Showing Custom Attributes in WooCommerce: A Beginner-Friendly Guide
WooCommerce is a fantastic platform for selling anything online. One of its strengths lies in its ability to let you define product attributes. Think of attributes as characteristics of your product, like color, size, or material. While WooCommerce provides default ways to display these attributes, sometimes you need to go beyond the basics and show custom attributes in unique ways to really showcase what makes your product special.
This guide is for WooCommerce newbies who want to learn how to display custom attributes effectively. We’ll break down the process step-by-step, making it easy to understand and implement, even if you’re not a coding wizard!
What are Attributes and Why Customize Them?
Imagine you’re selling handmade leather wallets. You might have attributes like:
* Material: Leather, Vegan Leather
* Color: Brown, Black, Tan
* Size: Small, Medium, Large
By default, WooCommerce typically displays these attributes in a simple table on the product page, often under an “Additional Information” tab. However, this might not be the most visually appealing or informative way to present them.
Why customize?
- Improved User Experience: Making the attribute information more prominent and easier to understand can improve the user experience and encourage purchases.
- Highlight Unique Features: You can use custom attribute displays to emphasize specific qualities that set your product apart. For example, you could display the leather supplier’s name alongside the “Material” attribute if you’re sourcing from a well-known, reputable company.
- Better Visual Presentation: You can display attributes in a variety of formats, such as image swatches for colors or custom icons for materials, rather than just plain text.
- Enhanced SEO: Using attributes strategically can help your products rank higher in search results by using relevant keywords.
Adding Custom Attributes in WooCommerce
Before we can display custom attributes, we need to add them! WooCommerce offers two ways to add attributes:
1. Global Attributes: Defined at *Products > Attributes*. These are reusable across multiple products. This is best for common attributes like color and size.
2. Product-Specific Attributes: Defined on individual product pages under the “Product data” section, then the “Attributes” tab. These are specific to that particular product only. Use this if the attribute is only relevant to one product.
Let’s say we’re adding “Lining Material” as an attribute. It might be things like “Cotton”, “Silk” or “Polyester”.
For Global Attributes:
1. Go to *Products > Attributes* in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Enter “Lining Material” as the “Name” and generate a “Slug” (or customize it).
3. Click “Add attribute”.
4. Now click “Configure terms” under the “Lining Material” attribute.
5. Add your terms, such as “Cotton”, “Silk”, and “Polyester.”
For Product-Specific Attributes:
1. Go to the product edit page.
2. In the “Product data” metabox, select “Attributes.”
3. Choose “Custom product attribute” from the dropdown and click “Add.”
4. Give the attribute a “Name” (e.g., “Lining Material”).
5. Enter the values for this product, separating them with a `|` (pipe) symbol (e.g., “Cotton | Silk”). Be sure to tick the “Visible on the product page” checkbox.
Displaying Custom Attributes: The Simple Way (Using WooCommerce Settings)
The easiest way to display attributes is using WooCommerce’s built-in options.
1. Go to the product edit page.
2. In the “Product data” metabox, select “Attributes.”
3. Ensure the “Visible on the product page” checkbox is checked for the attribute you want to display.
4. Update the product.
This will display the attribute and its selected value(s) in the “Additional Information” tab on the product page. This is the most basic way to display attributes.
Displaying Custom Attributes: Getting More Creative with Code
For more control over how your custom attributes are displayed, you’ll need to add some code to your theme’s `functions.php` file or create a custom plugin. Always back up your website before editing core files or adding plugins!
Here’s a basic example of how to display a specific custom attribute before the product title:
function display_lining_material_before_title() { global $product;
if ( ! is_product() ) {
return; // Only run on single product pages
}
$lining_material = $product->get_attribute( ‘lining-material’ ); // Replace ‘lining-material’ with your attribute slug
if ( $lining_material ) {
echo ‘
Lining Material: ‘ . esc_html( $lining_material ) . ‘
‘;
}
}
add_action( ‘woocommerce_before_single_product_summary’, ‘display_lining_material_before_title’, 5 ); // Adjust priority if needed
Explanation:
- `display_lining_material_before_title()`: This is the name of our function.
- `global $product;`: This makes the `$product` object available within our function, allowing us to access product data.
- `if ( ! is_product() ) { return; }`: This checks if we are on a single product page. If not, the function stops to avoid errors.
- `$lining_material = $product->get_attribute( ‘lining-material’ );`: This is the crucial part. `$product->get_attribute()` retrieves the value of the attribute with the slug `lining-material`. Make sure to replace ‘lining-material’ with the actual slug of your attribute.
- `if ( $lining_material )`: Checks if the Lining Material attribute has a value.
- `echo ‘
Lining Material: ‘ . esc_html( $lining_material ) . ‘
‘;`: This constructs the HTML to display the attribute. `esc_html()` sanitizes the output to prevent security vulnerabilities.
- `add_action( ‘woocommerce_before_single_product_summary’, ‘display_lining_material_before_title’, 5 );`: This line is what makes the code actually run. It hooks our function into the `woocommerce_before_single_product_summary` action, which is a point in the product page template. The `5` sets the priority, determining when this function runs relative to other functions hooked into the same action.
Important considerations:
- Attribute Slug: Make sure to use the attribute slug, not the name, in the `get_attribute()` function. You can find the slug on the *Products > Attributes* page.
- Action Hooks: Experiment with different WooCommerce action hooks (e.g., `woocommerce_after_title`, `woocommerce_before_add_to_cart_form`) to find the best location for your attribute display. Refer to the WooCommerce documentation for a complete list.
- Styling: Use CSS to style the displayed attribute information to match your website’s design. In the example above, the `
` tag has the class `lining-material`, which you can use to target it with CSS.
Example: Displaying Material with a Custom Icon
Let’s say you want to display the “Material” attribute with Explore this article on How To Connect Woocommerce To Midway WordPress Theme a custom icon before the text. First, upload your material icons to your theme’s `images` directory (e.g., `wp-content/themes/your-theme/images/leather.png`, `wp-content/themes/your-theme/images/cotton.png`).
Then, modify the code:
function display_material_with_icon() { global $product;
if ( ! is_product() ) {
return;
}
$material = $product->get_attribute( ‘material’ );
$icon_url = ”;
if ( $material ) {
switch ( strtolower( $material ) ) {
case ‘leather’:
$icon_url = get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . ‘/images/leather.png’;
break;
case ‘cotton’:
$icon_url = get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . ‘/images/cotton.png’;
break;
// Add more cases for other materials
}
if ( $icon_url ) {
echo ‘
‘ . esc_html( $material ) . ‘
‘;
} else {
echo ‘
‘ . esc_html( $material ) . ‘
‘; // Show the text anyway
}
}
}
add_action( ‘woocommerce_before_single_product_summary’, ‘display_material_with_icon’, 6 );
Explanation:
- We added a `switch` statement to determine the correct icon URL based on the `material` attribute value.
- `get_stylesheet_directory_uri()` returns the URL of your theme’s stylesheet directory.
- An `
` tag is created to display the icon before the material name.
- `esc_url()` sanitizes the URL for security. `esc_attr` sanitizes the alt attribute.
- If no icon is found, the code displays the material name in plain text.
Conclusion
Customizing how WooCommerce attributes are displayed opens up a world of possibilities for improving your product presentation and user experience. Start with the simple built-in settings and then, as you become more comfortable, explore coding options to create truly unique and informative displays. Remember to test thoroughly and always back up your site before making changes. Happy selling!
