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Plugin Description
The catWalker plugin lets you do more with WordPress categories. The plugin has these main uses.
- Generate a customizable list of categories within the contents of a page or post
- Create a configurable widget that will make it easy for visitors to find posts or pages at the intersection of two categories
- Generate a list of cross-categorizations on a page or post
- List the posts or pages from a given category on a page or post
- Automatically list at the bottom of each post the categories which have been assigned to that post
- Automatically list at the bottom of each post other posts in the same category
- Customize the ordering preferences and number of posts on category archive pages
In addition, users can opt to use a hierarchical custom taxonomy (called “Attributes”) that applies to Pages as well as Posts. If you use the Attributes taxonomy, most of the above options can be used on pages as well as posts.
List categories
To generate a list of your site’s categories add the following shortcode (in square brackets) to any post or page:
[categories]
The listing is highly configurable. To show just one branch of your category structure, for instance, you can create a shortcode like this:
[categories child_of=”#”]
where the # stands for the id of the parent category.
This is only one of many attributes that you can use to customize your list. In general, you should be able to use any of the options documented at:
https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_categories
In addition, if you can set a ‘taxonomy’ for your listing. In general, your choices will be to use the built-in “Categories” taxonomy or the custom “Attributes” taxonomy that comes with this plugin.
Go to Settings > Writing to choose whether or not to use the custom “Attributes” taxonomy, and whether or not to make it the default for all CatWalker functions (shortcodes and the CrossCategorizer widget).
Cross Categorizer widget
On display pages, the Cross Categorizer widget includes two configurable dropdown lists of categories. Choose two categories, then click “Search” to view the posts or pages that belong to both.
On the admin side you can configure the widget to show different category branches in each dropdown.
As of version 1.3.1 you can also opt to list empty categories. Previously empty categories were not listed, and that is still the default behavior.
Cross Categorizer shortcode
You can add a configurable list of cross-categorizations to any post or page. Use this shortcode
[crosscat]
with any of the options documented at:
https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_categories
To show cross categorizations add an “intersector” attribute. The list of categories will then link only to posts that belong also to the intersector category. Imagine, for instance, that “10” is the id for a category called “Years” with child categories “2011,” “2010,” “2009,” etc. Let “20” be the id for a category that names a particular course. The following shortcode would list all the children of Years, and the linked names would point only to posts or pages that had been categorized as belonging to the course in a give year.
[crosscat child_of=”10″ intersector=”20″]
The listing will show the number of results for each cross categorization, and links that do not find any results are semi-transparent.
List category posts
User the shortcode:
[category-posts]
to list on a page or post all the posts or pages belonging to a particular category (or other taxonomy term).
Custom “Attributes” Taxonomy
The hierarchical custom taxonomy “Attributes” applies to Pages as well as Posts. Activated it in the “Catwalker Options” section on the “Settings > Writing” page, where you can also opt to make “Attributes” the default taxonomy for CatWalker functions.
Post Attributes Listing
If you are using the custom Attributes taxonomy, you may want to include a list of Attributes assigned to a given post or page at the end of that post or page. Many themes offer similar lists of tags and categories, but because these lists are typically theme-specific, it is not possible to provide a theme-generic solution. On the other hand, you can improve your chances by setting a CSS class for the attributes listing so that it will be styled similarly to the category listing in your theme. You can set both of these options on the Settings > Writing page in the CatWalker Options settings.
Related Posts Listing
You can automatically add a list of related posts or pages to the end of every post or page by checking the appropriate box on the Settings > Writing page. You can designate specific categories or attributes to be included, you can specify categories or attributes whose child-terms will be included, or you can leave those inputs blank to list related posts for all terms. In a similar way, you can list terms for which to include no related-posts lists. The automated related-posts listing will operate only on your CatWalker default taxonomy.
Custom order and limit on Category Pages
(Currently available only for Categories and not for the custom Attributes taxonomy.) Go to the “Catwalker Options” section of the “Settings > Writing” page. Check the box to use a custom ordering and choose your preferences from the drop-down menus. You can sort by date or title, ascending or descending. You can also choose a custom number of posts to display on category archive pages.
Screenshots
A sample category list
Widget configuration
Sample widget
Sample cross-categorization list
Detail from the CatWalker Options under Settings > Writing
Sample Post Attributes listing
Sample Related Posts listing
