This tab represents most of the settings revolving around the ads themselves. There are three sub-tabs in this section: Layout and Presentation, Classifieds Bar, and Form Fields. Each sub-tab has different functions.
Layout and Presentation
Layout & Presentation: This section controls options regarding the display of pages and ads on the front end.
- Show Ad preview before payment: If enabled, a preview of the Ad being posted will be shown after the images have been uploaded and before the user is asked to pay. The user is allowed to go back and edit the Ad details and uploaded images or proceed with the posting process.
- Allow HTML in ad text: Whether you permit full HTML in the Description field of the Place Ad page. Use of this option encourages some bad practices from spammers, including links and dangerous embedded Javascript. Use with great caution.
- Display this text above ad detail: On the Place Ad page, above the Description field, this text will be listed. By default, we populate it with “No HTML Allowed”. You can customize this however you like.
- Maximum ad title length: The number of characters that can be entered in the title field for Place Ad.
- Maximum ad details length: The number of characters that can be entered in the Description field for Place Ad.
- Number of words in Ad excerpt: The number of words that will be shown in the Ad excerpt placeholder.
- Hide contact name to anonymous users: Hide listing contact name to anonymous (non logged in) users.
- Ad Listing Page Layout: This is the HTML template, read by AWPCP and substituted at runtime with all of the data shown as field codes (e.g. $ad_title, which will substitute the actual Ad Title information submitted in the ad). You can change the order of this layout, or even use different fields, add your own custom CSS classes or styles to make the ad layout look the way you want. You can safely add, change or delete field codes in this template to suit your needs as long as they match the list below (and are supported for that view)–AWPCP doesn’t require any of them to be present. The provided template is merely a suggestion–but the template must remain valid HTML (no broken tags, all tags must match). See valid field codes below.
- Reset Default: If you'd like to restore the Ad Listings Page Layout to the original settings, use this button. Note: This cannot be undone.
- Single Ad Page Layout: The same as ad listing, but for the individual Ad page instead.
- Reset Default: If you'd like to restore the Single Ad Page Layout to the original settings, use this button. Note: This cannot be undone.
Translation note: If you are translating strings, you must translate these templates as well, since they contain English labels for fields.
Valid Field Codes for AWPCP can be found in this article.
- Order Ad Listings by (general order of Ads in their categories or on any given page): You have several options here:
- Order Ad Listings in search results by: You have several options here as well:
- Search form display: This controls what happens after someone uses the Quick search button. By default, the search term used is then displayed in the Advanced Search Form for another search to be performed. You control whether you want the Advanced Search Form to be displayed after a Quick Search by choosing an option: Above results, Below results, or Don't show with results
- Default number of Ads per page: set the number of ads to be displayed on the Browse Ads page.
- Pagination Options: set the default pagination here.
- Limits search to available locations: The search form can attempt to build drop down country, state, city and county lists if data is available in the system. Note that with the regions module installed the value for this option is overridden. If you use this option, AWPCP will attempt to build a list of locations used by previous ad posters for city, state and country (if you display those fields). However, if people enter garbage data (e.g. austin, Austen and Austin for the city “Austin, TX”) it will display all options available. If you want true region limitations for ad posters and browsers, we suggest installing the Regions Control module instead.
- Show Ad count in categories: On the Browse Categories and View Categories pages, the Category name is displayed. If you turn this option on, it will also list the number of ads in that category next to the name in parenthesis (e.g. “For Sale (12)”). Default is on.
- Hide empty categories: If checked, categories with 0 listings in it won't be shown.
- Show Ad views: Show the number of times the ad has been viewed (simple count made by AWPCP -- warning, may not be accurate!)
- Make URLs in ad text clickable: If someone uses “http://” in an ad, this setting will attempt to make it a clickable link if you turn it on. This is a setting you can turn on to allow people to put in additional links without the risk of full HTML usage (from the setting above). Use with caution, as spammers can really go crazy if they find your site.
- Add no follow to links in Ads: Puts rel=”nofollow” to your links which neutralizes the value of classified ads to spammers. Default is on (recommended)
Classifieds Bar
The Classifieds Bar is a section shown at the top of the plugin pages, displaying a Search Bar and multiple menu items. Each element of the bar can be enabled or disabled using the settings below. Using the settings in this section, you can choose to turn these off or on. If the box is checked, the item is shown; if it is unchecked, the item is not shown.
Form Fields
The Form Fields tab controls the display of the “standard” ad fields, such as city, state, and country. You can configure whether such fields are visible and/or required in the Place Ad form.
Form Field Settings:
- Show [field]?: This will turn on the field in both the Place Ad form AND the Show Ad form
- Require [field]: This will perform a validation on the field on Place Ad and Edit Ad, and if the field is not present, will generate an error as the user attempts to save the form.
You can also change the order of your form fields under Classified Admin > Form Fields by dragging and dropping using the six dots next to the field name:
