I’ve seen it too many times… unnecessary custom post types are created for something that does not need a custom post type. Meet the team, featured projects, and case studies sections are the most common offenders. I’m here to tell you that doing so is just making things more difficult and adding something that, in most cases, you don’t really need. The WordPress editor itself can handle what it is you seek to accomplish when creating such sections of your site, as it has the power to do so.

1. THE POWER OF THE
WORDPRESS EDITOR
KYLE LAVERTY

2. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
INTRODUCTION
Who Am I?
‣ Laverty Creative -
http://lavertycreative.com
http://kylelaverty.com
‣ Father/Stepfather of 5 children
and 2 pups
‣ Follow me @LavertyCreative or
@lavekyl
<–– This guy

3. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT AND WHY
Custom post-types are often overused in
WordPress. Their usage makes sense in a
lot of cases, including for customized
sections of websites. But they are often
not necessary.
Because of their overuse I aim to show an
alternative way to display content similar
to that of custom post-types, but by using
the power of the WordPress editor.

4. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
WHAT IS A POST TYPE?
Post-types are different types of content in WordPress. Some of the
default post-types are…
▸ Posts
▸ Pages
▸ Attachments
▸ Revisions
▸ Navigation Menus
Each have their own parameters that define how they will be displayed.

5. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
WHAT IS A CUSTOM POST-TYPE?
Custom post-types are new
content types that you create
using the register_post_type()
function or using a plugin like
CPT UI. You determine the
parameters such as use of
categories, an archive page,
etc. Here is a basic example…

6. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
WHEN TO USE A CUSTOM POST-TYPE
When you have a lot of content that you want to separate from
posts and pages, and/or if you want to make it easy for clients to
manage different types of content.
Examples
▸ Movie Reviews
▸ Resources
▸ Events
▸ Slides (the exception to lots of content)

7. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
WHEN YOU DON’T NEED A CUSTOM POST-TYPE
When you don’t have much content. Using one is fine if you
are making customizations, but maybe a plugin would be
better suited for that (ACF or CMB2 anyone?).
Examples
▸ Process
▸ Services
▸ Projects (recent or featured)

8. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Creating a custom post-type for
a small amount of content is like
Garth Brooks playing
baseball… it’s just not
necessary (but at least he tried,
so props to him for that). As an
alternative, use plugins if you
want something special.

9. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
WHY USE THE WORDPRESS EDITOR?
Some developers are cringe over
use of the WordPress editor, but it
has the functionality you are
looking for and WordPress
provides it for you to use. So don’t
reinvent the wheel. Embrace the
power.

10. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
GREAT EXAMPLES OF THE EDITOR’S POWER
Here are some examples of embracing the power of the
editor from other developers, including myself.
▸ Jared Atchison - http://www.jaredatchison.com/services/
▸ Nathan Swartz - https://clicknathan.com/design/
▸ Kyle Laverty (that’s me!) - http://lavertycreative.com/work/

11. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
BEHOLD THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
The keys to make it happen are already built in…
‣ Alignments (alignleft, alignright)
‣ Headings
‣ Line breaks

12. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
FINAL THOUGHTS ON CUSTOM POST-TYPES
Custom post-types are great!
But don’t overdo it. If you don’t
have the need to create a
custom section for it, or the
content to create a bunch of
custom posts… just keep it
simple and embrace the
power.

13. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
Don’t underestimate what the editor is capable of
accomplishing. It has built-in functionality for you to use to
your advantage. You’d be surprised what you can accomplish
with some alignleft’s and alignright’s.

14. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
RECAP
▸ Custom post type overuse
▸ Still a good idea
▸ Don’t reinvent the wheel
▸ Keep it simple
▸ Embrace the power

15. THE POWER OF THE WORDPRESS EDITOR
THANK YOU!

16. QUESTIONS
?