As you know, WordPress is the universal platform, that may be used not only for blog creating, but also for other web-site types.
Once me and my friend have created WordPress build for the article directory, but this build have one essential shortcoming.
To display the list of categories on the main page I had to edit source files of WordPress engine. But it has deprived of possibility to use WordPress as the article directory at release of new versions, because changing of the source codes each time is not reasonable decision.
The idea of creation of universal and convenient instrument for realisation on WordPress the catalogue of articles did not leave me. As a result I have created a Article Directory plugin.
The primary task of this plugin is display on the main page (or any another) the structured list of categories, which can be easily customized with CSS. Also plugin allows authors to publish articles and change their profile bypassing the admin interface.
Demo
You can see the demo here – Articlesss.com/demo/.
Plugin features
Standard features for categories list:
- Showing an amount of articles in parent and child categories.
- Showing a category description in link title.
- Showing the empty categories.
- Using hierarchy for subcategories.
- Excluding a specified categories.
Special features for categories list:
- Simple and handy design using CSS. The structure of categories is the multilevel list, which can be altered easily with CSS, as you need. The parent category have the
<div>container to mark it out with CSS as a parent. - Parent category is showing amount of articles in subcategories. The character also include the number of articles in this parent category.
- Showing a specified amount of child categories (2nd level).
- Showing a categories in specified amount of columns.
- Hiding all subcategories.
- Adding an icons for each category in the list using CSS.
Additional features:
- Authors can add articles and change their profile bypassing the admin interface.
- Displaying the “Terms of article publication” on article submission page.
- Excluding the child categories articles from the parent categories archive pages.
- Ability to get an article source code.
Requires WordPress version: 2.9 – 3.0.4.
Download
Version: 1.3 | Last updated: 2011-01-16
Donation
If you enjoy this plugin, you can thank me and leave a small donation.
Installation
Attention: if you are using the plugin simultaneously with Article Directory WordPress Theme, miss the 5, 6, 7 and 8.1 points of installation:
- Copy the article-directory folder in WordPress plugins directory (
/wp-content/plugins/). - Activate the plugin through admin interface.
- Activate the “Membership (Anyone can register)” option on the “General Settings” page of admin area.
- On the same page select “Author” or “Contributor” in the option “New User Default Role”.
- Add the following code in the index.php file of your theme (or in another file in a place, where you want to display the categories list):
<?php if (function_exists('article_directory')) article_directory(); ?> - Add the following code in a place of your theme (for example, in sidebar.php), where you want to see the authorization form:
<?php if (function_exists('article_directory_authorization_form')) article_directory_authorization_form(); ?> - Add the following code in the header.php file before the
</head>tag:<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('wpurl'); ?>/wp-content/plugins/article-directory/author-panel.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('wpurl'); ?>/wp-content/plugins/article-directory/categories.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /> - Select a prefered interface for authors in corresponding option at the “Settings → Article Directory” page of admin area. If you have selected the “Author panel”, then follow these subpoints:
- Create in directory with your theme a new PHP file, for example author-panel.php and paste the following code in it:
<?php
/*
Template Name: Author panel
*/
if (function_exists('article_directory_author_panel')) article_directory_author_panel();
?> - Create in admin area a new page and select the template “Author panel” in page attributes. Through this page authors will add new articles and change their profile. Access in admin area for authors will be forbidden.
- Specify ID of this page in corresponding option at the “Settings → Article Directory” page of admin area.
- Create in directory with your theme a new PHP file, for example author-panel.php and paste the following code in it:
- That’s all. If it’s necessary, you may customize other options of plugin.
Customization
There are two things, that you can customize:
- If it’s necessary, you may customize the author-panel.css and categories.css files under the site design.
- Customize options on “Settings → Article Directory” page.
How to add icons for parent categories
It’s doing using CSS. You need to add the styles for icons in style.css file of your theme.
Styles should be like this:
#cat-23 {background: url(i/icon.gif) 4px 3px no-repeat}
Here the digit 23 means, what this icon will be added in the 2nd column for the 3rd parent category from the top. Accordingly, it is necessary to create as many of such styles, how many you have parent categories, and specify the corresponding number for each icon.
i/icon.gif – this is the path to an icon file, beginning from a folder with your theme.
