Mastering the Advanced Views Plugin for WordPress
Mastering the Advanced Views Plugin for WordPress
Display Custom Post Types and Products or Blog Posts in WordPress with Advanced Views—perfect for ACF, MetaBox, Pods, and WooCommerce.
In the world of WordPress, the Advanced Views plugin stands out as a versatile and developer-friendly tool for crafting dynamic content displays. Whether you’re managing a portfolio, displaying products, or organising a complex layout of posts, Advanced Views offers a structured, flexible way to present your content—without custom coding.
This article explores the key features of the plugin, walks through real-world use cases, and introduces powerful Pro functionality like repeater fields, relationship support, reusable components, and Git-friendly layout management.
Introduction
The Advanced Views plugin allows WordPress users to build and manage custom content layouts by defining exactly what data to show (a “Layout”) and how it should query the posts (a “Post Selection”). Unlike many visual builders that tightly couple structure and design, Advanced Views separates content logic from layout, making it ideal for developers and content managers alike.
Key Features of Advanced Views
Unified Field Support
Advanced Views seamlessly integrates with a wide variety of field plugins and native WordPress data. Supported sources include:
- ACF (Advanced Custom Fields)
- MetaBox
- Pods
- Native WordPress fields (title, featured image, excerpt, etc)
- WooCommerce product fields
This means you can assign fields from any combination of these sources into one Layout. For example, you could show a portfolio item with its title (native), project deadline (MetaBox), and related client (ACF relationship field) all in one place.
Layouts and Post Selection Architecture
Advanced Views uses a two-part structure:
- A Layout defines the HTML layout and design rules for that data.
- A Post Selection defines the data source and query logic.
This allows you to reuse the same Layout across multiple Post Selections, or use the same Post Selection display across different data sets. It’s a modular approach that supports flexible, maintainable design workflows.
Advanced Query Controls
Layouts can be fine-tuned to fetch exactly the data you need. Available query options include:
- Post types
- Categories, tags, and custom taxonomies
- Meta field values
- Authors
- Dates and date ranges
- Contextual filters (e.g. show posts from the current archive)
You can also create dynamic Layouts like “Upcoming Events”, “Features Products”, or “Posts by Logged-In User”.
Pro Features
The Pro version of Advanced Views significantly extends its capabilities with advanced layout and data handling tools.
Repeater Field Support
With Pro, you can loop through any repeater fields (from ACF, MetaBox, or Pods) and create structured layouts from repeated data, such as:
- Day-by-day itinerary breakdowns
- Product specification tables
- FAQs or testimonials
Each row in the repeater can be rendered with its own design using the Design settings in Post Selections.
Relationship and Post Object Fields
Pro also supports relationship fields, user fields, and post object fields, enabling nested content displays. (You can even select a Field Layout to display more detailed information from another Layout) For example:
- Display related team members on a project page
- Show blog posts written by a specific author (linked via a custom field)
- Embed linked testimonials on service pages
You can access and display fields from related posts directly in your post selections or layouts.
Reusable Components
Reusable components are small pieces of content (like a star rating block or author badge) that you can save and reuse across multiple Layouts and Post Selections. Edit the component once, and it updates everywhere—ideal for design consistency and rapid development.
Git & JSON Export/Import
For developers and agencies, Advanced Views Pro supports layout export/import via JSON. This allows you to:
- Manage Layouts and Post Selections in version control
- Move templates between staging and production environments
- Share standardised sections across projects
It’s a developer-friendly approach that brings modern workflow practices to WordPress templating.
Pagination & AJAX
With Pro, you can add:
- Traditional and Ajax pagination
- Load More buttons
- Infinity scroll
Each pagination method can be customised via the plugin’s interface and integrated into your theme’s structure without extra coding.
Responsive Rules
Set conditional display rules based on screen size to define how many columns or items appear on desktop, tablet, or mobile. These responsive rules are set inside the Design Settings tab of each Post Selection.
Lightweight and Performance-Optimised
Advanced Views only loads styles and scripts on pages where its shortcodes appear, and its query structure is highly efficient. Combined with caching plugins, it supports fast-loading content even on large websites.
Getting Started
Installation
- In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add New.
- Search for “Advanced Views”.
- Click “Install Now” and then “Activate”.
To access Pro features, you’ll need to download and install the Advanced Views Pro plugin from the official site after purchasing a license.
Initial Configuration
Once installed:
- Navigate to Advanced Views > Settings.
- (Optional) Set your defaults and or turn in developer mode.
- Explore the Layout and Post Selection creation interface.
Practical Use Cases
Here are a few real-world examples of how Advanced Views can be used:
Portfolio Display
- Goal: Showcase projects with thumbnails, descriptions, and custom fields like status or technology used.
- Steps:
- Create a custom post type “Projects”.
- Add fields with ACF or Pods (e.g. project date, client, technologies).
- Build a Layout for the Projects CPT and a responsive Post Selection item.
- Use the Post Selection shortcode on your Portfolio page.
- Benefit: Elegant project grid with filtering, pagination, and custom styles.
Event Listings
- Goal: Display upcoming events while hiding past events.
- Steps:
- Create a custom post type “Events” with custom date fields.
- Create a Layout with a date filter (e.g. start date > today).
- Build a Post Selection styled for grid or list design.
- Use two Post Selections: one for upcoming events, one for past (filtered differently).
- Benefit: Keep your events section clean and relevant for users.
Blog Archive with Infinite Scroll
- Goal: Replace the default archive layout with a modern, styled list.
- Steps:
- Create a Layout for posts.
- Add a Post Selection and enable pagination (Pro) (infinite scroll or AJAX load more).
- Add categories and author fields to the design for better context.
- Benefit: Cleaner user experience and more control over the layout.
WooCommerce Product Grid
- Goal: Build a custom shop page showing extra product fields.
- Steps:
- Create a Layout for WooCommerce products.
- Use ACF or Pods to add extra product metadata (e.g. material, weight, shipping class).
- Creat a Post Selection with product image, title, price, and custom fields.
- Add a filter for categories or price range.
- Benefit: Enhance the browsing experience with better product detail display.
Tips for Maximising Advanced Views
- Use a single Layout across multiple Post Selections to avoid redundant queries.
- Group Post Selections and Layouts logically with naming conventions.
- Cache your pages and use a performance plugin to get the best results.
- Use reusable components for consistent UI elements like buttons or footers.
- Export your layouts and post selections regularly for backup or collaboration.
Conclusion
The Advanced Views plugin is a powerful tool for building structured, reusable content layouts in WordPress. It gives you complete control over what data to display and how it’s styled, without having to write foundational , HTML or PHP or create template files.
Whether you’re a developer building complex data displays or a site owner wanting clean and dynamic layouts, Advanced Views offers both the flexibility and performance you need.
And this is just the surface. I highly recommend starting with the free version available on WordPress.org. Once you’ve experienced the power of Layouts and Post Selections, upgrading to Advanced Views Pro unlocks repeater fields, relationship displays, responsive rules injector, and even Git-compatible export/import for development teams.
