The Tagline Rotator plugin does pretty much what it sounds like it would do: it randomly selects a tagline (that’s the description of your blog beneath the title) from a list of user-compiled taglines, then displays it within your blog. It offers a couple of advantages over some of the other similar plugins I found, most importantly that it uses the mySQL database within WordPress, and therefore should not slow down page loads at all.
Installation
- Download the plugin and unzip it.
- Copy the tagline_rotator.php file to the plugins directory of your WordPress install.
- Activate the plugin in the Plugins menu within your admin pages. Taglines can be added through Settings -> Tagline Rotator.
Known Bugs/Limitations
Of course, there are a couple of bugs/limitations that you should know about.
- You must choose ‘Save Changes’ to commit any deletions or additions to the tagline database. Hopefully, this will soon be automated
- The plugin currently does not delete the tables it creates upon de-activation (that way you don’t lose your taglines). However, if you manually delete the table, WordPress will throw an error upon re-activation of the plugin. The easiest way to fix this is to change the option ‘tagline_tables’ in wp_options to be ‘false’ NB: If you’re not comfortable manually editing your mySQL database, don’t worry. The table will just sit there and work if you re-activate the plugin.
- It still won’t do the dishes.
Updates
Version 1.2 – 4-18-2010 – Updated UI in Admin Settings to put Save button and add functionality at the top.
Version 1.1 – 12-31-2009 – Plugin database table is now compliant with WordPress database prefix (i.e. it will use the database prefix set by WP, not the previous wp_tagline_rotator). This should make it WPMU compatible as well, although this is still untested. Upgrading automatically through WordPress from a previous version will also rename the database table to use the correct prefix.
Version 1.0 – 3-16-2009 – Version 0.4b has been tested out a bit, and this plugin does what it sets out to do. As a result, it’s being re-tagged as version 1.0.
Version 0.4b – 3-13-2009 – Ensures compatibility with themes using either bloginfo() or get_bloginfo() to display tagline information. Here is the download: [download#9#nohits]
Version 0.3b – 7-31-2008 – Allows for editing of existing taglines without deleting and re-adding them. Please report bugs or errors in the comment area.
Version 0.2 – 7-26-2008 – Fixes an issue where double quotes in a tagline prevent it from being deleted. Thanks to Thorsten for pointing out this bug.
Feedback
As always, please keep in mind that this is open-source software, so I welcome any contributions or suggestions you might have. Please leave a comment with any feedback or problems you had installing or using the plugin. Feature requests are also welcome, as are over-the-top compliments.
Donation
If you got some use out of this plugin, please consider a donation. My ability to purchase beer is directly correlated to new version releases.
Thanks for this plugin! Just a quick question: now that i've got it installed what should I do with the Tagline field under Settings -> General? Empty it? If something is filled in there, will it be rotated or ignored?
@Drew,
Good question. The Tagline field is ignored by the plugin. I figured that was the best way to go, since it won't leave people without a tagline if they uninstall the plugin. At some point in the future, I hope that the tagline that's already set for the blog will automatically show up in the plugin as the first entry, but for now you'd have to enter it again if you want it in the rotation.
Thanks for downloading the plugin! Please let me know if you run into any problems or have any requests for new features.
-Vasken
Am I right in thinking that the random tagline is being cached with wp-cache? Is there a convenient way of tweaking the tagline so it is regenerated for each page-view (rather than being cached)?
@Lionfire,
It should just be a matter of wrapping the function that adds the filter (the main part that makes the plugin work) in the mfunc tags that wp-cache provides to include dynamic content. However, that's not working for me right now. I can tell you that this isn't the first plugin that's having this problem, though–someone using the wp-quotes plugin had the same issue. I'll work on it and post here (and email you) when I figure it out.
Hi.
I can't delete taglines with a quote.
e.g.:
Tagline: a (can be deleted)
Tagline: "a (can't be deleted)
Is this problem/bug known?
@thorsten,
Thanks for reporting that…I hadn't tried any quotes with quote marks in my testing. I will figure it out as soon as possible and email you back directly as well as posting on this comment list.
