<?php
foreach(get_categories() as $all_cat) {  $cat_ids[] = $all_cat->term_id; }
 $this_cat = get_query_var('cat');
 $this_cat_position = array_search( $this_cat, $cat_ids ); ?>
<div>
<div>
<?php $prev_cat_position = $this_cat_position -1;
 if( $prev_cat_position >=0 ) {
 $prev_cat_id = array_slice( $cat_ids, $prev_cat_position, 1 );
 echo '<a href="' . get_category_link($prev_cat_id[0]) . '">&laquo; ' . get_category($prev_cat_id[0])->name . '</a>'; } ?>
</div>
<div>
<?php $next_cat_position = $this_cat_position +1;
 if( $next_cat_position < count($cat_ids) ) {
 $next_cat_id = array_slice( $cat_ids, $next_cat_position, 1 );
echo '<a href="' . get_category_link($next_cat_id[0]) . '">' . get_category($next_cat_id[0])->name . ' &raquo;</a>'; } ?>
</div>
</div>

the above has a commonly used html structure to help with formatting.

This would work similar to the category widget with the setting ‘hierarchical’ – only that for each category, all the post titles are listed with links to the individual post.

This is the code:

<?php
/*****************************************************************
*
* alchymyth 2011
* a hierarchical list of all categories, with linked post titles
*
******************************************************************/
// http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_categories

 foreach( get_categories('hide_empty=0') as $cat ) :
 if( !$cat->parent ) {
 echo '<ul><li><strong>' . $cat->name . '</strong></li>';
 process_cat_tree( $cat->term_id );
 }
 endforeach;

 wp_reset_query(); //to reset all trouble done to the original query
//
function process_cat_tree( $cat ) {

 $args = array('category__in' => array( $cat ), 'numberposts' => -1);
 $cat_posts = get_posts( $args );

 if( $cat_posts ) :
 foreach( $cat_posts as $post ) :
 echo '<li>';
 echo '<a href="' . get_permalink( $post->ID ) . '">' . $post->post_title . '</a>';
 echo '</li>';
 endforeach;
 endif;

 $next = get_categories('hide_empty=0&parent=' . $cat);

 if( $next ) :
 foreach( $next as $cat ) :
 echo '<ul><li><strong>' . $cat->name . '</strong></li>';
 process_cat_tree( $cat->term_id );
 endforeach;
 endif;

 echo '</ul>';
}
?>

The first step is to find all top level categories (generated in alphabetical order) – which is simply done with the wordpress function ‘get_categories()’ and by checking if the category has a parent.
Caveat: because the code is checking for top level categories only, you can’t directly use the parameters of ‘get_categories()’ (see the Codex, the mostly unread documentation of WordPress) without some customization of the top section of the code.

The second step is to show the titles of all available posts for each top level category, linked to the full individual post; done with ‘get_posts()’ and ‘get_permalink()’.

The third step is to find possible direct child categories for this (top) category; done with the ‘parent’ parameter of ‘get_categories()’.

Then step 2 and 3 are repeated until all possible categories are dealt with.

edit 11/06/2011: parameter corrected.

A basic structure to arrange posts into three columns:

<div id="column-wrap">
<?php $count = 0;

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

<div class="box<?php if( $count%3 == 0 ) { echo '-1'; }; $count++; ?>">

<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
<!--and other output of the loop -->

</div>

<?php endwhile; ?>
</div><!--end column-wrap-->

The minimal styles needed for the three columns:

.box-1 { float:left; clear:left; width: 30%; margin-left: 0; }
.box { float:left; width: 30%; margin-left: 3%; }

‘Knowledge is Knowing where it is Written’
by Albert Einstein

– I like to look up the core files of WordPress where the functions are defined.

What I quite often do when I come across something new or not fully understood – a function, or template tag, or whatever wordpress related:

I search the web for it; not just with any keywords, but quite focussed.

