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If you have ever embedded Facebook or Instagram content in WordPress using the default oEmbed or Embed blocks feature, then you need to implement this fix immediately.
Starting October 24th, you will no longer be able to automatically embed Facebook and Instagram content in WordPress using the default methods due to a breaking change in the Facebook API.
But don’t worry, in this article, we will show you how to fix the Facebook and Instagram embed issue in WordPress, so your content embeds keep working, and you never lose any features.
Why will the Facebook & Instagram Embeds Stop Working?
That’s because Facebook recently announced that all oEmbed requests for Facebook and Instagram content will be deprecated on October 24th, 2020.
This API is fundamental to both Gutenberg and the WordPress Classic editor’s default embed feature that lets you easily embed videos, pictures, updates, and other content from Facebook and Instagram.
Instead, Facebook now requires each developer to register an app, and use a client token when getting data from their Graph API for oEmbed content.
This is not scalable for WordPress core team to implement in the WordPress project, so a decision has been made to remove Facebook and Instagram embed feature from WordPress core in favor of letting WordPress plugins solve the issue for users (core ticket #50861).
So basically if you have any Facebook embeds in your WordPress content, then they will break and look like this after October 24th:
If you have any Instagram embeds in your WordPress content, they will break and look like this after October 24th:
How to Fix the Facebook & Instagram oEmbed Issue (Restore Default Features)
These plugins are developed by our team at Awesome Motive, and they’re used by over 1.2 million users.
When we heard about this upcoming breaking change, we realized that we were in the best position to solve the problem for our users and the larger WordPress community.
Since Smash Balloon has to register an API key to create custom feeds for both Facebook and Instagram, we didn’t need any additional authentication to restore this functionality.
If you’re already using our Smash Balloon feed plugin, then you simply need to upgrade to the latest version, and the default oEmbed features will continue to work without any issues.
If you run into any troubles, or if you’re a new user who wants to restore the oEmbed functionality, then simply go to the oEmbed navigation menu under Smash Ballon’s Facebook / Instagram feed plugin, and then click on the Connect button.
The best part about using the Smash Balloon plugins is that you will NOT need to go through a complicated process of creating your own app.
We made the process easy for beginners, and as a bonus, you’ll now have all the powerful custom feed features of the Smash Ballon Instagram and Facebook feed plugins.
Alternate Method: Restore Default Facebook / Instagram oEmbed Features
If you’re a developer and would prefer to go through the complex process of registering a Facebook app for each client site to restore this functionality, then you can use the oEmbed Plus plugin.
It’s a new plugin created by one of the volunteer developers to restore the default oEmbed for Facebook and Instagram.
Act Fast and Spread the Word
There are only 12 days left before the Facebook and Instagram embeds in WordPress will stop working.
If you have ever embedded content from Facebook or Instagram on your site using the default embed features, then you need to act fast.
If you’re new in your WordPress journey and just started a blog, then we also recommend that you install the above plugins, so you have access to the easy embed blocks for Facebook and Instagram.
Last but not least, we need your help in spreading the word, so more people can fix this issue on their website before things start breaking. Please share this article in your network and help us spread the word.
We hope this article helped you learn how to fix the Facebook and Instagram oEmbed issue in WordPress. You may also want to see our expert pick of the must have WordPress plugins, and our guide on how to get a virtual business phone number app for your website.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Do you want to create custom taxonomies in WordPress?
By default, WordPress allows you to organize your content with categories and tags. But with custom taxonomies, you can further customize the way you sort your content.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily create custom taxonomies in WordPress with or without using a plugin.
While creating custom taxonomies is powerful, there’s a lot to cover. To help you set this up properly, we have created an easy table of content below:
A WordPress taxonomy is a way to organize groups of posts and custom post types. The word taxonomy comes from the biological classification method called Linnaean taxonomy.
By default, WordPress comes with two taxonomies called categories and tags. You can use them to organize your blog posts.
