Authors List Plugin

Easily display a list or grid of post authors (or any other user role) and links to their post archives page using a shortcode.

Backend UI can be used to change all the options.

Introducing New Authors List Pro

The free version offers a large amount of features for free, and the PRO version comes with even more amazing features for your authors list.
Some of those features are Styler, Search and Filters.
Styler allows easy change of color/typography/spacing on any of the elements in the authors list.
Filters allow you to create a better organization of the authors list.
Search allows your visitors to search for specific users.
Click here to get the PRO version!

Shortcode

All the options are available in the WP admin but you can also use a plain shortcode (as it was in version 1 of the plugin). The shortcode is [authors_list] and accepts the following attributes.

• style (1,2,3)
• columns (2,3,4)
• columns_direction ( horizontal, vertical )
• avatar_size (any number, example 500)
• amount (any number, no limit by default)
• show_title (yes,no)
• show_count (yes,no)
• show_bio (yes,no)
• show_link (yes,no)
• orderby ( post_count, post_date, ID, login, nicename, email, url, registered, display_name, first_name, last_name )
• order ( ASC, DESC )
• skip_empty ( yes, no )
• minimum_posts_count ( any number )
• bio_word_trim ( any number, leave empty for no trim )
• only_authors ( yes, no )
• exclude ( user IDs separated by comma, example 1,3,4 )
• include ( user IDs separated by comma, example 1,3,4 )
• roles ( roles separated by comma, example administrator,editor )
• latest_post_after ( for example if set to 7 it will only show authors that have posts published in the past 7 days )
• name_starts_with ( limit to authors whose display name starts with specific characters )
• first_name_starts_with ( limit to authors whose first name starts with specific characters )
• last_name_starts_with ( limit to authors whose last name starts with specific characters )
• categories ( category IDs separated by comma, example 1,3,4 )
• terms ( term IDs separate by comma, example 1,3,4 )
• taxonomy ( name of a taxonomy, for example post_tag )
• title_element (the element that wraps the name of the user/author, defaults to div, can be any element, for example h2)
• link_count (yes, no)

Example usage with attributes:

[authors_list style="2" columns="2" amount="4" show_count="no"]

There are additional attributes for custom content before and after each element:

• before_avatar
• before_title
• before_count
• before_bio
• before_link
• after_avatar
• after_title
• after_count
• after_bio
• after_link

Example usage with attributes:

[authors_list before_title="My custom content"]

These before/after attributes also support dynamic user/author meta fields using

{al:INSERT_FIELD_NAME}

Example usage:

[authors_list before_title="My first name is {al:first_name}"]

They also support some dynamic output functionality. Currently supports displaying posts links and social links (Yoast SEO needed):

Example usage for posts links:

[authors_list after_title="{alf:posts}"]

[authors_list after_title="{alf:posts type=plain amount=5}"]

Example usage for social links:

[authors_list after_title="{alf:social}"]

Example usage for roles:

[authors_list after_title="{alf:role}"]

Example usage for link (the “to” parameter accepts foollowing values: archive bbpress_profile buddypress_profile):

[authors_list after_title="{alf:link to=bbpress_profile}"]

Social Icons SVGs by FontAwesome are licensed under CC BY 4.0

What’s Next

If you like this plugin, then please consider leaving us a rating / review. This plugin is maintained by WPKube, a WordPress resource site, where you can learn from our in-depth guides such as
What is WordPress, How to choose a WordPress hosting, & more!

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• WordPress Plugins Directory: Navigate to Plugins→Add New in the WordPress admin and search “Authors List”. Click Install and then Activate.
• Zip Upload: Navigate to Plugins→Add New→Upload Plugin in the WordPress admin. Browse to the .zip file containing the plugin on your computer and upload, then activate.
• Manual FTP Upload: Upload the plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/. Navigate to Plugins in the WordPress admin and activate.

2.0.4 (January 16th, 2024)

• Added option for link text
• Added option for random ordering
• Added an alternate shortcode (in case of conflicts with other plugins), the shortcode is [sk_authors_list]
• {al:custom_field_name} now uses get_the_author_meta function as a 2nd fallback
• Fixed issue with pagination not showing correct amount of pages when the user roles are not authors

2.0.3 (July 10th, 2023)

• Option to hide/show the avatar
• Security fixes

2.0.2 (March 30th, 2023)

• Fixed issue with pagination not working when the pagination slug is modified
• Fixed issue with Tiktok in social links
• Update POT (translation template file)

2.0.1 (March 29th, 2023)

• “Pagination” option added to the backend settings

2.0.0 (March 28th, 2023)

• A completely new version with backend settings (old shortcode parameters still work as they did in version 1)

1.2.9 (November 14th, 2022)

• Improved the system for ordering by “all_post_count”
• The number of posts element can now be linked to the archive

1.2.8 (October 3rd, 2022)

• Fixed issue with taxonomy/term filters not working properly for custom post types

1.2.7 (February 21th, 2022)

• Fixed deprecated notice related to WordPress 5.9

1.2.6 (September 24, 2021)

