In my first post, I went over how to extend wordpress using custom fields. Here in Part 2, you’ll learn how to make the custom fields look better on the admin side of things. This will make it not only easier for you, but for your clients and users as well.
Note: Since I last posted, Wordpess 2.2 was released. The techniques I’m showing you should work fine in Wordpress 2.1 or 2.2. With that being said, lets get started.
- Download and install the Custom Field GUI plugin on your site. (Don’t forget to activate it)
- Download this file, extract the conf.ini file and upload it to your wp-content/plugins/rc-custom-field-gui/ directory
- That’s it! You should now end up with the screenshot below when you go to write a post.
It looks a lot nicer doesn’t it? Now you have form fields for price, agent, bedrooms etc. It is possible to create an an unlimited number of fields and the plugin also offers the ability to create dropdowns, radio buttons, and text area boxes. I simply made this basic one to show you what’s possible. Please comment with your suggestions so I may improve it the next time around.
Move on to Part 3 - Templates.
One of the challenges with running Wordpress as a CMS (per my previous post) is being able to extend the core features to accomplish the goals for your site. These next series of articles will examine how to get more out of Wordpress than you had ever thought possible. For example purposes, we are going to create a Real Estate site powered by Wordpress 2.1.3. Lets get started…
- Write » Posts » and then enter a title… “Two Bedroom Ranch with a View”
- You might also want to add a new category called “Listings” if you haven’t already.
- In the post box, add a description about your property, upload some photos etc.
- Enter a new key… “Price” and a value… ” $150,000″ » click Add Custom Field
- Repeat Step 4 for each value. For example, you might want to add Agent, Status, Beds, Baths etc. Then publish your post when you’re done.
Tip: Every time you add custom field (key), it will appear in the dropdown box the next time you add a post/listing. You don’t need to type it in again!
Now all we need to do is get the information to display on your site. I have made available a modified version of the default theme in wordpress. Simply download this theme, extract the files, upload it to your wordpress themes directory and activate it. It’s called ‘Wordpress Default 2′.
Keep checking back as future articles will discuss how to make these custom fields more visually appealing both in your admin and on your live site.
Move on to Part 2 - Admin.