However, if you are using a custom post type, then categories and tags may not look suitable for all content types.
For instance, you can create a custom post type called ‘Books’ and sort it using a custom taxonomy called ‘topics’.
You can add topic terms like Adventure, Romance, Horror, and other book topics you want. This would allow you, and your readers to easily sort books by each topic.
Taxonomies can also be hierarchical, meaning that you can have main topics like Fiction and Nonfiction. Then you’d have subtopics under each category.
For example, Fiction would have Adventure, Romance, and Horror as sub-topics.
Now that you know what a custom taxonomy is, let’s learn how to create custom taxonomies in WordPress.
How to Create Custom Taxonomies in WordPress
We will use two methods to create custom taxonomies. First, we’ll use a plugin to create custom taxonomies.
For the second method, we’ll show you the code method, and how to use it to create your custom taxonomies without using a plugin.
Create Custom Taxonomies In WordPress (Video Tutorial)
If you prefer written instructions, then continue reading.
Creating Custom Taxonomies With A Plugin (The Easy Way)
In this tutorial, we’ve already created a custom post type and called it ‘Books.’ So make sure you have a custom post type created before you begin creating your taxonomies.
Next, go to CPT UI » Add/Edit Taxonomies menu item in the WordPress admin area to create your first taxonomy.
On this screen, you will need to do the following:
Create your taxonomy slug (this will go in your URL)
Create the plural label
Create the singular label
Auto-populate labels
Your first step is to create a slug for the taxonomy. This slug is used in the URL and in WordPress search queries.
This can only contain letters and numbers, and it will automatically be converted to lowercase letters.
Next, you will fill in the plural and singular names for your custom taxonomy.
From there, you have the option to click on the link ‘Populate additional labels based on chosen labels’. If you do this, then the plugin will auto-fill in the rest of the label fields for you.
Now, scroll down to the ‘Additional Labels’ section. In this area, you can provide a description of your post type.
These labels are used in your WordPress dashboard when you’re editing and managing content for that particular custom taxonomy.
Next up, we have the settings option. In this area, you can set up different attributes for each taxonomy you create. Each option has a description detailing what it does.
In the screenshot above, you’ll see we chose to make this taxonomy hierarchical. This means our taxonomy ‘Subjects’ can have sub-topics. For instance, a subject called Fiction can have sub-topics like Fantasy, Thriller, Mystery, and more.
There are many other settings further down your screen in your WordPress dashboard, but you can leave them as-is for this tutorial.
You can now click on the ‘Add Taxonomy’ button at the bottom to save your custom taxonomy.
After that, go ahead and edit the post type associated with this taxonomy in the WordPress content editor to start using it.
Creating Custom Taxonomies Manually (with code)
This method requires you to add code to your WordPress website. If you have not done it before, then we recommend reading our guide on how to easily add code snippets in WordPress.
1. Creating a Hierarchical Taxonomy
Let’s start with a hierarchical taxonomy that works like categories and can have parent and child terms.
Add the following code in your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin (recommended) to create a hierarchical custom taxonomy like categories:
//hook into the init action and call create_book_taxonomies when it fires
add_action( 'init', 'create_subjects_hierarchical_taxonomy', 0 );
//create a custom taxonomy name it subjects for your posts
function create_subjects_hierarchical_taxonomy() {
// Add new taxonomy, make it hierarchical like categories
//first do the translations part for GUI
$labels = array(
'name' => _x( 'Subjects', 'taxonomy general name' ),
'singular_name' => _x( 'Subject', 'taxonomy singular name' ),
'search_items' => __( 'Search Subjects' ),
'all_items' => __( 'All Subjects' ),
'parent_item' => __( 'Parent Subject' ),
'parent_item_colon' => __( 'Parent Subject:' ),
'edit_item' => __( 'Edit Subject' ),
'update_item' => __( 'Update Subject' ),
'add_new_item' => __( 'Add New Subject' ),
'new_item_name' => __( 'New Subject Name' ),
'menu_name' => __( 'Subjects' ),
);
// Now register the taxonomy
register_taxonomy('subjects',array('books'), array(
'hierarchical' => true,
'labels' => $labels,
'show_ui' => true,
'show_in_rest' => true,
'show_admin_column' => true,
'query_var' => true,
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'subject' ),
));
}
Don’t forget to replace the taxonomy name and labels with your own taxonomy labels. You will also notice that this taxonomy is associated with the Books post type, you’ll need to change that to whatever post type you want to use it with.
