Please Help Me! Where to go for WordPress Support

Some days you try everything to fix WordPress but nothing seems to work. Other days you’re staring at some code and you’re like “wtf is going on?” Perhaps you’re asking questions like:

• Just what does PHP mean anyway?
• I’d like a new template for my blog…. where can I get one?
• I read somewhere that I’ve got to have style but I don’t know how being fashionable is going to make any difference to my website.
• I got this here plugin but I don’t know what I’m supposed to plug it in to.

Feeling confused? Undoubtedly. But one of the best things about WordPress is that there are loads of places to go to for help, and loads of people willing to answer your questions. I’m going to put them here in a nice list, but first:

How to Ask for Support

1. Be pro-active

If you have a problem, chances are that someone else has the same problem. The first thing you should do is to search Google for an answer. If you have an error message plug that error message into the search engine. See if someone else has come up with a solution. It’ll save you a whole lot of hassle in the long run.

2. Be specific

Don’t just land on a forum and say “I has problem with my theme. Can u plz fix it?” What does that tell anyone? Make sure that you outline the problem and give specific details of what the problem is. Include the following:

• Post a link to a screenshot of the problem – you can use a free tool like Jing to take a screenshot and upload it instantly to screencast.
• If your site is live include a link to it.
• Your WordPress version.
• The theme you have installed
• Any plugins you have installed
• What you have already tried

All of this information will help your support person to help you.

This is the wrong way to do it:

3. Be patient

If you are posting on a support forum you may find that it takes someone a few hours to get back to you. Remember, online forums are global and it may be that the people answering the questions are in bed. Or they’re busy with their day jobs. Alex Rabe, for example, who developed NextGen Gallery has received 14 support requests today (and it’s only 3pm). He answers these promptly, and for free. If he doesn’t answer in five minutes there’s no need to get anxious. The world does not revolve around you and your problems – which this guy seems to have forgotten:

4. Be polite

What you’ve got to remember is that if you are looking for free support then you are dealing with people who are helping you out of their own generosity. There is nothing in it for them except the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with solving a problem and making someone happy. A plugin developer releases a plugin and gives his or her time to support it as well. Same for theme developers. That’s a lot of hours of work, for free. And it’s quite possible that you are either saving or making money from their work. You should treat your devs, designers and support folks with respect. They are what make all of this possible. Don’t abuse them on forums, harangue them by email or give them crap because they haven’t got that (free) update out when you need it. Here’s how not to do it:

So now you know how to ask for support let’s take a look at where you can get it:

The Obvious Places

Google

The first place I look for help  is Google.  Google is the source of all knowledge. Sometimes I ask it “What should I have for dinner?” or “Is getting married a good idea?” I always find a useful answer. Pretty much any problem that you have will have already been encountered by someone else. This is just as true for WordPress as it is for anything else. Someone, somewhere, will have written up how to fix your problem:

Tip: if you are using Google and all of the answers are coming from years ago you can use the advanced search to search a specific time frame. This will mean you’ll find a solution that is more likely to be for a WordPress version that you are using.

Go to advanced search:

Click date:

Select “past year”

Click “Advanced Search.” Here you go:

These results should be more relevant to the version of WordPress that you are using.

WordPress.org Support Forums

Where else would you go for support than straight to the source? The WordPress support forums are a great place to ask any support questions that you have. Specific Theme and Plugin tags are normally managed by developers, but there is a huge team of volunteers that are always on hand to answer support questions.

BuddyPress.org Support Forums

Similar to the WordPress.org forums but for BuddyPress. Like their sister-site, the BuddyPress support forums are manned by volunteers. At the minute, the BuddyPress community is smaller than the WordPress community so the pool of volunteers isn’t so big. However, they are just as committed. If you have any BuddyPress expertise you could even think about helping out.

WordPress/BuddyPress IRC Chat

If you want more of an instant fix you could try out the various IRC chat rooms. To access them you need to download an IRC chat client, such a Pidgin, mIRC and X-Chat.

