Plugin Updated*
Wow! Just wow!
I write a lot of articles in series, connected together by topic and concept developing over the series. I’ve been struggling with various Next Page/Previous Page plugins and tags, but “struggle” is the key word here. Since WordPress deals in chronological order, keeping these articles in sequence is a serious pain.
For instance, if I’m writing, say, a series on ice cream (I wish) and I have three articles in a series. The first one is Vanilla, then Chocolate, then Butter Pecan. They each develop and follow one another. I publish Vanilla at 12:01. I publish Chocolate at 12:30 and Butter Pecan at 12:45. They should be in series, right? Well, I forgot that I had already written an article on baking bread but held back the release time until 12:25. I often write ahead when I’m really productive so I don’t release everything at once.
My series is then:
- Vanilla
- Baking Bread
- Chocolate
- Butter Pecan
Not much of a series, is it. Sure, it’s all about cooking, and yes, they are in the cooking category, so they are related, but they aren’t connected.
Enter In-Series Plugin for WordPress, one of the newest entries in the WordPress/Weblogtools Collection Plugin Contest.
The In-Series plugin uses two custom field codes to 1) set the series with a unique name, and 2) position the series in its correct order in the series. You then put one or both of the two sets of tags into your document where you want the Next in Series and Previous in Series, or All in Series, to appear. You can style it any way you want. It doesn’t have to be within the WordPress Loop. You can use it in the sidebar or any single post area.
It is designed to not show up on non-series articles, only the ones set in a series. It’s brilliant.
I will be adding this to my site over the next week (I have a LOT of articles to use with this), so expect it to start appearing at the bottom of articles within a series. It will really help navigation and connecting the dots around our site.
Much thanks goes to Skippy for this brilliant and long awaited plugin. THANK YOU.
* Plugin UpDated
Skippy has updated this plugin, per request, to include a table of contents, the ability to hide text around the list of links in the article series so you can customize and style the list, and more great features. Check it out!