2. Creating a Non-hierarchical Taxonomy
To create a non-hierarchical custom taxonomy like Tags, add this code in your theme’s functions.php or in a site-specific plugin:
//hook into the init action and call create_topics_nonhierarchical_taxonomy when it fires
add_action( 'init', 'create_topics_nonhierarchical_taxonomy', 0 );
function create_topics_nonhierarchical_taxonomy() {
// Labels part for the GUI
$labels = array(
'name' => _x( 'Topics', 'taxonomy general name' ),
'singular_name' => _x( 'Topic', 'taxonomy singular name' ),
'search_items' => __( 'Search Topics' ),
'popular_items' => __( 'Popular Topics' ),
'all_items' => __( 'All Topics' ),
'parent_item' => null,
'parent_item_colon' => null,
'edit_item' => __( 'Edit Topic' ),
'update_item' => __( 'Update Topic' ),
'add_new_item' => __( 'Add New Topic' ),
'new_item_name' => __( 'New Topic Name' ),
'separate_items_with_commas' => __( 'Separate topics with commas' ),
'add_or_remove_items' => __( 'Add or remove topics' ),
'choose_from_most_used' => __( 'Choose from the most used topics' ),
'menu_name' => __( 'Topics' ),
);
// Now register the non-hierarchical taxonomy like tag
register_taxonomy('topics','books',array(
'hierarchical' => false,
'labels' => $labels,
'show_ui' => true,
'show_in_rest' => true,
'show_admin_column' => true,
'update_count_callback' => '_update_post_term_count',
'query_var' => true,
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'topic' ),
));
}
Notice the difference between the 2 codes. Value for hierarchical argument is true for category-like taxonomy and false for tags-like taxonomies.
Also, in the labels array for non-hierarchical tags-like taxonomy, we have added null for parent_item and parent_item_colon arguments which means that nothing will be shown in the UI to create parent item.
Displaying Custom Taxonomies
Now that we have created custom taxonomies and have added a few terms, your WordPress theme will still not display them.
In order to display them, you’ll need to add some code to your WordPress theme or child theme.
This code will need to be added in templates files where you want to display the terms.
Usually, it is single.php, content.php, or one of the files inside the template-parts folder in your WordPress theme. To figure out which file you need to edit, see our guide to WordPress template hierarchy for details.
You will need to add the following code where you want to display the terms.
You can add it in other files as well such as archive.php, index.php, and anywhere else you want to display the taxonomy.
By default your custom taxonomies use the archive.php template to display posts. However, you can create a custom archive display for them by creating taxonomy-{taxonomy-slug}.php.
Adding Taxonomies For Custom Posts
Now that you know how to create custom taxonomies, let’s put them to use with an example.
We’re going to create a taxonomy and call it Non-fiction.
Since we have a custom post type named ‘Books,’ it’s similar to how you’d create a regular blog post.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Books » Subjects to add a term or subject.
On this screen, you’ll see 4 areas:
Name
Slug
Parent
Description
In the name, you’ll write out the term you want to add. You can skip the slug part and provide a description for this particular term (optional).
Lastly, click the ‘Add New Subject’ button to create your new taxonomy.
Your newly added term will now appear in the right column.
Now you have a new term that you can use in your blog posts.
You can also add terms directly while editing or writing content under that particular post type.
Simply go to the Books » Add new page to create a post. On the post edit screen, you’ll find the option to select or create new terms from the right column.
