{"id":28082,"date":"2020-02-17T12:38:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T10:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=28082"},"modified":"2023-01-20T02:51:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T02:51:00","slug":"advanced-custom-fields-tutorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/advanced-custom-fields-tutorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Custom Fields Tutorial for Beginners: Create and Display Fields"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marketed as “a content editor for WordPress developers,” the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin may seem intimidating for some who aren’t familiar with what the plugin does. However, don’t let these buzzwords get to you, because everyone <\/em>should be using Advanced Custom Fields, seeing as how it’s one of the biggest timesavers for web development. That’s why we put together an Advanced Custom Fields tutorial to show you everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Yes, the Advanced Custom Fields plugin is confusing for beginners. But the learning curve isn’t bad and the advantages of using this plugin on a regular basis will turn you into a believer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u26a0\ufe0f Important<\/strong>: While we’ll cover some non-code methods for displaying your custom fields on your website, you might need the help of a developer if those code-free solutions aren’t flexible enough for you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t \t\tWant to get started with Advanced Custom Fields on #WordPress? \u2699\ufe0f beginner's #tutorial<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
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What does the Advanced Custom Fields plugin do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Advanced Custom Fields lets you collect additional information about your content in the WordPress editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress is a flexible, open-source platform, so you should be able to create any website you want, with different functionality for things like ecommerce<\/a>, blogging<\/a>, events, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WordPress visual editor has excellent tools from rich content editing to media formatting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, sometimes a developer could make it more intuitive for particular use cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that customizing the WordPress content editor typically requires careful formatting and potential code editing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advanced Custom Fields eases this process by allowing you to change the content editor and standardize how you collect and display certain information.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Make it easier to update styled content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After your website is developed and ready to launch, much of your management process involves changing small details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, a common adjustment for companies is to change the homepage header or background for new sales and announcements. Changing text in that header area is common as well.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sometimes that’s all a business owner does with a website on a regular basis!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s totally fine, but working with WordPress makes you realize how sensitive the visual editor is. One wrong backspace and you may remove text formatting. One wrong image upload and you could make the entire homepage look like junk.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Standardize the display of repeated content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Repeated actions also warrant the use of ACF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example would be for a movie review blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s say each of your reviews requires you to type in the production company, release year, and movie rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe you have a simple movie rating and a description of your rating scale.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This could be done in the WordPress editor<\/a>, but it would be nice to keep formatting the same across posts. In addition, having the same fields to adjust cuts the process down to a few clicks instead of having to type everything in.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Advanced Custom Fields tutorial<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first thing to do is to download the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. Check out our guide on installing and activating WordPress plugins<\/a> if you need any help.<\/p>\n\n\n

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