Download the current version from wordpress.org
I wrote this plugin to make it easy for me to write graphical page-based WordPress sites. I wanted to address these issues:
- I wanted to create websites with many nested pages, and permit the user to navigate among them by clicking on pictures within the pages, rather than having to use the Page List. I wanted to list child pages in tables, and have the size of the tables, and the number of rows, automatically computed to fit my layout, based on the thumbnail sizes.
- I wanted the thumbnail pictures, and the galleries of pictures I added in each page, to have be automatically resized either through a single default setting in the WordPress administration page, or by specifying a size in a page I was editing. I further wanted those thumbnails to be automatically generated, or regenerated, so there would never be a missing image.
- I wanted to put all the images for a specific page, in a single directory under the wp-content/uploads directory. This makes it easy to add or remove images from FTP or from a command line. It also makes it possible to move an image from one page to another — which is maddeningly difficult if not impossible using WordPress’s built-in Attachment system.
Cookbook — recent posts on AutoNav
- Displaying Posts with AutoNav
- Selecting attachments by tag
- AutoNav and Attachment Taxonomy Support
- Listing categories with AutoNav
- More AutoNav filters
Also recommended…
- The plugin can be combined with plugins like slimbox … so clicking a thumbnail will open a ‘lightbox-type’ effect. I suggest using it in combination with my Hierarchical Page Widget.
- Pagemash lets you move pages up, down, in, out, and around your hierarchy with the mouse. Amazingly easy.
- Change Attachment Parent is an easy way to reset the parent page or post for any attachment, right on the attachment’s Edit screen in the Media Library. You do need to know the new parent’s ID, though.
Invocation
The plugin is invoked with the autonav shortcode, the shortest call being something like this:
[autonav display=attached]
Full details are found in the readme.txt file distributed with the plugin.
Screenshots.
Above is code inserted with: display=images,title size=90×120 columns=6 pics_only=1 — permitting up to six columns (only five of which are used), and displaying the thumbnail image and title of each of the child pages that have thumbnails (“Shopping Tips” and “Testimonials” have no thumbnails, so aren’t displayed because of pics_only).
Pages like above simply have images attached, which can be reordered to automatically feature any of them in the large size at left. The page template contains the following code:
<div id="featured-image">
<?php
// this generates the picture in (a) above
$featured_image = get_post_custom_values('featured_image');
if ( $featured_image ) {
print '<img src="' . $featured_image[0] . '">';
$image_start = 0;
} else {
print autonav_wl_shortcode(array('display'=>'attached',
'count'=>1,'size'=>'medium'));
$image_start = 1;
}
?>
</div>
...
<div id="slideshow">
<?php
// the first non-featured image, in (b)
print autonav_wl_shortcode(array('display'=>'attached',
'start'=>$image_start, 'count'=>1,'size' => '150x200'));
// the remainder of the attached images, in (c)
print autonav_wl_shortcode(array('display'=>'attached',
'start'=>$image_start+1,'caption'=>'Click any image to begin slide show',
'columns'=>3, 'size' => '60x100'));
?>
</div>
Demo.
A short Travelogue. Note that Cambridge and Blackheath are children of this page. (You can see this from the page list in the sidebar.) Here we insert the autonav shortcode a few different ways:
I. As a table. Child pages with display=”images” titles=”1″:
 |
 |
and as a table with a caption — display=”images” caption=”Places to visit”
|
|
II. As a table, with large images. Child pages with display=”images” titles=”0″ columns=”1″ … note automatic thumbnail size selection.
 |
 |
III. As a list. Child pages with display=”list”
IV. Excerpts. Child pages with display=”list,excerpt,thumb”
- Cambridge
If you update your functions.php to incorporate manual excerpts (see: Article on mfields.org) then you can use them with Autonav to display a synopsis of a page. The excerpt is not displayed on the page itself.
- Blackheath, England
Blackheath is an area in southeast London. According to tradition, it is the site where golf was introduced to England. Golf, which has been described as "A good walk, spoiled." (Mark Twain). -- Again, this "teaser" text is in a Manual Excerpt.
… and with display=”images,excerpt,titles”
If you update your functions.php to incorporate manual excerpts (see: Article on mfields.org) then you can use them with Autonav to display a synopsis of a page. The excerpt is not displayed on the page itself. |
Blackheath is an area in southeast London. According to tradition, it is the site where golf was introduced to England. Golf, which has been described as "A good walk, spoiled." (Mark Twain). -- Again, this "teaser" text is in a Manual Excerpt. |
V. Children of another page (What We Do) using display=”list” postid=”2″
VI. Siblings of a page with display=”images,siblings”. These shows a link to the Hierarchical Pages plugin, which is the sibling (a child of the same parent) of this page. (as of v1.2.4)
 |
 |
Missing image |
VII. Attached images with display=attached columns=4. Again note automatic size selection. These images are attached to this page (Autonav Gallery).
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
and, with Version 1.3.9 of the plugin (pre-release beta version here), linking to the Attachment page with display=attached,page instead of the image itself, setting titles=1, and order=desc … as well as count=4 to only display 4 images:
 |
 |
 |
 |