WordPress.org

Author: Tim Trott

As your blog gets more and more posts, inevitably you will create more categories to cope. Eventually your categories will take up more room on your screen, and scroll across many pages.

This plug-in provides a Folding Category List (FoCaL) for Wordpress version 2.3 and above which allows categories to be expanded and collapsed to save room on your sidebar. Please see http://sharpertutorials.com http://www.yourparanormal.com http://www.galacticfool.com or the plugin homepage for demos.

On the plugin homepage you can also find full documentation as well as a list of more demo sites.

One of the main features of this Wordpress plugin is that a prioritised list dictates which category is expanded. When viewing single posts which are assigned to multiple categories the default behaviour of Wordpress is to select the category with the lowest numerical id. This plugin allows a priority list in which you specify the order that categories are expanded.

This plugin also allows expansion and highlighting of the list when viewing a page. Simply create a custom field for the page called "category" and give it a value equal to the numerical ID of the category to expand.

The plugin is fully configurable from within the Wordpress settings screen (Settings -> FoCaL). Please see the plugin homepage for detailed instructions.

Main Features

• Very few SQL queries so it does not put strain on server (except when post count is enabled)
• Option to cache navigation structure to further reduce server load
• Very fast (typically < 0.025 seconds) to generate category tree, even with many categories
• Priority based category selection where multiple categories are available (e.g. single post view)
• Pages can expand category navigation
• Full configuration via administration screens
• Add static links to the list
• Control category order by name, id, description, post count or use with "My Category Order" plugin for total control

What's New in 1.1.0

For full version history and older versions please refer to the plugin homepage.

• Nothing much to be honest, but multiple widgets are now supported on the latest Wordpress 2.8 blogs.
• Added option to add rel="nofollow" to links for SEO (2.8)
• Fixed translation plugin support
• New Wordpress 2.8 API Support broke previous settings. You can uninstall previous versions to clear database, or manually delete them using instructions on plugin homepage. You will have to reconfigure your focal settings.
• There are now 2 "branches" one for 2.7 which will no longer be updated apart from serious bugs and one for 2.8+ which will be the main focus.

What's New in 1.0.2?

• 1.0.2 Adds qTranslate support
• 1.0.2 Fixes bug on certain servers complaining about unexpected end of script
• All new code restructured for simplicity and efficiency
• Numerous performance enhancements
• Numerous bug fixes (too many to list)
• Compatibility with My Category Order
• Multiple widgets on sidebar
• Fully documented configuration screens with improved interface
• Built-in sample css "themes"
• Restructured CSS to allow greater flexibility in design
• Add to non-widget pages, sidebars, headers, footers etc... (see http://www.lonewolfdesigns.co.uk/focal/2/ for details)

Current Issues

• Recent Posts widget causes post variable to contain corrupt data, not an issue with the folding category list but it does rely on post being set properly. More information: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/173868