Cactus Masonry Classic
Note
Cactus Masonry Classic has been superseded by Cactus Masonry Plus. Cactus Masonry Plus is also free and available in the WordPress plugin repository.
What is Cactus Masonry Classic?
Cactus Masonry Classic (which we will call CMC from now on), is a WordPress plugin designed to display a gallery of post and/or page featured images that can be filtered, sorted, and treated as hyperlinks.
In other words, a CMC gallery will display a list of all matching posts which link back to their permalinks when clicked! This functionality would be perfect for an art or photo gallery where further information needs to be displayed on each item. Of course, you can choose where each picture links, whether back to the original image (at a size of your choosing), the original post, a Lightbox styled gallery, or nowhere at all.
As CMC essentially searches your WordPress site for posts, you can specify which category (or categories) of post to display, and sort those posts by date, comment count, author, randomly, and more!
You can also specify the layout options for the pictures. By default, the pictures are positioned in a masonry styled layout, where the images are slotted into each other like irregular bricks in an old stone wall. However, you can force the plugin to restrict or constrain the heights or widths of the images to create a tidy and whitespace free gallery of images. Check out the Cactus Masonry Classic Home Page for an example where the width has been constrained to 33.3%.
You may also specify how the images glow when the user’s mouse hovers overhead, whether the images have borders, and how much (if any) spacing should exist between each image.
The Cactus Masonry Classic plugin provides a versatile WordPress plugin that allows you to display your posts by their thumbnail in a clean and visually pleasing format.
Can I See it In Action?
Yes, go to the main page of Cactus Masonry Classic Website to check it out!
Does it Cost Money?
No, it’s all free to use. This is not one of those “free” plugins that require a payment before you can use any of its useful features. This is completely free – no watermarks, no ads, no nagging. Just one free plugin.
However, it did take a fair amount of time to make… so if you are feeling generous… feel free to donate something. But no pressure or anything :).
Can I Make a Feature Request?
CMC has reached the end of its supported life. Bug fixes will still be issued, but new features are unlikely to be released.
CMC has now been replaced by Cactus Masonry Plus. This plugin is a total rebuild of CMC, including improved performance, fewer and smaller files, and a whole bunch of new features.
Cactus Masonry Plus is also free, but it is also open to new feature requests. To find out more, visit the Cactus Masonry Plus Website.
Download & install the zip archive
The plugin package installer can be downloaded from the WP2E project tab called “code”.
1 – Select the version to download if this option is available otherwise the “latest” version of the main plugin will be used.
2 – After downloading the zip archive install the plugin package installer in you local environment and activate the script from the plugin list.
3 – Under the section “Plugins” of the admin dashboard you should see a new “Dependencies & Licenses” link. Follow the instructions from this panel to finalize the installation of the missing dependencies.
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- Give a name to your project
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- Download the Installer Package
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- Install & activate the plugin locally
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- Install the suggested dependencies
Tips: Use the WP2E panel to add/suggest new dependencies to the local installation. Press F5 in the list of dependencies if the changes are not displayed right away.