My presentation at WordCamp San Diego 2013 about advanced methods of using custom post types and taxonomies.

1. Advanced
Custom Post Types
& Taxonomies
WordCamp San Diego 2013
#wcsd
@theandystratton
Saturday, March 23, 13

2. Who am I?
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3. Freelance
WordPress Developer
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4. Founder
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5. What are
Custom Post Types?
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6. Generic Post Content
Inherit core user interface
& functionality
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7. Including:
Post meta, attachments, featured image,
hierarchies, comments, etc.
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8. What are
Custom Taxonomies?
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9. Generic Tags/Categories
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10. Taxonomies
create relationships
between content
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11. Why should we use them?
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12. In the old days, we’d:
Re-purpose blog posts
filtering by category/tag
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13. In the old days, we’d:
Create custom database
tables and functionality
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14. In the old days, we’d:
Use strange plugins
and non-standard code
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15. This is pretty much
doing it wrong.
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16. Why DO we custom post
types/taxonomies?
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17. Future compatible
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18. WordPress Coding Standards
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19. Theme & Plugin compatibility
(page ordering, SEO plugins, etc.)
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20. Flexible & Extendible
Post Meta, attachments,
hierarchies, ordering, featured images
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21. Help maintain a
consistent user-interface
&
consistent user-experience
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22. @alternatekev:
“Build design systems.”
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23. For what can we use
custom post types?
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24. Home Page Sliders
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25. Callout Boxes
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26. Photo Galleries
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27. Locations
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28. Job Postings
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29. People/Teams
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30. Reusable Static Content
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31. HTML Emails
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32. Let’s break these
site elements down into
CPT components.
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33. Callout Boxes
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34. Callout Boxes
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35. Callout Boxes
image
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36. Callout Boxes
image
content
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37. Callout Boxes
Element Post Type Element
Image Featured Image
Content Post Title/Content
In post content, OR
Link
custom field
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38. Callout Boxes
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39. Callout Boxes
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40. Callout Boxes
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41. Callout Boxes
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42. Callout Boxes
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43. More Post Type Maps
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44. Photo Gallery
Element Post Type Element
Image Gallery Post Attachments
Title Post Title
Description Post Content
Date Post Date
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45. People/Teams
Element Post Type Element
Photo Featured Image
Person Name Post Title
Description Post Content
Additional Info
Custom Fields/Post Meta
(Title, Phone, etc.)
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46. This gives us some
great benefits...
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47. Content Scheduling
Use publish date and
the Post Expirator plugin
wordpress.org/extend/plugins/post-expirator/
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48. Content Staging Library
Save callouts as drafts.
Easily swap content with more options
than text widgets.
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49. Benefits Case Study
Marketing Sliders for Brick Bodies
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50. Marketing Team
Anyone with publish capabilities can
create, schedule and expire slides.
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51. Monthly Plans
Plan their specials/events in advance
Set their next month’s slides to
publish when current expire
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52. WordPress Standards
Consistent UI & user experience
If a user can add/edit a post, they can
add/edit a slide
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53. WordPress Standards
Future compatible
Compatible with plugins
(e.g. post expirator)
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54. Enhancing the Core UI
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55. Enhancing the Core UI
We should add context to everything.
Add logical elements to make
managing content easier.
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56. Enter Title Here
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57. Easy Code
https://gist.github.com/theandystratton/5225881
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58. Custom Menu Icons
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59. Custom Menu Icons
https://gist.github.com/theandystratton/5226783
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60. Admin Columns
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61. Custom Columns
https://gist.github.com/theandystratton/5225903
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62. Custom Column Content
https://gist.github.com/theandystratton/5225903
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63. Saturday, March 23, 13

64. Make Great Experiences
Meet user expectations
(clicking the thumbnail edits the post)
Show all relevant data
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65. Taxonomy:
Store Categories
Can group/relate content
Filter the edit screen
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66. Clicking Entertainment in the “Store
Categories” column filters listing by
locations tagged “Entertainment.”
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67. Saturday, March 23, 13

68. Using “show_admin_column” when
registering a public taxonomy.
gist.github.com/theandystratton/5226656
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69. Add Context with
Taxonomies
Case Study: Content Tags
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70. General Tags
Applied to pages, posts and
all custom post types
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71. Create relationships across
all post types
Easily relate unrelated content
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72. Example:
LIIFund.org
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73. Some pages are content about
specific types of projects.
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74. Custom post type of “statistics”
used to populate the
left sidebar column
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75. Client wants “Child Care”
statistics to auto-populate in the
sidebar of the child care page
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76. Saturday, March 23, 13

77. Page
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78. Page
Custom Post Type
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79. Used content tags to relate
pages to statistics
& pull programmatically.
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80. Saturday, March 23, 13

81. Saturday, March 23, 13

82. wp_dropdown_categories()
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83. These content tags allow users to
tag content and we can use it to
provide contextual content.
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84. https://gist.github.com/theandystratton/5226712
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85. https://gist.github.com/theandystratton/5226712
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86. You can pair content tags
(a generic taxonomy)
with content blocks
(a generic post type)
to rapidly deploy all sorts of
contextual content management.
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87. Content Blocks
https://github.com/szbl/szbl-content-blocks/
Content Tags
https://github.com/szbl/szbl-content-tags/
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88. Be Extendible!
Think Like Core.
Be Like Core.
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89. Hooks
Do Actions.
Apply Filters.
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90. What if I want to hide the admin column
and only apply these to pages and posts?
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91. We can hook into Content Tags like this:
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92. Truly Extendible.
You can customize code.
You can re-use code.
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93. Your plugins folder
may look like this:
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94. Your plugins folder
may look like this:
This plugin...
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95. Your plugins folder
may look like this:
This plugin...
Modifies
these
plugins
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96. Truly Extendible.
You can customize code.
You can re-use code.
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97. Saves time.
Saves money.
Updates are easier.
Functionality is not
tethered to a theme.
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98. Some Final DOs & DON’Ts
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99. DON’T
Alter/change core
user-interface
(CSS, Javascript, core hacks)
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100. DON’T
Re-brand WordPress as your
own custom CMS.
(You’re not fooling anyone.)
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101. DON’T
Use custom tables or
database queries when
it is not necessary.
(In most cases, it’s not.)
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102. DON’T
Forget about widgets,
sidebars and menus.
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103. DON’T
Overcomplicate Shit.
(Complicate shit when
shit gets complicated.)
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104. DO
Use the Core UI
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105. DO
Create additional UI
elements via Core CSS.
Let core inspire you.
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106. DO
Place your code into plugins.
Even custom themes need plugin love.
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107. DO
Constantly improve
your code.
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108. DO
Re-use your code.
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109. DO
Write extendible code.
Use Actions and Filters.
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110. DO
Share your code.
WP.org/GitHub/Gist/your blog
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111. DO
Be awesome.
Love what you do. Do it well.
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112. Thanks for the time.
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