Customized fields are the usual technique for assigning customized metadata to posts and pages in WordPress, and for greater than 10 years, Superior Customized Fields has been the undisputed main resolution for builders and content material creators who need simplicity and adaptability. Options like discipline teams, conditional logic, the Repeater discipline, Relationship fields, and extra lately customized ACF Blocks, have made the plugin a useful device for a lot of freelancers and companies. Greater than 4.5 million web sites now use ACF to increase WordPress. 

At the moment, the subsequent technology of ACF rolls out. With model 6.1, you cannot solely use the plugin so as to add customized fields, but additionally add and configure customized publish varieties and customized taxonomies.

What This Means

When extending WordPress, there’s a frequent construction for a way information is modeled for an internet site or software. It usually has three items and appears one thing just like the desk under, displaying how issues are in WordPress core and the way issues look when people prolong WordPress:

The publish varieties, metadata, and taxonomies for examples 1 and a couple of are included out-of-the-box in WordPress. In the event you’ve ever written a weblog publish in WordPress, these can be acquainted to you. Examples 3 and 4 present customized implementations the place a developer extends WordPress to facilitate these for the web site or software they’re constructing. Examples being for “guide evaluate” and “automotive itemizing” web sites.

Up till right this moment, Superior Customized Fields dealt with (fairly brilliantly, would possibly I add) solely metadata. With model 6.1, it now handles the complete three layers. These three layers of configuration are sometimes referred to as content material modeling and are one thing so broadly applied throughout websites constructed with ACF that it made sense to deliver these options into the core plugin.

Bringing these options collectively implies that web site builders can now reduce the variety of plugins they should depend on when scaffolding out their content material mannequin. 

A Boon to Headless WordPress Builders

One other very thrilling issue of those new options is the behind-the-scenes API enhancements. Builders love ACF for its stunning steadiness between flexibility and construction and infrequently use it for headless WordPress purposes. 

We steadily see websites hosted with Atlas utilizing ACF as their content material modeling device of alternative. With these updates, headless WordPress builders can take ACF even additional because the standardized basis for his or her headless tasks.

Higher In-App Characteristic Discovery

Too usually in software program, customers don’t know a characteristic exists till they want it and go searching for it. This may generally imply our customers miss out on worth. Our latest “7 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With ACF” session at DE{CODE} was a testomony to this in ACF. We showcased a roster of options, ideas, and methods that highlighted unrealized worth to many long-term ACF customers. 

With 6.1 we’re beginning to introduce enhancements to the UI that encourage native and contextual discovery. For example, as a person selects a discipline kind they’ll optionally “browse fields”, opening a modal with much more context than the straightforward drop-down checklist gives.

Free as in Beer

Now it’s possible you’ll assume that these new options are solely accessible in ACF PRO. Nicely, you’d be incorrect! Registering customized taxonomies and publish varieties might be finished in each the free and PRO variations of ACF. 

At WP Engine, we’re dedicated to enabling as broad an viewers of WordPress professionals as attainable to construct unbelievable websites. We’re extremely excited to deliver the worth of those new options to all ACF customers, for each conventional and headless tasks.

Stage up Your ACF Skillz

ACF is central to the way in which so many construct with WordPress and our developer advocate workforce is investing an increasing number of into occasions and content material to allow you to succeed. In the event you’re trying to develop as a WordPress skilled, be sure to take a look at our Builders community. Loads of ACF goodness is ready there for you!