Random Post on Refresh Plugin

The Random Post on Refresh plugin allows you to randomly display a different post on every page load.

Using this plugin is simple:

1. Install the plugin
2. Activate the plugin
3. On the page or post where you want to have a random post display, add the [random_post_on_refresh] shortcode where you want your post to appear.
4. Save your changes.

Features

• Works with custom post types
• No settings page, just an easy way for you to add random posts to your site
• Clean, well written code that won’t bog down your site

Prerequisites

If you don’t meet the below requirements, I highly recommend you upgrade your WordPress install or move to a web host
that supports a more recent version of PHP.

• Requires WordPress version 3.2 or greater
• Requires PHP version 5 or greater ( PHP version 5.2.4 is required to run WordPress version 3.2 )

The Easy Way

1. In your WordPress admin, go to ‘Plugins’ and then click on ‘Add New’.
2. In the search box, type in ‘Random Post on Refresh’ and hit enter. This plugin should be the first and likely the only result.
3. Click on the ‘Install’ link.
4. Once installed, click the ‘Activate this plugin’ link.

The Hard Way

1. Download the .zip file containing the plugin.
2. Upload the file into your /wp-content/plugins/ directory and unzip
3. Find the plugin in the WordPress admin on the ‘Plugins’ page and click ‘Activate’

The [random_post_on_refresh] shortcode supports a few attributes to give you more control over the results:

• author – Provide an author ID or a comma-separated list of author IDs if you want to limit the random post to one of those authors. Example: [random_post_on_refresh author="1, 11, 14"]

• ids – Provide a comma-separated list of post IDs to pull random posts from. Example: [random_post_on_refresh ids="19, 87, 113, 997"]

• image_required – Only applies when the show attribute contains image. This attribute defaults to true and will cause WordPress to filter out any posts without images. If set to false, then posts with or without images will be shown. Example: [random_post_on_refresh show="title, image" image_required="false"]

• not – Provide a comma-separated list of post IDs to exclude. Example: [random_post_on_refresh not="3, 456, 876"]

• post_type – Provide a post type or a comma-separated list of post types to pull from. You must use the internal post type name. Default is post. Example: [random_post_on_refresh post_type="page"]

• search – Provide a custom search term to limit the random posts returned. Example: [random_post_on_refresh search="relativity"]

• taxonomy – Provide a custom taxonomy to pull from. Requires the terms attribute to be set as well. Example: [random_post_on_refresh taxonomy="post_tag" terms="2,4"]

• terms – Provide a term ID or comma-separated list of term IDs to limit the random posts returned. Requires the taxonomy attribute to be set as well. Example: [random_post_on_refresh taxonomy="post_tag" terms="2,4"]

• class – Provide a custom class name for the wrapping HTML div. Example: [random_post_on_refresh class="my-custom-class"]

• size – Provide a registered image size to use for image display (optional, only takes effect if images are being shown). Example: [random_post_on_refresh size="thumbnail"]

• show – Provide a comma-separated list of post elements to display. You can also use a vertical pipe | character instead of a comma to separate items into columns. Options are: title, image, excerpt, content. Defaults to title, image, excerpt. Items will show in the order you provide. Note: If images are shown, only posts with featured images will be returned. Example: [random_post_on_refresh show="title, image"]

Keep in mind that any of these attributes can be combined as needed. Example: [random_post_on_refresh author="19" size="full" not="2310"]. Also, keep in mind that the shortcode can be used in text widgets.

1.2

• Added a shortcode attribute to allow posts without images to be shown when the show attribute contains image.
• Bug fix for certain strings not being translatable.

1.1.1

• Fixed bug where post excerpts were being generated incorrectly.

1.1

• Ensure code meets coding standards.
• Don’t allow the current post to be selected as the random post.
• Always return the last 100 matching items and select the random post from one of those.
• Tested in WordPress 5.0

1.0

• Tested in WordPress version 4.9.2