An easy to use shortcode for automatically creating and organizing a series list for multiple posts on the same topic with appropriate SEO attributes.
Screenshots
An example of the shortcode as it appears in the post editor
The same shortcode from the same post, as it appears to someone reading the post
The same shortcode from the same post, with CSS formatting as suggested in the FAQ
FAQ
How does “Simple Post Series with SEO!” work?
Easy! Just add the shortcode to each of the posts you want to put in the series. Inside the shortcode you will need to specify the title for the series. Like so:
[simple_series title="This Is My Series Title"]
What if I add more posts later?
No problem! The “Simple Post Series with SEO!” plugin will always update the series lists in each of your posts whenever you publish a new post. The newest post will always be added to the series in chronological order, by publication date. You can see an example of what it looks like here in my own DrawBot series.
What if I add one post to multiple series?
No problem! Just include a comma between the series titles in the shortcode. It will add your post to each series named and it will display each associatd series list.
- Example of just a post in only one series `[simple_series title=”This Is My Series Title”]`
- Example of just a post in two series `[simple_series title=”This Is My Series Title,This Is A Totally Different Series Title!”]`
It’s a piece of crap! It doesn’t work!
Calm down – everything will be okay. If you’ve activated the plugin, added the shortcode with a title, and updated/published your post, and you don’t see the series list, try to refresh the page in your browser or clear the page cache.
Hey! Your formatting stinks out loud! Can I add my own CSS?
Sure! There are three components to the series list: the DIV wrapper, the title of the series inside SPAN tags, and the list items. This is the exact formatting I use in my blog. If you need something different, just fiddle with the CSS to suit and add them to your stylesheet.
div.mbk_simple_series_wrapper { display:block; margin-bottom:15px; padding-bottom:15px; }
span.mbk_simple_series_title { font-weight:bold; display:block;}
div.mbk_simple_series_wrapper ol li.mbk_simple_series_list_item, a.mbk_simple_series_link_prev, a.mbk_simple_series_link_next { font-size:smaller; }
span.mbk_simple_series_title, div.mbk_simple_series_wrapper ol { margin-bottom:5px; }
a.mbk_simple_series_list_current_item { font-style:italic; }
a.mbk_simple_series_link_prev { float:left; }
a.mbk_simple_series_link_next { float:right; }
div.mbk_simple_series_prevnext { font-size:small; display:block; }
Wait! I have more questions!
Please visit my website or send me an e-mail!
ChangeLog
1.4.6
- 8/6/2018: Very minor update to default text and CSS. The code has been working great on my blog for more than 5 years! Yay!
1.4.6
- 3/2/2013: Now the plugin works with posts, pages, or a combination of posts and pages. I’ve also added a button to the TinyMCE text editor so you can add an existing or new series title with just a few clicks.
1.4.5
- 2/6/2012: Now the plugin adds a class to the link to the current post in the series. This makes it easy for you to highlight this link with CSS, if you wish. I’ve added the example CSS to the FAQ. This makes it a little easier for the reader to find where the post is in the series. Thanks to insomnia for the inspiration!
1.4.4
- 2/4/2012: Now the plugin supports adding a post to multiple series! Thanks to Dale for the suggestion!
1.4.3
- 2/3/2012: Added an FAQ item suggesting users refresh thier page if they don’t see the list after publishing.
1.4.2
- 1/31/2012: A new screenshot showcasing the series appearance with CSS formatting
1.4.1
- 1/27/2012: Better information about CSS formatting, with examples
1.4
- 1/27/2012: FAQ gives some guidance on how to style the series lists.
- 1/27/2012: A very slight change to the series list formatting. (I changed the list title from having a class to having an id tag).
1.3
- 1/27/2012: Simplifying the plugin a little, adding a “to do” list
1.2
- 1/26/2012: Now the series shows up properly in RSS feeds too!
1.1
- 1/26/2012: Now the plugin supports multiple separate post series!
1.0
- Initial release on 1/25/2012!