Maria's Guides

Instructions for using the AdRotator plugin to generate random ad images with links. I've been wanting to do this forever. In fact, it was the first thing I explored when I started using WordPress late last year. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough understanding of how plugins and theme files worked to get anywhere. Things are different now. I know what I'm doing. And this particular task is quite simple, as you'll see here.

The Goal

My goal was to be able to display small advertising images at the top of the navigation bar. The image would appear randomly from a pool of images and, when it appeared, it would be associated with a specific URL. When the image appeared, the site visitor could click the image to go to a Web site or page. I wanted to use this for wickenburg-az.com, a site I spend an awful lot of time working on with no compensation. The idea was to charge a nominal fee to add an image to the pool for a month. The money I collected would cover the cost of running the site. Keep in mind that I could use any size image and place it anywhere in the header, sidebar, or footer. I wanted a 170 x 120 pixel image at the top of the sidebar. (I already run a strip of Google text ads at the bottom of the page, as I do here. I think too much advertising on a Web site is extremely obnoxious. But how much is too much when you have bills to pay?)

The Plugin

I won't go into detail about my search for the plugin. It was neither long nor exciting. I wound up with AdRotator by Angsuman Chakraborty, which was really designed to work with Google AdSense and other prepacked blog advertising tools. But as I read the comments for the plugin's description, I was assured that it would do what I needed to do. But how do I use it? The User Manual was difficult to find. It wasn't very user-friendly, either. (No offense to the plugin author. Frankly, I think that every programmer should team up with a tech writer to get documentation written. Programmers program. Writers write. Programmers don't usually program and write -- although an exception does come to mind.) So I decided to write up a quick How To piece that would explain how to use AdRotator to do just what I wanted it to do. This isn't AdRotator documentation. It only explains how to use the plugin for one particular task. Also, these instructions don't explain every single step in minute detail. If you want that kind of explanation, buy a Visual QuickStart Guide. Instead, these instruction assume you have already mastered the basics of using your image editing software, an FTP client, a text editor, and WordPress.

Create the Ads

First, use image editing software and your FTP program to create and upload the ad images.

1. Decide on an ad size based on where you plan to place the ads. I used 170 wide by 120 tall so it would fit in the sidebar column of my theme (modified Connections).
2. Use your favorite image editing software to create each image in the desired dimensions.
3. Save the images as GIF, JPEG, or PNG format files with the appropriate file name extension.
4. Use your favorite FTP client to upload the images to a folder within your WordPress wp-content folder. I created a folder called ads (real creative, huh?) and put them there. For obvious reasons, the folder's permissions must be set so its contents are readable.
5. Put away your image editing software; you're done with it for now.

Install and Activate the Plugin

To use any WordPress plugin, you must download it, install it, and activate it.

1. Download the plugin. This was pretty challenging, since I had a hard time finding a link to it. You can find a link on this page or simply click Download the plugin.
2. Use your favorite FTP client to upload the AdRotator.php file to your plugins directory inside your wp-content directory.
3. Go to the Plugins adminsitration panel in WordPress and activate the AdRotator plugin.

Create the Reference File

Now comes the part that seems to confuse most people (according to the comments). You need to create a plain text file that includes HTML for displaying the ad graphics with links to their URLs.

1. Fire up your favorite text editor. Do not use a word processor like Microsoft Word! I use TextWrangler, which I can't say enough nice things about.
2. Create a new text file.
3. For each ad/URL combination you want to include in the pool of ads, create a line in the text file that includes the following code:
   
   Of course, you'll substitute real URLs and text for what is shown above. A real example from my setup would be:
   
4. Save the file with a Web-friendly name and the .txt file extension. In my example, I named it ads.txt (not very creative).
5. Use your favorite FTP software to upload the file to the wp-content folder in your WordPress installation.

Reference the Ads

Now you need to reference the AdRotator plugin in the theme file in which you want the ad to appear. Normally, this will be header.php or footer.php (for banner ads) or sidebar.php (for ad boxes or towers).

1. Open the theme file in which you want to reference the ad.
2. Include the following code exactly where you want the ad to appear:
   
Fatal error: Call to undefined function getad() in /home2/aneclect/public_html/mariasguides/wp-content/plugins/exec-php/includes/runtime.php(42) : eval()'d code on line 91