With the release of WordPress 3.0, we were introduced to a new feature called custom post types. Since that time, CommAREus has been finding new ways to utilize this functionality to replace what was often handled by plug-ins in the past or simply managed by hand in the post editor. Despite our best efforts, the latter option often required the client to get involved in the HTML directly to achieve a certain layout which we always try to avoid.
For example, a client recently came to us looking to build a page in WordPress to list the members of an organization along with a photo of the member, their bio and contact information as seen below:
This layout could be achieved without the use of custom post types by styling the content by hand in the post editor, importing and aligning the images, applying any necessary classes, inserting the horizontal rules, etc. This approach may work for somebody with HTML experience, but can be an overwhelming task for somebody who does not. In addition, this solution can be prone to break the layout if you’re not careful when making changes or additions to the page.
Here is one situation where custom post types come in handy. We can define a new unique post type to manage this area of the site. This new post type can be managed from a new button with a custom icon in the dashboard as seen below:
This new post type can be custom tailored to accept the different pieces of content that make up each team member:
The post title is used for the team members name, the image is attached as the Featured Image, the bio is the post content and all other information is entered through the custom fields below the post editor:
Now that we have all of this information entered separately into WordPress, we can build a matching page template to describe how it should be displayed. This guarantees that:
the HTML will be formed correctly
the client won’t need to worry about breaking something
making changes will be as simple as modifying the template (rather than pages of previously written HTML)
Butch Stearns of the Pulse Network at the Boston IMS 2011
by Al Morel
For all the ‘Inbound Marketing’ fans out there — and who isn’t these days — many of the presentations given are available on line for your viewing pleasure. The Summit was this past September and was sponsored by The Pulse Network in Canton, MA. Enjoy!
OK, Guy Kawasaki is one of my online buddies, but he’s under suspicion. He’s of Asian decent, born in Hawaii, lives in California and plays hockey. If that’s not suspicious, I don’t know what is!
I loved his new book ‘Enchantment’ but instead of me blathering on about it, here’s a really cool summary of his book. A worthy read, IMO. =Al
The first thing that jumped out was that only 13% of all websites employ a CMS. This is truly astounding now that we know all the advantages and cost savings that a CMS can provide.
Of all of the hundreds of CMS platforms out there, WordPress dominates the market with over 55% of the total market. Considering that WordPress was really not developed as a CMS and has evolved as individuals started to use it on their own for this purpose, it is quite amazing.
Here are the stats on the top Content Management Systems:
The short and sweet answer is not for a while yet, but someday…
As you may, or may not know, IE6 is the bane of existence for web designers and developers. It’s old, weak, and tired, and many sites have stopped supporting it, but somehow, it still lives.
Just in the last few weeks, we’ve found a couple of examples of lasting entrenchment of IE6. In one instance it was physician who wanted to use an eComm that we had created. This person was running IE6 and was using a system maintained by one of the largest medical networks in the state of Massachusetts. As it turned out, IE6 was not the culprit but their own firewall. In another situation it was an mid sized insurance company with about 20 employees.
In some ways, it’s actually a good thing. We test all the sites we build in all the browsers shown in the chart below. It’s not easy getting them all to cooperate together but it certainly separates the web pros from the wannabes.
I found this breakdown of web browsers from this website: w3schools.com. As you can see, IE6 is slowly dying, and if you go to the site you can see the withering, and emergence, of other browsers over the past few years.
