How to Build a Categories Page that Links to a List of All Your Posts

I posed this question to chatgpt.com

I need a page that list the categories using the ["catlist"] shortcode and when you click on the category it sends you to a page that I create. I have the List Category Plugin installed.

 (https://wordpress.org/plugins/list-category-posts/) 

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT

If you want to use the [catlist] shortcode to list categories, and then have each category link to a custom page that you've created for each category, you'll need to implement a few custom solutions in WordPress. The [catlist] shortcode from the List Category Posts plugin is typically used to list posts within a category, not to list categories themselves. However, you can achieve your goal by combining some custom page setups and possibly some custom coding or additional shortcodes.

Here's a step-by-step method to achieve this:

Step 1: Create Custom Pages for Each Category

First, you will need to create a custom page for each category. Here’s how you can do it:

Create a Page: Go to your WordPress dashboard, and under Pages, click "Add New" to create a new page.

Name the Page: Name the page after the category (e.g., "Travel", "Technology").

Add Content or Shortcodes: Use the [catlist] shortcode to list posts from the specific category on each page. The shortcode might look like [catlist categoryname="Travel"] on the Travel page.

Publish Each Page: Make sure each page is published and note the URL of each page.

Step 2: Create a Main Categories Listing Page

Now, create a main page where all categories will be listed:

Create Another New Page: This will be your main category listing page.

Manually Add Links: Unfortunately, [catlist] does not support listing categories directly. You'll need to manually add links to each category page you created. You can format it with HTML or a visual builder depending on your preference:htmlCopy code<ul> <li><a href="/path-to-travel-page/">Travel</a></li> <li><a href="/path-to-technology-page/">Technology</a></li> <!-- Add more categories as needed --> </ul>

Publish the Page: After adding all category links, publish this page.

Step 3: Use a Plugin or Custom Code (Optional)

If you prefer a more dynamic solution that automatically updates when new categories are added, you might need a custom shortcode or a different plugin. Here’s a basic PHP function to create a shortcode that lists category links dynamically:

function list_categories_with_links() {    $categories = get_categories();
    $output = '<ul>';
    foreach ($categories as $category) {
        $page_link = get_site_url() . '/' . sanitize_title($category->name); // Ensure this URL matches your category page URLs
        $output .= '<li><a href="' . esc_url($page_link) . '">' . esc_html($category->name) . '</a></li>';
    }
    $output .= '</ul>';
    return $output;
}
add_shortcode('catlinks', 'list_categories_with_links');

Add this code to your theme’s functions.php file. You can then use the shortcode [catlinks] on any page to generate a list of all categories with links to their respective custom pages.

Step 4: Adjust Permalinks (Optional)

Ensure your permalink structure supports clean URLs for your category pages. You might set permalinks to "Post name" in Settings > Permalinks.

Final Testing

After setting up everything:

Visit your main category listing page to ensure all categories are listed and links are correct.

Click each link to ensure it takes you to the correct category page.

This setup provides a manual but straightforward way to link category lists to custom category pages in WordPress. If you're looking for more automation (especially useful for sites with many categories), considering a custom solution or exploring plugins that might offer dynamic listing capabilities might be necessary.

Here is the results: https://jeffcannon.us/all-articles-by-category