General Questions

What is Magazines Collection?

Magazines Collection is a WordPress plugin designed to help you organize, catalog, and manage your personal collection of magazines and periodical publications. Whether you collect academic journals, comic books, or lifestyle magazines, this plugin provides a complete system to track your collection.

Who is this plugin for?

This plugin is ideal for collectors, researchers, librarians, archivists, and anyone who wants to keep an organized record of their magazine collection. It's particularly useful if you have a large collection and need to track multiple issues across different magazines.

Is this plugin free?

Yes! Magazines Collection is open-source software distributed under the GPL v2 license. You can use it, modify it, and share it freely.

Features & Functionality

What information can I track for each magazine?

For each magazine, you can record: title, description, editor/publisher, country of origin, language, periodicity (how often it's published), start date, and end date (if discontinued). You can also add notes and custom fields.

Can I track individual issues?

Absolutely! Each magazine can have multiple issues associated with it. For each issue, you can track: issue title, issue number, volume, publication date, ISSN, and even upload a cover image.

Does it support cover images?

Yes! You can upload cover images for each issue, either by uploading a file from your computer or by providing a URL to an existing image online. The plugin supports JPG, PNG, GIF, and WEBP formats.

Can I organize magazines by publisher?

Yes, the plugin includes a complete editors/publishers management system. You can add publishers with their name, description, country, website, and founding date. You can then associate magazines with their respective publishers.

What languages does the plugin support?

The plugin interface is available in English, Catalan, and Spanish. Additionally, you can classify magazines by their publication language using the built-in language taxonomy.

Usage & Interface

Do I need to use the WordPress admin panel?

No! The plugin provides a beautiful public-facing interface integrated with your theme. You can browse magazines, view details, and if you're logged in with appropriate permissions, you can create and edit entries directly from the frontend.

Can I add magazines from the magazine detail page?

Yes! If you're viewing a magazine and have edit permissions, you'll see an inline form that allows you to quickly add new issues without leaving the page.

Is there a search function?

The plugin includes powerful autocomplete search fields that help you quickly find magazines, editors, languages, and periodicities while creating or editing entries.

Permissions & Access

Who can view my collection?

Anyone can view your collection by default. The public pages are accessible to all visitors, making it easy to share your collection with others.

Who can add or edit magazines?

Only users with appropriate WordPress capabilities can create or edit entries. The plugin uses custom capabilities like edit_magazines and read_magazines to control access. Administrators have full access by default.

Can I give users limited permissions?

Yes! WordPress allows you to assign custom capabilities to different user roles. You can create editor roles, contributor roles, or any other combination that fits your needs.

Technical Questions

What are the system requirements?

The plugin requires WordPress 5.0 or higher and PHP 7.4 or higher. It's compatible with the latest WordPress versions (6.9+) and PHP 8.x.

Does it work with my theme?

The plugin is designed to work with any well-coded WordPress theme. It includes its own styling while respecting your theme's design. For the best experience, we recommend using it with the Twenty Twenty-Four Magazines theme.

Will it slow down my site?

The plugin is optimized for performance. It uses efficient database queries, caching, and only loads assets on pages where they're needed. Most users won't notice any performance impact.

Can I export my data?

Since all data is stored in standard WordPress tables, you can export your data using WordPress's built-in export tools or database backup plugins.

Is it compatible with multisite?

While not extensively tested in multisite environments, the plugin should work on multisite installations. Each site would maintain its own separate collection.

Getting Help

Where can I report bugs or request features?

You can report bugs and request features on our Forgejo repository. We welcome community contributions and feedback!

Is there documentation available?

Yes! Check the plugin's GitHub/Forgejo repository for detailed documentation, including installation instructions, usage guides, and developer documentation.

Can I contribute to the project?

Absolutely! The project is open-source and welcomes contributions. Whether you want to fix bugs, add features, improve documentation, or translate the plugin to other languages, your help is appreciated.

Future Development

Is the plugin still in development?

Yes! The plugin is currently in beta (version 0.0.40). We're actively developing new features and improving existing functionality based on user feedback.

What features are planned for the future?

Future plans include: advanced search and filtering, statistics and reports, import/export in various formats, integration with external databases, mobile app support, and more customization options.

Will it always be free?

Yes! The core plugin will always remain free and open-source under the GPL license. This ensures the community can continue to use, modify, and improve it indefinitely.