Getting Started

Community Listings lets you create visual and structured listing directories for community portals. Members submit entries via frontend forms, and admins moderate before publishing.

Installation

  1. Download the community-listings.zip file from WordPress.org or your account dashboard.
  2. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
  3. Choose the ZIP file and click Install Now.
  4. Click Activate.

Alternatively, search for "Community Listings" in the WordPress plugin directory and install directly from there.

What Happens on Activation

When you activate the plugin, it automatically:

  • Registers the cl_listing custom post type
  • Creates two taxonomies: cl_listing_type (Visual / Structured) and cl_category
  • Populates default categories: Food & Dining, Events, Leisure Activities, Crafts & Maintenance, Health & Wellness, Shops & Market, Services
  • Sets up default fallback images for each category (SVG icons bundled with the plugin)
  • Creates the settings page under Settings → Community Listings

Understanding Listing Types

The plugin provides two distinct listing types, each optimized for different kinds of content:

Visual Listings

Best for categories where images matter: Food & Dining, Events, and Leisure Activities. These display as image cards in a grid layout with the featured image prominently shown.

Structured Listings

Best for service-oriented categories: Crafts & Maintenance, Health & Wellness, Shops & Market, and Services. These display as clean text rows with contact information prominently shown.

Settings Overview

Navigate to Settings → Community Listings to configure the plugin. Available options:

Setting Description Default
Default listing status Whether new submissions are published immediately or held for moderation Pending
Frontend submissions Enable or disable the frontend submission form Enabled
Email notifications Notify admins when a new listing is submitted On
Default fallback image Image shown when no featured image is set (per category) Bundled SVG
Listings per page Number of listings to display before pagination 12
Enabled categories Choose which categories are active on your site All enabled
Google Maps API key Optional API key for displaying address maps on listing pages Empty

Creating Your First Listing

From the Admin Dashboard

  1. Go to Listings → Add New in the WordPress admin.
  2. Enter a title and description.
  3. In the Listing Details meta box, fill in the address, phone, email, and website fields.
  4. Assign a Listing Type (Visual or Structured) and a Category.
  5. For visual listings, set a Featured Image. If you skip this, the category's default fallback image will be used.
  6. Click Publish.

From the Frontend (Member Submissions)

  1. Place the [cl_submit_form] shortcode on any page (or use the Community Listings Submit Form Gutenberg block).
  2. Logged-in users will see a submission form. The form fields adapt based on the selected category — visual categories show an image upload field, structured categories emphasize contact fields.
  3. After submission, the listing enters the moderation queue (or publishes immediately, depending on your settings).
  4. Admins receive an email notification and can approve or reject submissions from the admin dashboard.

Displaying Listings

Use shortcodes or Gutenberg blocks to display listings anywhere on your site. See the Shortcodes Reference for full details.

Quick example:

[cl_listings type="visual" category="food-dining" columns="3" per_page="12"]

Gutenberg Blocks

The plugin registers two blocks:

  • Community Listings Grid (community-listings/listings-grid) — displays listings with all shortcode options available in the block sidebar.
  • Community Listings Submit Form (community-listings/submit-form) — renders the frontend submission form.

Template Overrides

The plugin uses template files for rendering. To customize the output without modifying the plugin, copy any template file from community-listings/templates/ into your theme's root directory. The plugin will automatically use your theme's version instead.

Available templates:

  • listing-visual.php — Visual listing card
  • listing-structured.php — Structured listing row
  • archive-cl_listing.php — Archive page
  • single-cl_listing.php — Single listing page
  • submit-form.php — Frontend submission form

Next Steps