If you run a large dynamic website, putting together the articles by category is a great idea since it allows your visitors to find an article more easily. For instance, if you run a travel-related website, you can create categories like destination, travel story, and so on. Visitors who are looking for a tourist destination reference can simply go to the destination category.
Depending on the theme you use. Some WordPress themes, especially newspaper themes sold on Themeforest like Newspaper by tagDiv, allow you to customize the look of the category template.
If you have fallen in love with the WordPress theme you are currently using, yet not too impressed with the look of the category template, you can create a custom category template to replace it. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a master in PHP or CSS to create a custom category template. You can even do so without coding with Elementor.
Creating a Custom Category Template with Elementor
In order to be able to create a custom category template without coding in WordPress with Elementor, you need to use the pro version. The pro version of Elementor comes with a Theme Builder feature which you will need to create a custom category page.
There are two ways to create a custom category page in WordPress using Elementor. First, you can create one from scratch. Second, you can use one of the available templates offered by Elementor. This example will show you how to create a custom category template from a template.
By the way, the following are the widgets offered by Elementor Pro to work on a custom category page.
- Archive Title
- Archive Posts
- Author Box
Of course, you can also add other widgets/elements to your category page according to your needs.
Let’s get started.
- Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to Templates -> Theme Builder.
- On the Theme Builder page, go to the Archive tab and click the plus icon to create a new template.
- As mentioned earlier, we will create the custom category template from a template instead of from scratch. So, select one of the available templates on the template library and click the Insert button to take it to the Elementor editor.
- Once the template is loaded to the Elementor editor, click the PUBLISH button.
- Next, you will be asked to set the display condition. Click the ADD CONDITION button to add one.
- Specify where you want your template to be applied to. If you want it to be applied to all categories on your website, simply select Categories from the dropdown menu. If you want it to be applied to a specific category, you can specify the category you want on the selector on the right side. Click the SAVE & CLOSE button once you are done specifying the category.
How to Customize the Category Template
If you create a custom category template from a template instead of from scratch, everything is determined by the template creator, the Elementor team in this case. If there are some parts you want to change or remove, you can do so.
Each template consists of several sections, which you can find via the Navigator.
On the screenshot above, the template consists of three sections. Each section hosts the widgets used on the template. You can see what widgets inside a section by clicking the tiny arrow icon.
To delete a section or widget, you can right-click and select Delete. If you want to customize a widget, you can activate (by clicking it) the widget you want to customize and go to the left panel to start customizing.
There are lots of options you can set. To change things like typography options, color options, background, and other styling options, you can go to the Style tab. Just play around with the left panel until you get satisfied with the result.
The Bottom Line
Elementor has a theme builder feature which you can use to create custom templates for your site parts, including the category template. The feature comes with display condition to allow you to assign a custom template to specific area of your website.
When creating a custom category template using this feature, you can assign the template to entire website or specific categories.
4 thoughts on “How to Create a Custom Category Template in WordPress with Elementor”
I followed the instructions but when I go to publish and choose a category to display the template from the drop down selector, no categories appear except the “Uncategorized” category, despite the fact that I have created many categories. Do you know why?
did you actually go to the dashboard, then to “posts” and click on “categories” to make the category?
Hey How can i create the dynamic grid of sub categories based on parent category for Posts.
i am having a custom icon box i want to showcase them in a grid with dynamic
where if user selected cat1 then we would be seeing related sub categories.
Any leads would help me out
Thanks.
Hi Aliko,
I am so happy to see your artile, and I have a problem now and I really wish you can help, if possible.
My create my menu “Blog” (1st category), and under “blog” there are two 2nd category “Technical Knowledge” and “Company News”. And I edit 3 archive templates and I want to display them into these 3 categories, as I want visitors can check different parts simply.
I edit the the condition to display those templates on elementor, but failed to see those templates perform as what I want to see.
I try many times, but all failed. Could you do me this favor? Please tell me how to do, thank you so much. If you want me to send some pictures for your checking more, please let me know at any time.
Looking forward to hearing from you today or tomorrow, thank you, Aliko.
my name is Felina, from China. my contact email is felina@polextech.com.