Last month marked the 15th anniversary of WordPress and since its launch, the CMS has evolved a lot and has introduced several features and functionalities. Whenever we talk about WordPress, the first thing that comes to mind is a great blogging platform. But over the years, this concept has slowly changed and WordPress now also supports eCommerce solutions and responsive designs. By default, WordPress features posts and pages as its main content system. But users can easily create many custom content types as needed.
Did you know that custom post types could help you segment your content within WordPress?
As stated above, WordPress development features a handful of content types by default. Posts and Pages are the most commonly used and are what categorize and separate content within WordPress. Content can be segmented into different areas of the WordPress admin panel and offer unique sets of data by data type. This data can then be used in personalized screens for users when the website is activated. Custom Post Types extend simple WordPress pages and posts and allow users to create content types that are complemented by specific and unique templates to present data to website visitors.
When and why should you use custom post types?
Depending on the type of content you are willing to post on your WordPress website, you can develop them. A new custom post type can be a great idea if you plan to start publishing something that needs to be kept separate from other posts and pages. For example, having a separate section for your books on your WordPress review website will make the content easily understandable to your audience and will also distinguish the reviews from the rest of your web content. In fact, this will also help you set certain specific parameters for each of your books and then display them along with the review.
Learn about some popular plug-ins out of the box for creating CPTs
Do you find it difficult to create your own custom plugins for CPT? There is nothing to worry about as there are some very good plugins out of the box for creating custom post types. Have a look:
Easy content types: This plugin provides an extremely easy to use interface for them, metaboxes and taxonomies. It is a feature rich plugin and the dashboard explains what they are and how you can work with them. Each module is well documented with each field labeled and explained.
Custom Post Type UI: This plugin is easy to use and allows you to create new post types, corresponding taxonomies and also edit existing ones on your site. Another important thing that you can do with this plugin is that you can import a custom post that you have on any other site.
Types of tool sets: This plugin allows you to customize the WordPress admin by adding content types, custom fields, and taxonomies. It helps you manage them, and this can all be done through the WordPress admin panel.
Types: This is a popular free plugin that allows you to create custom post types, fields, and taxonomies. This plugin stands out from the rest due to its developer and user friendly interface. If you know how to code then you can use the PHP API or you can use the plain GUI. It also handles custom fields well, which you can add to posts, pages, and users as well.
Pods: The plugin is very simple compared to any others on the list. But it gives you the functionality you might need in most cases. The two main sections of the plugin are Post Types and Taxonomies. To use this plugin, no coding knowledge is required as everything is there through a handy interface.