-Vasken
The issue with quotes is solved. Also, there was a version of the plugin available for about a day with an error that affects the visual editor in WordPress. If you are experiencing this error, please re-download the plugin.
Greetings from Ukraine! ) Good plugin!
How do you set up where the taglines are shown. I do not see any instructions for this. I am a NOOB.
@Raymond,
If you're running WordPress 2.5 or later, just look for the Settings link towards the top right of your Admin panel interface. In there, one of the headings is "Tagline Rotator" and you can add or remove taglines there.
Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.
CREATE TABLE wp_tagline_rotator (id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,random_tagline VARCHAR( 200 ) NOT NULL)Could not create tagline table
I am running three wordpress installations on one MySQL Database.
All separated in different tables like first_wp_database second_wp_database and so on.
How can I run that plugin on two of my blogs now?
hi. Thanks for plugin
perfect.
Regards
Hey There, wonder if that problem with the wp_tagline_rotator Datasheet is fixed in version 0.3?
i've just installed the plugin
so far, nice and cool!
i'll get back here when i find some flaws
thanks a lot dude!
@Kugelblitz,
Unfortunately, the plugin is trying to create the database every time that you install it. Since you are using only one database, it is crashing because the database already exists. You should really not be sharing a database among three installs because of things like this, but you could delete the tables for the plugin manually each time before you switch on the plugin on each blog. Then the tables will be re-created by each blog and you can delete and activate, etc. Of course, all of your taglines will be shared, as there is only one database of taglines for all three blogs.
Hello Vasken I want to know if this feature could be doable?
I want that know if the taglines could be sent as comments in a wordpress page? so they can be moderated.
What do you think? I would love that feature!
love it! exactly what I wanted. Thanks!
Hey dude, installed this and added some taglines but none of them are showing up. The plugin is activated. If I change the tagline under the general settings it still changes on the site, so it isn't being 'ignored' like you reference above. I'm running WP 2.71 with the Atahualpa theme. Is there anything special I need to do? Any code I need to reference somewhere or something? Hopefully I can get it working since it's exactly what I need. 🙂
Thank you.
@Randy: Atahualpa uses get_bloginfo() instead of the older bloginfo() function to load the tagline. I've been working on a workaround for the past few days but haven't gotten anything useful. It SHOULD be possible to modify Atahualpa's bfa_header_config.php to make it work.
I found this plugin is very useful for me, Thanks.
And I noticed that I can not set tagline use Chinese character, It is caused by the Mysql characater encoding. I think you should create the table with UTF8 Collation.
@liuzhongshu,
I will make the change and email you as soon as it's available.
Great plugin. I have an autocompleter set to my taglines so it would fail my site. But great plugin.
As Kugelblitz notes, the plugin creates its own table in the database. This means it will not work with WordPress MU. Otherwise a very cool plugin.
@Geoffrey @Kugelblitz I'm pleased to announce that Version 1.1 now uses the prefix specified within WordPress for the database table, so it should be WPMU compatible. If you upgrade using the automated upgrade function in WordPress from a previous version, it will rename the table for you to comply with your prefix structure.
really great plugin to use thanks
Thanks for this great plugin, I can see a potential issue in that the table created in the db is given the name "wp_tagline_rotator" ignoring the custom table prefix set up in wp-config. Can this be changed when the plugin is next updated?
Is there a way to make a tagline display using html? I wanted to include a link in a couple of taglines, but the html code doesn't do anything.
Hmm, I hadn't tried that. I've got some time over the next couple of days–I will look into incorporating that into a new version and email you when I have it.
Dear Vasken,
Sorry to be so basic.
I understand the technical side of the plugin but not sure about the purpose.
Is there any benefit on the SEO side?
Thank you !
Roger
Hi Roger,
For me, it was so that I could give people that visited my site a couple of different 'looks' while they surfed the various posts. I'm not an SEO expert, but I would imagine that the only benefit would be that the page would be different every time a search engine crawled it. This would be significant, because it would mean that the crawlers would visit more frequently to check out the 'new' content, but I imagine the big guys like Google and Bing have some sort of algorithm that makes small changes like a tagline less significant indicators of new content on a site.
