How to Display User Post Count with Ultimate Member and Co-Author Plus
As a WordPress website owner, understanding your authors' contributions is crucial for maintaining an engaged community and showcasing their valuable content. In this article, we'll explore how to display the user's post count on your WordPress website using the Ultimate Member and Co-Author Plus plugins.
Understanding the Challenge
Typically, the default WordPress installation does not provide a straightforward way to display the number of posts an individual user has authored. While you can find this information in the WordPress admin dashboard, it's not readily available for your website visitors.
To address this, we can leverage the power of the Ultimate Member and Co-Author Plus plugins. Ultimate Member is a feature-rich user profile plugin that allows you to enhance the user experience on your WordPress site, while Co-Author Plus enables you to assign multiple authors to a single post.
By combining the capabilities of these two plugins, we can create a custom solution that showcases the user's post count in an intuitive and engaging way.
Step 1: Install and Configure Ultimate Member
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Install and Activate Ultimate Member: Begin by installing and activating the Ultimate Member plugin on your WordPress site. You can do this by navigating to the "Plugins" section in your WordPress admin dashboard, searching for "Ultimate Member," and clicking the "Install Now" button.
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Set up User Profiles: Once the plugin is activated, you'll need to configure the user profile settings. Navigate to the "Ultimate Member" section in your admin dashboard and explore the various options available, such as customizing the profile fields, setting up user roles, and defining the profile layout.
Step 2: Integrate Co-Author Plus
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Install and Activate Co-Author Plus: Next, install and activate the Co-Author Plus plugin. This plugin allows you to assign multiple authors to a single post, which is essential for our custom solution.
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Configure Co-Author Plus: After activating the Co-Author Plus plugin, you may need to configure it to work seamlessly with Ultimate Member. Navigate to the "Co-Authors Plus" section in your admin dashboard and ensure that the plugin is set up correctly.
Step 3: Create a Custom Solution
Now that we have both plugins set up, we can proceed to create a custom solution that displays the user's post count.
- Retrieve the User's Post Count: We'll start by creating a function that retrieves the number of posts authored by a specific user. Add the following code to your theme's functions.php file or a custom plugin:
function display_user_post_count($user_login) {
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'tax_query' => array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'author',
'field' => 'slug',
'terms' => $user_login
)
)
);
$author_query = new WP_Query($args);
return $author_query->found_posts;
}
This function takes the user's login as a parameter and returns the number of posts the user has authored.
- Display the User's Post Count in the Ultimate Member Profile: Now, we'll integrate the post count information into the Ultimate Member user profile. To do this, you can add the following code to your theme's functions.php file or a custom plugin:
add_action('um_profile_content_after', 'display_user_post_count_in_profile', 10, 1);
function display_user_post_count_in_profile($user_id) {
$user_login = um_user('user_login');
$post_count = display_user_post_count($user_login);
echo '<div class="um-field">';
echo '<div class="um-field-label">';
echo '<label>Post Count</label>';
echo '</div>';
echo '<div class="um-field-area">';
echo $post_count;
echo '</div>';
echo '</div>';
}
This code hooks into the "um_profile_content_after" action, which is triggered after the Ultimate Member profile content is displayed. It then calls the display_user_post_count()
function to retrieve the user's post count and displays it within a custom field on the user profile.
- Customize the Display: You can further customize the appearance and layout of the post count information by modifying the HTML and CSS used in the
display_user_post_count_in_profile()
function. For example, you can adjust the styling, add icons, or reorganize the layout to match the overall design of your website.
Enhancing the User Experience
By displaying the user's post count on their Ultimate Member profile, you're providing valuable information to your website visitors. This can help them better understand the author's contribution and engagement within your community.
Moreover, the combination of Ultimate Member and Co-Author Plus allows for additional enhancements to the user experience. For instance, you can:
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Showcase Top Contributors: Sort and display the users with the highest post counts, highlighting the most active and valuable contributors to your website.
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Implement Ranking Systems: Leverage the post count data to create engaging ranking systems or achievements, incentivizing users to participate and create more content.
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Integrate with Other Plugins: Explore integrations with other WordPress plugins, such as analytics tools or content management systems, to further enrich the data and provide a comprehensive understanding of your authors' performance.
By implementing this custom solution, you're not only improving the user experience but also gaining valuable insights into your website's content production and author engagement. This can ultimately lead to a more vibrant and active community, as well as better-informed decisions about your content strategy.
Remember, the key to a successful implementation is to strike a balance between providing useful information to your users and maintaining a clean and unobtrusive design. Continuously monitor user feedback and iterate on your approach to ensure the best possible experience for your website visitors.
Flowpoint.ai can help you identify all the technical errors that are impacting conversion rates on your website and directly generate recommendations to fix them, including issues with author and post count display.
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