4px – icon shift value from the left of the parent category block.
3px – icon shift value from the top of the parent category block.
The plugin also lets you to display the list with the links to categories RSS feeds. To do this you must:
- Create a new page template.
- Add the following code:
<?php $rssfeeds=true; ?>
<?php if (function_exists('article_directory')) article_directory(); ?> - Create a new page in the admin interface and select the created template in page attributes.
FAQ about Article Directory Theme and Plugin
How can I have the outside background (grey stripes) and the border like on this site? How to add a logo in the header before the site title? How can I change the width of the sidebars? How to place a banner in header? Etc.
Sorry, I can't help you with such a questions. Please read and study CSS manuals or find a freelancer that make this things for you.
I have installed your theme "Article Directory", but I don't see the "Register" link on my site.
You need to activate the "Membership (Anyone can register)" option on the "General Settings" page of admin area.
Is there a simple way to quickly add the categories (instead of adding it one by one)?
Yes. You can use the Post Corrector plugin for this.
Is there a version of Article Directory theme just for a regular blog?
Yes. You can get it here - ADSimple WordPress theme.
What should I enter in the "ID of author panel page" in the plugin options? What should that look like?
-
Go to the "Pages" in admin menu. Hover the mouse cursor on the title of the author panel page you have created. Now look at the status bar of your browser. You'll see something like this:
The number after
post=is the ID of author panel page. Is there a way let users edit their posts not in WordPress admin area?
Sorry, but that's not possible.
How do I allow authors to upload images?
Unfortunately, it's impossible in the author panel. But they can upload an image on the free image hosting (for example imageshack.us) and then paste a link on it.
Can you share or sell theme like on your site articless.com?
No, this theme is not for share or sale.
Version history
Version 1.3 (2011-01-16)
- The author logged in through the wp-login.php page now automatically redirected to the author panel.
- Added the option “Show text editor”.
- Fixed the problem, when the visual editor was not appeared.
Version 1.2 (2010-10-16)
- Fixed the problem, when articles gets the “scheduled” status instead of “published”.
- Fixed a bug with the mb_strlen function.
- Fixed errors, which appeared when “WordPress address” and “Blog address” differed.
- Added new option “Default text editor” (HTML or visual).
Version 1.1 (2010-09-12)
- Updated instructions for installing the plugin.
- Added ability to select interface for authors: “WordPress admin area” or “Author panel”.
- Added ability to automatically publish articles submitted by authors or send them on moderation.
- Added the TinyMCE editor and HTML editor into the author panel.
- Added styles for editors in the author-panel.css file.
- Added function for the authorization form (see instructions for installing the plugin).
Version 1.0 (2010-09-06)
- This version of the plugin is developed for WordPress 2.9 and higher.
- Updated instructions for installing the plugin.
- Radically altered the system of settings saving, this reduced the size of the plugin.
- The possibility of authors to add articles and change their profile, bypass the WordPress admin area (see instructions for installing the plugin).
- For the logged user, whose role is below the “Editor”, access to WordPress admin area is denied.
- You can specify the minimum number of characters allowed to add an article.
- You can specify the maximum number of links in the article.
- Role Manager plugin (or similar) is no longer needed to work with the plugin.
Version 0.9.9 (09.27.09)
- Fixed bug: subcategories disappeared if selected option “Sort categories list by your choice”.
Version 0.9.8 (06.22.09)
- Added option “Forbid publication in parent categories?”.
Version 0.9.7 (03.07.09)
- Improved block of article source code.
Version 0.9.6 (01.25.09)
- Added new feature: ability to get source code of article.
Version 0.9.5 (01.04.09)
- Now it’s possible to sort a list of categories by your choice. This will require the My Category Order plugin.
- Plugin now works on WordPress 2.3 or higher (versions 2.1 and 2.2 are excluded).
- Removed feature on redirects your on home page when clicking on the link “Exit” because this feature is built into WordPress 2.7.
Version 0.9.4 (11.29.08)
- Changed the method of reading WordPress version. Therefore, the plugin now works correctly even if you use it simultaneously with third-party plugins replacing WordPress version.