Lets take the example of one of my earlier posts (Front Page Comments on your WordPress Blog) where I was investigating why comments don’t easily show on the front page or on archive pages of a blog:

The function in the template files that would show comments and the comment form, is ‘comments_template()’ – I therefore search for:

‘function comments_template()’

the search engine of my choice returns (apart from many other links) first of all the link to the documentation in the codex; and a link to the core file (and the exact line):

Obviously, my search engine knows me, so the relevant results show quite at the top of all possible search results; you may need to scroll down a few pages to find the important link: the one beginning with ‘PHPXRef’.

the link to follow is:

http://phpxref.ftwr.co.uk/wordpress/_functions/comments_template.html

in the page that opens, you’ll get the line:
defined at: followed by a link.

click on that link;

http://phpxref.ftwr.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/comment-template.php.html#comments_template

that leads you to:

with a list of some functions; click on the title of the one you are looking up.

http://phpxref.ftwr.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/comment-template.php.source.html#l822

in there in line 851, you have it (the code that explains why comments do not automatically show on the front page; and what you can do to make them show):

851      if ( !(is_single() || is_page() || $withcomments) || empty($post) )

btw:
This search method is also great for finding related functions, global wordpress variables, and expanding your vocabulary and understanding of wordpress terms…

This procedure uses a method that I came across in an introductory article about programming a child theme of Twenty Ten, by Aaron Jorbin, who himself was building upon Mangling strings for fun and profit, by WordPress lead Developer Peter Westwood.

class Transformation_Text_Wrangler {
function reading_more($translation, $text, $domain) {
$translations = &get_translations_for_domain( $domain );
if ( $text == 'Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&rarr;</span>' ) {
return $translations->translate( 'Get to know more <span class="meta-nav">&raquo;</span>' );
}
return $translation;
}
}
add_filter('gettext', array('Transformation_Text_Wrangler', 'reading_more'), 10, 4);

This way of customising texts in a child theme is applicable to all the strings of the mother theme.

This holds true also for an open source program such as wordpress.

I will put it this way: the wordpress software, ie. the core program, is the subconsciousness. We know it is there, but generally we are not aware of it and don’t understand how it works. And, unless something goes wrong, we don’t really want to know.

And in a way, you could see that all the programmers and organizers of wordpress.org  as an open source software  are a kind of  ’creator’ who is well above all and who has put all this out for us to work with. This is not unlike some interpretation of G.O.D. (greater organized design) who made us but also gave us the freedom and intelligence to change the program.

Now, there a many many thousands of blogs out there, using wordpress.org software to program there own way of expression.

What every blog software does, is to take a lot of input in (the posts, pages, articles, pictures and so) and arrange and present them in a way that is personal and special for the individual (programmer).

In wordpress, these are the php-files, such as index.php, single.php, functions.php, comments.php, and so on.

This is analogue to the conscious mind which does exactly the same – gathering input (through our senses), storing it (memory),  sorting it, and creating specific output, based on a hidden program.

The ‘sorting program’ is build upon past experiences, ways we accepted from our parents, teachers, the society, religion, and so forth.

Think of the primary output as the HTML code that is generated by the wordpress php files. If you look at that on a screen, it seems pretty ‘bland’, uniform, not very interesting.

This is where the themes of wordpress come in: they individualize the output in a way that is again personal to the individual designing them. They add the CSS styles, and make the output colorful, creative, enjoyable (or not, if you don’t like the theme).

(Look up CSS Zen Garden if you are not familiar with css.)

Again, i like to compare this to the human mind. The ego will use its ‘css style sheet’ and ‘color’ any message it receives from the mind, and will give it an individual meaning.

Just present a piece of information to a group of people and watch how they react – you can be sure to get a whole range of different reactions.

The good thing with this model is, that we have the power and opportunity to change the programs, the php files, the themes, the css at any time.

As a programmer – and we all are our own programmers ! (even if we don’t like the programming results) – you can adapt the wordpress files, change your theme, and tweak the style sheets at any time.

This is the fantastic opportunity when you host your own wordpress blog (ie. when you are an individual in control of your life), it gives you control over ‘consciousness, mind, and ego’, to stay within the model.

Those who run the free blogs on wordpress.com, on the contrary, have not this level of control. They have to use what they get offered by somebody else (ie. the makers of wordpress.com, the filter programs that filter all the html input in the posts, the providers of the free themes you can choose from, and so on). They have a limited choice of  ‘conscious decisions’, ‘ways of expression’, ‘influence’.

Sounds very familiar with real life, where the expression of the ‘masses’ are pre-programmed and limited by a small elite (tv and media, politicians, church, tradition, teachers, …).

Coming back to the beginning of this post, where I compared the wordpress software with the subconsciousness, I hold the vision that when enough conscious people (programmers) join and work together, they can change the very core programming of the consciousness, the subconsciousness of mankind – also known as ‘common consciousness’.