What are Custom Taxonomies?

What Custom Taxonomies?

Custom taxonomies are a way to organize and classify content on a WordPress website. They allow users to create new categories beyond the default ones provided by WordPress, such as “Posts” and “Pages.” These custom taxonomies can be used to group similar content together and make it easier for users to find and access the information they need.

There are a few different ways that custom taxonomies can be used on a WordPress website. One common use is to group similar products or services together on an e-commerce site. For example, a clothing retailer might create a custom taxonomy called “Brands” to group all of the products from a particular brand together. This would make it easier for customers to browse the retailer’s offerings and find what they are looking for.

Custom taxonomies can also be used to organize content on a blog or news website. For example, a food blogger might create a custom taxonomy called “Cuisines” to group all of their recipes by the type of cuisine they represent. This would make it easier for readers to find specific types of recipes and would also allow the blogger to create separate pages or sections for each cuisine.

Creating a custom taxonomy in WordPress is relatively easy and can be done through the use of a plugin or by adding a few lines of code to the functions.php file of your theme. The first step in creating a custom taxonomy is to define it by giving it a name and choosing the type of content it will be used to classify. This can be done using the register_taxonomy() function in WordPress.

Once the custom taxonomy has been defined, it can be attached to the content types that you want it to be used with. This can be done using the register_taxonomy_for_object_type() function. For example, if you want to use your custom taxonomy to classify blog posts, you would use this function to attach the taxonomy to the “post” content type.

After the custom taxonomy has been created and attached to the appropriate content types, it will appear in the WordPress dashboard under the “Posts” or “Pages” menu, depending on which content types it has been attached to. From here, users can add terms to the taxonomy and assign them to individual pieces of content.

It is important to note that custom taxonomies are different from custom post types in WordPress. While custom taxonomies are used to classify and organize content, custom post types are used to create new types of content that can be added to a WordPress website. For example, a movie review website might create a custom post type called “Movies” to hold all of their movie reviews. This would allow the website to have a separate section for movie reviews, separate from regular blog posts or pages.

How can I create a custom taxonomy on WordPress?

To create a custom taxonomy in WordPress, you can use a plugin or add a few lines of code to the functions.php file of your theme.

Adding Code to functions.php:

To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open the functions.php file in a text editor.
  2. Add the following code to define your custom taxonomy:

function create_custom_taxonomy() {
   $args = array(
      'label' => 'Custom Taxonomy',
      'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'custom-taxonomy' ),
      'hierarchical' => true,
   );
   register_taxonomy( 'custom_taxonomy', array( 'post' ), $args );
}
add_action( 'init', 'create_custom_taxonomy' );
  1. Replace “Custom Taxonomy” with the name you want to give to your custom taxonomy.
  2. Replace “custom-taxonomy” with the slug you want to use for your taxonomy.
  3. Replace “post” with the content type you want to use your custom taxonomy with. You can also use an array to attach the taxonomy to multiple content types.

Using a Plugin:

There are several plugins available that can help you create custom taxonomies in WordPress. One popular option is the Custom Post Type UI plugin.

Custom Post Type UI is a plugin that allows you to create custom post types and custom taxonomies in WordPress. To use the plugin to create a custom taxonomy, follow these steps:

  1. Install and activate the Custom Post Type UI plugin on your WordPress site.
  2. Go to the “CPT UI” menu in the WordPress dashboard.
  3. Click the “Add New Taxonomy” button to create a new custom taxonomy.
  4. Enter a name for your custom taxonomy and choose the type of content it will be used to classify.
  5. Select the options you want for your custom taxonomy, such as whether it should be hierarchical (like categories) or non-hierarchical (like tags).
  6. Click the “Add Taxonomy” button to save your changes.

Your custom taxonomy will now be created and attached to the content types you specified. It will appear in the WordPress dashboard under the “Posts” or “Pages” menu, depending on which content types it has been attached to. From here, you can add terms to the taxonomy and assign them to individual pieces of content.