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In general, taxonomies are used to arrange, classify and group things. By default, Taxonomies in WordPress are tags and categories that WordPress is using for the posts. Apart from these two, WordPress makes it possible for theme developers to create their own taxonomies which are created within the functions.php theme file. This is what we are going to cover today. We will learn how to work with Custom WordPress taxonomies.
Recently, I’ve started working on my portfolio WordPress theme, and I needed to define different information for each project/template, like price, colors, style, etc. For this thing, I needed to create three more taxonomies which are looking like this:
This is as simple as it is to look at the picture above. All you have to do is to copy the code below, in your functions.php. If your theme doesn’t have one, which I don’t think it hasn’t already one, just create the file yourself. Now, this is the code you have to write for each taxonomy you are creating:
<?php
register_taxonomy('test', 'post', array(
'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => 'test',
'query_var' => true, 'rewrite' => true));
?>
Just replace “test” with the name of the taxonomy you wish to create. That’s how you create custom taxonomies. The’ll just appear in the Dashboard below the Post Tags.
We have created them, but as well as tags and categories, you need some code if you want to output them in your article. That’s a little code snippet that goes into your WordPress loop, just like the post tags and categories:
<?php echo get_the_term_list($post->ID, 'people', 'People: ', ', ', ''); ?>
Below are some examples of what we were talking about in this tutorial:
I hope you have understood what taxonomies are. I’m sure you have heard about them before, but never wondered what they are, but what about using them for creating a nice t-shirt store?
Now that you have learned how to use custom taxonomies, we will use them for creating a T-shirt store. This won’t be a fully functional one, we will just build up the part that is using custom taxonomies.
First of all we need a theme. We will use the new WordPress 3.0 default theme, called Twenty Ten. In order to get this theme and have it properly working, you need to download WordPredd 3.0 RC2. To get this version, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and the last one should be WP 3.0 RC2. Do not be worried working with WP 3.0, it has the same template tags.
Next, you will need a local server, so the best way to create it, is using WAMP, or just build up your own environment following this previous tutorial on 1stWebDesigner.
Now that you have your local server up and running, just install WordPress.
Now we need to create our custom taxonomies. First of all, think about what custom taxonomies you will need. For a T-shirt store we need to provide:
So, just open up the Twenty Ten functions.php file and create those custom taxonomies. I suggest to write the code at the end of the file for avoiding to break the default functions that the theme has. You can see the code that you will need and as It is, without any PHP tags:
// Custom taxonomy for Size
register_taxonomy('Size', 'post', array(
'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => 'Size',
'query_var' => true, 'rewrite' => true));
// Custom taxonomy for Price
register_taxonomy('Price', 'post', array(
'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => 'Price',
'query_var' => true, 'rewrite' => true));
// Custom taxonomy for Brand
register_taxonomy('Brand', 'post', array(
'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => 'Brand',
'query_var' => true, 'rewrite' => true));
After creating the custom taxonomies, we need to modify the loop too. So this will be a little difficult, because you need to take care to not break any of the theme’s code. Don’t worry, I’ll guide you through this.
