You would often be wondering that what possible can be done in order to have different icons on board for different categories instead of just regular WordPress categories. The thing may even confused you at par, but when in actual will tell you that having an icon for WordPress category is a real simple process, then I am sure that any of you who would be real interested would love to have that change in categories as soon as possible. There are two ways by which you can achieve this – either by opting for code for your theme or by using a plugin.
Using Short Code
You can use the following code in your WordPress theme at the place where you want the icon to show off, replacing the traditional way which you have been seeing since from the time you started with WordPress. Make sure the outputs category images have to be named after cat_ID with the alt attribute set to cat_name plus you can also use any of other member variables instead.
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<?php foreach((get_the_category()) as $category) { echo '<img src="http://example.com/images/' . $category->cat_ID . '.jpg" alt="' . $category->cat_name . '" />'; } ?> |
Source: WordPress Codex
Using “Category Icons” plugin
The plugin lets you associate a unique icon with each of your WordPress categories in order. The icons you use will make your category pages better than other category pages already out there. The plugin comes with pre-configuration, means you will get everything configurable from the settings menu. You can use the icons on your index page, post pages as well as on sidebar.
Key Features:
- displays one or more icons in front of your post title or wherever you want
- displays icons in the sidebar, with or without the category name, with or without the help of the widget
- includes a widget. You can use multiple Category Icons widgets, include or exclude some categories, display only icons (i.e. without the category name)…
- you can make rollover with the icons in the sidebar if you follow this tutorial
- is able to display category icons in your RSS
- will either show you where to place the little code needed (template tag) in your themes
- generates pure html code of the img tag, so it gives you the freedom of doing what you want to with the icons (customizing via CSS or not)
- generates valid XHTML (and Strict XHTML)
- can prioritize the icons display (by Oliver Weichhold)
- is translated in more than 20 languages (all the .po files are included, in case you want to update your language).
- is compatible with these powerful plugins : My Category Order, qTranslate, Recent Posts, SEO Friendly Images, Similar Posts
- is compatible with WordPress Network
Photo Credit: Flickr/Andy Melton