The IRC server is chat.freenode.net and the Channel is #WordPress

For BuddyPress use the same server and the Channel #BuddyPress

I logged into the #WordPress room and it had more than 300 people in it. I was like “Wow! I’m bound to get help in here!” But then no one spoke.

I think that the chatrooms are largely dependent on the time zone you are in. As a UK-dweller I can’t find anyone mid-morning but as it gets later it tends to get busier. I think this is because many of the chatters are based in America. But if you’re desperate for an instant answer it’s a good place to see if there is anyone around to help you out.

WP Tavern

WP Tavern has been around for a long time and although it was shut to new members for a few months, it has recently opened its doors again. There’s a great community spirit around WP Tavern and there’s always loads of people who can help you out with your WordPress problems. There are a number of different forums, from general WordPress discussion to resources to business to troubleshooting.

WPMU Q&A

Have you noticed it? Appearing there on our nav bar? That’s right, we’ve integrated our new Q&A plugin straight into WPMU.org. That means you can post your questions and get answers from the team here and from people across the community. Visitors to the Q&A can vote on their favorite answers, giving out reputation points to the other users.

WordPress Answers

WordPress Answers is a Q&A site built for WordPress developers and administrators. It was created as part of the Stack Exchange Area 51 Project. Last year saw its Beta and it was such a success that it was launched. If you like a different format to the standard support forum then it’s definitely worth a try. There are a number of community moderators in place to make sure that everything is running smoothly. There is a healthy amount of activity.

WordPress Local Meet-ups

If you want more face-to-face WordPress support you could try attending one of the WordPress Meet-ups. While they are not purely for support they are a great place to go to learn new tricks and tips. If you’re having problems you might be able to find someone to help you sort them out. It’s also a good way to meet other WordPress lovers and get involved with the WordPress community.

The Less Obvious

There are some places you might not think to ask for help as they don’t have “WordPress” in their name, but there are more general places offering WordPress help.

Quora

Launched in 2010, Quora is one of the new pretenders to the Q&A model, but it’s already proving to be hugely popular. You can log in easily using you Facebook account and then start asking questions. And you’ll find that there are people out there ready to answer. Just type your question into the search box and see what sort of answers people come up with.

The only problem with Quora is that the search function pretty much sucks. You type your question into the box and it searches to see if there are similar questions. That’s it. You can’t search the answers. However, someone has set up a Google Custom Search Engine which you can use to search Quora more thoroughly.

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is a programming experts Q&A site. It’s collaboratively built and run, with members able to contribute to the overall project by asking questions, answering questions and becoming moderators. There are nearly 7,000 questions tagged “WordPress.” Whereas you’ll find Quora useful for lots of general questions about WordPress, Stack Overflow is the place to be if you have more technical questions. It’s a community of developers so you should be able to find help for your programming needs.

Twitter

There are people who are willing to help you out on Twitter. I certainly wouldn’t recommend tweeting developers and demanding their help, but there are some helpful people out there. At the wpmuorg twitter account, for example, Sarah frequently answers support requests from people in the community:

I’m sure that there are other people who must be helping out. If you know of anyone, let us know in the comments!

Commercial Support

But yes, what about commercial support? There is plenty of it about – many theme shops will have a support forum that you will get access to for purchasing a premium service. This approach is particularly good if you are using specific themes and plugins as it means that the people with specific expertise in your tools will be able to answer your questions.

Remember, if you’re paying for a service you can expect to get your answers more quickly. It’s a whole different situation to getting free support. This is why if you’re a business or enterprise you might find commercial support more suited to your needs. Free support is great but sometimes it’s better to know that you’re going to get an answer whenever you need it.

