WordPress gives us a lot of ways of classification: categories, tags, date … All of these methods are efficient, and cover most of our needs. But it apply to all posts, and don’t allow to differenciate or highlight some specific posts.
Sometime, it may be helpful to group items into folders or into series, in order to promote these posts, or simply because they belong to a logical sequence, such as tutorials with several stages, for example.

The EG-Series plugin gives a set of easy and ergonomic functions to manage series of posts. This plugin allows to include posts into series, to create, delete or rename series. It also includes widgets and shortcodes to display list of series, or the list of posts belonging to the series of the current post.

Description

EG-Series use only standard tools of WordPress, and doesn’t create additional tables or objects in WordPress. The plugin uses the custom fields, associated with each post.
The main advantages are:

  • The plugin was created in order to reduce as possible, the manual operations, and reduce the number of errors,
  • EG-Series is fully customizable: users can choose the label of shortcodes, and label of the custom field,
  • It can be installed and configured very quickly. It also allows to modify a lot of posts without editing them.

With this plugin, you can:

  • Add / Delete a post from a serie,
  • Create / Rename / Delete series,
  • Display the list of series in a post, or display this list in sidebar, with widgets for exemple,
  • Display list of posts, using an another shortcode, or an another widget,
  • Automatically insert the list of posts of a specific serie, without using shortcode

EG-Series is “TinyMCE Integrated”. That means you don’t need to learn the shortcode syntax. The plugin add a button in the tinymce toolbar. You just have to click on this button, choose parameters/options, and click insert. That’s all, the shortcode will be insert into your post with the right parameters.

TinyMCE integration

TinyMCE Integration

Shortcode options

Options du shortcode

Of course, you can add shortcodes manually:

  • in a post or page, with the syntax: [ seriesposts <options>],
  • in a template using the function do_shortcode('[ seriesposts <options>]‘);.

The plugin is completely customizable: you can choose the label of shortcodes, and choose also the label of the custom fields you want to use to specify series.

Installation

The plugin can be installed with the usual method:

  1. EG-Series is available for download on WordPress ,
  2. When the file eg-series.zip is downloaded, uncompress it,
  3. Copy the resulting files in the subdirectory of plugins (usually wp-content/plugins) of your WordPress platform,
  4. Activate the plugin with the menu Extenstion in the administration interface.

With WordPress 2.7, you can also install the plugin, directly through the administration interface, by using the new features of this version.

Options page - Part 1

Options page - Part 2

Usage

The plugin adds three administration menus, two shortcodes, and two widgets.

Administration interface

The method to start to manage the series in an existing blog , can be the following:

  1. Check or change options in the menu Settings/EG-Series: especially choose label of the custom field to use,
  2. Then, use the menu Posts / EG-Series Posts to put posts into series. This page allows to modify a lot of posts very quickly, without editing each post individually,
  3. You can also use the menu Posts / EG-Series Series to modify/rename series (in case of mistake),
  4. With the menu Apparence / Widgets, you can add a widget to display the list of series in the sidebar, or display the list to posts belonging to the serie of the current post,
  5. Then, you can activate the option Auto Shortcode . This feature will add, at the end of posts, the list of posts belonging to the serie of the current post (if this post is part of a serie).

Metabox in the editor page

Bulk series editor

Edition groupée des articles

Bulk posts editor

Widgets

Two widgets are provided:

  • EG-Series List display the list of available series,
  • EG-Series Posts gives the list of posts belonging to the serie of the current displayed post. This widget doesn’t appear if the post doesn’t belong to any serie.

Ecran de configuration des widgets?

Shortcodes

The two shortcodes available, provide the same lists than widgets:

  • [ series] gives the list of series,
  • [ seriesposts] allows to display the list of posts belonging to the serie of the current post.

Options of the shortcode [ series] are the followings:

  • title, title of the list. Default value: ”,
  • titletag, HTML tag used to display the title. Default value: h2,
  • listtype, the type of the list. Possible values: ul to have a simple bulleted list, ol for a numbered list, or select for a combobox. Default value: ul
  • number, number of series you want to display. This parameter is linked with the next one. If you have a lot of series, you can limit the number of series displayed, and then show a link to a page where you display the whole list. Default value: 0 to display of all the series,
  • more, allows to show a link to a page or a post displaying the whole list of series (see previous parameter also). The parameter must be the ID of the page or post. Default value: 0 (no link),
  • listposts: displays posts of each series. Possible values: 0 or 1, False or True. Default: 0 or False,
  • post_orderby: when listposts=1, defines the sort key of posts. Possible values: title, date or user_order. Default: date,
  • post_order: when listposts=1, defines the sort order. Possible values: ASC (ascending), DESC (descending). Default value: ASC,
  • url: define if the link is attached to the first post of series, or a specific page or post. If the second option is choosen, id of pages/posts have to be filled in the “Series Bulk Editor”. Possible values: first_post, page. Default value: first_post.

Options of shortcode [ seriesposts] are the following:

  • id is the ID of one of the post of the serie you want to display. Default value: 0 or ”, the shortcode will use the current post,
  • name allows to specify the name of the serie of which you want display the posts. Default value: ” or nothing, the shortcode will be used the serie of the current post,
  • title, title of the list. Default value: ”,
  • titletag, HTML tag used to display the title. Default value: h2,
  • listtype, type of the list. Possible values: ul to display a simple bulleted list, ol for a numbered list, or select for a combobox. Default value: ul
  • orderby, specify the key used to sort posts. Possible values: post_title, post_date. Default value: post_date,
  • order, is the sort order. Possible values: ASCending, or DESCending. Default value: DESC,
  • show_date: display dates or not. Possible values: 0 or 1, False or True. Default: 1 or True,
  • expand: display excerpt of each post. Possible values: 0 or 1, False or True. Default: 0 or False.

To avoid to insert the shortcode on each post, you can use a feature named Auto Shortcode, available in the menu settings / EG-Series. This option will add, in each post, the same things than the shortcode [ eg-seriesposts]. You can choose the location of this auto-shortcode: beginning of the post, between excerpt and content, or at the end of the post).

F.A.Q

How to delete a serie?
A serie is automatically deleted when there is no more post inside. So, you can use the Posts / EG-Serie Posts, to delete the serie from all the posts.

How can I modify the style of lists?
Lists use standard HTML tags ul and ol. So, EG-Series will use the existing styles of your theme. If you want to customize the lists, the plugin provides some CSS styles:

  • For the list of series: .eg-series-series and .eg-series-series-item,
  • For the list of posts: .eg-series-posts and .eg-series-posts-item

I currently use the plugin Serial Posts, can I easily move to EG-Series?
Uninstall the plugin Serial Posts, and install the plugin EG-Series. In the menu Settings / EG-Series, modify the custom field option, by specifying Serial.

How can I move from EG-Series to Serial Posts?
Before uninstall EG-Series, modify the custom field option, in the menu Settings / EG-Series, specify Serial. Then uninstall widgets, if required, deactivate the auto shortcode option, and finally uninstall EG-Series. You can then install the plugin Serial Posts.

I use the plugin In-Series or OrganizeSeries, can I move to EG-Series?
Today, there is no gateway or import function for these plugins. This kind of feature is studied (perhaps in a next version).