Implementing Masonry Layout in WordPress Themes
Posted on 17th June 2023
Masonry layout is a popular way to display content on the web. It is often used in blog layouts, image galleries, and social media feeds.
Masonry layout is achieved by using a grid of boxes that are of different sizes. The sizes of the boxes are based on the width of the content inside them.
The content inside the boxes is arranged in a way that creates gaps between the boxes. These gaps are filled with other content, such as images or text.
Masonry layout can be implemented in WordPress themes using a number of different methods.
One method is to use a plugin, such as the Masonry Layout Plugin for WordPress.
Another method is to use a custom post type and taxonomy. This method requires more development work, but it gives you more control over the layout of your content.
Finally, you can use a combination of HTML, CSS, and jQuery to create a masonry layout. This method is more complex, but it gives you the most control over the look and feel of your layout.
Which method you choose will depend on your needs and the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into developing your WordPress theme.
Using a Plugin
There are a number of plugins that you can use to create a masonry layout in WordPress.
One of the most popular plugins is the Masonry Layout Plugin for WordPress.
This plugin is easy to use and it gives you a lot of control over the layout of your content.
To use this plugin, you first need to install and activate it.
Once the plugin is activated, you can create a masonry layout by going to the “Layout” section of the plugin settings.
In the “Layout” section, you can choose the number of columns, the gutter width, and the breakpoints.
You can also choose to display the featured image, the post title, the post date, and the author name.
Once you have chosen the settings for your layout, you can click on the “Save Changes” button to save your changes.
The plugin will then generate the code for your layout and you can add it to your WordPress theme.
Using a Custom Post Type
If you want more control over the layout of your content, you can use a custom post type and taxonomy.
This method requires more development work, but it gives you more control over the way your content is displayed.
To use this method, you first need to create a custom post type and taxonomy.
You can do this by adding the following code to your WordPress theme:
_x( ‘Masonry Posts’, ‘Post Type General Name’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘singular_name’ => _x( ‘Masonry Post’, ‘Post Type Singular Name’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘menu_name’ => __( ‘Masonry Layout’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘name_admin_bar’ => __( ‘Masonry Layout’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘archives’ => __( ‘Item Archives’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘attributes’ => __( ‘Item Attributes’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘parent_item_colon’ => __( ‘Parent Item:’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘all_items’ => __( ‘All Items’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘add_new_item’ => __( ‘Add New Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘add_new’ => __( ‘Add New’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘new_item’ => __( ‘New Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘edit_item’ => __( ‘Edit Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘update_item’ => __( ‘Update Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘view_item’ => __( ‘View Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘view_items’ => __( ‘View Items’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘search_items’ => __( ‘Search Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘not_found’ => __( ‘Not found’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘not_found_in_trash’ => __( ‘Not found in Trash’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘featured_image’ => __( ‘Featured Image’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘set_featured_image’ => __( ‘Set featured image’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘remove_featured_image’ => __( ‘Remove featured image’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘use_featured_image’ => __( ‘Use as featured image’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘insert_into_item’ => __( ‘Insert into item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘uploaded_to_this_item’ => __( ‘Uploaded to this item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘items_list’ => __( ‘Items list’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘items_list_navigation’ => __( ‘Items list navigation’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘filter_items_list’ => __( ‘Filter items list’, ‘text_domain’ ),
);
$args = array(
‘label’ => __( ‘Masonry Post’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘description’ => __( ‘Masonry layout post type’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘labels’ => $labels,
‘supports’ => array( ‘title’, ‘editor’, ‘thumbnail’, ‘custom-fields’ ),
‘taxonomies’ => array( ‘category’, ‘post_tag’ ),
‘hierarchical’ => false,
‘public’ => true,
‘show_ui’ => true,
‘show_in_menu’ => true,
‘menu_position’ => 5,
‘show_in_admin_bar’ => true,
‘show_in_nav_menus’ => true,
‘can_export’ => true,
‘has_archive’ => true,
‘exclude_from_search’ => false,
‘publicly_queryable’ => true,
‘capability_type’ => ‘page’,
);
register_post_type( ‘masonry_post_type’, $args );
}
add_action( ‘init’, ‘masonry_post_type’, 0 );
// Register Custom Taxonomy
function masonry_taxonomy() {
$labels = array(
‘name’ => _x( ‘Masonry Taxonomies’, ‘Taxonomy General Name’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘singular_name’ => _x( ‘Masonry Taxonomy’, ‘Taxonomy Singular Name’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘menu_name’ => __( ‘Masonry Taxonomy’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘all_items’ => __( ‘All Items’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘parent_item’ => __( ‘Parent Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘parent_item_colon’ => __( ‘Parent Item:’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘new_item_name’ => __( ‘New Item Name’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘add_new_item’ => __( ‘Add New Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘edit_item’ => __( ‘Edit Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘update_item’ => __( ‘Update Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘view_item’ => __( ‘View Item’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘separate_items_with_commas’ => __( ‘Separate items with commas’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘add_or_remove_items’ => __( ‘Add or remove items’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘choose_from_most_used’ => __( ‘Choose from the most used’, ‘text_domain’ ),
‘popular_items’ => __( ‘Popular Items’, ‘text_domain’ ),
Masonry is a popular grid layout library that helps organize web content in a clean, responsive fashion. It’s often used for image galleries, blog posts, and other types of content that benefit from a grid-like layout.
In this tutorial, we’re going to show you how to implement a masonry layout in your WordPress theme. We’ll be using the masonry.js library and the WordPress Rest API to load our content.
First, we need to enqueue the masonry.js library. We can do this by adding the following code to our theme’s functions.php file:
function my_theme_enqueue_scripts() { wp_enqueue_script( ‘masonry’, get_template_directory_uri() . ‘/js/masonry.js’, array(), ‘3.3.0’, true ); } add_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘my_theme_enqueue_scripts’ );
Next, we need to create a file called masonry.js in our theme’s /js/ directory. In this file, we’ll write some code to load our content via the WordPress Rest API and render it in a masonry layout.
The first thing we need to do is create a function that will fetch our content from the WordPress Rest API. We can do this by using the wp.api.loadRequest() method:
function fetchPosts() { return wp.api.loadRequest( ‘/wp-json/wp/v2/posts’ ); }
Next, we need to write a function that will render our content in a masonry layout. We’ll use the masonry.js library to do this.
First, we need to create a element that will contain our content. We can do this by using the createElement() method:
function renderPosts( posts ) { var masonryContainer = document.createElement( ‘div’ ); masonryContainer.id = ‘masonry-container’; document.body.appendChild( masonryContainer ); }
Next, we need to loop through our content and add it to our masonry container. We can do this by using the forEach() method:
posts.forEach( function( post ) { var postElement = document.createElement( ‘div’ ); postElement.className = ‘post’; postElement.innerHTML = post.title.rendered; masonryContainer.appendChild( postElement ); });
Finally, we need to initialize the masonry layout. We can do this by using the masonry() method:
var masonry = new Masonry( ‘#masonry-container’, { columnWidth: 200, itemSelector: ‘.post’ });
Now that we have our masonry layout initialized, we can fetch our content and render it in our layout. We can do this by using the fetchPosts() and renderPosts() functions we created earlier:
fetchPosts().then( function( posts ) { renderPosts( posts ); });
And that’s it! You should now have a working masonry layout in your WordPress theme.