Modifying the loop. Open up the index.php file from the 2010 theme. After you have opened it, you will see a tag that is calling the loop.php file:
<?php /* Run the loop to output the posts. * If you want to overload this in a child theme then include a file * called loop-index.php and that will be used instead. */ get_template_part( 'loop', 'index' ); ?>
We will need to completely delete this, and create a our own loop. So, instead loop tag, copy and paste this following code:
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?> <div id="post-<?<span class="> <pre><?php the_ID(); ?>" ></pre> </div> <h1><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"></a> <div> <!--Insert custom field and custom taxonomies code here--> <pre><?php wp_link_pages( array( 'before' => '</pre> <div>' . __( 'Pages:', 'twentyten' ), 'after' => '</div> ' ) ); ?> </div><!-- .entry-content --> </div> <pre><?php endwhile; else: ?></pre> <div id="post-<?<span class="> <pre><?php the_ID(); ?>" ></pre> </div> <h1 class="entry-title">Nothing here...</h1> <div class="entry-content"> Sorry, no T-shirts avaiable for sale. Try coming back later. </div><!-- .entry-content --> </div> <?php endif; ?>
This is the loop that we will use. The ID and class are some theme specific styles. You have to notice that I have removed the meta data. Now, we will need to add the codes that will retrieve our custom taxonomies and we will need to make use of custom fields too, to retrieve t-shirt thumbnail. Add them exactly where you see the HTML comment in the above code. Now, here’s the code that we need:
<img src="ID, 'post-icon', true); ?>" alt="Icon for Post #" /> <ul> <li><?php echo get_the_term_list($post->ID, 'Size', 'Size: ', ', ', ''); ?></li> <li><?php echo get_the_term_list($post->ID, 'Price', 'Price: ', ', ', ''); ?></li> <li><?php echo get_the_term_list($post->ID, 'Brand', 'Brand: ', ', ', ''); ?></li> </ul> <?php the_content(); ?>
Notice that the custom field name is “thumb”. For using this custom field you need to create a new one with the name thumb, and the value of it is the link to your thumb. Now that we have everything set, what about trying to publish a sample post. Take a look at mine:
So, you have learned how to use custom taxonomies, and you have created a little T-shirt store. Well, not a fully functional one, but it’s a good start :)
If you have any questions regarding this tutorial please do not hesitate to ask via comments. I’ll try to solve all your problems. Thank you!
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Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 21:28
I want to set up a structure like this:
Zip Code —–> Supplier ——-> date/comment
——–> date/comment
——–> date comment
Supplier ——-> date/comment
——–> date/comment
——–> date comment
zip code ——> supplier —–> date/comment
—–> date coment
so it is many zip codes – many suppliers within zip code – many comments within suppliers by date
Searchable by zip code
I have been told I can use a custom taxonomy for zip code
can I group suppliers within zip code, than comments with supplier using this method (I’m a bit confused/daunted but I don’t want to start PHPing/SQLing as I’m on a deadline)
Thanks
Saturday, January 21st, 2012 11:28
Thank you so much. Beautifully explained, this is exactly what solved my issue. I wish you all the best:)
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 15:24
Brilliant! Thanks for the tutorial!
Monday, December 26th, 2011 14:16
Great article is there a tutorial similar that would explain how to do this with twenty eleven, as the way the loop is set up is completely different. Thanks Mark
Friday, November 18th, 2011 17:53
Thanks for this. I was about to hack my way through this and would have wound up with something really ugly, and much harder.
Thursday, October 13th, 2011 14:02
It’s great post and I useful from some new info about custom taxonomies But I search about how can I display the post by taxonomy term as like display post by category .. have anyone info or tutorial about this ?
thank you
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 07:32
Hey Cosmin Negoita it is great to see your post on wordpress, i was just planning to create a T-shirt store now i can use this script well..
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011 09:19
hej. nice tutorial, but i dont understand the last step.
where is the exact position and in wich file i have to place the last code snippet?
thanks in advance
Thursday, May 5th, 2011 20:35
Hi,
Thanks for the tutorial. It is helpful.
Now I need additional two things for my special case. Using a hierarchal custom taxonomy associated with a custom post type, I need:
(1) To change the admin meta-box to a drop-down menu to make sure the post has only one term associated. The drop-down menu should show just the latest children terms, so let us say, for example, I have those terms:
Zone X
–> Package X (Zone X’s child)
—-> District X (District X’s child)
Zone Y
–> Package Y (Zone Y’s child)
—-> District Y (District Y’s child)
I want the drop-down to show only the latest children: District X and District Y.
(2) To automatically select all parents of a selected child term when saving the post. So, let us say the user chose District Y in my previous example, then both Package Y and Zone Y should be selected as well, behind the scenes.
Could you help me with that please, or point me out to any helpful reference?
