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.
How to add TinyMCE editor to author panel. Right now there is no way to add any links in the articles, that can be followed by SE bots. Who will post articles to such directory, if authors can’t do some SEO link building.
Ok, I will try to add it in next version of the plugin.
I’ll be waiting for that. Hope this will not take long :)
I agree. People publish articles for link building, is there a way to allow the authors to acess admin page to publish their articles like the other versions?
No. Will be added in next version.
ok let me see if i can clarify this
or you can just go to my site and see it for yourself
http://website-popularity.info/blog/?page_id=169
when you are not logged in , there is NOTHING there
i am looking for a registration link or something but it is completely blank
i am using one of the simplest themes that you can use and i do believe that i submitted everything properly. so please advise how i can resolve this issue.
i changed the code from pending to publish, does this mean that i wont have to moderate? i am likely to have 100s of articles coming in daily. i won’t have the time to moderate them all
Firstly you need to allow the registration in general setting in admin panel.
Secondly you need to put on your site the registration link and authorization form. You can get the code from the sidebar.php file of Article Directory Theme.
Yes.
uh… you think you might have includede that bit of info in the INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS??? would you like to help me fix my broken blog now. in trying to figure out the solution my blog ended up not rendering ANY links properly they ALL show as code now! VERY unappreciated failure to provide vital info on your part!
EMAIL ME!
Will be added.
Sorry, I’m not interested.
lol
How do I know which theme will work with article directory?
For example will this work http://tvito.com/?preview=1&template=BrownMagic&stylesheet=BrownMagic&TB_iframe=true
Plugin must work with any theme.
I setup the plugin and the theme as the directions said on the website. People can signup and submit articles but the front of my site show the main categories and it just says No categories under each main one. I have reset the settings to the default settings and I still cant seem to get anything to show up. I have an article listed under Real Estate and Finance says there is one article but it doesnt show the sub-categories.
Sorry, I don’t know what is the reason of that.
this is a fantastic plugin! i do agree with Juri Hass, the ability to add links or pictures to articles would be great.
Hi Dimox! Thanks for this wonderful plugin. I made an Spanish translation. If you want I can donate it.
How can I use custom taxonomy for directory instead of categories for posts? Is there an easy way to do it?
Sorry, I don’t know.
I am having problem with category lists. They are not coming as equal.First colum is shorter than the other two, how can I fix this please?
You can only try to change the option “Sort direction of parent categories”.
just fyi
i got it working after all.
nice script
please ensure people have all the basic info they need to do the installation.
Nice script and works well have been using it since its original release.
In the new update i am unable to get the script to work with the customised author panel like i need to make the submitted articles published immediately, but that is not working at my end, or is there a plugin for that particular function.
I have tested and this works for me.
Hey Dimox,
How can we “Nofollow” the navigation links at the top? I’ve tried plugins, tried doing it manually, and nothing’s worked so far.
These are in my top nav
* About
* Advertise
* Author Panel
* Contact
* Privacy Policy
Any ideas?
I know only these methods.
Thanks so much Dimox. Now the plugin is perfect and ready to run in my web directory o/
Close to perfect. Need the ability to let users view/change/delete existing posts. Right now (unless I’m mistaken) they can only submit, but cannot change their articles they’ve submitted.
These functions will not be added in author panel.
May I ask why? These are considered essential functions of any article directory. They’re the basics. One instance I can see needing the ability to edit submissions is if they messed something up and need to make a change.
Because I have not enough experience of PHP to do such a functional.
Then maybe I need to help you. I’ve been developing professionally for 10+ years. I’m somewhat busy with a large project this month but I may be able to help out over the next 60-90 days :)
Will,
What will you charge to add this functionality to my website?
So, is this a new version of the article directory theme? I like it.
I have a LARGE directory. Recently there have been numerous issues. For instance, all of a sudden the “front page” is not working. The only part that loads is the introductory paragraph, and then nothing else. I suppose it could be a plugin or perhaps a script error, but I’m not sure about the best way to get it debugged. Suggestions?
I don’t understand a reason of that.
