Webinar Cards

A WordPress plugin that replaces hardcoded webinar listings with dynamic webinar posts managed from the admin area. Each card displays a video thumbnail that plays inline on click — no page redirect. Supports both YouTube and Vimeo.

Version: 1.1.4 | Requires: WordPress 6.0+ | Tested up to: 6.9.4 | PHP: 7.4+ | License: GPLv2

Installation

1. Upload the webinar-cards folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate the plugin through WordPress Admin → Plugins.
3. Add webinars under the new Webinars menu.
4. Fill in the YouTube or Vimeo URL, Speaker, and Date in the Webinar Details meta box.
5. Add a short description using the Excerpt field (enable via Screen Options if hidden).
6. Place [webinar_cards] in any page, post, or Elementor shortcode widget.

Shortcode

[webinar_cards]

Attributes

Examples

[webinar_cards]
[webinar_cards columns="4" tablet_columns="2" mobile_columns="1"]
[webinar_cards posts_per_page="6"]
[webinar_cards category="marketing"]
[webinar_cards category="marketing,sales" columns="2"]

Features

Email Gate

Restrict video access to specific email domains or addresses via Webinars → Access Settings.

FAQ

Why doesn't a webinar appear in the grid? Webinars are ordered by the Date field. Webinars without a date are still shown but sorted to the bottom.

The YouTube thumbnail has black bars — how do I fix it? The plugin uses mqdefault.jpg (always 16:9). If bars appear, check that the YouTube URL is correct and the video is publicly accessible.

Can I show all webinars with no limit? Set posts_per_page to a large number such as 100.

Where do I find the category slug? Go to Webinars → Categories. The slug is shown in the Slug column.

Files

webinar-cards/
├── webinar-cards.php                      # Plugin entry point
├── uninstall.php                          # Cleanup on uninstall
├── includes/
│   ├── class-webinar-cards.php            # Core singleton
│   ├── class-webinar-cards-cpt.php        # Custom post type & taxonomy
│   ├── class-webinar-cards-meta.php       # Meta boxes (URL, speaker, date)
│   ├── class-webinar-cards-shortcode.php  # Shortcode rendering & cache
│   ├── class-webinar-cards-access.php     # Email gate logic
│   ├── class-webinar-cards-settings.php   # Access Settings admin page
│   ├── class-webinar-cards-helpers.php    # Shared utilities
│   ├── class-webinar-cards-help.php       # Shortcode Guide admin page
│   └── class-webinar-cards-updater.php    # Auto-updater
└── assets/                                # CSS and JS

Changelog

1.1.4

• Fix: NitroPack page cache is now reliably purged when a webinar is saved. NitroPack only registers its integration hooks on non-admin (front-end) requests, so the previous do_action() calls from admin saves were silent no-ops. The purge now also runs via a WP-Cron event that fires outside admin context where NitroPack's hooks are active.

1.1.3

• Fix: NitroPack cache purge now triggers correctly on every webinar save. The has_action() guard was causing the purge to be skipped on admin requests because NitroPack registers its integration hooks on front-end requests only.

1.1.2

• Fix: NitroPack page cache is now automatically purged when a webinar is saved or deleted, so new cards appear on the site immediately without a manual cache clear.

1.1.1

• Fix: Registration link now redirects the user back to the originating page after account creation.

1.1.0

• New: Email gate — restrict video access by allowed domain or specific email address.
• New: Access Settings page (Webinars → Access Settings) to manage gate rules.
• New: Secure 24-hour access token (httponly cookie) + JS-readable grant cookie for page-cache compatibility.
• New: Gate modal with email input, inline error messages, and sign-in / register fallback links.
• Fix: Webinars without a Date field were excluded after cache expiry (meta_key inner-join bug) — all published webinars now appear, undated ones sort to the bottom.

1.0.0

• Initial release: custom post type, Webinar Categories taxonomy, responsive grid shortcode.
• YouTube and Vimeo inline embed on card click (autoplay, fullscreen-capable).
• YouTube mqdefault thumbnail (16:9, no black bars); Vimeo thumbnail via oEmbed, cached 30 days.
• Shortcode output caching via transient (1 hour, auto-invalidated).
• N+1 query prevention via update_meta_cache().
• Self-hosted auto-updater with optional SHA-256 checksum verification.