Advice on Structuring Categories / Custom Post Types

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Tagged: category, custom post type, tags, topics

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June 26, 2018 at 5:07 pm #436260

Greg Barr
Full Member

Post count: 182

I’m creating a directory of resources for the beanbag game called cornhole. What I’ve built so far is at http://cornholecentral.com

The kinds of things I want to directory-ify include bars where people can play the game, clubs they can join, tournaments they can enter, and vendors that make equipment they can buy.

I want each of those things to be separately searchable. Like you can search for Clubs and filter down to Denver, Colorado via search. But I also want people to be able to bring up a page for all things in a given area, like display venues, clubs, events and vendors in Denver, Colorado.

Right now I’ve set up Custom Post Types for each of those kinds of things, but I’m starting to think that might not be the right approach. Or maybe it is, but I need to bring in the idea of tags. Or maybe they should all be one class of things and I use tags to differentiate the kinds of things. I dunno, I need help. : (

I’d appreciate any advice on this, thanks much.

June 26, 2018 at 7:06 pm #436269

Alex Rollin
Moderator

Post count: 27815

Hello,

you could try it that way, and you could also start out with one post type and use categories to differentiate them. I recommend that folks new to managing sites keep it simple. I don’t mean you personally, I am speaking very genrally here. Limiting initial complexity can keep it fun through the learning phase.

That said, if you plan on charging for something right away, then it is important to make as good a decision as possible about whether you want to use multiple custom post types. Maybe, if you are going to charge for one of them, then use one CPT for all the free ones, and one CPT for the listings that will be charged.

If you don’t plan on charging for six months or so, then why not just keep it simple to begin with, then export some of the listings later and then import them again into the new CPT.

Tags are used by some site managers for specific display strategies but are not often used to differentiate between listing types because they are not predfined.

Others on the team have other opinions, but it helps us if you have a specific question or concern. My concern is usually complexity, but, what is yours?

June 26, 2018 at 10:21 pm #436279

Guust
Moderator

Post count: 29970

I think you’re on the right track.
The pages you describe are already there, adding these shortcodes to any WP page will give you a good overview of what GD pages have been created and their correct URL:
[gd_advanced_search]
[gd_login_box]
[gd_cpt_categories]
[gd_location_switcher]

See also
https://wpgeodirectory.com/docs/layout/#directory
And
https://wpgeodirectory.com/docs/places-categories-and-listings/

Thanks

June 27, 2018 at 12:23 am #436283

Greg Barr
Full Member

Post count: 182

Thanks guys. Alex yo said two things that spoke to me:
“You could also start out with one post type and use categories to differentiate them. I recommend that folks new to managing sites keep it simple.” and “It helps us if you have a specific question or concern. My concern is usually complexity, but, what is yours?”

Bingo — unnecessary complexity is my growing concern. I’d like end users to be able to search for everything in a given city. And for me to be able to provide that search result as a dynamically generated “page” of my site.

I am afraid that by breaking everything via Custom Post Types, instead of by Category, I won’t be able to let them do that.

I think you’ve provided the right path. I kinda see “vendors” as a different animal from the other stuff. Venues, clubs and events are all “places and times to play” and I don’t anticipate charging for those. Vendors I see an opportunity to make money via premium/sponsored listings, affiliate program sales, etc. So maybe I should have one CPT for vendors and one CPT for everything else, then within the everything else CPT I could have categories for venues, clubs, leagues and tournaments.

I reckon I’ll read the stuff Guust provided to see if that is the right approach, and see if I can figure out how to most easily change things up here, while I’m live but not yet aggressively right.

June 27, 2018 at 8:03 am #436313

Alex Rollin
Moderator

Post count: 27815

Yes, each CPT is searched separately, and that goes for events, too.

Categories can be simple, too.

I work mostly with tourism categories and always recommend the simple system used for the Wikimedia Foundation travel sites: Eat, See, Do (simple, clear)

DO write back if you have more questions or concerns 🙂
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