The introduction of Post Formats in WordPress 3.1 allowed for different showcasing a a post’s content based on its format. Since this is a theme feature, how each theme handles the showcasing of post formats’ content varies between theme. In this tutorial we will cover in detail how Enlightenment Theme handles each post format.
This tutorial is part of the series “Enlightenment Theme Documentation“. Enlightenment is a powerful theme that can help you create advanced page layouts for your website, but may require a bit of mastering for beginners. Make sure to read all of the theme’s documentation tutorials to get the most out of this theme.
For each post you can select from one of the WordPress predefined post formats: Standard, Aside, Gallery, Link, Image, Quote, Status, Video, Audio and Chat. Each post format is styled differently on archive pages but in single posts they all fall back to the same format.
Some posts format are styled differently for leading posts and teaser posts when the grid loop is active. Some post formats are displayed without the title. These posts can still be accessed through their permalink on the post’s publish date.
In the following we will present how each post format is styled on archive pages:
Aside Post Formats
Post with the “Aside” format are displayed without title and their content in a lighter and larger font size. They are intended to emphasize short ideas that don’t require a title or long reader engagement:
Gallery Post Formats
For posts with the “Gallery” format, the first [gallery] shortcode is extracted and displayed in place of the post’s content followed by the excerpt:
Link Post Formats
The posts with “Link” format get their title’s permalink replaced with the first link found in the post content. They are visually distinguishable by having an “→” appended to their title. This post format displays the post’s excerpt instead of content for leading posts:
Image Post Formats
Posts with the “Image” format change the link in the feature image from the post’s permalink to the image and the post’s excerpt will be displayed instead of the content. If the post lacks a featured image the first image in the post’s content will be used instead. If the Image Lightbox is enabled that link will open the image in a lightbox:
Quote Post Formats
For posts with “Quote” format, neither title, content or excerpt are displayed. Instead the first <blockquote> tag is extracted from the post’s content and displayed on an orange background:
Status Post Formats
Posts with the “Status” format are displayed with no title and the author’s avatar floated to the left of the content. This post format is intended to replace Twitter’s 140 character short posts so the post’s content shouldn’t be too long:
Video Post Formats
For posts with the “Video” format, the first [video] shortcode is extracted and displayed in place of the post’s content followed by the excerpt. If no such shortcode is available the first embedded media is used instead:
Audio Post Formats
Posts with the “Audio” format, extract the first [audio] shortcode and displays it in place of the post’s content followed by the excerpt. If no such shortcode is available the first embedded media is used instead. Teaser posts also display the post’s featured image:
Chat Post Formats
The content of posts with “Chat” format has each paragraph styled as a speech bubble. Odd and even paragraphs are aligned and colored differently to differentiate between the person speaking:
Customizing Post Formats
The formats presented here cover the theme’s default handling. Some of the output a post formats can be customized for both leading and teaser posts through the Post Formats Template Editor and individual posts can be customized using the Page Builder.
Conclusion
Post formats are a great way to showcase different types of content. With the theme’s support for post formats and the possibility to style archive pages with the Masonry Grid you can turn your blog into a powerful multimedia website.
Please let us know in the comments section of any feedback you have regarding the theme’s handling of post formats and remember to read our other tutorials from Enlightenment Theme Documentation series.
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