WordPressPost Formats

What, When, How

kristarella.com

What are Post Formats?

• Post Formats are a new(ish) method of designating content types in posts

• Image

• Gallery

• Status

• Aside

• Link

• etc

codex.wordpress.org/Post_Formats

When to use Formats?

• The best time to use post formats is when both:

a. your theme supports them

b. you intend to share useful content in smaller (more manageable?) chunks, rather than always using long-form

How can you use them?

1. Find a theme that supports Post Formats well, or modify your theme to support them.

2. Assign formats to your posts.

Step 2 is easy!

Choose the format that matches your post

(as you would any categories or tags)

Step 1 is slightly harder

• Trial & error

• Test themes to see how they display different post formats (and if they display them differently at all)

• OR Build your own child theme to display post formats how you want to

NB Theme Unit Test is useful either way

Theme testingJust because a theme says it supports

post formats doesn’t mean it does anything with them!

The following themes, except Genesis, are all freely available

from the WordPress theme respository

Twenty Thirteen

Different colours Icons & borders Colours & meta

Icon & formatting Featured image ↑ title Featured image hidden

No page templates!

Esquire

No gallery title Epic image border Big link title

Bright quote No featured images Not responsive

Hum

Format labels 1 gallery image + number Quote typography

Simple link Image display Not all formats labelled

Pachyderm

Cute format icons... in a range of colours... for all tested formats!

Cute featured images(not on single posts) Attention to detail Clever sidebar

Path

No title for short formats Title links to Link Smooth quotes

Gallery “excerpt” Status avatar Nicely responsive

Preference Lite

Gallery with feature Subtle Aside label Duplicate images?!

Link is okay Status: avatar, butprominent titleQuote is nice, but out of flow

Expound•Not much different for post formats ✘

•Asides don’t show title is the only change•Nice featured image thumbnail display•Responsive ✔

Genesis•Post Format icons hook ✔•No default featured image display•No default post format display variations

Living Journal•No titles for image & quote formats•Featured image thumbnails, not on singles•No featured image for image format ✔

Matala•Featured image thumbnails show for image formats too ✘•Cool post format icons next to title ✔•Not resposive

Montezuma•Nothing different for post formats•but simple enough design to suit formats•Nice featured images, not on singles

Vertigo•Nifty audio & video format styles

•Cassette tape & video projector rolling! ✔•Link formats break PHP ✘

Else, make a child theme

• codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes

• Content templates

• Understanding get_template_part

• Create required template parts: content-{post format name}.php

• Add needed CSS styles

• Framework hooks & actions