Project acf-directory-section-project · revised 11 October 2026
Project
Add a searchable directory section to your WordPress site, from fields to filters
Add one structured directory to your WordPress site: a content type with its fields, entry and list pages, search and filters, and the address clean-up, accepted as one finished section.
This asks for a proposal by email. Nothing is charged, and nothing starts, until you have agreed the scope, the price and the terms in writing.
The result you are buying
A directory needs a data model, entry pages, a list page, search and filters, and clean addresses that behave properly. Bought piece by piece, the parts are easy to build against different assumptions about where each value lives and how addresses look.
Who it’s for: Owner or agency who wants a members, properties, events or resources directory on an existing WordPress site and wants one accountable result rather than several jobs.
Usually starts when: A list on one page has outgrown a hand-made layout, or the business wants visitors to find the right entry on their own.
The result: You buy the finished section, not the parts. The directory exists with its fields, entry pages and list page, visitors can search and filter it, existing addresses that changed redirect, and you accept the section against criteria agreed in advance.
How the work fits together
The project is complete when the content type and the search and filter are both accepted by you against the agreed criteria, and any needed redirects pass their checks. You accept the finished section, not each internal step.
Add one structured content type to WordPress, with its fields and page templates Job Included
Build one custom post type with an Advanced Custom Fields group, an archive page and a single-entry page, kept in files, so editors fill in fields instead of formatting pages.
One content type
Add search, filters and sorting to one WordPress directory or listing page Job Included
Add keyword search, up to three filters and sorting to one existing WordPress listing, with shareable addresses, working pagination and agreed behaviour for empty results.
One list page
After: Custom content type with ACF
Map every old address to its new one and clean up canonicals after a WordPress restructure Job Each time it fires
Build a tested map for up to 300 old addresses on one WordPress domain, each to one new address, remove chains and correct canonical addresses and the sitemap in the SEO plugin settings.
Only if existing addresses change
Added when the section replaces or moves pages that already have addresses.
Make members-only WordPress pages open to the right people and closed to everyone else Job Optional
Test a role-by-page access matrix on a staging copy of your membership site, fix the rules and caching that let the wrong people in or keep the right people out, and prove it.
A separate job, only if you already run a membership plugin and the directory pages must follow its access rules: it tests and corrects who can see them (up to four levels and ten items). It does not build membership.
Move edits made inside a WordPress theme into a child theme, so updates stop erasing them Job Optional
Find every change made directly in a parent theme, move it into a child theme, and prove on staging that it works with the current parent, then the updated one, and can be switched back.
Recommended first if the theme was edited directly, so the new templates survive a theme update.
How an engagement works
The price covers the agreed fields, filters and entries only. Extra fields, filters or entries are quoted separately.
How it starts
You send the sample entries, the filters you want and the page where the directory should live.
We read them, propose the fields, filters and entry count and give a fixed price in writing.
You agree the fields, price and terms in writing. Nothing starts before then.
We build on a staging copy and send the finished section with the evidence for you to accept.
Your site holder installs it on the live site and you confirm the live checks.
Who decides what
You decide the fields and filters and accept the section. Your site holder installs and applies the rules on its own gates.
Handover
The plugin, templates, the matrix, the redirect map and the editor guide arrive together, with install and removal steps.
Sharing your product safely. Send sample entries and descriptions, never customer personal data or logins. After you agree the project, share a staging copy and the entry spreadsheet through the agreed handoff.
What is included, and what is not
- A plugin with the content type and field definitions, and the templates
- Search and filter code with its test matrix
- The redirect map for any changed addresses
- Twenty entries loaded and checked
- The editor guide and installation steps
Included
- One directory section on one single WordPress site
- The content type and its fields (up to 12), an entry template and a list template
- Search, up to three filters and sorting on the list page
- Redirects for existing pages whose addresses change because of the section
- Entering up to twenty of your entries from a spreadsheet you supply
- A written editor guide and a test matrix
Not included
- Entering or cleaning more than twenty entries
- Map or distance search, ratings or visitor-submitted entries
- Translating entries into another language
- Paid plugin licences or hosting changes
- A members-only area: building membership is not included. If you already run a membership plugin, the separate access job tests and corrects who can see the directory pages
- Content writing
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
The content type, its fields and the entry and list templates pass the acceptance tests of the content-type job on a fresh staging copy
Evidence: The test results and screenshots from that job
The search and filter pass the full test matrix against the loaded entries
Evidence: The matrix with expected and actual results
Every loaded entry matches your spreadsheet in each field
Evidence: A field-by-field comparison report
If addresses changed, every old address reaches its new one in a single step
Evidence: The redirect test results
Sign-off. You accept the finished section against the agreed criteria after your site holder installs it and the live checks pass.
If it fails. An element we cannot deliver is named with the reason and what it would take, and the price is adjusted. Nothing is billed as delivered that you have not accepted.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- An existing single WordPress site with a staging copy
- The entries and their values exist as a spreadsheet or can be listed
- A named person can decide the fields and accept the section
- If existing addresses change, your site holder can take a full files-and-database backup and restore it once onto a non-public copy before the live redirect change
We stop and tell you if
- The entries live in an outside system that must stay the source of truth
- The directory needs more than a few thousand entries, or distance search
- No staging copy can be made
- Existing addresses change and no full backup can be taken and restored before the live redirect change
- Nobody can decide the fields and the filters
- The site is a multisite network, which is quoted separately
What could go wrong
The section is a plugin and a rule file. Deactivating the plugin and removing the rules returns the site to its earlier state; stored entries remain in the database. Steps are in the handover.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| Fields are decided too late and the filters change | Fields, filters and address pattern are agreed in writing before building; later changes are quoted. |
| The entries contain personal data | We ask for entries without personal data unless you agree a secure route first, and stop if that is not possible. |
| The finished section slows the site | We measure the list page on staging against a budget agreed first and re-scope if it cannot meet it. |
Each part is reviewed separately from the work that produced it, and you accept the section. No human supervisor is included unless your proposal names one. At launch the work is largely automated, and we say so.
Stays with a person
- You approve the fields, filters and policy for filter addresses
- Your site holder installs on the live site
Access we would need
- A staging copy and a staging admin login
Questions
Do I buy the parts separately instead?
You can. The content type and the search are each available as their own job. The project is one price and one acceptance for the whole section.
Who enters my entries?
Up to twenty from your spreadsheet are included. The rest you add with the editor guide, or we quote it.
What if I change my mind about a filter?
Changes after the price is agreed are written in and quoted, not absorbed silently.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- What the directory lists and about how many entries
- A sample of ten entries with every piece of information each has
- The filters visitors would use and example searches
- Your theme and page editor, and the page where the directory should live
- Any existing pages that already list these entries
Later, once you agree
- A staging copy and an admin login to it
- The entry spreadsheet, with no customer personal data unless agreed
- A named person to decide fields and accept the work
- A company-controlled secure handoff agreed before access: no live passwords, keys, private code or customer records by ordinary email.
You keep the live site and all content. We build on a staging copy; your site holder installs the finished plugin and rules.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “acf-directory-section-project” as the subject.