rob1n

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 Screenshots section for an example of it in action.
See the Usage section for a complete list of the arguments the shortcode takes, and how you can use them to customize your archives listing.
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:
<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>
The original concept for this plugin comes from a plugin by Justin Blanton.
<h3>Usage</h3>
The <code>[smarter-archives]</code> shortcode takes these arguments (default values included):
<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>
Advanced Usage
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.
Example Usage
<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>
A full version of the license is included with the plugin in <code>license.txt</code>.

Smarter Archives

Easily navigate the yearly and monthly archives of your blog.

Justin Watt

Xavi Ivars

Display monthly archives by year with links to each month in the following compact format:
<pre><code>2012
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2010
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
</code></pre>
Serves as a drop in replacement for <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_get_archives" rel="nofollow ugc"><code>wp_get_archives( array( 'type' => 'monthly' ) );</code></a>.
If you’re interested in contributing to the code behind this plugin, it’s also hosted on GitHub: 
https://github.com/justincwatt/wp-monthchunks

Monthchunks

Concisely display monthly archives by year with links to each month.

Smarter Archives vs Monthchunks