Eddie Moya

<p>Adds several new templates to the template hierarchy:</p>
<ul>
<li>child-of-category-{slug}.php</li>
<li>category-{slug}.php</li>
<li>child-of-category-{id}.php</li>
<li>category-{term_id}.php</li>
<li>parent-category.php</li>
<li>child-category.php</li>
<li>category.php</li>
<li>archive.php</li>
<li>index.php</li>
</ul>
<p>This greatly extends the native hierarchy of theme templates with regard to<br />
categories. Theme developers can now easily create separate templates for<br />
categories with children, with parents, and children of specific parents.</p>
<p>Additionally makes available four (4) new conditional template tags:</p>
<ul>
<li>is_child_category();</li>
<li>is_parent_category();</li>
<li>is_child_of_category();</li>
<li>is_parent_of_category();</li>
</ul>
<p>These functions are available for use in any theme or plugin as along as this<br />
plugin is active. For detailed documentation of these functions see the<br />
‘Developer Notes: Conditional Tags’ section of this readme file.</p>
<p>Note: This plugin does not actually create parent-category.php, child-category.php<br />
or any of their related templates – rather it modifies the native <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy" rel="nofollow ugc">template hierarchy</a><br />
to allow theme developers to create specific templates for parent and child categories.</p>
<h3>Developer Notes: Template Hierarchy</h3>
<p>What follows are is the modified list of templates available for category pages.<br />
These expand upon the native <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy#Visual_Overview" rel="nofollow ugc">Template Hierarchy</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>child-of-category-{slug}.php</li>
<li>category-{slug}.php</li>
<li>child-of-category-{id}.php</li>
<li>category-{term_id}.php</li>
<li>parent-category.php</li>
<li>child-category.php</li>
<li>category.php</li>
<li>archive.php</li>
<li>index.php</li>
</ul>
<p>The parent and child templates only become available if the current category is<br />
a parent or a child respectively.</p>
<p>Note: This plugin does not actually create parent-category.php, child-category.php<br />
or any of their related templates – rather it modifies the native <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy" rel="nofollow ugc">template hierarchy</a><br />
to allow theme developers to create specific templates for parent and child categories.</p>
<h3>Developer Notes: Conditional Tags</h3>
<p>With this plugin comes two additional <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags" rel="nofollow ugc">conditional tags</a><br />
which behave much like any other in WordPress. In a similar fashion to how one<br />
might use <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/is_category" rel="nofollow ugc">is_category()</a> or <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/cat_is_ancestor_of" rel="nofollow ugc">cat_is_ancestory_of()</a>,<br />
developers may, with this plugin, use the following functions:</p>
<ul>
<li>is_parent_category()</li>
<li>is_child_category()</li>
<li>is_child_of_category()</li>
<li>is_parent_of_category()</li>
</ul>
<h4>Description (part 1)</h4>
<p>The <code>is_parent_category()</code> and <code>is_child_category()</code> conditional tags check if<br />
the page being displayed (or passed as an argument) is of a category that has<br />
children (e.g. is a parent category)  has a parent (is a child), respectively.<br />
They are boolean functions, meaning they return either TRUE or FALSE.</p>
<h4>Usage</h4>
<pre><code><?php is_parent_category( $category ); ?>
<?php is_child_category( $category ); ?>
</code></pre>
<h4>Parameters</h4>
<p>$category (integer/string/object) (optional) Category ID, Category Slug, Category Object. Default: Current Category</p>
<p>Note: Unlike is_category(), these functions will not take arrays of categories or category titles. I’ll work on that. Sorry.</p>
<h4>Return Values</h4>
<p>(boolean) True on success, false on failure.</p>
<h4>Examples</h4>
<pre><code>is_parent_category()
is_child_category()
// When any parent/child category archive page is being displayed

is_parent_category( '9' );
is_child_category( '9' );
// When the archive page for Category 9 is being displayed AND its a parent/child.

