1st WordPress directory plugin, that brings portal features to any block based theme

At the end of the summer, our new WordPress theme has been released. Those of you who have followed us for a while, know that we’re specializing in catalogue type of themes. We’ve had 5 portal WordPress themes in our portfolio, each with different features.

In total, we have 13 years of experience with portal websites. We’ve worked with business portal sites even before we started producing WordPress templates. We were among the first ones to use Google Map on the website. Over time, the search for information online increased enormously and we wanted to build a tool that would simplify the creation of websites that hold large amounts of collected and sorted information. 6 years ago we came up with the idea of making a WordPress portal theme. We built it and it turned out to be a great success.

Portal features viewed from a new perspective

One would say that everything has already been invented in the area of portal website. There’s nothing to improve and nowhere to go.

And that is not true.

WordPress itself is changing and so are the habits of users on the Internet. Therefore we bring great news: From now on, you can use catalogue functionality in new places in WordPress. Places you wouldn’t expect. What does that mean? It means that, just as an example, you can display map with listed items within a blog post. With this being possible, we’re creating new opportunities for content creation. This new functionality will help you get ahead of your competitors.

You don’t need a special WordPress portal theme to have this functionality. You can stay with the one you’re using right now. All you need is to install the new Citadela WordPress Directory plugin.

Citadela Directory WordPress Plugin

Finally, it’s time to introduce our newest leading product – Citadela WordPress Directory plugin. Our goal was to create a WordPress plugin that would fit perfectly with the newly-released Citadela WordPress theme while being fully compatible with other 3rd party themes.

You don’t need a portal WordPress theme any more in order to present items, categories or locations on your site. All you need is to meet a few basic criteria.

Citadela Directory WordPress plugin requirements and compatibility

Plugin works with all WordPress themes that are compatible with the latest version of WordPress 5.2. These are all themes built directly on WordPress block editor or themes that are supported by the Gutenberg editor.

For loyal customers

If you are our customer with an active Full or Lifetime Membership, you have immediate access to Citadela theme as well as Citadela WordPress Directory plugin with no additional costs.

For non-members and new customers

If you purchased a single product, your membership has expired or you don’t have any membership, you need to buy or renew your membership to get access to all Citadela WordPress products.

By activating our plugin you can extend your business website with new portal functionality. All you need to do is to comply with two simple conditions: first is compatibility of your WordPress theme with WP 5.2; and second is active Ait membership.

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Old portal themes Vs. Citadela Directory WordPress plugin: What’s the difference?

High quality of our existing portal themes has been proven by the fact that they’re the most popular themes among all Ait themes. They’re highly customizable with a great amount of useful features available through additional plugins. Also, there are lots of settings in their Page Builder allowing user to create tailor made website to fit the user’s needs.

All you need is 1 theme and 1 plugin

The first major difference between portal themes and Citadela Directory WordPress plugin is that the new plugin is much more convenient to work with. Plugin doesn’t need any special portal theme in order to work properly. All you need is a simple WordPress theme compatible with WP version 5.3. You don’t need to install any additional plugins either.

Layout variability

The layout of portal themes is more or less given, or better to say, predesigned. On the other hand, Citadela Directory WordPress plugin adds blocks that offer much better control over the layout of your website. You can add new blocks, move them around the page or delete blocks you don’t need any more (i.e. opening hours – simply remove the block they’re in.) Deleted blocks can be easily added back to your site in case you might need them in the future.

By inserting WordPress core blocks in between Directory blocks you can achieve your desired layout. For example, you can add a Spacer block or an Image blog to revive the page.

Simplified settings in Inspector

Another difference is that many settings previously found in Theme Options are now in specific blocks of the plugin. In other words, we’ve moved everything we could (or that made sense to be moved) from Theme Options to Block Toolbar and Inspector. That means faster page building and easier work with blocks for you. There’s no need to click elsewhere (to Theme Options) as it is the case with the old portal themes.

Portal functionality in Posts

In our portal themes, portal functionality can only be used on Pages. However, if you use Citadela theme (or another modern WP theme) and activate the Citadela WordPress Directory plugin, you will be able to add some of the directory blocks to Post. It opens up new possibilities to enrich your blog with portal functionality (like adding a map), which hasn’t been possible before.

Key Features: What makes Citadela Directory WordPress plugin so revolutionary?

Create better content in your blog with Directory features

As mentioned above, certain directory blocks can now be added to Posts. This way, Citadela WordPress Directory plugin bring in new, attractive type of content. How?

Imagine adding map to each post, with a search box to find items. And you can choose a different look and change the color of your map on each blog post. This is a great feature, especially for travel blogs or food blogs as each blog post might be about different location or branch.

You can also show items, categories or locations that will be pulled from your database according to the selected criteria and displayed in your blogpost. The following blocks will allow you to do this:

• Google Map Directory
• Directory Search Form
• Directory Item List
• Directory Category List
• Directory Location List

Portal blocks can be used for different types of websites

Pages and Posts with portal functionalities are very useful for a wide range of websites. As mentioned above, these can be travel blogs / food blogs where you can add own maps as well as pull out various items etc. You can present must-see places in your city, tourist’s attractions, cozy cafeterias, or provide other helpful tips for visitors.

However, you don’t need to have a blog in order to benefit from Directory blocks. They’re very handy for business websites too! With Citadela WordPress Directory plugin you can revitalize your business website through promoting your branches in different cities (suitable for companies, banks or chain of hotels). Or you can give your web visitors tips on lakes or water parks across the country.

Also, non-profit organizations can find an excellent use of portal functionality on their websites. When organizing various charity events or collections, you can use directory blocks to display events directly in a blog post or on the map.

The new way of monetization

When you enhance your site with portal functionality you can add more forms of monetization to your website or blog. Now you can present local businesses or tourist attractions more effectively, right on the map – by clicking on an item, the visitor will learn all the details they need or even get to the homepage of a particular business. You can put an affiliate link right there and start earning money.

Another way of monetization of your website is, for example, the possibility to insert a Custom HTML block into special pages, which are automatically added after installing the Citadela Directory plugin. Through this block you can add any embed code – let’s say an advertising banner that will earn money for you.

Compatibility with all themes

Citadela WordPress Directory plugin is our first plugin that you can use with other themes, not just our own Citadela WordPress theme. It works with Avada, DIVI or Twenty Nineteen templates. The only requirement is the compatibility of the selected theme with WordPress 5.2.

Extend your site with portal functionality using premium Citadela Directory plugin. Buy Full Membership and enjoy all our products in full extent!

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New features coming soon

In order to provide you with a better understanding of the portal functionalities, we’re preparing a series of blog posts to introduce each of them in detail and show you the best practices for using them on the website.

There are a lot of portal features in our old portal themes. The first version of our new plugin doesn’t include them all. However, we’re working intensively on the development of new directory features and blocks, which we’ll be gradually adding to Citadela WordPress Directory Plugin. That’s something to look forward to, it will be worth it!