Archive pages are tend to be boring and cumbersome. These pages are usually simply a list of months that the blog has been active for or a list of categories.
Introducing Better Archives for WordPress, a simple plugin that gives you a neat template for Archive pages.
I wanted something different for my blog. Not just a list of months, but a rather good looking listing of all the articles published, so that the page doubles as a sitemap of sorts.
I came across Justing Blanton’s Smart Archives for WordPress plugin that serves the purpose of creating lists of articles by year and month.
I made some major modifications to his code to serve the purpose of my site. Without further ado, here is the plugin:
DOWNLOAD BETTER ARCHIVES FOR WORDPRESS
Installation
1. Extract smarterarchives.php and place it in /wp-content/plugins directory
2. Install the plugin from WordPress administrator panel.
3. Create a new template file (or modify the existing archive.php) and place this where you want to output the Archives List. Make sure it is enclosed within php tags.
wp_better_archives();
4. Apply the following CSS and customise it however you see fit:
/* Archives page */
.archives {}
.archives .year {
clear: both;
font-size: 30px;
line-height: 48px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;
width: 100px;
float: left;
}
.archives .wrapper {
float: left;
width: 810px;
overflow: hidden;
margin: 0 0 20px 0;
}
.archives .month {
width: 375px;
float: left;
overflow: hidden;
margin: 20px 0 0 30px;
}
.archives .month h2 {
font-size: 20px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #CCC;
padding: 0 0 10px 0;
}
.archives ul {
margin: 10px 0 0 20px;
}
.archives ul li {
padding: 0 0 10px 0;
list-style: square
}
And that is all!
You should have a clean, great looking archives page just like this.