Tip #9 : Use trackback auto-discovery
Posted by Leonid Mamchenkov on December 18, 2007
When building WordPress themes from scratch it is easy to forget about things that “just work”. One of such things, often forgotten by newcomers to WordPress theme development, is trackback auto-discovery – a really tiny bit of code, which is not visible to a naked eye (an eye without HTML source that is). Trackback auto-discovery provides a specially formatted HTML code for other content management systems to find a trackback URL in your post. Gladly, there is a Codex page that covers trackback_rdf() function.
monika said
Hi
Maybe since wp 2.0 I can’t find this function in wordpress theme *default* or *classic*.
So I can’t understand why you told this theme developer and not the wp developer ;)
kindly regards
Monika
Leonid Mamchenkov said
Monika,
trackbacks are somewhat obsolete by pingbacks. Pingbacks works in both default and classic themes, because they provide the pingback link in the header part. Also, both default and classic themes provide trackback URIs for manual copy-paste – something that not all themes out there offer.
I should probably write a post explaining how both pingbacks and trackbacks work. :)
Monika said
I hope I can explain what I mean (english is not my friend;))
You mean this code
<!--
-->
At old wp versions this code was implemented in default (Kubrick) and classic theme – since version 2.0 or something else it isn’t.
So new wp theme author don’t know something about this trackback rdf ….
If it is necessary or a good thing, why it is never in the default themes ?
kindly regards
Monika
(
I’m sitting on another pc and can’t login to my wordpress.com account )
Leonid Mamchenkov said
Monika,
I have no idea why they substituted automatic trackback discovery with manual URLs. I’ll try to check in SVN logs to find a hint…
monika said
Thanks Leonid
because I would like to know why or why not before I write something on my blog in german.
regards
Monika
Top Posts « WordPress.com said
[...] Tip #9 : Use trackback auto-discovery When building WordPress themes from scratch it is easy to forget about things that “just work”. One of […] [...]
Matt Mullenweg said
Because no one uses trackback autodiscovery, and the RDF in a comment thing is a hack.
Where Did My Brain Go? » » Trackbacks Are Working said
[...] directed me to Tip #9: Use trackback auto-discovery, written by Leonid Mamchenkov. Leonid’s tip explained the important part in one sentence: [...]
Leonid Mamchenkov said
Matt,
thanks. I’ll need to do my homework better in the future. :)
Credit Card Finder said
I have quite a few of the ‘free’ WordPress templates that have neglected to add this feature. I will watch for it in any future themes!
Michel said
Hi, Leonid!
You didn’t update your WP bits blog for quite a long time?… Hope you’ll be back, soon:)
Cheers, M. :-)
Leonid Mamchenkov said
Michel,
the things I do have changed a lot recently. I’m not working with WordPress at all, and with the time constraints, I am falling behind the news and happenings. Unfortunately. :(
I am thinking on how to proceed with this blog, but I don’t have anything to share just yet.
Michel said
Mmmh, it’a a pity, always read the ‘bits’ here with great interest:)
Maybe you’ll have a bit more for WP and the blog after a while? :-)
Wishing you all the best! :)
Leonid Mamchenkov said
Thanks Michel! I am not moving too far away – I am still doing things on the web, and my blog is still on WordPress. So, chances are I will come back with more later. In the meantime maybe I will find someone who could take over WPBits. :)
Leonid Mamchenkov said
Thanks Michel! I am not moving too far away – I am still doing things on the web, and my blog is still on WordPress. So, chances are I will come back with more later. In the meantime maybe I will find someone who could take over WPBits. :)
Demara said
Ah yes. Mine’s working (or, at least, the code is there), and I appreciate the reminder.
Jannie Funster said
Hmmmmm, I am intrigued as to just what that little bit of code does…