rob1n

<p>When you use the <code>[smarter-archives]</code> shortcode anywhere in a post or a page, it gets replaced by a listing of every year since you started posting, with a list of links to each month for that year. However, the plugin is smart enough to know if you didn’t create any content in any given month, and doesn’t make a link for that month. See the <strong>Screenshots</strong> section for an example of it in action.</p>
<p>See the <strong>Usage</strong> section for a complete list of the arguments the shortcode takes, and how you can use them to customize your archives listing.</p>
<p>The month names are <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/I18n_for_WordPress_Developers" rel="nofollow ugc">internationalized with the WordPress translation API</a>. A POT file is included, and if you want to translate please feel free to do so and <a href="https://github.com/robinadr/smarter-archives/pulls" rel="nofollow ugc">submit a new pull request</a> on GitHub. If you do not know how to use GitHub, you can also <a href="http://robinadr.com/contact" rel="nofollow ugc">contact me directly</a>. Here are the translations that have been done so far:</p>
<ul>
<li>Dutch (nl_NL)</li>
<li>French (fr_FR)</li>
<li>German (de_DE)</li>
<li>Italian (it_IT)</li>
<li>Spanish (es_ES)</li>
<li>Russian (ru_RU)</li>
</ul>
<p>The original concept for this plugin comes from a plugin by Justin Blanton.</p>
<h3>Usage</h3>
<p>The <code>[smarter-archives]</code> shortcode takes these arguments (default values included):</p>
<ul>
<li><code>mode</code> (default: <code>output</code>) — if it’s set to <code>output</code>, the plugin prints the listing. Set it to <code>false</code> to return the value</li>
<li><code>wrapper_class</code> (default: <code>smart-archives</code>) — class given to the tag wrapped around the listing (<code><div></code> by default)</li>
<li><code>wrapper_tag</code> (default: <code>div</code>) — tag wrapped around the listing</li>
<li><code>year_link_class</code> (default: <code>year-link</code>) — class given to each year links</li>
<li><code>year_tag</code> (default: <code>p</code>) — tag around each year group</li>
<li><code>year_class</code> (default: none) — class for the tag around each year group</li>
<li><code>after_year</code> (default: <code>:</code>) — value after the year and before the list of months</li>
<li><code>month_link_class</code> (default: <code>month-link</code>) — class given to each month link</li>
<li><code>month_tag</code> (default: <code>span</code>) — tag around each month</li>
<li><code>after_month</code> (default: <code>&nbsp;</code>) — spacer between months</li>
<li><code>empty_month_class</code> (default: <code>empty-month</code>) — class applied to empty months (can use this to gray them out)</li>
<li><code>order</code> (default: <code>DESC</code>) — order the years are shown in (<code>ASC</code> for ascending, <code>DESC</code> for descending)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Advanced Usage</strong></p>
<p>There is a function, <code>get_smarter_archives()</code>, that returns the raw array with the years, months, and post counts. You can use this for ultimate customization.</p>
<p><strong>Example Usage</strong></p>
<pre><code>[smarter-archives order="DESC" after_month="&bull;"]<h3>License</h3>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
</code></pre>
<p>A full version of the license is included with the plugin in <code>license.txt</code>.</p>


Smarter Archives

Easily navigate the yearly and monthly archives of your blog.

Syed Balkhi

Andrei Surdu

Dave

Noumaan Yaqoob

<p>The built-in WordPress archives widget is great for new blogs, but it doesn’t look as good for more established blogs like <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/" rel="friend nofollow ugc">WPBeginner</a>. Compact Archives displays the monthly archive of posts in a more compact form rather than the usual long list. It can be shown as a compact block suitable for the body of an <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-create-an-archives-page-in-wordpress/" rel="friend nofollow ugc">archives page</a>:</p>
<pre><code>2009: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2008: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2007: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
</code></pre>
<p>or in an even more compact form to fit a sidebar:</p>
<pre><code>2009: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2008: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2007: J F M A M J J A S O N D
</code></pre>
<p>or something in between:</p>
<pre><code>2009: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2008: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
2007: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
</code></pre>
<p>Compact Archive plugin works seamlessly with <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-use-the-new-wordpress-block-editor/" rel="friend nofollow ugc">Gutenberg Block Editor</a>, <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-disable-gutenberg-and-keep-the-classic-editor-in-wordpress/" rel="friend nofollow ugc">Classic Editor</a>, and WordPress widgets.</p>
<h4>What’s Next</h4>
<p>If you like this plugin, then consider checking out our other projects:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://optinmonster.com/" title="OptinMonster" rel="friend nofollow ugc">OptinMonster</a> – Get More Email Subscribers with the most popular conversion optimization plugin for WordPress.</li>
<li><a href="https://wpforms.com/" title="WPForms" rel="friend nofollow ugc">WPForms</a> – Best Drag & Drop WordPress Form plugin (over 1 million active installs).</li>
<li><a href="https://www.monsterinsights.com/" title="MonsterInsights" rel="friend nofollow ugc">MonsterInsights</a> – See the Stats that Matter and Grow Your Business with Confidence. Best Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.seedprod.com/" title="SeedProd" rel="friend nofollow ugc">SeedProd</a> – Jumpstart your website with the #1 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Plugin for WordPress.</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/" rel="ugc">WP Mail SMTP</a> – Improve email deliverability for your contact form with the most popular SMTP plugin for WordPress.</li>
</ul>
<p>Visit <a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/" title="WPBeginner" rel="friend nofollow ugc">WPBeginner</a> to learn from our <a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/category/wp-tutorials/" title="WordPress Tutorials" rel="friend nofollow ugc">WordPress Tutorials</a> and find out about other <a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/category/plugins/" title="Best WordPress Plugins" rel="friend nofollow ugc">best WordPress plugins</a>.</p>
<p>Like all plugins, Compact Archives is only available for self-hosted WordPress sites. So YES you need to <a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-properly-move-your-blog-from-wordpress-com-to-wordpress-org/" title="switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org" rel="nofollow ugc">switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org</a> in order to use this plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see the infographic on <a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/" title="Self Hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Self hosted WordPress.org vs Free WordPress.com</a></p>
<p>If you like this plugin, then please leave a good rating. For support just ask the questions here in the support forum.</p>
<h4>Credits</h4>
<p>This plugin was originally created by <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/robmarsh/" rel="nofollow ugc">Rob Marsh</a> and <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/aldolat/" rel="nofollow ugc">Aldolat</a> added a widget for it. WPBeginner adopted the plugin and took the responsibility of keeping it updated.</p>


Compact Archives

Displays a smart monthly archive of posts in a more compact form rather than the default long archive widget.

Smarter Archives vs Compact Archives