After adding terms, you can go ahead and publish that content.
All your posts filed under that term will be accessible on your website on their own URL. For instance, posts filed under Fiction subject would appear at the following URL:
https://ift.tt/36YaPgk
Adding Custom Taxonomies to Navigation Menu
Now that you have created custom taxonomies, you may want to display in your website’s navigation menu.
Go to Appearance » Menus and select the terms you want to add under your custom taxonomy tab.
Don’t forget to click on the Save Menu button to save your settings.
You can now visit your website to see your menu in action.
If you want to customize the layout of your custom taxonomy pages, then you can check out Beaver Themer or Divi. They’re both drag and drop WordPress page builder that allows you to create custom layouts without any coding.
We hope this article helped you learn how to create custom taxonomies in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how WordPress works behind the scenes, and how to create a custom WordPress theme without writing any code.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking for a GDPR plugin to make sure your WordPress site is in compliance with regional laws?
All websites worldwide that collect data related to people in the European Union need to be GDPR compliant. There are several WordPress plugins that can help you with that.
In this article, we will share the best GDPR plugins for WordPress that you can use to make your website GDPR compliant.
What is GDPR and Why Does It Matter?
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It is a European Union (EU) law that gives individuals in the EU specific rights over accessing and controlling their data on the internet.
GDPR applies to all organizations across the world that collect or process data relating to individuals in the EU. For instance, if you live in the United States and run a business website or online store with customers in Europe, then you need to comply with GDPR.
Due to the dynamic nature of websites, no single plugin can offer 100% GDPR compliance. However many of the popular plugins have added GDPR friendly options to ensure that your website abides by the law.
Disclaimer: we’re not legal experts, but we have written the ultimate WordPress GDPR guide that you can refer to for more details. When in doubt, always consult an internet law attorney.
With that said, here are the best WordPress plugins that have GDPR compliance options.
With MonsterInsights, it’s easy to anonymize or even disable personal data tracking. GDPR requires you to get explicit consent before you collect or process personal identifying information from EU residents, such as IP addresses.
What if you want to track personalized data using Google Analytics? Then you simply need to get consent from your users. This can also be easily done with MonsterInsights.
The MonsterInsights EU Compliance add-on integrates seamlessly with the Cookie Notice plugin. That plugin is included below at #3 on our list. This means MonsterInsights will not load the analytics script until the user gives their explicit consent.
Plus, MonsterInsights is compatible with Google Analytics’ built-in cookie opt-out system as well, and it works seamlessly with Google Analytics’ Chrome browser opt-out extension.
Pricing: MonsterInsights costs from $99.50/year. This includes the EU Compliance addon.
You can use WPForms to create all sorts of forms, including contact forms, registration forms, order forms, booking forms, surveys, and more.
To make your forms compliant, simply go to plugin’s settings page and check the box next to GDPR enhancements option. Once you’ve done this, WPForms will not collect IP addresses on any of your forms.
You can also enable extra GDPR options. These include disabling user tracking cookies and disabling storing details of the user’s browser and operating system.
Another option with WPForms is to turn on GDPR protection for individual forms instead of for all your forms. To do this, you just need to check a box in the setting for each form.
WPForms also lets you add a special ‘GDPR Agreement’ checkbox field to your forms. You can add this to your form just like any other field.
Pricing: WPForms costs from $39.50/year. There’s also a free version of WPForms that’s also GDPR compliant.
Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA is a free WordPress cookie notification popup plugin that lets users give or refuse consent for you to use cookies. It helps you comply with GDPR and also with CCPA (the California Consumer Privacy Act).
You can customize the cookie notice for your users and include links to your privacy policy or legal pages. It’s very quick and easy to get Cookie Notice up and running on your site.
The plugin is SEO friendly and it’s compatible with WPML if you have a multilingual website. It also integrates seamlessly with MonsterInsights and holds on to Google Analytics code until a user gives consent.
Pricing: Cookie Notice is completely free. There’s no premium version.