Version 0.9.3 (10.05.08)
- Fixed data base error: SELECT SUM(count) FROM wp_term_taxonomy WHERE taxonomy = 'category' AND parent =
- Added French localization. Thanks to Le blogueur masqué.
Version 0.9.2 (08.19.08)
- Changes related to hiding unnecessary blocks from the authors.
Version 0.9.1 (07.25.08)
- Fixed the bug, when articles with the statuses “Draft” and “Pending Review” were available to view.
Version 0.9 (07.19.08)
- If not all subcategories is displayed according to options, the symbol “…” will be added after the list of subcategories.
- Ability to add icons for parent categories. To do this, read the instructions above in the article.
- Removed restrictions of functions in the administrative interface created by plugin for users up to the editor level.
- The error, when at entering on a comments page in administrative interface the message “Restricted area” was deduced to all users, regardless of status, is corrected.
- The message about the necessity to update WordPress is hidden from the authors.
- By pressing the “Logout” link the user is redirecting to the home page of the site.
Version 0.8.1 (06.28.08)
- Now it is possible to insert the “Terms of article publication” before the article edit form on “Write/Edit Post” page (terms are not shown for the administrator).
- Since not yet found a way to show for author on “Comments” page only his comments, access to this page is closed for him.
- The footer of admin interface is hidden from author as not the necessary element.
- In the top block of Dashboard is hidden some site statistic info from the author. If you also want to delete all the widgets from the Dashboard, I recommend you to use Dashboard Widget Manager plugin.
Version 0.8 beta (06.13.08)
- All the options transferred to the admin interface.
- Possibility of translation of a plugin on other languages.
- Functions of following plugins are integrated:
Therefore, if you are using any of this plugins, they must be removed.
- On “Manage Posts” page the author sees now only own articles.
- On “Manage Comments” page the author does not see now such data, as e-mail and the IP-address of commentators.
Version 0.7 (05.22.08)
- Added ability to display the specified amount of child categories (2nd level).
Version 0.6 (04.22.08)
- Fixed incorrect counting the number of articles in parent categories in case they contain subchild categories.
Version 0.5 (04.11.08)
- Added ability to output the additional list with links to categories RSS-feeds.
- Made some changes in categories.css file for this page.
Version 0.4 (02.29.08)
- Added ability to disable the output of subcategories.
- Now it is possible of exception of selected categories/subcategories.
Version 0.3 (01.23.08)
- Added ability to disable the “No categories” output messages, if the category does not contain subcategories.
Version 0.2 (01.19.08)
- Added automatic sorting of parent categories.
- There is a possibility to display the list of categories by columns.
- Updated categories.css file.
Version 0.1 (01.07.08)
- First release.
Registration form is included in my Article Directory theme. You can take it from there.
I don’t give such a service.
Hi, Dimox: I downloaded your plugin today for my site. I’m stuck on step 2, what do you mean by “Copy the categories.css file in directory with your theme.” I added the plugin to my directory. However, what am I copying? By the way, your plugin looks awesome on your site! you are really talented. Thanks!
@SleepDeprivedMom –
article-directoryfolder contains thecategories.cssfile. You need to copy it in your theme folder.Hi, Dimox
i think this is tplugin that i want, did your plugin include user to registrate so the visitor can sumbit their article. if i check yours there is only authorization link that only include username and password. how can my visitor registrate their self so they can submit article?
thanks a lot Dimox
Dear Dimox,
my website that using your theme is http://www.gudangnyaartikel.co.cc, and i found this site http://articlesupport.com/ that used your theme too, but the different is why my site do not show “register” link in the bottom of the authorization coloumn ? how can i do that?
dear Dimox,
I can fix my problem now. and I can show the register option in authorization. But my problem now is how you take image beside the blog title like yours?
thanks
Can this plugin be used on a WPMU site? It may not be necessary but I figured I’d ask.
@Marvin, I don’t know, have not tested.
I installed your plug-in. It seems like just what I need, however, as soon as it installed my admin page went blank. I had to go into the database and manually deactivate the plug in in the table. It is a repeatable issue. I am running wp v2.7.1
Where should I report this?
