Hackadelic Series
The lightest WordPress Series Manager ever
- Only 18 kilobytes in code size.
- No extra database tables.
- No extra gimmick.
- Just serial writing.
Features
- Resource-friendly. Avoids additional database clutter by utilizing custom fields.
- Editor-UI-agnostic. Avoids clutter of post editor UI by exploiting the existing custom field UI.
- Compatible with “Serial Posts” plug-in. Can be used as its complement.
- Lightweight. Only about 14 KBytes in size. (Compare that with about 90+ KByte of In-Series, or 190+ KByte of “Organize Series”)
- Builds on the popular Sliding Notes plug-in, hence re-using any existing Sliding Notes CSS styling
- Works out of the box (if Sliding Notes is installed)
- Ah, and did I mention it does not add extra database tables
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Main Features
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News |
Installation
First, download the plug-in archive at wordpress.org. To install, simply unpack the archive into wp-plugins. This will give you two plug-ins: Hackadelic Series Admin and Hackadelic Series Front-End. The first implements the series administration (the so-called “back-end”), the latter represents the front-end, which automatically inserts a post series index in posts that are part of a series. (The reason why these are separate plug-ins is described in the plug-in announcement.)
CAVEAT: The Hackadelic Series front-end uses Sliding Notes to provide an ajax-style expandable series index. It therefore requires Sliding Notes to be installed (otherwise you’ll see the raw shortcodes only).
Configuration
Settings
There are settings to adjust the text in the automaticfally inserted series indexes. These are mostly meant for adapting the front-end to languages other than English (but can be used to simply change the text to whatever you like, of course).
Visual Styling
The front-end (i.e. the series post index) can be styled using two CSS clauses. Here’s a sample CSS, which you can add to your stylesheet and customize to your liking:
div.hackadelic-series-info {
margin: 0 1em 1em 1em;
}
div.hackadelic-series-info.on-frontpage {
margin: -1em 1em 1em 1em;
}
Usage
To make a post a member of a series, simply add a custom field with the key “series” (or whatever you configured in the series administration), and enter the name of the series as the custom field value. If the front-end plug-in is installed, you get fancy but unobtrusive series post indexes in your posts for free. (See an example.)
Usage with “Serial Posts”
If you are using “Serial Posts“, you’ll need to change the “Meta Key” to “Serial” in the “Series Administration”. You can do this at anytime without “loosing” your series. (So you don’t need to do it until you actually install “Serial Post”.)
Series Administration
The series administration panel is found in the “Tools” menu (in WP2.7, in WP2.6 it is in the “Manage” menu).
It is primarily intended to rename individual series, but you can also view, and quick-jump to member posts of a series. You can also change the custom field key to use for series association.
Care must be taken though when renaming to an existing meta-key. Later renames would change all keys, including those that were not associated with a series.
A more thorough description, including a screen shot, is in the plug-in announcement.
Future versions will include a feature to mass-assign posts to series.
Further Reading
The plug-in announcement contains lots of useful information about and around the plug-in. So don’t miss it.
Conclusion
This is the third in my series of plug-ins, all of which focus on supporting bloggers in provide their readers with a rich reading experience, while otherwise staying out of the their way. I hope you’ll find this one an equally useful and a visually attractive addition to your blogging toolbox.
Cheers and happy serial writing!
If you use this plug-in, please consider making a donation to support the further development. Donate whatever you feel appropriate. Any amount is appreciated.
Thank you.
