WP Article Hub

Multi-source article aggregator for WordPress. Combines RSS feeds and manual entries into a unified, responsive card grid via a single shortcode. Zero theme dependency — works with Divi, Elementor, Astra, GeneratePress, or any theme.

How It Works

• RSS feeds are fetched live and cached for 6 hours (WordPress transients). No database import — articles stay at the source.
• Manual entries (YouTube, conferences, magazines without RSS) are stored as a lightweight custom post type.
• One shortcode merges both sources, deduplicates by URL, and sorts by date.

Features

• Live RSS — fetches from any RSS/Atom feed (Medium, Substack, WordPress, etc.)
• Manual entries — CPT for sources without RSS (YouTube interviews, print magazines, etc.)
• Transient cache — RSS cached 6h, no DB bloat, "Clear Cache" button in admin
• External links — clicks go to the original source, not a local copy
• Responsive grid — auto-fit cards, collapses to single column on mobile
• Source filtering — show only articles from a specific source
• Author display — optional, toggle in settings
• Image support — media library picker, external URL, or auto-extracted from RSS
• Custom CSS — textarea in settings to override styles per site
• Translatable — Polylang (pll__), WPML, and standard .po/.mo support
• Theme-proof CSS — !important isolation, works even with aggressive themes
• No cron jobs — RSS is fetched on page load, cached in transients

Installation

1. Upload the wp-article-hub folder to wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate in WP Admin → Plugins
3. Go to Article Hub → RSS Feeds — add your feed URLs
4. Go to Article Hub → Settings — configure display options
5. Add [article_hub] shortcode to any page or widget

Shortcode

[article_hub]                                         — 6 articles, grid, all sources
[article_hub count="3"]                               — limit to 3 articles
[article_hub source="Medium"]                         — filter by source name
[article_hub layout="single"]                         — single-column list (no images)
[article_hub layout="single" images="all"]            — single-column list with images
[article_hub images="none"]                           — hide all images
[article_hub images="all"]                            — show images everywhere
[article_hub count="1" layout="single" images="all"]  — featured single article with image

images Parameter

Value	Behavior
grid	(default) Show images only in grid layout
all	Show images in both grid and single layouts
none	Hide images everywhere

Drop into any page builder: Divi Code Module, Elementor Shortcode widget, Gutenberg Shortcode block, or plain HTML.

Admin Pages

Article Hub → All Articles

Manual entries only. RSS articles are not stored in the database.

Article Hub → Add New Article

For sources without RSS feeds. Fields:

• Title — article headline
• External URL — link to the original article (required)
• Excerpt — short description
• Source Name — e.g. "YouTube", "Seznam Medium"
• Author — article author name
• Published Date — original publication date
• Image — two options:
  • Media Library — select from WordPress media gallery
  • External URL — paste an image URL (e.g. YouTube thumbnail: https://img.youtube.com/vi/VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg)

Article Hub → RSS Feeds

Configure RSS feed URLs. Each feed has:

• Active checkbox — enable/disable without deleting
• Source Name — label shown on cards (e.g. "Medium", "My Blog")
• Feed URL — any valid RSS or Atom feed URL

Clear RSS Cache button forces re-fetch on next page load.

Article Hub → Settings

• Show Author — display author name on article cards
• Custom CSS — override default styles (see below)

Custom CSS

Override any style via the Custom CSS textarea in Settings. All selectors must start with .wah-embed. Use !important to override defaults.

Available Classes

Class	Element
.wah-embed	Outer wrapper
.wah-grid	Grid container
.wah-single	Single/list container
.wah-card	Article card
.wah-image	Thumbnail container
.wah-content	Text content area
.wah-overtitle	Source label
.wah-title	Article title (h3)
.wah-title a	Title link
.wah-description	Excerpt text
.wah-meta	Date + button row
.wah-author	Author name
.wah-date	Published date
.wah-button	"Read" CTA button

Source-Specific Classes

Cards get an additional class based on source name:

• .wah-source--medium
• .wah-source--youtube
• .wah-source--aifounders
• .wah-source--seznam
• .wah-source--other (default)

Example: Custom Branding

/* Change title font */
.wah-embed .wah-title { font-family: 'Georgia', serif !important; }

/* Change button color */
.wah-embed a.wah-button { border-color: #ff6600 !important; color: #ff6600 !important; }
.wah-embed a.wah-button:hover { background-color: #ff6600 !important; color: #fff !important; }

/* Hide thumbnails */
.wah-embed .wah-image { display: none !important; }

/* Style YouTube cards differently */
.wah-embed .wah-source--youtube .wah-overtitle { color: #ff0000 !important; }

Image Priority

For manual entries, images are resolved in this order:

1. Media Library pick (via "Select Image" button in metabox)
2. Featured Image (WordPress sidebar)
3. External URL (Thumbnail URL field)

For RSS articles, images are extracted from:

1. RSS <enclosure> (if image type)
2. <media:content> (MRSS standard)
3. <szn:image> (Seznam feeds)
4. First <img> tag in content

Multilingual Support (WPML / Polylang Ready)

The plugin is fully compatible with WPML and Polylang out of the box.

Dates — Automatic Translation

All dates use WordPress date_i18n() — month names, date formats, and locale-specific formatting are handled automatically. No configuration needed.

• English: "March 26, 2026"
• Czech: "26. března 2026"
• German: "26. Marz 2026"

UI Strings

The "Read" button label is translatable:

Method	How
Polylang	Languages → String translations → group "WP Article Hub"
WPML	String Translation → domain wp-article-hub
.po/.mo files	Text domain: wp-article-hub

Manual Entries

The external_article CPT works with both WPML and Polylang translation interfaces. Create separate entries per language, or use a single entry if the external article is language-agnostic.

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0+
• PHP 7.4+
• No plugin dependencies
• No theme dependencies

License

MIT