Getting The Plugin

You will need to download this plugin created by Denis de Bernardy and place the files into the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. After the plugin is installed, you will need to activate it in the Wordpress control panel. You will then be able to upload author photos by clicking on the Users/Profile tab and clicking edit on the author you’d like to add a photo for. You can also update the author’s biographical information on this page.

After these steps are finished, it’s time to add the following code to single.php in your Wordpress template directory (ie. /wp-content/themes/default/single.php)

<div class="box">
<?php the_author_image(); ?>
<?php the_author_description(); ?>
</div>

You might notice that I didn’t throw the entry_author_image class in the code above, but that’s because it is automatically generated by the plugin.

Apply Some Styles

Now the author image and description should be showing up on all single posts, if you would like to style them you can apply some CSS to the box and entry_author_image classes:

.box {
  padding: 8px;
  min-height: 60px;
  background: #efefef;
}

.entry_author_image {
  float: left;
  background: #fff;
  padding: 4px;
  margin-right: 8px;
  border-right: solid 1px #dfdfdf;
  border-bottom: solid 1px #dfdfdf;
}

That’s It

After completing this tutorial your results should be very similar to the Author section shown in the photo above.

But wait, there’s more?

When I originally wrote this article for the woorkup community there were a couple comments about using the gravatar feature that is already built into the newer versions of Wordpress. This is definitely an option as well and Chris Spooner even wrote a nice tutorial on it, but I use Bernardy’s plugin mainly so my clients won’t have to go to third party sites if they would want to update their author photo.

Now onto Squarespace, at first glance I was a little turned off by the fact that I couldn’t host it on my own server and it’s not free so it’s an extra fee on top of my current hosting costs.  After all, we are in a recession.  So I signed up for the trial and played around with the templates a bit, but I wasn’t sure on how to implement my own designs instead of using their pre-made templates.  I submitted a ticket to their support and within the hour I received a reply and assistance that guided me through the process.  This is something that really impressed me mainly because I hate waiting.  When I submit a ticket or send an e-mail, I want an immediate answer and that is not always the case.  I have hosted with other companies that sometimes take 24 to 48 hours to respond and with open source content mangement systems it sometimes involves googling and researching until you find the answer.

Beyond fanatical support, the Squarespace system works well for all types of users.  If you’re a blogger and you just want a site to do basic customizing, branding, and posting your articles it works perfect for that.  It’s also great if you’re a web designer or developer that wants to take it a step farther and completely customize your site and use some of the built in features like the photo gallery to build a portfolio displaying your work.  Another great feature is their web analytics, although it’s not Google Analytics but it’s already built in.  You don’t have to put extra snippets of code into your HTML or login to another website to check your stats – it’s all in one place.

Overall, I am glad I switched.  I am spending less time updating versions of Wordpress and troubleshooting plugins and more time working on client projects and actually posting content here.

My advice to web designers and developers out there is:  When it becomes just a job instead of a passion for building an amazing piece of art, maybe it’s time to move in a different direction.