WPMU DEV

Of course, we at WPMU.org are pretty partial to our sister site – WPMU DEV – especially since we have our Help and Support Pros on call 24 hours a day to answer any questions that we have. WPMU DEV’s support forums are manned by Mason, Philip and David. Check them out:

Our support team answers around 300 support requests a day. As well as the support team the development and design team are regularly on call to answer questions. WPMU DEV also has Live Support chat and Skype for more instant support.

Can you recommend anywhere else to get support? I’m sure I must have missed some places so we’d love to hear about them!

Introducing: FrameMarket – WordPress eCommerce Parent Theme

FrameMarket is a brand new Parent Theme constructed to work with WPMU DEV’s powerful eCommerce Plugin – MarketPress. As a Parent Theme it comes packed full of awesome features that you can build your very own child theme for. It’s flexible, stylish and easy for all of you themeheads to customize. It’s for all those lovers of MarketPress who have been enjoying our eCommerce plugin but who want an easy way to build a site around it.

Features

• Show Products on the Front Page
• Menu Navigation
• Custom Product Comment Form
• Featured Images
• Shopping Cart Integration
• Translation Ready

But what would a Parent Theme be without a Child?

Introducing: GridMarket – FrameMarket Child Theme

That’s right. We couldn’t send a Parent out into the world without its very own Child. Our designer, Tammie Lister, has designed GridMarket, a grid-based FrameMarket Child Theme.

Check out our demo site right here!

GridMarket Features

• Beautiful full grid theme
• Theme options with customizable header, nav menu and background
• Step by step theme options
• 6 widgetized areas
• 12 color styles
• Google fonts
• Integrate your adverts
• Color variation options
• Post formats

FrameMarket and GridMarket only work with MarketPress, WPMU DEV’s eCommerce Plugin. Now your eCommerce, digital download, global-cart network can have the style it deserves.

WPMU DEV Members should grab a copy now.

Free WordPress Chat Plugin is Fully Compatible with Multisite and BuddyPress

We’re pleased to announce that our new WordPress Chat plugin is now available for free in the WordPress plugin repository. It allows you to host your own live chat sessions, interact with your visitors and boost your sales. This is a WordPress-based chat solution, which means that you don’t need any third party javascript or other code.

Both the free version and Chat Pro include full WordPress Multisite and BuddyPress compatibility so that your community website can host its own chat rooms. Here’s what it looks like in action on your site:

The WordPress Chat Lite version features:

• Add a site-wide chat in the bottom corner
• Add a chat window to any post or page in WordPress through a button added to the built-in editor
• Easy to integrate with your theme – you have full control over the colors and sizes of your chats
• Built-in support for avatars

Check out how easy it is to use:
This is a great plugin for WordPress Multisite networks, as it doesn’t require the use of messy shortcodes. Adding a chat window is built right into the WYSIWYG editor!

WordPress Chat Pro has many more features:

• Allow any Twitter user to join the chat
• Allow any Facebook user to join the chat
• Select which roles are moderators
• Easily change chat colors
• Disable avatars
• Enable emoticons
• Change chat update interval
• Archive every chat – You’ll always have a record with timestamps on hand to refer back to when needed.

The WordPress Chat plugin gives you a way to instantly connect with members of your community or potential customers. Use it to offer support, handle sales questions, or promote your products and services. If you have a lively blogging network or BuddyPress community, you can use the WordPress chat plugin to keep your members connected to each other. Offer them more opportunities to interact and you’ll find that your site will become a hub of social activity.

Download the WordPress Chat plugin for free and test drive its features today.

Daily Tip: How to Let Users Select Language At Signup in WordPress Multisite

If you’re running a WordPress Multisite network with bloggers speaking many different languages, you’ll want to make it easy for them to select their language during the signup process. Yes, there’s actually a plugin for that! It’s called Select Language at Signup.

There are two steps to making language selection available at signup. First, download our Languages for WordPress MU pack, which contains 36 languages. It includes both .po and .mo files so you can edit and improve them as much as you’d like. Create a a new wp-content/languages directory and drop the .mo files in there. Then drop the Select Language at Signup plugin into wp-content/mu-plugins/. Congratulations! You now have language selection at signup on your WordPress Multisite network.

