There are two sides of including quotations within a blog post.
- It’s awesome to have content that you did not have to write
- It can be difficult to make it look its best without a lot of effort.
Standard <blockquote> styling gives you but one field to fill out and leave you wanting on how to include the source. Do I include it IN the quote? Do I style it, Do I put it after? I am excited to announce that we have published our latest plugin- Exceptional Citings as a block quote alternative.
[exceptional-citing quoted=”matt-orley–yellowed-image” template=”elegant-reversed” date=”5/21/2013″ ]I’m really excited to introduce Exceptional Citings -our latest WordPress plugin. This tool allows for beautifully crafted, reusable block quotes in a variety of styles. Perfect for bringing in additional opinions to blogs, and to reuse photography for often cited news sources.[/exceptional-citing]An Alternate Block Quote Tool – Exceptional Citings
Exceptional Citings lets you create a number of quotable sources in the WordPress back end complete with full name, title (or subheading) and photo or image. A templating system lets you utilize a variety of templates you see used in THIS blog post, or allows you to edit and create your own.
A beautiful shortcode/popup system allows you to easily choose from identifiable sources, and insert them directly into your posts.
Through Beta Testing, we found that users utilized the plugin in a number of different ways that we did not anticipate. It’s flexible templating engine allows for extreme customizations to creatively add images and text in a variety of ways- from restaurant specials to quirky characters to recipe headings.
Below are a few more examples that we showcased in the preview video on the Exceptional Citings page.
[exceptional-citing quoted=”cindy-on-the-beach-2013″ template=”elegant-dark” date=”5/21/2013″ ]I am very excited to use this new quote tool. I add a lot of visual interest to my posts without a whole lot of work. My posts are more scannable, and more fun to read.[/exceptional-citing]This tool is incredibly easy to use.. Sometimes too Easy. Cindy started using it with several different templates all on the same page.. Everything in moderation! (Except for this example post !)
Bring in the opinions of others!!
As you may or may not know, my wife has a mom blog- AkronOhioMoms.com. She offers her opinions on local happenings as well as a plethora of product reviews. I noticed that her posts could get a little dull if she only talked about her own opinions, and did not break up her long paragraphs.
[exceptional-citing quoted=”elijah-happy” template=”elegant-reversed” date=”regarding the MINT Robot Vacuum” ]Mommy! I am so happy you could finally buy this red blinking robot to clean my room for me![/exceptional-citing]Match the real world to the Twitterverse
Not everything is tweeted, like the below twitter card.
https://twitter.com/copyblogger/status/309447479827505154
But you can bring in quotations from others that are NOT on twitter in conversational bubble text just like below!
[exceptional-citing quoted=”feeling-good-about-it” template=”bubble-green” date=”05/05/2015″ ]Comments and Quotes and Citings do not need to only appear on twitter or in your comment feed.[/exceptional-citing] [exceptional-citing quoted=”cindy-on-the-beach-2013″ template=”bubble-dark-gray-round” date=”” ]Woohoo! I can comment on another post without being the author ![/exceptional-citing]Develop a Panel of Characters
The Below example of Exceptional Citings in use utilizes tooltip-like popups instead of the standard quote area- it requires the user to hover to read the text.
[exceptional-citing quoted=”don-plusquellic” template=”infotip” date=”8/8/2018″ ]Simple Simon Met a Pie man eating his curds and weigh.[/exceptional-citing] [exceptional-citing quoted=”frank-jackson” template=”infotip” date=”06/24/2019″ ]Along came a spider and sat down besides her.[/exceptional-citing][exceptional-citing quoted=”william-healy” template=”infotip” date=”02/02/2014″ ]And Frightened Miss Muffet Away. Thanks from Canton, OH[/exceptional-citing]Making the Web More Beautiful
We’re very happy to contribute to the beautification of blogs. If you have any ideas on how to utilize this tool, comment below- we might integrate the concept into our templates!