is_parent_category( 'blue-cheese' );
is_child_category( 'blue-cheese' );
// When the archive page for the Category with Category Slug "blue-cheese" is being displayed AND its a parent/child.
</code></pre>
<h4>Description (part 2)</h4>
<p>The <code>is_parent_of_category()</code> and <code>is_child_of_category()</code> conditional tags<br />
check if a given category has a parent or child relationship to the current<br />
category or a category passed as its second parameter. They are<br />
boolean functions, meaning they return either TRUE or FALSE.</p>
<h4>Usage</h4>
<pre><code><?php is_parent_of_category($child_category, $parent_category, $direct_descendant); ?>
<?php is_child_of_category($parent_category, $child_category, $direct_descendant);?>
</code></pre>
<h4>Parameters</h4>
<p>(object/string/integer) (required) Category of the would-be parent/child respectively.<br />
(object/string/integer) (optional) Category of the would-be child/parent respectfully. Default: Current Category<br />
(boolean) (optional) Whether or not the child should be a direct child of the parent. Default: True<br />
 *</p>
<h4>Return Values</h4>
<p>(boolean) If the $direct_descendant flag set to true, function returns true if the child is a direct descendant of the parent, if child is no direct it will return false. If $direct_descendant is set to false it will return the same results as cat_is_ancestor_of().</p>
<h4>Examples</h4>
<p>The following function will return True…</p>
<pre><code>is_child_of_category(0);
// When a top level category is being displayed, zero being the parent id value for top level categories (e.g. categories with no parents).

is_child_of_category(12);
// When the current category is a direct child of the category whose ID is '12'.

is_child_of_category('tv-shows')
// When the current category is a direct child of the category with the slug 'tv-shows' (can also be category ID's).

is_child_of_category('tv-shows', 'dexter');
// When the category with slug 'dexter' is a direct child of the category with the slug 'tv-shows' (can also be category ID's). This may come in handy when manipulating categories while not in a category template.

is_child_of_category('tv-shows', 'dexter', false);
// When the category with the slug 'dexter' is a descendant of the category 'tv-shows' at any level. (uses cat_is_ancestor_of())

is_child_of_category('tv-shows', null, false);
// When the current category is a descendant of the 'tv-shows' category at any level. (uses cat_is_ancestor_of())

is_parent_of_category(13);
// When the current category is the direct parent of a category with the ID '13'.

is_parent_of_category('dexter');
// When the current category is the direct parent of the category with the slug 'dexter'.
</code></pre>
<h3>Backward Compatibility</h3>
<p>The changes this plugin makes to the template hierarchy are significantly different<br />
from that in 1.0.5 and before. If you prefer to use that version please find it<br />
in the Older Versions in the WordPress plugins directory, it is tagged as 1.0.5.</p>
<p>While I do not actively support to QA the older version, I would gladly take a<br />
look at any future bugs that crop up and are reported.</p>


Category Template Hierarchy

Adds parent-category.php, child-category.php, and child-category-{slug|id} templates to the hierarchy and conditional tags to match.

martenmoolenaar

Zodan

<p>When we are developing themes, we quite often like to switch between the old (active) and the new (to develop) version of a theme. Sometimes without other people noticing.<br />
This plugin does exactly that.</p>
<h4>What does it do?</h4>
<p>It lets users with certain roles see another (than the currently active) theme, by<br />
* Selecting a theme from the list of installed themes<br />
* Selecting which user roles are permitted to switch themes and<br />
* Optionally, selecting user roles that can use a ‘switch theme/back’ button on the front-end</p>
<p>This plugin is under active development. Any feature requests are welcome at <a href="plugins@zodan.nl" rel="nofollow ugc">plugins@zodan.nl</a>!</p>


Zodan Theme Switcher


Z Theme Switcher has quickly become one of my favourite tools when working on new WordPress themes. It solves a very specific problem in a clean and effective way: being able to preview a different theme — just for yourself or selected user roles — without changing the live site for visitors.



What I really like:




It’s lightweight and easy to set up



You can control exactly who sees the development theme



The optional front-end switch button is handy during testing



It keeps everything safe and invisible to regular users




I often need to develop or fine-tune a new design while a site stays online. With this plugin, I can work directly on the live server, test things in context, or share previews with clients — all without setting up a separate staging environment.



It’s clear the developer understands real-world needs. The plugin is actively maintained and feels reliable. If you work with custom themes, this is definitely worth adding to your toolkit.


A simple but very useful tool for theme developers

Allow (certain) users(roles) to easily switch to another theme. Non-persistent, so regular users won't be bothered.

Category Template Hierarchy vs Zodan Theme Switcher