It certainly couldn't hurt your SEO, unless you're using your tagline to include keywords related to your content. The last time I viewed my homepage the quote was 'the Dude abides,' so that's certainly not what I'm going for. If it was more like "Apple and WordPress tips with the occasional review," then swapping taglines might de-emphasize that message.
I hope that helps….
-Vasken
Hi Vasken !
THANKS a lot for your explanation.
Things are now much clearer 🙂
Roger
LOVE the plugin – please please please put the add textbox and save button at the TOP though! 🙂
I'm on it…it will be done within a day or so. Thanks for the comment!
UPDATE: Ok, it took three days but it's done. Version 1.2 has the new UI. Upgrade automatically through your admin interface or download from the link in the article above.
A nice and simple plugin interface, thanks, saved me much time trying to think.
Works great under the newly released WP 3.0 and a simple but wonderful plugin. Thanks.
I put in a few taglines and they work alright except for this one issue. About 90% of the time what shows at the top of a browser (or the title of a tab) isn't the one that is in my header tagline. For example I have "Green Lantern for President" and "Rogues do it from Behind" as some of my tags.
At the top of the browser it shows "Green Lantern from President" but under CeltJono.com in my header it shows "Rogues do it from Behind."
I just upgraded to 3.0, so maybe this is the issue? A small bug fix that altered a code? Anyways, let me know what to do to fix it please ^_^
the 7/4/10 version caused two taglines to show at once so i reverted back for now. Love your plugin.
I've just updated to 1.3 and now it shows 2 taglines with no spaces between them, when in 1.2 version it only shows one (as it must normally do)…
How can I avoid this?
I'm having the exact same problem as CeltJono. Any idea on how to fix it?
Wow! Thanks all for the responses. I must've had one too many barbeque products yesterday before coding 🙂
The problem was that the plugin was appending the original tagline to the random one, and also was appending a random tagline in the admin section under Settings->General when the plugin was first loaded. You can fix this immediately by deleting and saving a blank original tagline (which will cause one to magically reappear in the admin field, but display correctly on the front page). Version 1.4 should be available in a couple of hours, and includes a more permanent fix that 1) disables the filter on all admin pages, so your default tagline won't change mysteriously and 2) hides the original tagline from displaying, which is how the plugin used to function. You should now be able to both see the tagline in your header AND not have two taglines on your main page. Thanks again for all the feedback!
Thanks for the quick fix. All is well with version 1.4
Trying to reinstall after accidental deactivation, I'm getting an error and it's pointing to line 148
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
The error message: Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/freefrin/public_html/wp-content/plugins/tagline-rotator/tagline-rotator.php on line 148
Please help. I love this plugin. One of my favorites…
Hi Erica,
That error is usually caused by the table in the mySQL database being manually deleted. If you did delete the table, the easiest way to fix this is to go into the mySQL database, find the wp_options table, search for 'tagline_tables' and change the option from 'true' to 'false'
That should cause the plugin to recreate the database on activation. If you didn't delete the table, please let me know and I'll try and troubleshoot further.
I was waiting for the update for WP 3.0 ever since the first beta! Thanks for updating!
By the way, is there a way to make the tagline in the window title be the same as in my page?
There should be. In order to get the tagline to display in the title at all, I kind of hacked something together, so I'll look into this for the next release.
Hello; attempting to activate this plugin triggers a fatal error for me, and it's not the same error as the others above have had.
"Fatal error: Cannot redeclare tagline_add_pages() (previously declared in […]/tagline-rotator/tagline-rotator.php:62) in […]/tagline-rotator/tagline-rotator.php on line 63."
Using 3.0.
Your Tagline Triggers a fatal error stating it cannot redeclare tagline_add_pages().
Just thought I would let you know. Great plugin otherwise!
@The Meerkat @Ryan Street,
Could you provide a little more info for me on the following:
1) Which version of the plugin are you installing?
2) Are you using the automatic installer?
3) If you are doing an automatic install, does it throw the error when you install the plugin, or when you click "Activate"?
Thanks for your bug report, and thanks for using the plugin!