " '" . the_title('', '', false) . "'"); ?>
				</div>
			</div>

		< ?php endwhile; ?>

	< ?php else : ?>

		<h2 class="center">Not Found</h2>
		<p class="center">Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.</p>
		< ?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . "/searchform.php"); ?>

	< ?php endif; ?>

	</div>

< ?php get_sidebar(); ?>

< ?php get_footer(); ?>

Place that line of code in similar fashion in any template file that you wish to display the MyComic Browser.

Adding A Comic

Once fully installed, you are free to mark your comic posts as comics (in order to add them to the comic browser table). While editing/adding a post, simply create a custom field:

  • Key: comic
  • Value: 1

Save your post and the browser will appear!