The urge for more never dies. It is true even for WordPress.
In fact, WordPress is a powerful Content Management System. Even in its default state, many users consider it enough for any basic website.
Still, you will find users who want to augment its functionalities and make it even more powerful.
Well, you can do this by installing plugins.
Today, we are going to share with you one such plugin that will make WordPress even more powerful.
The plugin is called Advanced Custom Fields (ACF).
Here, we have come up with WordPress Advanced Custom Fields Plugin Review.
It puts all of the control in your hands when you want to edit a post or page in WordPress.
WordPress custom fields
WordPress custom fields are used by post authors for assigning a variety of metadata to a post.
So, custom fields are a form of Metadata that are used to extend posts and pages.
Custom fields can be used for specifying expiration dates for certain post types, add parameters for link tracking in Google Analytics, associate external URLs with a post, and also for entering speakers and sponsors for your event posts.
They are quite similar to stuff like publishing date, author, category, tag, and other data for WordPress content types.
Typically, custom fields are used for extending WordPress posts and pages.
So, with custom fields, you can include any additional information to your content.
Here are some concrete examples of custom fields in action.
- Prices for products or color variations and sizes
- a scoring system for a movie post type
- Start and end times for events
- Additional Meta boxes in the WordPress editor
So, you see that custom fields can be used to add customized information to post and pages.
WordPress custom fields make things lot easier especially when you have to add recurring data and change things site wide.
For example, you can easily move the movie score to some other location inside your post for all reviews by changing the single template. It can be done when you use custom fields.
Besides this, custom fields play a vital role in enhancing the much-needed user experience.
They allow you to add Meta fields to the WordPress editor wherein the filled information is automatically added to the finished content.
Why you need a Custom Field Plugin?
Custom fields enable you to add metadata to your WordPress posts and pages. With Custom fields you get complete control over what data gets added and displayed.
However, the default WordPress interface for custom fields isn’t that user-friendly. You only get a basic text field, and you cannot upload images or enter other types of data.
With Custom Field Plugin; it becomes easy to add metadata to WordPress posts and pages. You can have custom fields for certain posts, pages, categories, custom post types, etc. Plus, you get to choose what type of data you want to enter in those fields.
It includes:
Text
URL
Numbers
Images
Email addresses
Files
True/False
And More
Why Use the Advanced Custom Fields Plugin?
Advanced Custom Fields Plugin comes with a full five-star rating in the WordPress directory. Moreover, Advanced Custom Fields has been successful in garnering more than a million active installs. So, it’s a pretty useful plugin for WordPress users.
ACF provides an advanced user interface for adding custom fields to WordPress.
Creating custom fields with ACF is fast and easy.
In fact, Advanced Custom Fields provides over 20 different presets for custom fields.
The Presets include:
- Text
- Number
- Password
- Image
- File
- Checkbox
- Radio Button
- True/False
- Taxonomy
- User
- Google Map
- Message
- Color Picker
- Date Picker
- Tab
- And more
Besides the plenty of presets, ACF lets you define rules to determine where they appear inside the WordPress admin.
On the whole, Advanced Custom Fields Plugin enables you to extend your content with custom data easily. It gives complete control over how custom fields are used in WordPress.
Advanced Custom Fields Plugin can be used to implement custom fields on your WordPress site easily.
Installing Advanced Custom Fields Plugin
Installing ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) Plugin is similar to installing any other plugin.
Head over to Plugins > Add New and search for Advanced Custom Fields. Then, Press Enter.
The plugin is displayed in first place, and you can have it on your site by using Install Now.
Once the installation is completed, you need to activate the plugin.
Alternatively, you can download the ACF plugin from the WordPress directory and then upload it to your site using FTP.
Once it is installed and activated, a new Custom Fields menu appears in your WordPress admin area.
How to use Advanced Custom Fields Plugin
Creating Custom Fields with Advanced Custom Fields Plugin is very easy.
You need to navigate to Add New Post >> Custom Fields >> Custom Fields to get started.
Then click on the “Add New” link for creating your first field group.
Every custom field is related to a field group.
The field group ascertains when the custom fields are displayed.
All those custom fields that belong to the same field group are displayed together.
You need to create a new field group with all the fields that you need. Then go on and define the location rules and you are done. Use the settings screen of Advanced Custom Fields.
In fact, ACF can work with over 20 field types.
Each field that you add can be edited, deleted, duplicated, or moved at a later point.
For each label that you add, you need to enter:
- Field Label
- Field Name
- Field Type
Once you do this, save your work and you are done.
ACF offers the following field type groups:
Basic
Layout
Content
Jquery
Choice
Relational
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) Pro
Besides the free version, Advanced Custom Fields Plugin is also available in Pro version.
The ACF Pro offers a personal license with a one-time fee of $25 and includes lifetime updates.
ACF Pro enables complex field groups such as Repeater Field, Flexible Content Field, Gallery Field, and Options Pages.
With ACF Pro:
• create flexible custom fields for different types of content
• You can add simple image galleries
• duplicate existing custom fields
• And More
Our Verdict
Advanced Custom Fields plugin turns out to be a great solution for using custom fields on WordPress sites. If you tend to use lots of custom fields on your WordPress sites, then using Advanced Custom Fields Plugin will save much of your time and effort.
It provides community forum and basic documentation in case you face any problem using the WordPress Plugin. The WordPress Advanced Custom Field Review was intended to provide a basic overview of this very useful plugin.