The WordPress Community has over 23,000 plugins to date that do a crazy amount of things. I’m going to show you three quality, free plugins that can help you kickstart a well structured portfolio.
TL;DR
If you’re here to scan the article, here’s a list of the plugins I’m talking about:
Custom Post Types UI
Meta Box
Posts 2 Posts
Download the theme source code.
Now for the most part, these plugins all do something we should know how to do using the WordPress APIs.
WordPress gives you the ability to add custom post types and taxonomies easily with some simple code in your functions.php file, or through the use of a plugin like CustomPress. That means, you can quickly turn your WordPress site into a fairly well-featured CMS.
The only problem is, out of the box, WordPress does not automatically take your newly created custom post types and add them to the archive pages for existing taxonomies ‘categories’ or ‘tags.’
There may come a time when you’ll want to convert a WordPress post to a page, a page to a post, a page to a Custom Post Type post, or some other option. Maybe you’re getting posts more organized or changing themes that have CPTs that you don’t want to disappear. This is easily and quickly accomplished with the help of a WordPress plugin.
Understanding Post Types
Ever heard of Custom Write Panels? Basically, you can add or remove meta boxes (a.k.a. writing ‘features’) for different post types. For example, with the powerful CustomPress plugin (as with some other custom post type tools), you have these feature options:
But what about the ‘post’ and ‘page’ post types that ship with WordPress? What if you want to customize which meta boxes are displayed when writing posts and pages?
We can use the remove_post_type_support function to remove meta boxes even for Posts and Pages.
Code Snippets
Contributors can write posts but not add Featured Images
These 3 title box snippets (all tested with the Twenty Eleven theme’s functions.php on WP 3.4.1) will let you customize your “New Page” or “New Post” title areas.
Change default “Enter title here” text for Posts and Pages
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function title_text_input( $title ){
return $title = 'What are you feeling?';
}
add_filter( 'enter_title_here', 'title_text_input' );
|
Source: WPSnipp.com
It works for both Posts and Pages.
Change default “Enter title here” text for Custom Post Type Posts
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function change_default_title( $title ){
$screen = get_current_screen();
if ( 'pricing_table_post_type' == $screen->post_type ) {
$title = 'Enter Pricing CPT Title';
}
return $title;
}
add_filter( 'enter_title_here', 'change_default_title' );
|
Source: WPSnipp.com
Custom post types are a powerful way to extend the functionality of your website, creating a more personal experience for the viewer, and also the admin. But when you create a new custom post type, it is not automatically added to the site’s main loop. If that custom post type is one you plan to feature on the homepage of you’ll need to modify your theme’s functions.php file.
Luckily, that’s done with just a few lines of code.
Adding Custom Post Type to your Home Page in WordPress
function custom_conference_in_home_loop( $query ) {
if ( is_home() && $query->is_main_query() )
Custom Post Types,Taxonomies, and Fields all enhance WordPress information architecture capabilities. Folks continue to be confused on what these things are and when to use them. Let’s present a use case to explain when best to use these powerful tools. This use case explains when to use these powerful tools.
Normal Everyday Blog Posts
When you post to your personal blog about what you’ve been doing today, it’s no big deal.
Come up with a smarmy title
Type out some witty commentary
Add a couple photos
Select a category such as “Home Life,” “Work Life, “ or “Play Life”
Bloggers working with several clients understand the difficulty in managing multiple installations of WordPress, especially when it comes to initial design and site testing. Clients always want to preview an early version of the site to test the look and feel, to make sure text looks good on the page, and to confirm the site has all the desired functionality.
You may not even realize that “widgetize” isn’t actually a word. The WordPress community has just gone ahead and made it up.
And yet, it is one of those words that just makes perfect sense. If you know what a widget is (in a WordPress context), you’ll know what “widgetizing” is. Such is the beauty of made-up (yet self-explanatory) words.
With that in mind, you probably have a pretty good idea of what the Custom Post Display plugin does without me having to go into too much detail.
Today we want to look at a new tool available for WordPress designers and plugin developers whose work requires custom admin icons. WordPress admin icons are important for branding your custom plugin in the dashboard. Web and UI designer Matthias Kretschmann has created a free template and code samples for designing your own admin icons.
Custom admin icons are needed in when creating new custom post types, plugin settings and theme options pages. At the very least you will need three icons:
two 16px icons for the admin menu, one non-colored and one colored icon for the hover state
