Meta Box is a WordPress plugin that aims to simplify the process of working with custom fields. If you want to add custom fields to your WordPress website, you should be interested in this Meta Box review.
There are other custom fields plugins available. However, Meta Box is a lightweight solution with free basic features and a library of free and commercial plugins. But is it the best WordPress custom fields plugin and Let's find out in our hands-on review of the Meta Box plugin.
Who is Meta Box for?
Designed for developers, the free base plugin has been created to facilitate 'adding custom fields to a WordPress website, without noticeably affecting site performance or modifyingr the WordPress administration user interface. The screenshot above shows the Meta Box Builder add-on for the plugin in action.
You will need some development knowledge or experience to get the most out of the Meta Box WordPress plugin. However, if you are already, or about to start working with custom fields, you are probably the type of WordPress user who is part of the target audience for this tool.
Even if you are new to WordPress development or custom fields, this plugin might still be a good choice. As we'll see in this Meta Box review, this plugin is supported by some very informative user documentation and tools to help you get started and deeper with WordPress custom fields.
About the WordPress Meta Box plugin
The main Meta Box plugin has been launchedin 2010 and is available for free on the official plugins directory WordPress . To date, the plugin has been actively installed on over 200,000 WordPress websites. It also received an impressive 4.9 out of 5 star rating from its users. It is definitely a plugin that is well used and well regarded by the community. Since it has been around for so long, it is highly likely that it will continue to be supported for the foreseeable future.
While this Meta Box review provides you with the information to help you decide if this tool is the right option for your project, there is a online demo which you can try in in order to get a better understanding of what it can do.
Features of the Meta Box plugin
As mentioned, the oThe main purpose of Meta Box is to help you add custom fields to your WordPress site. Once you've added the relevant code to your site, you'll then see the new custom fields. They will usually be displayed in a box on the page editor and / or post editor screens.
However, by using some of the free and commercial add-ons for the plugin - which we have next in this Meta Box review - you can add custom fields to other areas of your site. This includes adding custom fields to settings pages, the comments section of your site, the user profile area of your site, and how third-party plugins such as Yoast SEO works with custom fields .
These custom fields will be displayed in areas of your site that youhave defined in your code. To help you create the code, the developers of Me ta Box also created a online code generator to simplify the process.
Although we look at the code generator in more detail in the user experience section of this review of the Meta Box plugin, this is a very useful resource that both new and experienced developers will find useful.
Once you start to understand what Meta Box can do, you will quickly start to come up with it. ideas on how you can improve your site with this WordPress custom fields plugin.
Meta Box plugin extensions
The functionality of the main Meta Box plugin can be extended by installing one of the add-ons. These add-ons are a mmix of free and commercial extensions. They can each help you do a lot more when adding custom fields to your WordPress website.
Custom message type in MB
MB Custom Post Type is a popular free add-on for the main plugin. Meta Box makes it easy to add custom post types to your WordPress website. This add-on allows you to create custom post types and custom taxonomies for your website. Now you are no longer limited to just posting posts or pages to your site .
Meta Box Builder
Meta Box Builder is a commercial extension that adds a funVery useful feature to your WordPress website. Instead of using the online code generator on the Meta Box website, you can use this add-on to create the code from your website using the Meta Builder interface - drag-and-drop boxes. If you are not a coder or want to speed up your development time, this premium extension is worth investing.
Meta Box Group
Meta Box Group is one of the best-selling extensions for Meta Box. Providing developers with an easy way to 'organize custom fields in repeatable gr oops, this add-on will help you do even more with the Meta Box plugin. Meta Box Group supports nested groups at multiple levels and the ability to create collapsible field groups. This add-on is inwill integrate into your existing -boxes.
Conditional -box logic
The Paid conditional The Logic add-on allows you to control the visibility of -boxes, custom fields, and other items. Depending on the content of a field, you can hide or show other items on the screen. This includes controlling the visibility of other fields within the same -box, other -boxes, or default WordPress -boxes and buttons. Useful selection of operators gives you full control over how they custom fields and boxes are displayed.
MB User Meta
MB User Meta makes it easy to add custom fields to the User Profile screeneditor in WordPress. With this paid extension running on your site, you can add custom fields to store more information about your users. This can include their address or other contact information, membership details, or any other data your site needs. Depending on your needs and how you configure the add-on, the data stored in these custom fields can be published to the front-end of your site or only to the WordPress admin area.
We will cover the cost of these extensions in the pricing options section of this Meta Box plugin review. However, commercial add-ons can be purchased individually or as part of a number of bundles.
User experience Meta Box Review
Now that we have covered the functionality of the kernel plug-in and add-ons, let's explore the Meta Box user experience.
