Any Wordpress Directory Plugin Recommendations?

Can anyone recommend a good WordPress directory plugin that they have personally used please?

I am looking to create a directory page within my wordpress site - I don't want the whole site to be a directory.

Besides it looking well formatted, I need it to have a good navigation structure. I'll be using it for a wordwide directory - so need to be able to drill down from country through to state/county then into town/city.

I don't mind paying a little for the right plugin.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations, if you do have examples that would be great also.

Opti

I know a few guys have used this to great affect in the past.
http://directorypress.net/

I bought a Directory Press license and after 2 weeks abandoned it. Didn't like it at all. if you do use it, make sure you have your caching sorted, otherwise things will get slooooooooow

If you're looking for essentially a single page directory then using custom post-types and taxonomies is probably the best way to go. Integrated into WP3.3+ there's quite a few ways of listing them through the template hierarchy, and the taxonomies - essentially custom categories can be heirarchical as well.

tifosi said:

If you're looking for essentially a single page directory then using custom post-types and taxonomies is probably the best way to go. Integrated into WP3.3+ there's quite a few ways of listing them through the template hierarchy, and the taxonomies - essentially custom categories can be heirarchical as well.

Click to expand...

+ 1 on this, you probably want to check out podsframework.org which is a free, very advanced custom post type creator plug in for Wordpress

There are a couple of videos the developers have made on you tube which give a good overview of what is possible with it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkBDNOAQJxg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxG4gqY0A-w

JamesTuplin said:

I know a few guys have used this to great affect in the past.
http://directorypress.net/

Click to expand...

Directory Press is a whole site theme so doesn't work if you just want it for a single page.

Never heard of pods before but looks interesting, and from the video he has some inside track with the WP core developers. Another one is http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/.

The custom post-types and taxonomies are what have turned WP into a real CMS. The only limitation atm is the lack of meta data for taxonomies, they got rid of it when they refactored the db for 2.8 (pre v3). There's a Trac for it as mentioned in the vid, so it should be added 3.6+. Posts & users have it. For taxonomies you have to make an identical table to the post_meta table which they do in pods in the background.

I've been using post_types & taxonomies for a while now e.g. distros.co.uk for the distros search & meta display. I'll be using them for a number of plugins as well with the framework I've developed. Another quick framework which doesn't have the overkill of a plugin structure or UI is: https://github.com/Gizburdt/Wordpress-Cuztom-Helper which I've contributed to.

All in all whether a simple directory page or a more complex site it's a ready-built solution which can be slipped into any theme or as a plugin. WP has it's issues - its a bulky mess of spaghetti code, and caching e.g. wp total cache is essential, but can be whipped into shape pretty easily.

Thanks for the responses so far everyone

Adem is correct Directory Press is for a complete directory site - but thanks anyway for the suggestion - appreciated.

tifosi, thanks but you lost me at 'custom post types' lol, but thanks stellar73 for the pods framework links. I now get the general idea and I think the pods plugin will come in very handy for other areas of my site.

I don't think my limited capabilities would stretch to creating a directory - but it's something to consider if a suitable off the shelf solution isn't available.