Advanced Custom Fields is my go to WordPress plugin for WordPress customization. There are quite a few plugins that can help you develop custom content for WordPress, but in my opinion this plugin stands far ahead of the pack. It is feature rich, the UI is beautiful, it is stable and easy to work with, and it supports a plethora of addons to work with numerous other common plugins. It is the very best plugin for a WordPress site that needs to go beyond simply publishing pages and managing comments. It’s quite simply a powerhouse for customizing content.
Feature Rich
When you want to create a custom post type for WordPress, you typically have to get your developer to code it and in the past, you would need to manually code any custom content and media fields yourself. This is obviously a no go when you are not a web developer. But with ACF you can create rich content quickly without ever having to write a single line of code. I always recommend creating custom post types with the custom post types plugin (which is another solid plugin for non-coding WordPress admins). Once your new post type is created, now what? It’s just like the other default post and page types WordPress provides. That is where ACF steps in and flexes its muscles.
ACF works perfectly with new custom post types to enable a wide variety of customizations. Need additional post logic for your custom post type? Use ACF fields for checkboxes, select menus, and true/false boolean fields. Need to pack your post type with downloads or media? Try the File, Gallery, or oEmbed fields. Creating a more robust, user-centric engagement type of post? Try the WYSIWYG Editor to give them a pleasant media creation experience.
There are color picker fields, date picker fields, Google Map support, fields that can contain multiple file uploads, fields that can create relationships to other posts, custom taxonomy fields, and custom link fields. There is so much you can do with ACF; the sky is the limit. If you can dream up a content type, ACF will help you build it.
Rock Solid Support
The developers of the ACF plugin have extensive documentation to get your custom post type polished and ready. Their How To section includes how to create forms with ACF, how to get data from other posts, how to debug your configuration, how to create advanced fields, multilingual support, moving fields around (changing the admin layout), and many more. There is a FAQ section for common requests and community forums where you can discuss and ask questions from other ACF users. Like most of the plugins Watermelon Web Works recommends, this plugin boasts a big community and responsive developer support.
If you are just scratching the surface of how to use code to enhance your WordPress site, ACF has provided code snippets to get you started. They teach you how to work with fields, grabbing data from other fields, working with many fields at once, working with images and video, and the list goes on and on. When you work with ACF you don’t have to hunt all over the internet to find what you need. They make customer support a priority. All plugin developers should aspire to this level of perfection!
Addons for Everything
Most WordPress sites use a few solid plugins to get off the ground quickly, and ACF provides its own set of unique and community created addons to get your site developed faster. Addons like Repeater Fields make managing lots of files and media types simple and organized. The Gallery addon makes custom image galleries easy to deploy. Flexible Content addon lets you create designs for your layouts easily and quickly. Community members have stepped up to provide additional features like Date and Time pickers, accordian content tabs, form validation, navigation menus and more. There are hundreds of community addons, take a look! Someone may have developed the perfect ACF addon for your site already!
ACF fields is the plugin to use to configure your WordPress site for whatever web content you want to deliver. Whether you are a new WordPress user or a seasoned pro, this plugin is a no-brainer addition to your WordPress toolkit. Install this plugin and start brainstorming how you can provide an amazing user experience for your visitors!