Custom Post Types

• Dave Navarro, Jr.

• January 15, 2015 at 9:05 am

So any recommendations on a plugin for creating Custom Post Types? I’ve been using EasyContent Types from PippinsPlugins, but the author is no longer doing development work, just support and bug fixes.

• robbiegod

• January 16, 2015 at 5:15 am

I would recommend not using a plugin to create custom post types.

You can register custom post types by adding a function to your themes functions.php file.

Here’s an example:

// REGISTER CUSTOM POST TYPES
// You can register more, just duplicate the register_post_type code inside of the function and change the values. You are set!
if ( ! function_exists( 'create_post_type' ) ) :

function create_post_type() {
	
	// You'll want to replace the values below with your own.
	register_post_type( 'genstarter', // change the name
		array(
			'labels' => array(
				'name' => __( 'Gen Starter' ), // change the name
				'singular_name' => __( 'genstarter' ), // change the name
			),
			'public' => true,
			'supports' => array ( 'title', 'editor', 'custom-fields', 'page-attributes', 'thumbnail' ), // do you need all of these options?
			'taxonomies' => array( 'category', 'post_tag' ), // do you need categories and tags?
			'hierarchical' => true,
			'menu_icon' => get_bloginfo( 'template_directory' ) . "/images/icon.png",
			'rewrite' => array ( 'slug' => __( 'genstarters' ) ) // change the name
		)
	);

}
add_action( 'init', 'create_post_type' );

endif; // ####

• Dave Navarro, Jr.

• January 16, 2015 at 5:29 am

The same could be said for meta-boxes… Why use ACF to create meta-boxes when you can code them yourself? It’s about ease of use and productivity.

That said, I had a nice chat with Pippin and he’s open to a few selective new features, so I will probably stick with Easy Content Types.

• robbiegod

• January 16, 2015 at 6:04 am

I suppose I try to limit the number of the plugins i install on any website because if you load up your site with too many plugins it can cause the site to load slower or occasionally you may run into conflicts. I have a core set of plugins that i use alot…maybe 5 or so. ACF Pro, Reveal Template, Yoost SEO Plugin, and a couple others.

if i can avoid installing a plugin, i will. I don’t like wondering if when i update the plugin if its going to break my website.

But, since you talked to the developer of the plugin you are using and are happy with that route, that should work just fine for you. Good luck!

• Dave Navarro, Jr.

• January 16, 2015 at 6:20 am

Thanks, and I can understand the desire to keep things “lean and mean”. I’m one of those people that regularly opens up the Task Manager in windows and kills tasks I don’t think need to be running… (I started programming on a TRS-80 with 4k of RAM).

What I have found is that on a modern web server the “number” of plugins running doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as the “quality” of those plugins. A well written plugin should not impact your site’s performance very much.

For my day job, I run a news site for a local radio station. I have close to a hundred plugins installed, plus one plugin I’ve written with several hundred thousand lines of code. But page load speeds are not impacted much because I am VERY particular about the plugins I install. In many cases I modify the plugins to fix performance issues. And the site is running on a dedicated server optimized for WordPress and the web.

Unlike one of my personal sites running on general $6/month hosting with hundreds of other sites and can barely handle a dozen plugins before page load speeds are impacted.