With OptinMonster, you can ensure that your email signup forms are GDPR compliant. It’s easy to add a privacy policy field with a customizable checkbox. Users can then only submit the form once they’ve checked the box.
If your organization is audited for GDPR compliance, OptinMonster also has a GDPR Audit Concierge team that can help you out. Plus, their friendly customer service team is always happy to answer questions about GDPR.
Even better, OptinMonster lets you target visitors based on their location. That way, you can make sure you’re showing GDPR-compliant optins to customers in EU countries.
Pricing: OptinMonster costs from $9/month (billed annually). For geolocation targeting, you need the Growth plan, which costs from $49/month.
GDPR Cookie Consent covers CCPA as well as GDPR. It lets you create an alert bar on your site with Accept and Reject options so the user can decide whether to accept or reject cookies.
With this plugin, it’s straightforward to customize the cookie notice with your choice of colors, fonts, styles, positioning, and more. You can choose to put the cookie notice bar at the top or the bottom of your website.
Note that you need to list the specific cookies that the plugin restricts. The plugin can’t automatically block all cookies, or it could break your website.
Pricing: The basic version of GDPR Cookie Consent is free. You can upgrade to the premium version from $49/year.
Complianz lets you easily create cookie notices for different regions (EU, UK, US, or Canada). You can use it to create a GDPR ‘cookie wall’ as well as other types of banner.
With Complianz, there’s the built-in option to scan your site for cookies. This lets you automatically add cookie descriptions to your site.
Complianz has a simple, user-friendly setup process. It takes you step by step through getting the plugin up and running on your site.
The premium version lets you view statistics, use A/B testing to improve your cookie accept ratio, generate legally approved documents, and more. It’s also compatible with WordPress multisite networks.
Pricing: Complianz premium starts from $55/year. There is also a limited free version.
WP GDPR Compliance lets you automatically add a GDPR checkbox to certain areas of your site. This includes WordPress comments and registration, and also WooCommerce pages.
WP GDPR Compliance also makes it easy for users to request to see their data that’s stored in your database.
It providers a special Data Request page that lets users have temporary access to their information. They can also request that you delete their information, if they want to.
Pricing: WP GDPR Compliance is free. The developers welcome donations.
The cookie consent notice is fully customizable and editable so you can use your own text, logo, colors, and fonts.
The premium version include a ‘cookie wall’ that prevents users from seeing your site until they accept or reject cookies. You can also target users based on their location, and see stats about how many users accepted your cookies.
You need to add the scripts that use cookies into the plugin’s settings. Otherwise, it can’t block them.
Pricing: The basic version of GDPR Cookie Compliance is free. The premium version offers more features and costs from £49 (GBP).
EU Cookie Law for GDPR/CCPA lets you easily create a simple customizable banner for your website with your cookie policy. Users can then click to accept the cookies or click a link to see your privacy policy.
You can use shortcodes to prevent sections of code or even text from displaying if cookies aren’t accepted.
This plugin uses responsive design, so should look good on all mobile devices. It’s also fully compatible with WPML for multilingual websites.
EU Cookie Law for GDPR/CCPA is designed to be a lightweight plugin that will not affect your WordPress site’s speed and performance.
Pricing: EU Cookie Law for GDPR/CCPA is a free, open source plugin.
Which GDPR Plugin Should You Use?
The plugins you need for GDPR depends entirely on your needs.
If you’re not sure which to pick, here are the absolute must-have plugins:
Use MonsterInsights to easily add and control your Google Analytics tracking. It’s the best Google Analytics tool for WordPress, and it makes it very straightforward for you to comply with GDPR when it comes to analytics data.
Use WPForms to create GDPR compliant contact forms, registration forms, booking forms, and more. Adding GDPR compliance to your forms is as simple as checking a box.
Use Cookie Notice for GDPR & CCPA to display a cookie notification on your site. It integrates with MonsterInsights and it has lots of different options to customize how cookie consent works on your site.
