NEW Version 2.0.0 brings a great new feature: with some magic, if your theme displays category/term description, then it would be automatically enhanced. Are you ready for more? You can customize the template by creating a content-ecp.php file in your theme of choice.

Enhanced Category Pages allows you to create custom category and term pages by managing them using a special custom post type.

Premium code quality ensured by Codacy static analysis: grade A.

Features

• NEW Visual Composer compatible - you can now edit the category using Visual Composer
• NEW Genesis Framework compatible
• WooCommerce compatible - product categories can be enhanced now
• Easy to use for everyone: users, designers, developers
• Automatically show enhanced category/term content
• Customize enhanced category/term content by creating a content-ecp.php file in your theme of choice
• Traverse categories using setup_ec_data that allows now category id as parameter
• Enhance any taxonomy: edit any taxonomy term as a custom post
• Edit category as a custom post - Enhanced Category
• Automatically generates Enhanced Category post type for each category
• Transparent synchronization of Enhanced Category and it's corresponding category
• Add any features available to WordPress custom posts
• Easy Enhanced Category display on category template using <?php $GLOBALS['enhanced_category']->setup_ec_data(); ?> (see install section)
• Internationalization ready

Future Features

• customize Enhanced Category custom post type capabilities via plugin options
• manual selection on enhanced categories

How does magic happen?

We use the category_description or get_the_archive_description filters in order to replace the plain content with the enhanced one.

How can I customize the output?

• content-ecp.php and content-page.php partial templates are looked for (in that order) and the first found is loaded.

What custom post type is created?

Enhanced Category (safe name: enhancedcategory) custom post type is created and a post is generated automatically for each category/term.

What happens if I edit the category fields?

Enhanced Category Post (ECP) is synchronized in both directions with it's corresponding category i.e. category name - ECP title, category slug - ECP slug, category description - ECP excerpt.

What happens with *Enhanced Category* posts when the plugin is uninstalled?

Enhanced Category posts are deleted when the plugin is deleted using the WordPress plugin management page. Note: nothing is deleted when the plugin deactivated.

Can I use it to list any categories/terms?

Yes, you can pass the category/term id to setup_ec_data method like this ($categories is presumed to be an already fetched array of categories/terms):

                foreach($categories as $category) {
                    $GLOBALS['enhanced_category']->setup_ec_data($category->term_id);
                    the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail');
                }

Why do I get a blank screen after installing the plugin?

Enhanced Category Post (ECP) requires at least PHP 5.3 running on your server. Contact your hosting to update the PHP version.

0.1

• Initial release.

0.2

• Make php 5.3 compatible.

1.0

• Enhance any taxonomy

1.0.1

• bug fixing

1.0.2

• setup_ec_data allows now category id as parameter

2.0.0

• automatically show the enhanced content using category_description or get_the_archive_description filters
• customize the display of content with content-ecp.php theme partial template

2.0.1

• bug-fix - prevent undesired PHP warning on category_description filter
• check and update 4.3.1 compatibility

2.1.0

• WooCommerce product category can be enhanced now

2.1.1

• Improve code quality

2.1.2

• Add WordPress 4.4 compatibility

2.1.3

• Bug fix: correctly handle categories with apostrophes

2.2.0

• All in One SEO Pack plugin compatibility added

2.2.1

• Minor bug fix: prevent PHP notice

2.3.0

• Add Visual Composer compatibility
• Add Genesis Framework compatibility
• Bug fix: Woocommerce shop page does not display the description of the first product anymore
• Bug fix: archive pages were showing the content of the first item

1. Download plugin archive.
2. Upload and uncompress it in "/wp-content/plugins/" directory.
3. Activate the plugin through the "Plugins" menu in WordPress.
4. Use "Enhanced Edit" link to edit the page of the respective category
5. Category/term description display is automatically enhanced with your content.
6. Optional: create content-ecp.php in your theme folder to customize the display.

Advanced usage options

1. Create content-ecp.php in your theme folder to customize the display of the enhanced content. The custom post associated with category/term is set up, so all display functions for posts are usable.

   <?php
       global $enhanced_category;
       // if not previously set up, then let setup_ec_data get the current query term/category
       if (empty($categoryId)) {
           $categoryId = null;
       }
   
       // get enhanced category post and set it up as global current post
       $enhanced_category->setup_ec_data($categoryId);
   ?>
   
   <!-- enchanced category page (ECP) content -->
   <article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class(); ?>>
   
       <div class="post-thumbnail">
           <?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?>
       </div>
   
       <div class="entry-content">
           <?php the_content(); ?>
       </div><!-- .entry-content -->
   
       <?php edit_post_link( __( 'Edit'), '<footer class="entry-footer"><span class="edit-link">', '</span></footer><!-- .entry-footer -->' ); ?>
   
   </article><!-- #post-## -->
   

2. Display category/term page. Edit category/taxonomy template to show the content of the "Enhanced Category" (feel free to adjust to your needs):

   //in category.php or taxonomy.php or any other place your theme displays the category/term content
   <?php
       global $enhanced_category;
       //get enhanced category post and set it up as global current post
       $enhanced_category->setup_ec_data();
   ?>
   <!-- enhanced category content -->
   <?php the_post_thumbnail("medium"); ?>
   
   <?php get_template_part( 'content', 'page' ); ?>
   
   <!-- custom fields -->
   <?php
       get_post_custom();
   ?>
   
   <?php
       // If comments are open or we have at least one comment, load up the comment template
       if ( comments_open() || get_comments_number() ) :
           comments_template();
       endif;
   ?>
   

3. Display a list of categories:

   //$categories is presumed to be an already fetched array of categories/terms
   foreach($categories as $category) {
       $GLOBALS['enhanced_category']->setup_ec_data($category->term_id);
       the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail');
   }
   

Enhanced Edit link in category list



Enhanced Edit link in category edit



Enhanced Category custom post type edit



Category public view