After installing and activating the plugin through your WordPress dashboard, you can start creating custom boxes for your website. This is a relatively advanced plugin and Meta Box does not add any additional pages or screens to the WordPress dashboard. Instead, the code is inserted into the theme functions file (functions.php) to add custom fields to your WordPress website.
You can edit the functions.php file directly through the Editor section of the WordPress dashboard. However, it is better to edit the file outside of WordPress and upload it directly to your server, use a free plugint like Snippets which allows you to more easily manage the custom code you add to the functions.php file, or stick to whatever method works best for you.
Once you have decided how you are going to add code to your site Web, according to the plugin's documentation, the best way to get started with Meta Box is to use the free online generator to create the code needed for the plugin.
The Meta Box Code Generator
The code generator has several tabs that are used to help you create the -box and its custom fields. However, you need to have at least a basic understanding of WordPress custom fields to get the most out of the generator and this plugin. Fortunately, there are many online documentation to help you.
Once you have entered the basic details of the -box and where it will be displayed (such as on posts and / or pages), you can move on to configuring custom fields. You can choose from a selection of over 30 types of fields via the drag and drop builder.
Click on a field to add it to your -box. You can then customize the details of the field, adding a title, deion and other information. You can easily change the position or order of fields using the drag and drop interface.
When you are satisfied with your custom fields, you can click on the generate code button .
Although the code generator can be found on the Met websitea Box, it should be noted that the paid Meta Bo x Builder plugin will add a generator to your WordPress website for your convenience.
Enabling WordPress custom fields
Once you have copied the generated code, it should be added to your WordPress functions.php file on your site. Once you've done that, the -box and its custom fields should be live on your WordPress website. They will be displayed in the location you specified.
To illustrate the plugin, the WordPress editor of our test site now has an additional -box. This box contains text, URL, date, and WYSIWYG custom fields.
If you need to make changes to your fields, you will need to modify the code. To do this, you can modify it directly in your functions.php file or return to the generator ofcoded. When the post is saved, any content in the custom fields will be sa with the rest of the content of your post.
Displaying custom field content on the front end of your WordPress website
Depending on why you are using custom fields, you may want to display their content on the front-end of your WordPress website. Unfortunately, just adding custom fields to your website and then populating them with data isn't enough to show them on the front-end of your site.
The process for this involves modifying the theme files for your WordPress website. You can find detailed documentation on how to do this in Meta Box Documentation . Your level of experience with PHP, custom fields and editing filesTheme s will dictate how simple this is for you.
Depending on your reason for using custom fields, you may not need to display their content on your site front-end. But if you do, the documentation and support forum should be able to help you achieve this goal.
Meta Box plugin documentation and support
Although intended for coders, if you are new to WordPress development the Meta Box plugin might still be a good choice. Thanks to the helpful online documentation, you should be able to familiarize yourself with this tool if you need to add custom fields to a WordPress website.
Basic free plugin users can request help via the Github repository or via the discussion forums on the official WordPress plugin directory. However, if you want to ensure that you receive support from the MetaBox.io team, the Purchasing any of the premium add-ons will give you access to support channels.
Meta Box plugin pricing options
As mentioned earlier in this Meta Box review, the main plugin is free to download from the WordPress plugin directory. However, by installing the Meta Box add-ons you can significantly improve the capabilities of this tool. Some of these plugins can be downloaded for free. Others are products paid with a number of purchase options available including:
- Pay as You Go: Purchase individual extensions with 1 year of support and updates for 29 $ each.
- Core Bundle: a set of 12 premiu extensionsm with 1 year of support and updates for $ 99.
- Developer Bundle: All premium extensions with 1 year of support and updates for $ 199.
- Lifetime Bundle: All premium extensions with lifetime support and updates for $ 499.
You can see full details of Meta Box pricing options as well as which 12 extensions are included in the base bundle at this page . A 14 day 100% money back guarantee is also in place.
Review of the Meta Box plugin Final thoughts
The Meta Box plugin isn 't for everyone. If you don't need to add custom fields to a WordPress website then you don't really need this plugin. However, if you want to start working with custom fields, this is a great tool regardless of your capabilities.development.
The online code generator provides easy access to over 30 types of fields and commands to customize them. With the large selection of field types, you should be able to add all the different custom fields that your project requires. Commercial extensions add even more useful features to the plugin.
When it comes to showing the content of custom fields on the front-end of your WordPress website, there is no easy solution. You will need to edit your theme template files yourself or find a tool that can help you with the process. However, this is the case with any WordPress custom field plugin and editing theme files is usually beyond their scope.
If you want to start using custom fields or speed up your development time when working with custom fields, Meta Box and its free and commercial extensions are very useful recommended.
Try the free online Meta Box demo now
