Looking for a way to improve your site’s usability and navigation? Thinking of adding numeric pagination to your WordPress website?
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WP-Paginate: Quick Review
The WP-Paginate plugin packs visually appealing pagination elements that let you add pagination functionality to your WordPress website. The free plugin also has a premium version that comes with even more preset layouts and advanced functionality.
I did a review of the WP-Paginate plugin that you should check out if you want to read a little bit more about the plugin.
A Developer’s Perspective
As a WordPress developer, I’ve found that most themes come with some sort of pagination functionality out of the box. But if you want a little more control over your site’s pagination, you’ll have to go for a custom solution or a plugin. And what I mean by “more control” is:
- You want your default Previous-Next pagination to be 1, 2, 3, …, 4 i.e. numeric pagination instead.
- You want pagination on certain pages but not all of your pages.
Usually, I find it’s easier to simply code pagination functionality into the client’s active theme. The reason being, it’s not something the client will have to (ever) mess around with by themselves and there’s really no need to install a plugin to get the job done.
Pros
- Comes with four preset styles.
Cons
- Not a lot of configuration options.
- Doesn’t let you add pagination to specific posts.
An Average User’s Perspective
I find that WP-Paginate is pretty easy to use though it doesn’t offer a lot of flexibility for the average user right out of the box. The configuration settings are straightforward and I was able to have my site displaying numeric pagination in no time.
I especially liked how to plugin let me choose the pages I wanted to display the pagination on and gave me the option to hide my active theme’s default pagination. I also liked the preset styles that the free version of the plugin comes with though they’re not very versatile. If you know a bit of CSS then you’ll be able to customize their appearance through the Custom CSS tab.
Pros
- Easy to configure.
- Lets you choose which pages to display pagination on.
Cons
- Need to know CSS to be able to customize the pagination elements.
To Sum It Up
As a developer, I’d have to say you’re better of manually adding numeric pagination functionality to your clients’ websites. However, if your client wants to experiment with different pagination styles for the purpose of A/B testing, then WP-Paginate is a good, simple solution.
And if you’re an average user, you’ll be able to set up numeric pagination on your site in no time with WP-Paginate though it may not fit right in with your site’s existing design.
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