Custom post types are a versatile and powerful feature in WordPress, enabling you to create and manage unique content types that go beyond the standard posts and pages. By utilizing custom post types, you can significantly enhance your website’s organization, user experience, and overall functionality to cater to your specific requirements. In this article, we will explore various use cases for custom post types, discuss popular plugins to help you create and manage them, and highlight the benefits of implementing custom post types in your WordPress site.
When do you need custom post types?
- Portfolio: Showcase your creative work, such as designs, photography, or writing samples, in a dedicated and easily navigable section of your website.
- Testimonials: Collect and display client testimonials or user reviews to build trust and credibility for your business or service.
- Events: Promote and manage upcoming events, workshops, or webinars, providing essential information, registration options, and calendar integration.
- Products: Display and organize your products if you’re not using an e-commerce plugin like WooCommerce, making it simple for users to browse and learn more about your offerings.
- Services: Highlight the services your business provides, such as consulting, training, or coaching, with detailed descriptions and pricing options.
- Team Members: Introduce your team members by displaying their bios, photos, and contact information, fostering a sense of connection and transparency with your users.
- Real Estate Listings: Manage property listings on a real estate website, complete with property details, images, and contact forms for potential buyers or renters.
- Job Listings: Share job openings for a job board or company careers page, allowing users to browse available positions, filter by criteria, and apply online.
In the following sections, we will delve into the world of custom post types, discussing popular plugins that make it easy to create and manage them, as well as outlining the benefits of incorporating custom post types into your WordPress site. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned WordPress user, this article will equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to unlock the full potential of custom post types and elevate your website’s content organization and user experience.
There are several plugins available, some popular ones include:
Custom Post Type UI (CPT UI): This user-friendly plugin allows you to create and manage custom post types and taxonomies directly from the WordPress admin area.
Pods: Pods is a powerful framework for creating and managing custom post types, taxonomies, and custom fields. It also allows you to create custom settings pages and advanced content types.
Toolset: Toolset is a comprehensive suite of plugins that help you create and manage custom post types, taxonomies, and custom fields. It also includes features to design custom templates, build frontend forms, and create custom search functionality. The only downside is that Toolset is a premium plugin,
Others worth mentioning are:
MB Custom Post Type, WCK Custom Post Types or GenerateWP.
The latter one, while not a plugin, is an online tool that helps you generate the code needed to create custom post types, taxonomies, and other WordPress components. You can use the custom post type generator on their website, copy the generated code, and add it to your theme’s functions.php file or a custom plugin.
Custom post type UI (CPT UI)
This article will focus on CPT UI, as it’s one of the most used and most downloaded custom post type plugin, with over 1+ Million Active Installations. This also means there is a lot of information and support for when you encounter an issue or finding it difficult to use. Like mentioned before, It combines an intuitive interface, powerful features, and seamless WordPress integration to provide users with a superior experience in creating and managing custom post types and taxonomies.
Why choose Custom post type UI (CPT UI) ?
User-friendly Interface: CPT UI is designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind. The plugin’s clean and organized interface makes it accessible to users of all experience levels. Even beginners can effortlessly create and manage custom post types without any prior knowledge of coding.
No Coding Required: CPT UI eliminates the need for writing code to create custom post types and taxonomies. It automatically generates the necessary code behind the scenes, allowing users to focus on organizing and managing their content without getting bogged down in technical details.
Comprehensive Features: Despite its simplicity, CPT UI offers a wide range of features to cater to various user needs. From creating and editing custom post types and taxonomies to importing and exporting settings for easy migration, the plugin provides a comprehensive solution for custom content management in WordPress.
Compatibility: CPT UI is designed to be compatible with most WordPress themes and plugins, ensuring a seamless experience when extending your website’s functionality. This compatibility makes it an ideal choice for users who want to create custom content without worrying about potential conflicts or issues.
Regular Updates and Support: The CPT UI team is committed to providing regular updates and support for the plugin. This dedication ensures that the plugin remains compatible with the latest WordPress updates and offers users a reliable, long-term solution for custom content management.
Trust and Popularity: With millions of downloads and a high rating in the WordPress plugin repository, Custom Post Type UI has earned the trust of the WordPress community. Its widespread use and positive feedback from users serve as a testament to the plugin’s quality and effectiveness.
Example on how to use Custom Post type:
Let’s say you need a website to showcase various events, workshops and activities happening in your town. The default WordPress post types, posts and pages are not enough to effectively organize and present the wide array of events. You need to sort by categories, sucsh as art workshops, fitness classes, and family activities. You’re also required custom fields to display essential information like date, time, location, and registration details. Here’s how you do it:
Install and activate Custom Post Type UI: From your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New. Search for “Custom Post Type UI,” install, and activate the plugin.
To create a custom post type for events, go to the WordPress admin menu and click on CPT UI > Add/Edit Post Types. This will open a form where you can input the necessary details to set up your custom post type. Start by entering a Post Type Slug (“events”), Plural Label (“Events”), and Singular Label (“Event”). The slug should be all lowercase and contain no spaces. Additionally, you can customize various settings as per your requirements, such as enabling or disabling the editor, featured image, or excerpts. Once you’ve configured the settings, click “Add Post Type” to create your custom post type. This new post type will now be available in the WordPress admin menu, allowing you to manage events more efficiently.
Create custom taxonomies for events (optional): If you want to categorize your events, you can create custom taxonomies, such as event types or event locations. Go to CPT UI > Add/Edit Taxonomies, and fill in the fields:
Example for event types:
- Taxonomy Slug: event_types
- Plural Label: Event Types
- Singular Label: Event Type
- Attach to Post Type: events (select the custom post type you created earlier)
Click “Add Taxonomy” to create your custom taxonomy. You can create additional taxonomies following the same process.
Add events using the custom post type: Now that you’ve set up the custom post type and taxonomies, you can add events. In the WordPress admin menu, click on Events > Add New. Fill in the event title, description, and any other relevant details. If you created custom taxonomies, you’ll see them in the right sidebar, where you can categorize your event.
Display events on your website: To display the events on your website, you can create a custom template file in your theme or use a plugin like Advanced Custom Fields to design and display custom fields and layouts for your events. This plugin offer user-friendly interfaces and various customization options, making it simple to present your events in an attractive and accessible manner.
That’s it! You’ve successfully created a custom post type for events using the Custom Post Type UI plugin. Now you can easily manage and display events on your WordPress website.
In conclusion:
By creating a custom post type for events, you enhance your website’s content organization and management. This approach enables you to display specific fields and features relevant to your events, such as date, time, and location, which in turn improves the overall user experience. Visitors can easily find and browse events based on their interests, leading to increased engagement and higher conversion rates.
Custom post types also contribute to better search engine optimization (SEO) by allowing you to optimize content, metadata, and URLs for each event, making them more discoverable through search engines. Additionally, custom post types facilitate flexible categorization with custom taxonomies, enabling you to sort your events by type, location, or target audience. This further refines the user experience and makes it even easier for users to find relevant events.
Lastly, custom post types enable easier integration with event-related plugins, such as event calendars or booking systems, allowing you to create a comprehensive event management system on your website. Overall, custom post types for events offer a more professional, efficient, and user-friendly event management solution that benefits both you and your website visitors.