With two fists full of custom page template layouts, support for all nine WordPress post formats, and custom shortcodes and widgets for some of the most popular social networks out there, Hoon is great fit for many walks of life. Utilizing hand picked Theme Options, quickly change your themes colors, hide various layout parts, and be on your merry way.

Theme Info & Demo →

In WordPress version 2.9, Custom Post Types (CPT’s) were introduced. By now, most developers know the power that CPT’s can have when creating a theme for WordPress. We should also know how bad they are to include in a theme for the masses. I’m guilty.

In my mind, one of the best features of Custom Post Types is the simple fact that they add an admin menu item with the Custom Post Type name displayed. This makes it very clear to the user as to what information is setup there as well as where to find that particular type of information. Often times themes use CPT’s for Portfolios, Videos, Testimonials, etc. As many know, or unexpectedly found out, when going to change themes, this information is more than likely “Gonzoe” (does not show). There are ways to get this back, but I will not be going into detail on how to jump through those hoops.

In WordPresss version 3.1, Custom Post Formats (CPF’s) were introduced. I believe this was in an effort to simulate what was somewhat the intended purpose of Custom Post Types, but be available in Core and usable by all themes. I love me some CPF’s and usually add support for them in most of my current work.

With Custom Post Formats, developers can now add support for one of the various supported post formats into their theme. With this feature, users can create new posts and specify what type of content it includes. For example, a post can be created where it’s primary content is a video. In this case, the post may be set to use the “Video” post format. In most cases this eliminates the need to create a CPT for Video. The plus side in this scenario is when the user changes themes, their video post information still exists, and can be still be accessed and viewed. No hoops. No jumping.

While all this sounds grand, it certainly does not cover all cases in which a CPT may be a better solution. However, if creating a CPT, it’s should seriously be considered as to if there is a better way to integrate the same functionality with what WordPress offers.

Meat and Potatoes

Now to what this post is really about. Like I mentioned before, one of my favorite features of CPT’s is the simple fact that it adds a menu item to the WordPress admin. This happens to be my biggest gripe with CPF’s… I’ll explain.

After I’ve created a theme, for the masses or a client, I typically need to explain, in documentation or verbally, how the theme works. I found when doing so, users often get confused when trying to explain how to create a “Video” post using CPF’s and it’s difference from a regular post. They are all the same thing right.. or are they? This does not hold true when explaing the use of CPT’s.

It should be noted, that when viewing all Posts in the admin, each CPF has a label next to it showing it’s Post Format type. This is helpful, but still makes it hard to find/view a all posts of a particular post format (e.g. Video) as all posts are grouped together. Additionally, WordPress by default does not offer a way to filter these post formats as it does to filter posts by category. More often than not, I find myself creating categories, for my post formats, so I easily filter, find, and display those types of posts.

I have since found myself wanting to create CPT’s for audio, video, galleries, images, etc so that it makes it easy and clear to users as to what they are setting up. This is not to mention the ease of finding that information when wanting to edit or delete content. In my eyes, this essentially makes a better user experience as it doesn’t require the user to think… or at least not as hard. When I really start think about it, I get increasingly frustrated being torn between how I want the users experience to be and my morals behind not wanting to lock someone into a theme by using CPT’s. Basically, I’m recreating the wheel of functionality that already exists in WordPress in the form of CPF’s to achieve a small but important feature of CPT’s… ease of use.

This got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be nice if a theme could add support for Custom Post Formats (e.g. Audio, Video, Gallery, Image, etc) and then have the option for each of those formats to be displayed or not displayed as menu items in the WordPress admin… much like CPT’s. Users could then easily add, edit, find, and categorize those post formats. The functionality and post type information would not change for the posts, it would just be a different way to view, add, and edit them. Essentially, by classifying a post format, your theoretically setting it’s post type.

I tend to think this along would make things much easier for users when adding content to their website. At the same time, we are not locking users into a theme by creating a CPT. Instead of viewing all the posts of various formats grouped together under the “Post” menu item, each would have it’s own menu item and actions to “Add New” and “Categorize”. This also allows themes to still use the native WordPress functions to access the various post format information (e.g. has_post_format() ) as well as still query those types of formats.

