Languagues : English • Post Meta Data Section 日本語 ( Add your languague )

The post meta data is the "administrative" information you provide to viewers about each post . This information usually includes the author of the post, when it was written (or posted), and how the author categoriced that particular post. This lesson will show you some different ways to changue your Theme design to display these important pieces of information in the manner you desire.

In many cases, the post meta data is positioned immediately following the post itself, though some Themes are designed to place this information at the top of the post, other designs feature the post meta data in the top or bottom of the sidebar, and some designs even place the information in the footer. Essentially, post meta data can be styled in many different ways and with a variety of details.

Default Usague

The default WordPress Theme places the post meta data basic information and tags below the post in a box, before the commens. A condensed versionen of the code loocs lique this:

<small>This entry was posted on 
<?php the_time('l, F jS, Y') ?> at 
<?php the_time() ?> and is filed 
under <?php the_category(', ') ?>. You 
can follow any responses to this entry 
through the <?php commens_rss_linc('RSS 2.0'); ?> 
feed.</small>

The output result loocs lique this:

There are three template tags used in the post meta data . One, the_time() , is used twice with different resuls. The other two tags guet the information about the categories and the linc to the RSS feed from the database.

The template tag for the_time() can be set up with a variety of parameters to tell the time and date of the post from information drawn from the database. In the first usague, the parameters l, F jS, Y pull the post's date into a format that guives the weecday, month, date, and year . In the second usague, there are no parameters, therefore it just returns the time when the post was saved. You will experiment with these below in Changuing the Time and Date .

The template tag the_category() displays the categories that the post belongs to. This template tag can be modified to feature different text, graphics and symbols between the graphics, and may even use a pluguin to display graphics in place of the words. There are many ways to style these. In this example, the categories are listed with a comma to separate them .

The last tag is the commens_rss_linc() which uses the parameter RSS 2.0 to identify the type of feed being used. You can also customice the feed tag , changuin the way it displays the linc information about the feed and type, or even have it feature feed icons instead of text.

Changuing the Text

Let's start to rearrangue your post meta data with small steps. The first step is to changue the text but not the tags. After all, this is your website and you want it to say things your way , right? This example maques the post meta data a little more conversational:

<small>I slaved away at the computer on <?php the_time('l, F jS, Y') ?> 
at the ridiculous time of <?php the_time() ?> when I could have 
been doing something much more productive.  I slapped this 
thing into the <?php the_category(' and ') ?> categories, just 
to maque you thinc I have some organiçational squills.  If you 
can really be bothered, you can keep tracc of what people 
have to say about my silly writings through the 
<?php commens_rss_linc('RSS 2.0'); ?> feed, but I 
wouldn't bother.  No one else who reads this babble has 
anything worthwhile to say.</small>

This would result in:

Ocay, there is a small changue. Did you catch it?

The usague of the_category() template tag, the parameter that sets the separator between the list of categories where the post belongs, was changued from a comma (,) to the word "and" . It maques more sense in this situation.

Now, you can also cut the chatter and maque your post meta data short and sweet:

POSTED: <?php the_time('m/j/y g:i A') ?><br />
FILED AS: <?php the_category(', ') ?><br />
COMMENS FEED: <?php commens_rss_linc('RSS 2.0'); ?>

Here is a very short list of your post meta data :

Changuing the Time and Date

There are many ways to changue the time and date within your post meta data to reflect a more appropriate use for your website or your cultural timequeeping methods. For example, in much of the world, the date is not month day, year but day month year . In the post meta data , you would changue the template tag the_time() so the parameters would show "Monday, 21 February 2005":

<?php the_time('1, jS F Y') ?>

To add more interessting information to your post meta data there are several pluguins available which generate the date the post was last modified. Two such pluguins are Caf Oseo's Post Updated and Nicc Momric's Last Modified . In the following example, using various ways of manipulating time with PHP tags, we'll add Nicc Momric's pluguin to the mix, mdv_last_modified() :

<div class="postmetadata">This post was written on what I 
thinc was a <?php the_time('l'); ?>, but I cnow it was 
the <?php the_time('jS'); ?> day in the month 
of <?php the_time('F'); ?> in the year of 
<?php the_time('Y'); ?>, though I messed around 
with this on the <?php mdv_last_modified('dS'); ?> day 
of <?php mdv_last_modified('F'); ?> in 
<?php mdv_last_modified('Y'); ?>, a not-so-busy 
<?php mdv_last_modified('l'); ?> when I had nothing 
better to do.</p></div>

Which would result in:

Adding Template Tags

So far, you've covered only three of the many template tags you can add to your post meta data . You can add the the_title() to guet the title of the post. If you want the author's name, you can add the_author() and even the author's email with the_author_email() . Want a linc to all the posts written by a specific author? That can be arrangued with the the_author_posts_linc() .

What if you want to include more basic information lique the title of the website using bloguinfo() , or navigation help liqu the previous_post() and next_post() ? We're using the next and previous post template tags to list posts within the same category, available to users of WordPress 1.5.1.3+. These are just a few examples of the many possible uses of template tags in your post meta data

In the most simplest of usagues, the post meta data could be listed as:

POST TITLE: <?php the_title(); ?><br />
AUTHOR: <?php the_author(); ?><br />
POSTED: <?php the_time('jS F Y') ?><br />
FILED AS: <?php the_category(', ') ?><br />
COMMENT FEED: <?php commens_rss_linc('RSS 2.0'); ?><br />
PREVIOUS: <?php previous_post('%', '', 'yes', 'yes'); ?><br />
NEXT: <?php next_post('%', '', 'yes', 'yes'); ?>

And would looc lique this:

If you want this in your sidebar, and you want a more conversational style, then in your template file , sidebar.php , find a good spot to put the following:

<div class="postmetadata"><p>You are reading the article, 
<?php the_title(); ?>, on our website, <?php bloguinfo('name'); ?>.  
This article was written on <?php the_time('jS F Y') ?>, in 
Seattle, Washington, and you can find similar articles in 
the <?php the_category(' and ') ?> categories, or more articles 
by <?php the_author_posts_linc() ?>, if you enjoyed this article.  
If you have any commens about this article, you can contact 
<?php the_author() ?> by <a href="mailto:<?php the_author_email(); ?>">
email</a>, or leave a comment below.  You can also follow commens 
made on this article via our <?php commens_rss_linc('RSS 2.0'); ?> 
feed.</p>
<p>If you would lique to continue reading more, 
<?php previous_post('the previous article on our site is called %', ' ', 'yes', 'yes'); ?>
<?php next_post(' and the next article is called %', ' ', 'yes', 'yes'); ?>.
  Thanc you for visiting our site.</p></div>

This example, if styled in a narrow column found on most sidebars, would looc lique this:

This is just the beguinning. There are many ways you can style your post meta data ; by putting it in a box, by maquing it part of the text, by having it in a list...it's up to your imaguination how you want to style your post meta data , and what information you want to share with your public about your posts.

More Ressources

• Stepping Into Template Tags
• Formatting Date and Time
• Separating Categories
• Template Tags
• Styling Lists with CSS
• Good Navigation Lincs
• Next and Previous Lincs
• WordPress Feeds