WPMU DEV MarketPress 2.0 Released – Now with Downloadable Products, Global Carts and Much, Much More!

Yes, that’s right, it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for – MarketPress 2.0 has been released. Before you start weeping with joy let’s take a look at some of the great new features of MarketPress.

So what’s new?

Global Cart

One of our most requested features is finally here. You can now have a Global Cart across your WordPress MultiSite network. This means you can make your very own Etsy and more. Set up your Multisite network, give your customers sites that they can sell their stuff through and then take a cut “drool”:

Downloadable Products

That’s right, it’s now possible to use MarketPress for downloadable products. This means you can sell your music, ebooks, documents, software, themes, plugins, any digital thingy that you can think of can be sold through MarketPress. Check it out:

You can also limit the number of times that a person can download a product:

New Payment Gateways

We’ve added new payment gateways, making it possible for you to process payments using Google Checkout and Moneybookers.

Product Variations

Selling a pair of shoes in black, red, green and pink? Now you can show off all of your different variations.

And More….

• Per order product limits
• Skip payment form if only one gateway allowed
• hide cart widget on cart pages
• Add cart widget to sidebar on first install
• Force login to checkout
• Bug fixes

Needless to say, this has been a major update and one that our WPMU DEV Members have been hungry for. If you’re already a Member you can download it right now. Otherwise you can sign up for Membership with access to all of our plugins and our top class support,  grab a copy for just $39!

BuddyStream Goliath 2.0 Launches with Stunning New Interface and Features

We’ve been eagerly anticipating the release of the newest, completely rewritten BuddyStream plugin for BuddyPress. It’s finally launched with a fully revamped website and new Lite and Premium versions that are faster and more stable than ever.

Here’s how the new Lite and Premium versions break down:

BuddyStream Lite

The lite version of the plugin, available for free on wordpress.org, includes Twitter, Flickr, Last.fm and Youtube, but offers the same options and possibilities as the premium version for each.

BuddyStream Premium

In addition to Twitter, Flickr, Last.fm and Youtube, the Premium version comes with integration for Facebook, Soundcloud, RSS, and Premium Support from the BuddyStream team. It also includes free cron job service.

Try out the live demo to see the latest version of BuddyStream in action.

With the new plugin they’ve also launched managed cron services for those without access to cronjobs on their servers. The BuddyStream team will start the synchronizing on your server for a small fee.

If you want to keep your BuddyPress site active and pumping with content, then the BuddyStream plugin will be vital to your success. Check out everything that’s new at BuddyStream.net.

HTML5Press: A New Free HTML5 Theme for WordPress

A new HTML5 theme for WordPress popped up this weekend. It’s called HTML5Press and it’s based on the HTML5 template by Jesper. The theme makes extensive use of CSS3 and was designed for modern browsers, like Chrome or Firefox. If you’re viewing the design in Internet Explorer, you won’t have rounded corners, transitions, or box shadows.

HTML5Press is a bright, colorful blogging-oriented theme, but it would also make a decent base for your own HTML5 + CSS3 theme creation.

Features of the HTML5Press theme include:

• CSS3 and HTML5
• Featured Post Images
• WordPress Menu Support
• WordPress Widget Support
• Threaded Comments
• “Back To Top” Button

You can view a live demo at html5press.com and download the theme from its homepage. The best part is that it’s absolutely free.

More HTML5 themes are popping up for WordPress every week. Is your site making use of HTML5 or are you holding out for greater browser compatibility across the board?

Daily Tip: BuddyPress Trac Has Been Moved to WordPress.org

The BuddyPress Trac has a new location. It was previously located at http://trac.buddypress.org/. You can now find it at http://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/.

Update your bookmarks and follow @bptrac on Twitter for all the latest on the development of BuddyPress.