• Added parameter “first_name_starts_with” (limit to authors whose first name starts with specific characters)
• Added parameter “last_name_starts_with” (limit to authors whose last name starts with specific characters)
• The parameter “latest_post_after” now works with all post types defined in the “post_types” parameter

1.2.5 (April 9th, 2021)

• Accessibility fix (show name in aria-label for the “View posts” link). Thanks to @rscano

1.2.4 (January 26th, 2021)

• New parameter for {alf:posts} function to show post date above the title. Example after_title=”{alf:posts show_date=yes}”
• New parameter for {alf:posts} function to show posts of specific category. Example after_title=”{alf:posts show_date=yes categories=5}”

1.2.3 (January 10th, 2021)

• New perameter for {alf:social} function to switch social icons to FontAwesome font. Example: after_title=”{alf:social type=fontawesome-v5}”
• New dynamic output functon added for showing the user’s latest post date. Example: after_title=”{alf:latest_post_date}”

1.2.2 ( December 25th, 2020 )

• Issue with amount of authors shown (when specifically defined) conflicting with other parameters

1.2.1 ( December 23rd, 2020 )

• The “orderby” parameter now accepts the value “all_post_count” which orders by the count of all post types set in the “post_types” parameter

1.2.0 ( October 27th, 2020 )

• Parameter “count_text” now supports zero, singular and plural options

1.1.9 ( October 17th, 2020 )

• New parameter “count_text” that allows changing the text shown for “show_count”

1.1.8 ( September 30th, 2020 )

• Alt attribute added to avatar image
• New parameter “avatar_meta_key” that allows getting the image URL from user meta instead of using Gravatar

1.1.7 ( September 12th, 2020 )

• New parameter “title_element” that allows changing the div that wraps the author’s name/title to an h2, h3, h4… (title_element=”h2″)
• New dynamic output functon added for showing the user’s role (after_title=”{alf:role}”)
• New dynamic output function added for showing a link to post archive, bbpress profile or buddypress profile (after_title=”{alf:link to=archive}”)

1.1.6 ( July 20th, 2020 )

• alf:social now shows the personal website URL as well
• New parameter “minimum_posts_count” added to limit the authors shown to only those that have at least that amount of posts
• New parameter “bp_member_types” that allows showing only specific BuddyPress member types

1.1.5 ( July 2nd, 2020 )

• The “orderby” parameter now accepts the value “comment_count” which order by the comment count what posts made by that author received
• The “link_to” parameter now accepts linking to buddypress profile (link_to=”buddypress_profile”)
• The “link_to” parameter now accepts linking to custom meta (link_to=”meta” link_to_meta_key=”meta_key”)
• New dynamic output function added for showing follow/unfollow button from BuddyPress Followers plugin (after_title=”{alf:buddypress_follow”})

1.1.4 ( June 12th, 2020 )

• The “orderby” parameter now accepts the value “rand” to have a random order
• New parameter “link_to” added to allow linking to bbPress profile ( link_to=”bbpress_profile” )
• New parameter “pagination” added, set to “yes” to enable pagination

1.1.3 ( May 30th, 2020 )

• New shortcode attribute to allow only showing authors by the first letter (or more letters) of their display name

1.1.2 ( April 21st, 2020 )

• New shortcode attributes to allow including only authors with posts in specific taxonomy and terms
• New orderby attribute value “post_date” to order authors by the date of their latest post

1.1.1 ( April 6th, 2020 )

• Fix for skip_empty option
• Added link for “submit support request” in the plugin action links
• Bump up WordPress compatibility to 5.4

1.1.0 ( March 18th, 2020 )

• Option to include only authors who have posts in specific categories

1.0.9 ( February 12th, 2020 )

• Improvements for output of dynamic user/author meta fields

1.0.8 ( January 28th, 2020 )

• Links to social profiles for authors

1.0.7 (January 14, 2020)

• Load CSS only on pages where the shortcode is used
• Option to set to show only authors of specific post types
• Option for a vertical direction column layout (like a newspaper layout)
• Option to show only authors that have posts published today

1.0.6 (December 16, 2019)

• Option to limit visibility by author’s post date
• Option to order by first name
• Option to order by last name

1.0.5 (December 2, 2019)

• Option to include specific users by ID
• Option to include specific user roles
• Option to set posts list to be plain ( divs ) instead of unordered list items
• Compatibility with custom avatar plugins
• Responsive fixes

1.0.4 (November 23, 2019 )

• Option to exclude specific users/authors
• Ability to display posts of the specific author

1.0.3 (November 12th, 2019)

• Option to include all users, not just authors

1.0.2 (October 30th, 2019)

• Added biography words trim option
• Added ability to add custom content before/after each element
• Added ability to display custom field values
• Added option to also show authors that do not have any posts
• Fixed issue where some authors are not shown

1.0.1 (October 21st, 2019)

• Added plugin URI (for “view details” link in the WordPress admin)
• Options to change the authors order
• Fixed issue with layout if images not the same height

1.0.0

• Initial Release