Thanks in advanced,
Monday, April 4th, 2011 13:23
I am using Twenty ten as a base for mye theme. Is there any way to change the taxonemy already included. I am thinking like instead of showing the word
post in all places in the blog, could you replace post with blogarticle instead.
So the theme would show blogarticle by xxxx instead of post by xxx
Friday, March 4th, 2011 01:45
Not really sure that custom taxonomies is what you want to be using for things like Price etc. You’re better off creating a custom post type for Product and then setting up meta for that. Unless you have a very fixed list of prices (eg: every item is either $10, $35 or $100).
Take a look at the WordPress Codex entry, that covers this topic exactly: http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Types#Custom_Types
Or this awesome tutorial that actually does exactly what you’re talking about:
http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/wordpress/rock-solid-wordpress-3-0-themes-using-custom-post-types/
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Mark Jaquith
Friday, June 18th, 2010 00:49
Hey, thanks for the post. Could you use the real WordPress logo? Versions are available here. We’re trying to stop the spread of the ugly fake version. :-)
Saad Bassi
Friday, June 18th, 2010 09:22
Hey Mark, sorry for the wrong logo. I know about that. Will try to keep a strict eye on it from now on.:) Thanks for stopping by.:)
Mary
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 12:22
Chris Coyer covered this in his “Digging into WordPress” e-book. Very nice to see it in WP 3.0. Will be very helpful for many people. A very good tutorial, congrats!
Jordan Walker
Monday, June 21st, 2010 15:07
Informative article, thanks!
John
Monday, June 28th, 2010 06:03
I’m trying to create a discography which will have the albums with a short description on the main page. Then when the user clicks on the album cover, it leads them to that album’s page with all the info in a table with “song title”, “lyrics”, “play icon” which will be a link to iTunes, “price”, and a “buy” button which will also take them to iTunes. I want the lyrics links to maybe pop up in a small window. Would using the taxonomy method be good for this purpose?
Saad Bassi
Monday, June 28th, 2010 07:57
Yeah. You can check out http://popcritics.com to get an idea
TomL
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 22:35
Nice tutorial.
However, if I was to click on “Reebok” (in your example) – how do I create a page that lists all the “Reebok” tagged custom posts?
I’ve tried various custom taxonomy tutorials, but none go this extra step to show the taxonomy archive page.
Thanks again for your tutorial, it is very helpful.
Wade
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 21:24
I have the exact same questions. Anyone? Bueler?
(Nice tut, by the way.)
Dan
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 03:50
Try refreshing your permalink settings
Arash
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 20:00
Thank you for sharing this tutorial. I just don’t fully get your example.
What if I want to select a size, brand and a price range?
Chris
Monday, June 21st, 2010 19:23
Great tutorial. Still a little beyond where I am in wordpress, but it was very informative.
Dan
Saturday, June 19th, 2010 00:21
I prefer for custom fields rather than sighted in this tut. Well its a nice tut which will clearly helps you out in adding taxomies.
Wordpress 3.0 has lots features and will be working on to check out as many features as i can
Cairns Logo
Friday, June 18th, 2010 23:04
I guess you could use this instead of using the custom fields.
Milos Milikic
Friday, June 18th, 2010 09:26
WP 3.0 finally out :)
Nice tutorial. Thanks!
FL
Friday, June 18th, 2010 12:01
Hey you’re right! WP3.0 is out! yesssss!
Jami Gibbs
Friday, June 18th, 2010 07:50
What’s the difference between using a custom taxonomy and custom fields? Aren’t they both considered meta data?
Cosmin Negoita
Friday, June 18th, 2010 09:26
Saad is right. I find custom fields more interesting because you can do a lot of things using them, but custom taxonomies are more useful for categorizing posts.
Randy Dokuchie
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 17:29
Hi Cosmin
I am a internet startup guy and sometimes I need people to help me with some coding and stuff, I am the thinker with no coding experience , I buy the templates and modify them, I need to modify a job theme I have can you take a look at it and see if you can help me…..
Saad Bassi
Friday, June 18th, 2010 09:21
Jami, custom taxonomies are a lot easier to manage than custom fields.