Optimal Title: A WordPress Plugin Review
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I have been looking for a way to show the Title of the Post in the Heading (the one that shows when you hover over a link and shows in the “Favorites”). This should be advantageous for SEO in the background and frankly be more user friendly for the reader when scanning Post Titles to read.
I almost found one in a Plug-in called Optimal Title by Elastic Dog.
The Plug-in works in older WordPress versions, up to but NOT including WP 2.1. I installed it on two different Blogs that have very different Templates. but both are running WP 2.1.
One, in which the plug-in is installed in the “header”, Â seemed to work if it was installed without other plugins being activated. The problem I continually ran into was that when I tried to activate it I got the error
Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/workingathomeinternet/public_html/WP/wp-content/plugins/optimal-title.php:84) in /home/workingathomeinternet/public_html/WP/wp-includes/pluggable-functions.php on line 270
The second Blog (this one) the code was installed in the Index, Page and Single post php’s. I got the same error. On both I tried activating various plugins that I already had running, and it worked with most of them.
If I tried to run it with the “What Would Seth Godin Do” plugin running, I kept erroring out. I would get the correct Title Sequence in the Favorites Head and the Hover View, however, I would get the Error showing Above the Head of the Main Title Head of the Blog.
The only thing that seems to semi-work is the following code that I inserted into the php.
<title><?php if ( function_exists(’optimal_title’) ) { optimal_title(’|'); bloginfo(’name’); } else { bloginfo(’name’); wp_title(’|'); } ?><?php if ( is_home() ) { ?> | <?php bloginfo(’description’); } ?></title>
I had to De-Activate the Plug-in but the code alone Mostly works. The way the code is written it looks for the “optimal_title” script and when it is not found (else), it will show your Blog Title|Post Title instead of the other way around as intended. And if the landing page is “Home” then it shows the Blog Title|Description.
So, without the Plug-in activated, the code will provide the same (basic) result. Not as neat, but very functional for SEO and Reader Usability. I would really like to see this Plug-in work the way it was intended to when it was first written.
Aaron Schaefer Great Plug-in, but Please Update it so it works with the Newer Versions of WordPress.
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Thank you for the feedback on Optimal Title…I am currently running the latest release of WordPress (v2.1.2) using version 2.0 of Optimal Title with no problems, so if it wasn’t working with a clean install, you might want to double check the header.php code. I use pretty much the exact code that you have posted here and is also documented on my blog. I will have to look a little closer in to why it has issues when combined with other plugins though, if the problems do persist.
FYI, I do plan on updating the code later this week so it bases all of its function on the output of the built-in WordPress wp_title directly, and then filters the results to appear correct. That way users will never have to update the plugin again, and it should always work as long as WordPress doesn’t change the name of the base function…they will be free to add/change whatever else without blowing up people’s blogs.
Input by Aaron Schaefer | March 7, 2007 @ 11:36 pm
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for stopping by. I really like what the plugin is supposed to do, but for whatever reason I still get the errors with some of the other plugins I use.
For now, I’ll just keep the code the way it is and visit your blog to see how things are going with updates.
I hope I can get it to work the right way with what I have. Maybe it’s just with WP2.1 I’ll try it again after I update to 2.1.2 probably next week and let you know.
Thanks,
Joe
Input by Joe | March 8, 2007 @ 8:55 am
Just wanted to let you know that the new version I mentioned has been released. It also fixed the XSS security issues that the stock WordPress installation fixed in 2.1.3, and should never have issues like that again. If you’re still having trouble getting it to work, then it should be a syntax issue in the header.php file and nothing that the plugin is doing (the plugin itself uses the default wp_title() function now, then rearranges things afterward). Let me know if you still have issues…
Input by Aaron Schaefer | April 7, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for letting me know the new version is out. I’ll be sure to try it out and let you know how it works here and on the other Blog.
Hopefully, I will just tell you how Well it works.
Input by Joe | April 7, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
Hello,
Very good article, I will come to visit your site again.
Regards,
http://www.the-coolest-seo.com/
Input by SEO Expert | May 9, 2007 @ 3:44 am
Hi there.
Some really helpful information here. I’m sorry for beeing a little off-topic, but I want to ask you about the design of this site. Did you make this template yourself or did you get it from any templates website? Looks pretty cool for me. I use Joomla, but wants something better.
Input by Peter Hansen | May 31, 2007 @ 2:58 am
Hey Peter,
Thanks. Topics are fine to change when it’s important.
The Theme is Andreas 04, if you look in the Categories under Andreas 04 Tweaks, you can get an idea of what changes I have made to the original template.
Hope that helps.
Input by Joe | May 31, 2007 @ 7:53 am
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