When I look at the view-source option and compare it to the index.php file, it appears that the page stops rendering at the point where the article_directory function starts. So, I just commented out that function like this:
//if (function_exists(‘article_directory’)) article_directory();
Now the theme looks right. Exactly what does that function do – and why does everything look normal when it is commented out? Is there something else I can do to debug this issue?
Which version of WordPress and which version of the plugin you are using?
WP 3.0.1. AD 1.1
I have 6 article directories set up, all identical. They all “share” the same theme and plugin version. This one is the only one that does this.
I did a little debugging. If I add a var_dump($cal_tree); at about 190 I get a good dump. However, if I put a var_dump or echo right before $_tree = array(); at about 193, I get nothing. I’m not sure how to debug further…
Any ideas about this?
can you help me ?
I get this error page :
Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/path..of my domain…./themes/article-directory/author-panel.php:1) in /home/mydomain/public_html/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 890
any idea ?
I get this when any user publish a new article.
I then see the article in the admin panel to moderate it
but for the author is a bit disturbing !
Thanks to help !
Bernard
Reupload this file – /themes/article-directory/author-panel.php – on the server.
Not the solution, unfortunately.
I have seen a part in your script author-panel.php where MAYBE there is MY problem.
It seems that BECAUSE I have created new roles (to manage some authors) that I have created a conflict between the plugin managing the new roles and yours.
But even if I deactivate “WP Limit Posts” (the plugin I used) and delete, the roles are still in the DB and even I put back users to simple Contributors, the trouble is still there.
I went to PHPMyadmin and deleted in the DB all the new roles this Post Limits created.
Still the problem when a simple contributor create an article. I don’t get any message that the post is under revision…
How do you manage new roles (i need to have free and paid authors).
Any plugin suggestion ?
Any idea to fix the conflict ?
Thanks a lot.
Bernard
I just selected the “Author” as default role for new users. Don’t know a plugins.
Have no ideas.
Hi. I am about to install wordpress and your (fabulous) plugin on my domain name.
I was just wondering how can i populate my article directory quickly?
Do you have a big pool of articles i can link into immediately?
I do not want it looking empty from the begining as this will discourage people wanting to submit to the site.
Your ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I would like to populate my directory asap.
Sincerely
Angelo
Sorry, I’m not a specialist in this.
Can i ask how you populated http://articlesss.com ?
Through the Article Directory Plugin and Theme.
Dimox,
Hope you would find these sites useful for users of your plugin and theme;
1) The Unique Article Wizard
2) iSnare
You should join their Affiliate Programs and add these resources to your FAQ for your financial benefit.
Tnx,
Lourens
Just what i was looking for perfect!!!!!!!! Awesome ….
Many Thanks
Hello,
i wonder how to , when i make acc on artcle directory site and go login its open an error page. In that page i got two options login to wp-admin(but this is impossible because new user is autor, not admin.) and log out . So how to change those options(where to change code) or redirect to main page ? I hope u understand my problem, ty. Marin
Give me a link where is the problem.
heres link vrtic go register and after reg u will see, i wrote everything in post before, ty
When someone register, is have to be by default that when i get login, show error page, and said i dont have permission to login in that page ? mybe i forgot something when i was installing…pls help me, ty
All users with role below the Editor will see such a page. Editors and Admins have full access to admin area. This is the feature of the plugin.
For preventing this you can change the plugin’s option “Interface for authors”.
Please tell me what is wrong with my site? http://www.tvito.com
I have installed both plugin and theme.
Don’t know. Try to re-upload theme.
Phew. It took me a bit of reading and learning but I am ready to go except for one thing. I have the Submit a Store page set up for the author panel but don’t understand exactly what to put in the ID of author panel page. What should I enter there? What should that look like?
Sorry. Looks like I have one more question. I activated membership in Step 3 and changed to Contributor in Step 4. In Step 5, I added the code to a sidebar widget that says “Sign up to Submit a Store.” Nothing shows up. Do I need to at the code directly to the sidebar.php file instead? If so, where in the file?
Yes.
In desired place for you.
How can i submit articles to http://articlesss.com ???????????????
Not possible at the moment. Sometime later.