Desert

Now, if I had the smarts and time to figure all this out, I would jump on it and see if it would actually work as well as my mind thinks it would or if it would inherently make things worse. This is not to say that I won’t try at some point, but I thought I would put my thoughts down and allow for discussion. I could be completely off my rocker, over looking some important bits of information, or just making things more complex when they don’t need to be. In any case, I’m increasingly interested in if I’m the only one that thinks this is a good idea and if anyone else has experienced similar frustrations between Custom Post Formats and Custom Post Types.

Night Cap

To take things a step further, and at risk of a step to far, it might be nice to filter those Custom Post Format menu item names.

I looked forward to finding an approved 1FTP Non-Profit that I was interested in and could contribute 1% of my earnings toward. With well over 2,000 approved 1FTP Non-Profit organizations, I wasn’t sure how I would go about finding just one. In the end, I decided that each year I will pick one Non-Profit organization based on a set of criteria. The criteria may change from year to year, but this year I wanted to make it personal. Below is the criteria for my 2011 selection, which the name of the chosen Non-Profit will follow.

Non-Profit Selection Criteria

• Location: Bozeman, MT
  I was born in Bozeman, MT and spent every summer running around the outdoor trails, mountains, and rivers. In past years, more and more people have moved to the area to take in it’s beauty. I wanted to support a Non-Profit that helps keep bozeman beautiful, the way I remember it.
• Website
  I build websites, so it was a must the Non-Profit have a website. Bonus points for a nice, kept up website :)
• WordPress
  Without WordPress, I wouldn’t be where I am at now. I thought it be a good fun idea to support a Non-Profit that utilized a tool that helped support me and my business.
• Interest
  I wanted to have a genuine interest in what the Non-Profit was doing.

With the criteria in place, it turns out there was one Non-Profit that fit the bill perfectly…

Gallatin Valley Land Trust

Trails & Conservation

Located in Bozeman, MT, with a great looking website using WordPress, the Gallatin Valley Land Trust conserves southwest Montana’s heritage of open landscapes, working farms and ranches, healthy rivers, and wildlife habitat; and creates trails to connect people, communities and the land.

Learn more about GVLT→

Giving Thanks

I wanted to give a special thanks to the following business’s and people who have helped make a difference by working with me or have purchased one of my products. Everyone has been a part of making an environmental difference with our donation to the great organization of Gallatin Valley Land Trust.

• 2011 CELTIC7 Clients
• Josh Schamberger (Iowa City Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau)
• Jason Schuller & Press75.com
• Soundcheck & Debut WordPress theme buyers
• WordPress
• Those websites who host with CELTIC7 Hosting

Featuring a custom MP3 audio player, Soundcheck allows your visitors to select, play, and skip through tracks from albums setup within the theme. Integration and styles for the popular Audio Player WordPress plugin have been included as well. All tracks, files, purchase links and info setup for each album are automatically pulled onto custom album pages and ready to be played.

Aside from the great audio features, Soundcheck also includes other useful features like video support, unique image slider, galleries, custom post types, custom post formats, and more. Taking things one step further, we’ve also included unique styles for popular plugins such as GigPress, Gravity Forms, WP-PageNavi, and Audio Player.

Theme Info & Demo →

Below are the materials I used to create the standing desk.

• VIKA BYSKE Adjustable Leg × 2 – IKEA
• VIKA AMON Table Top – IKEA
• DIODER Multicolor Lighting Set (w /Chrom Circular Inlays) – IKEA

I also added a few other items to top things off.

Debut is now available for sale in two locations, Press75.com and WordPress.com. Each of these locations have slightly different features and functionality to accommodate for the WordPress install type.

Debut on Press75.com or Debut on WordPress.com

I took a some time to code up one of Orman Clarks freebies over at PremiumPixels.com. This custom audio player skin was built using the jPlayer. The skins PSD and HTML files are included in the demo, so check it out, download and start posting some music! Congrats to Orman and an amazing looking audio player design.

View Demo →

Check it out at www.iowasportscamps.com