robertdrake

This plugin creates the [Category]] Shortcode. The code takes 5 arguments:
number: the number of posts to display. 0 equals the default number. -1 equals the total available.
Order: Ascending or Descending
Display Method: Full, Excerpt, Title
Order By: Author, Date, Title, Modified, Parent, ID, Rand, None, or Comment Count.
Category: this is the category id the category or categories that should be searched. Multiple categories can be specified in a comma separated list.
Example shortcode:
[Category number=’5′ method=’title’ order=’asc’ id=’11,45′ orderby=’comment_count’]
This will show 5 posts in ascending order of category 11 and 45 as arranged by comment_count and will display just the post titles.
<h3>Acknowledgements</h3>
A big thank you to g33kg0dd3ss for figuring out the 1.3 fix issue with the loop being broken. She contributed the patch fix.
<h3>Future Additions?</h3>
<ol>
<li>
Let plugin form allow for multiple category selections
</li>
<li>
Let plugin form allow for multiple orderby methods
</li>
<li>
In admin form restrict Number of posts to numbers only.
</li>
<li>
In admin form setup a copy and paste script
</li>
<li>
Accept a category name as a valid input
</li>
<li>
Internationalization of the plugin
</li>
<li>
Improve Formatting of Posts / Make formatting easier to edit./ Give user more control over formatting
</li>
<li>
Allow attachments to come through
</li>
<li>
Turn title links on or off.
</li>
<li>
Allow comments in output
</li>
<li>
Give user more control over the postformatting
</li>
<li>
Add ability to modify thumbnail options through shortcode
</li>
</ol>

Category Shortcode

Plugin adds shortcode capability for adding posts by category to a page.

Eric Teubert

<h4>Quick Start</h4>
The plugin assumes your articles are well categorized. 
To display the archive, use the shortcode anywhere in a page or article.
<pre><code>[archivist category="kitten"]
[archivist tag="kitten"]
</code></pre>
Replace “kitten” with your category/tag. Watch out, we need the slug here. 
That’s the name without capital letters and spaces.
<h4>Placeholders</h4>
You can specify a custom template to display the archive elements. 
Go to <code>Settings > Archivist</code> for plugin preferences. 
Use HTML and any of the following template placeholders.
<ul>
<li><code>%TITLE%</code> – The post title.</li>
<li><code>%PERMALINK%</code> – The post permalink.</li>
<li><code>%AUTHOR%</code> – The post author.</li>
<li><code>%CATEGORIES%</code> – The post categories as unordered list.</li>
<li><code>%CATEGORIES|...%</code> – The post categories with a custom separator. Example: <code>%CATEGORIES|, %</code></li>
<li><code>%TAGS%</code> – The post tags with default separator.</li>
<li><code>%TAGS|...%</code> – The post tags with a custom separator. Example: <code>%TAGS|, %</code></li>
<li><code>%EXCERPT%</code> – The post excerpt.</li>
<li><code>%POST_META|...%</code> – Any post meta. Example: <code>%POST_META|duration%</code>.</li>
<li><code>%POST_META|...|...%</code> – Any post meta list, separated by custom HTML. Example: <code>%POST_META|guest| %</code></li>
<li><code>%DATE%</code> – The post date with default format.</li>
<li><code>%DATE|...%</code> – The post date with custom format. Example: <code>%DATE|Y/m/d%</code></li>
<li><code>%POST_THUMBNAIL|...x...%</code> – The post thumbnail with certain dimensions. Example: <code>%POST_THUMBNAIL|75x75%</code></li>
<li><code>%COMMENTS%</code> – The post comment count.</li>
<li><code>%ACF|field_name%</code> – Display <a href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com" rel="nofollow ugc">ACF</a> field. Uses the <a href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/get_field/" rel="nofollow ugc"><code>get_field()</code></a> function.</li>
</ul>
You can add your own placeholders:
<pre><code>add_filter( 'archivist_template_render', function( $template, $post ) {
 // modify $template
 return $template;
}, 10, 2 );
</code></pre>
<h4>Pagination</h4>
If you have many entries, you may prefer to paginate. The archivist comes with asynchronous pagination built-in. Use the <code>pagination</code> parameter in the shortcode to activate it. Its value is the amount of items you want to display per page.
<pre><code>[archivist category="kitten" pagination="10"]
</code></pre>
Pagination controls are displayed both on top and at the bottom of the archive. You can customize this by setting <code>controls</code> to <code>top</code> or <code>bottom</code>.
<pre><code>[archivist category="kitten" pagination="10" controls="top"]
</code></pre>
<h4>Filter by Query</h4>
Are you feeling bold? Is filtering by category or archive not satisfying you? Read on, I’ve got a challenge for you. 
WordPress uses a certain query syntax to define the so called loop which is used to display the archive. 
You can find the complete documentation at https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query 
and you can take advantage of every single parameter or combination of parameters listed there. Some examples:
<pre><code>[archivist query="year=1984&author_name=gorwell"]
</code></pre>
Lists all entries from the year <code>1984</code> by the author with <code>user_nicename</code> <code>gorwell</code>.
<pre><code>[archivist query="tag=straw+mask&post_status=private&orderby=comment_count&order=DESC"]
</code></pre>
Lists all entries marked with post status <code>private</code> which are tagged with both <code>straw</code> and <code>mask</code>, ordered by the amount of comments in a descending order.
<h4>Using multiple Templates</h4>
When you install the plugin, there is just one templated called “default”. 
If you don’t specify a specific template in the shortcode, this one will be used. 
Therefore the following two shortcodes yield identical results.
<pre><code>[archivist category="kitten"]
[archivist category="kitten" template="default"]
</code></pre>
You can add as many templates as you like. Think twice before deleting one. If it’s still in use, the archive can’t be displayed.

Archivist – Custom Archive Templates

Shortcode Plugin to display an archive by category, tag or custom query. Customizable via HTML templates.

Category Shortcode vs Archivist – Custom Archive Templates