WordPress, Genesis and Custom Post Types

While working on a site, most of the time we required to create a custom post types (CPT) for a separate section or to manage custom fields. While writing manual codes for CPT is thrilling, the custom post types plugins are here to rescue.

I remember the days when I wanted to add a video section on my site and I was completely noob and was having no knowledge about how to it myself.

I have tried multiple codes and found that it is limited and not going to work as I was looking to add more features to that code which is also a time-consuming process for designers.

Here are some of the codes and resources which I have used in the past…

add_action( 'init', 'add_video_custom_post_type' );
function add_video_custom_post_type() {

    register_post_type( 'videos',
        array(
            'labels' => array(
                'name'          => __( 'Videos', 'genesiskit' ),
                'singular_name' => __( 'Video', 'genesiskit' ),
            ),
            'has_archive'  => true,
            'hierarchical' => true,
                        'menu_icon'    => 'dashicons-video-alt',
            'public'       => true,
            'rewrite'      => array( 'slug' => 'videos', 'with_front' => false ),
            'supports'     => array( 'title', 'editor', 'author', 'thumbnail', 'excerpt', 'custom-fields', 'comments', 'revisions', 'page-attributes' ),
            'taxonomies'   => array( 'video-type' ),
                        'menu_position' => 10,

        ));
    
}

<?php
/**
 * Create Rotator post type
 *
 * @link http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_post_type
 *
 */
function be_register_ebook_post_type() {
	$labels = array(
		'name' => 'EBooks',
		'singular_name' => 'EBook',
		'add_new' => 'Add New',
		'add_new_item' => 'Add New EBook',
		'edit_item' => 'Edit EBook',
		'new_item' => 'New EBook',
		'view_item' => 'View EBook',
		'search_items' => 'Search EBooks',
		'not_found' =>  'No ebooks found',
		'not_found_in_trash' => 'No ebooks found in trash',
		'parent_item_colon' => '',
		'menu_name' => 'EBooks'
	);
	
	$args = array(
		'labels' => $labels,
		'public' => true,
		'publicly_queryable' => true,
		'show_ui' => true, 
		'show_in_menu' => true, 
		'query_var' => true,
		'rewrite' => true,
		'capability_type' => 'post',
		'has_archive' => true, 
		'hierarchical' => false,
		'menu_position' => null,
		'supports' => array('title','thumbnail','editor')
	); 
	register_post_type( 'ebook', $args );
}
add_action( 'init', 'be_register_ebook_post_type' );

The Biggest disadvantage of using the snippet in functions.php to lose the post types when I have to switch to the theme which is I always do.

I thought to go with a plugin and while searching on Google, I have found many plugins but their reviews were not so good or were paid so I avoided them. Tried to create a simple plugin using these tutorials but the possibilities were limited.

Again, after spending some more time in this, I found a Gem called Pods Framework which is an excellent plugin and the reviews were so good that I could n’t control myself to use it.

with the time, I have explored some more great plugins which will extend your site feature at the top level.

You most of the time use the Genesis Portfolio Pro plugin or Genesis communities CPT plugin which is good for their features but I was looking for something which works out of the box and I never wanted to use multiple plugins for each custom post types.

So, I have compiled the list of Best Custom Post Types plugins you can use right now for your Next Project.

1. Pods

FREE

2. Advanced Custom fields (ACF)

free/PRO AUD $99

3. MetaBox

Free /PRO ($79 to $439)

Carbon Fields, CMB2, Custom Field Suite, and Custom Post Type UI are some of the other Great plugins.

You might miss the Toolset Types plugin in the list which is now not free. I don’t think I will be a Types toolkit user in future. I have installed it on a test site and it crashed the entire site (I don’t know why) and so I deleted it immediately. I love the above plugins and I can live without this plugin. I am not against with this plugin nor I have time to talk anything about this. It is your choice if you want to use it or not.

Here,
at GeneisKit…
I am going to test and write the tutorials on custom post types and I want to make sure that you receive the best I know and so, the most of the tutorials related to Custom post types will be covered for these plugins only, mostly Pods > ACF > others in the list.

NOTE:- There will be no tutorial for Types Toolkit plugin as I want to make sure everyone receive the best and for long terms. Please don’t expect any tutorial for this plugin. However, You can always implement them using this plugin but I wouldn’t provide any support.

It is recommended to use only the mentioned plugins according to the tutorials to get the best for that site. Please take a look at the Custom Post Types plugin Comparison before installing any CPT plugin.

Here are some of the recommended tutorials that could be useful.
https://metabox.io/custom-fields-vs-custom-taxonomies/

Thank you.

Resources:

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/11/complete-guide-custom-post-types/
https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a-guide-to-wordpress-custom-post-types-creation-display-and-meta-boxes–wp-27645
https://www.sitepoint.com/definitive-guide-to-wordpress-custom-post-types/

1. Pods

2. Advanced Custom fields (ACF)

3. MetaBox

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