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Introduction

WordPress data orginates from the following areas:

  • Post types (CPT's)
  • Taxonomies (CT's)
  • Custom fields. Typically, through the Advanced Custom Fields plugin

Post types​

A post type is a grouping of post items that share similar properties.

Posts, Pages, and Menus are core post types. All posts have boxes for “Categories” and “Tags”, and all pages have boxes for “Template” and “Parent Page”. Post types allow for better organization of content throughout your site.

You can also create custom post types. Some plugins register their own post types too.

Taxonomies​

A taxonomy is used as a way to describe or organize your post items.

A taxonomy consists of terms. For example, a taxonomy named “Meal Type” would contain terms like “Breakfast”, “Lunch”, and “Dinner”.

WordPress core includes 2 taxonomies (“Categories”, and “Tags”) that are attached to the “Posts” post type. When registered, a taxonomy can be associated with one or more post types.

A taxonomy includes built-in listing URLs. For example, you can set it so that /meal-type/dinner/ will show users a listing of Dinner items.

Taxonomy terms can be used for filtering, but not sorting.

Custom Fields​

Custom fields are extra pieces of information that you can attach to post items.

Custom fields do not include built-in listing URLs, but you can both filter and sort by custom fields (unlike with taxonomies).

Long text, text that’s relatively unique (such as SKUs or street names), dates, and numeric values are usually stored as custom fields.

We use Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) for custom fields. See our Advanced Custom Fields guide to learn how to create and use custom fields.