When you write blog posts, you can see the author’s name, the category of the article, and the date of publication. However, quite often, bloggers need to add more fields. Fortunately, WordPress is much more than just a blogging platform. It’s a very flexible content management system and you can adjust it to your needs. For instance, you can create custom fields that will provide some additional information.
WordPress custom fields extend the functionality of your blog, allowing you to add custom metadata to your content, increasing its readability while also making it more informative. In this article, we will explain what are custom fields and how you can use them in WordPress.
What Are Custom Fields in WordPress?
Before we get into detail, let’s figure out what custom fields are. When you create a blog post in WordPress, the platform saves your information in two parts. The first part is the content itself. The second part contains various details about your post. This additional information is called metadata, and it can include text, dates, numbers, etc. Metadata includes pairs of keys and value. A key represents the name of a certain custom field, while the value is the necessary information. However, default WordPress fields may not allow you to include some types of data. In this case, you will have to create a custom field.
If you learn to create custom fields, you’ll be able to include any data you want. For example, you might include information about the weather, music that you’re listening to, additional information about the author, ratings and reviews, disclaimers about sponsored content, etc. There is a big difference between custom posts and custom fields. Custom posts are preformatted posts that have a specific purpose (e.g. reviews or product pages). You can use both custom posts and custom fields at the same time.
After adding a custom field, you can display it in any area of your theme. For example, you can place them before or after your post, as well as in the sidebar. Custom fields are simple elements but they can be very useful. For example, you can use a localization service to translate your content to different languages and include location information in a custom field.
Why You Should Use WordPress Custom Fields
Custom fields enable you to customize the content on your WordPress website, making it more appealing visually and easier to comprehend. Here are some reasons to add custom fields to your posts:
- You’ll get more control over display and placement. You can use your WordPress theme’s conditional tags and hooks to control the way your content is displayed on the website.
- Custom fields are more flexible than widgets. Widgets show the same content on all pages, while custom fields enable you to include different content on each particular page.
- Custom fields are also customizable. These are pieces of code that you add to the files of your theme. You can easily adjust your custom fields using CSS.
How to Include Custom Fields on Your Website
Using custom fields might be a tricky task if you’re doing it for the first time. The thing is that this option is hidden from the Edit Post screen by default. To turn it on, click the Screen Options button, and check the Custom Fields box. Once you’ve enabled custom fields, you will see the Custom Fields widget below the regular text editor.
You can extend your WordPress theme with custom fields to show more customized content on the front-end. First of all, keep in mind that every time you change a theme, you need to create a child theme. When the theme is ready, open the Edit Post screen and navigate to the Custom Fields widget. Enter the name and value of the new custom field and click “Add Custom Field.”
After this, open single.php file of the active theme and add the following code to the WordPress Loop:
<div class="location-info">
<p>Today's Location : <?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'location', true); ?> </p>
</div>
Save single.php, and check the preview of your post. Now you can change the value of the custom field every time you create a new blog post.
You can also hide the custom field from the front-end of your website by entering the following code in the active theme’s functions.php file:
function remove_post_custom_fields() {
remove_meta_box( 'postcustom' , 'post' , 'normal' );
}
add_action( 'admin_menu' , 'remove_post_custom_fields' );
Creating Custom Fields with Plugins
If you don’t want to work with code, you can also add custom fields by using the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. In this case, the whole process is simple and straightforward. Activate the plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard, and click “Add New.” After this, click “Add Field,” and enter the necessary information, such as the label of the new field, its name, and type. You can define the type of posts that will include the custom field. For example, you may not want to show location metadata in regular posts. In this case, you can configure your new custom field in the “Show this field group if” section.
The free version of this plugin already contains many useful features, but you can also opt for the premium version that costs $25. Keep in mind that, even though this plugin will help you create custom fields, it won’t publish them on the front-end of your site, saving them in the WordPress database. Therefore, you’ll still need to edit the theme manually to display custom fields.
Another useful plugin is Custom Field Suite. It’s a plugin that will help you manage your custom fields visually, using a simple admin user interface. It also comes with a set of 12 custom field templates. It features an API for field values and is really easy to set up.
Wrapping Up
WordPress custom fields are a simple and useful solution that helps you expand your website’s functionality by adding custom text with useful information. You can create custom fields manually or with the help of plugins. Custom fields enable you to include certain metadata when posting different types of posts, they are easy to use and completely customizable. Custom fields allow you to go beyond WordPress’ default capabilities, making your websites more unique and informative.