Dimox
I am experiencing problems with the installation to get the site to work properly. People can publish their articles but when the links are clicked on the article doesn’t appear. What am I doing wrong? Also, how to I set up category RSS.
Is this a theme question or a plug-in question. Thanks in advance.
Keith
You might not have configured the access rights of authors.
It is not necessary to setup. By default link is like this: site.com/category/category-name/rss/
hi,
how can i get the categories listing installed ? i mean instead of adding category or subcategory one by one….
Thanks
Tim
@Tim – only by adding one by one.
dimox: ok thanks for your help and what a great wp plugin !
I’ve been meaning to post this a long time ago and never got around doing so.
There are a plug in that you could use to add categories in bulk very fast to your directory.
If you install;
Post Corrector
http://www.lordtime.com/blog/2008/03/25/post-corrector-plugin/
Allows to enable automatic category guessing. If you have many categories or you are posting remotely – greatly eases category assignments;
Allows Bulk Categories Creation – just enter Categories in Text Area and all of them will be created in a bulk.
Automatic Keyword Linking – Ideal for PPC programs – enter keywords you’d like to hyperlink in all posts and thats all.
Append and prepend certain html codes to single posts – no need to alter themes if you just want to add some Adsense codes.
Add it in the text box like this;
Arts & Entertainment
Arts & Entertainment/Arts
Arts & Entertainment/Games
Business
Business/Advertising
Business/Article Marketing
you would use the / to indicate the sub categories.
I have created over 400 categories in less than one second with this plug in installed on my site http://www.rambaza.co.za – you will however still have to create the category list yourself.
Just look at the available plug ins available for WordPress and you will find out the unbelievable things you can do with WordPress and your article directory plug in and theme!
This is truly a great creation by Dimox
Lourens,
thank you so much for the tip, it is still lightning faster than creating one by one :)
do you know how to import all the articles from articlesbase or other free articles directory, and how to import a list of “virtual” authors ?
and do you know where can i add the free articles website to a articles directory, so that articles can be added automatically (from clients that use article submitter software…) ?
Regards
Tim
Tim,
I do not know of any script available to do the importing of authors and articles. I wrote a script like this a few year back for the purpose of publishing articles from one site to all my other sites. Unfortunately this script seems to be lost at this point.
The good news is that there are three free article publishing sites that I know about and you could receive in excess of one hundred articles a day if you make use of these services;
1) Unique Article Wizard
The one that require the lest effort as it is a WordPress Plug-in so you can just download and install it – change the settings and wait for the articles to arrive!
http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com/plugins/wordpress/uaw_wordpress_3_0_6.zip
2) ArticleUnited
This require some effort on you part as the receiving script is provided by the site. It is easy to setup and the sign up is also quite easy.
http://www.articleunited.com/publisher.php
3) iSnare
You will have to create your own script to receive the articles or you could adapt the above mentioned script to receive the articles.
http://www.isnare.com/publisher/
Lourens,
thank you so much for the tips ! i googled much time around about a directory for articles directory websites, but didn’t find anything…
did you try the wp uniquefier yet from goscript.net ? it rewrites all the contents to get them uniques… i am waiting for the promised resutts…
i’ll test your tips and let you know ok.
Regards
Tim
Awesome plugin! Quick question; how can we get the subcategories to show further down the hierarchy? For example if you have 5 different subcategories under finance: finance>banking, when you click on finance, all 5 subcategories show up, but when you click on the subcategory “banking”, the rest of the subcategories do not show on that page.
I would like my users to have the option that if they click on banking, and realise it is not the subcategory they want, they can just go to the top of the column and pick another subcategory. Currently the way it is set up, they would either have to hit the “back” button, home link or main category link to see the other subcategories.
I hope this makes sense?
How would we do this?
I’ve set up an article directory using this plugin and suggested theme. It is easy to set up and keeps you running in a short time. I am happy with the performance of my article directory that I am planning to create another one.
I would like to know if there are other themes you can suggest that is compatible with your plugin? I would like to create a directory with a different look this time.
A million thanks for this great plugin.