How to Install the Advanced Custom Fields Plugin for Author Websites
Learn to install the Advanced Custom Fields plugin for WordPress. Organise books with custom post types, fields, and Breakdance integration for pro author sites.
Introduction
This author website uses custom post types and custom fields to organise our books and more. I’ll go into more detail about what custom post types are and how they help in a later module.
To implement custom post types in WordPress without code we need to use a plugin.
There are a number of good choices out there
- ACPT
- Metabox
- PODS
- SCF
We are going to use Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) a free plugin from WP Engine.
Using ACF we can,
- Register new custom post types. For this course we will create and register a ‘Books’ custom post type.
- Create custom fields and associate them with custom post types. In this course we will create a number of custom fields specific to our Books post type.
- Display custom fields on our web pages built with the Breakdance page builder.
ACF Pro is a paid version of the plugin that includes extra features I’ll cover in the Pro version of the Build an Author Website online Course.
Download Advanced Custom Fields
- Click on the link in the description to go to the ACF website from the Writers Building Websites Toolkit page .
- Download the latest stable release.
- Do not use a Beta version of the plugin on your production website.
Install ACF
Next we will install ACF to our website.
- Back in your wordpress admin dashboard go to Plugins then Add New Plugin.
- Click on UPLOAD PLUGIN.
- Browse to the downloaded file which is a ZIP file.
- Select the file and click open to install it.
- When the plugin is installed click activate.
When plugin is activated check you have the ACF Menu item in the WordPress Admin sidebar.
Summary.
In this lesson, we covered installing the Advanced Custom Fields plugin to manage custom post types and fields on your author website. With ACF, you can register new post types, create tailored fields, and display them seamlessly on your site using Breakdance. This powerful tool is perfect for organising content like books, ensuring a professional and efficient website. In the next lesson, we’ll dive deeper into using ACF to customise your site further.
