Meta Box released its MB Views add-on plugin last week. The new extension allows developers to build custom templates from the comfort of their WordPress admin. The goal is to provide an easy-to-use interface for outputting custom fields without editing theme files, but its flexibility pushes the boundaries of full-site editing.
Quick take: MB Views offers a solid developer experience but falls a little short of being friendly for those unfamiliar with code.
I have long been a fan of what the Meta Box team has done with its core plugin and extensions. The project’s developers have created a well-documented code base, written solid documentation, and have generally paid attention to details where others have failed. MB Views is no different. In minutes after activating the extension, I had custom views set up and rolled out on the front end of my test site.
The interface is simple enough to pick up almost immediately with enough flexibility to build nearly anything from the WordPress admin.
On the whole, the team’s new add-on is well worth the price of one of the available premium bundles, which range between $79 and $349. It is not without a few minor issues, but that is to be expected with a version 1.0 release.
A Powerful Tool for Front End Editing
My experience working with the view-editing screen felt natural. The code editor uses Code Mirror and its Oceanic Next theme. It has auto-tabbing and auto-complete built in, so it feels like most offline editors. Developers should feel at home quickly building a custom view.
Because I mostly use Tailwind CSS these days, I was able to build a faux email signup form in a couple of minutes and display it directly beneath my posts using the available view settings.
[…]
This article was written by Justin Tadlock and originally published on WordPress Tavern.