Recently I have shown you how you can use WordPress to create an arcade website, job board and a discussion forum. Today I will be showing you how you can create an article directory using the Article Directory Plugin from Article SSS.
How To Create An Article Directory with WordPress
The Article Directory Plugin is free and boasts a lot of great features; you really have a lot of freedom in how articles are displayed in the directory. You can decide whether you show the number of articles in both parent and child categories, whether categories with no articles are displayed, and whether the description is shown for parents and child categories.
It is also possible to change the number of columns of the directory and change the depth of subcategories to be shown.
In the settings area you can determine how the plugin is integrated with your post page. For example, you can show a warning if no categories are chosen or if 2 or more categories are chosen (which is useful if you only want the article to be listed in one category on your site).
How To Integrate Directory with WordPress?
In order to integrate the directory with your WordPress theme you need to add one line of PHP code to your template file, be it the index.php file or a new page template called article.php (or something to that effect). Additionally you need to import the categories.css file into your stylesheet (or copy the classes over).
If editing templates sounds daunting to you then do not despair as Article SSS have also released a Directory Theme for the plugin. The theme works right out of the box with the plugin.
In order to review the plugin I installed it on my test blog however I didn’t spend much time with it other than seeing how everything worked. If I was going to use this plugin for a live website I would either :
- Use the Article Directory Theme and make several cosmetic changes to make it more appealing.
- Use a more visually appealing theme but refer back to the Directory Theme for reference so that I can integrate the article directory with my theme.
Conclusion
Article SSS is another example of how versatile WordPress is. The plugin is both free and easy to customise which is why it’s proven to be so popular.
If you’ve ever thought about starting an article website I would encourage you to check Article SSS out.
Thanks for reading,
Kevin
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