Collaboration in blogs is a growing need with more and more blogging teams, newspapers, and magazines using the Internet. Additionally, there are times that one post may be assigned to more than one author. In WordPress, the only way to co-author a blog post is to share login information or for the users to have a higher role than “Author.” Here are three WordPress plugins that will allow you the ease of collaborating blog posts between more than one author. Each of the three plugins have their pros and cons, so test them out and see which one is the best fit for you.
1. Co-Authors Plus
Co-Authors Plus allows a blogging team to assign a blog post (or even a page) to more than one author. It has a search-as-you-type input box that makes it easier to find the authors. This is a great tool because you do not have to know how to write their full name. After installing the plugin, you use template tags to allow the listing of the multiple authors. These are the allowed template tags:
- coauthors()
- coauthors_posts_links()
- coauthors_firstnames()
- coauthors_lastnames()
- coauthors_nicknames()
- coauthors_links()
- coauthors_IDs()
These posts will appear on the authors’ posts and feeds. It’s great because it provides blogging teams with many authors to have an easier way to find the desired authors. However, it’s a little difficult for people who do not know how to code.
2. WT Co-Authors
WT Co-Authors allows multiple authors in a different way than the previous plugin. It uses WordPress custom fields to show more than one authors. The custom name field to use is “coauthor.” The value will be the user’s name. There is no maximum in the amount of authors used. You have to ensure that the WordPress theme that you are using has “the_author()” function. If it doesn’t, you will have to manually add
if(function_exists(wt_the_coauthors_link)): wt_the_coauthors_link(); endif;
It’s an easier way to show collaboration; however, it does not fully use the WordPress role functionality, so Administrators and/or Editors can assign Authors to one blog post.
3. SP Authors
SP Authors provides a simple way of allowing multiple authors to be assigned to a blog post (or a page). After installing the plugin, you will se a new area that provides a way to manually enter the author’s name. It also has a drop-down menu of all the authors, if you are not sure how to spell their names. Another great feature is if you place the short code [sp-authors], you are able to show a list of the particular’s authors links of other blog posts that he/she has written.
SP Authors is the simplest plugin to use to collaborate among multiple authors in a single blog post. However, the drop-down menu might be overwhelming if you have many authors.
If you have a blogging team, one of these plugins will really give you the flexibility of allowing multiple authors to colloborate on a single blog posts. This is especially useful in a complex post that allows you to assign different sections to various authors.
