Collapse-o-matic users: Replacement plugins!

Hi @susantau

I too am currently looking for a replacement. For my needs, it looks like one of the many accordion plugins will suit my needs. Yes, the design will be a little different but conceptually it will do the same thing.

The keyword “Accordion” will give lots of choice, you can then look at live demos / read reviews etc.

Good luck,

James

I switched to the HTML summary/details tags and I’m happy with the results. See https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_summary.asp.

It was necessary to add some style to the summary tag. In the example below, I’m using inline style, but a CSS class could also be used.

<details>
<summary style="cursor: pointer; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.25; color: #333; font-weight: 700;">QUESTION</summary>
ANSWER
</details>

The accordion plugins look very hopeful! I found a good rundown on them (again from WPBeginner) here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/best-wordpress-accordion-plugins/
Thank you James!!!

@jrivett – I will check out summary/details too – it looks very simple and elegant and this could be exactly what I’m looking for. Thank you!!!

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by susantau.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by susantau.

@jrivett – this looks of interest too. If your theme uses blocks, there is a fairly new WordPress “details” block (info at Details Block – Documentation – www.ads-software.com). I thought it might be an option, but the styling options available through the interface are too basic for me – the summary and paragraph appear to take on the same styling (happy to be corrected). I (and others?) would want the summary to have different styling such as a heading. CSS might be an option. Using core WordPress functionality rather than adding another plugin, and the risk of it going unsupported, is clearly attractive.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by James.

@james-feaver – interesting. I agree completely that using WordPress functionality rather than plugins is a laudable goal, but sadly (for me, anyway), the block editor is an abomination and I avoid it as much as possible. I mean, I certainly understand why a block editor is useful, but in its current state it causes more problems that it solves. I occasionally use it as a quick way to prototype a page, then convert it to HTML and continue with that.

Sunset notice.
This plugin is going away. Please find another.

Thanks for your suggestion @james-feaver, I played a bit with the “details block” CSS and I was able to replicate most of Collapse-o-Matic feaures:

https://www.lemonskin.net/io/1/

I can’t reproduce everything, like drawers opening automatically with anchors (it could be possible with JS), but everything can be easily personalized.

At the end of the article I’ve pasted the CSS code to have a similar look to C-o-M (I’m not sure how is its original one, I use it since years so I may have customized it according to my tastes) and the one to create custom classes (but they inherit some properties from the main (above) CSS, so you should analyze them, to get the results you need).

Unfortunately <details> block cannot be edited as HTML in Gutenberg so, should you need to add some formatting in the title (as I did with stars), you need to create an HTML block (but I read you prefer it to the block system). ??

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Lock.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Lock.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Lock. Reason: Typos and corrections

@locksoft – you’ve done a good job there. I took an easier option and went for an accordion plugin based on a Gutenberg block. The one I went for gave lots of design choices and I am happy with the result. It too hasn’t quite got anchors links opening “drawers” but I can live with it or workaround this. collapse-o-matic is now 100% off my site. Job done – on to the next one.

@james-feaver It will take ages for me to change all Collapse-o-Matic tags on my blog; I think there are thousands or so. But I think having a standard HTML tag is much better than a plugin that with time may disappear.

Let’s start the job! ??

I’ve been using Shortcodes Ultimate plugin for some time and have found it very useful as an alternative. https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/shortcodes-ultimate/

I’ve just finished converting my website from Collapse-O-Matic to <details> and I have to admit I’m very satisfied with it (despite the fact it took me almost one week of full time work). But now it’s much easier to create drawers, as I can use Gutenberg blocks instead of shortcodes:

https://www.lemonskin.net/io/i-libri-che-ho-letto/

I want to thank @twinpictures for the great support in all these years. You were always very helpful and quick with solutions. It’s very sad to see this great plugin going away, I wish you good luck with your future projects. ??

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Lock. Reason: correcting typos. :)

Hi?@susantau and thanks for posting,

I’ve had good results with the following plugin on 3 client sites. At time of install this plugin was more recently updated ( a week ago) than the Read More Without Refresh plugin (7 months) mentioned in the wpbeginner article…

Read More & Accordion and popups by Edmon: https://en-gb.www.ads-software.com/plugins/expand-maker/

Would have been great not to use another plugin but sadly the details block wouldn’t fit my needs for these sites.

One more site to go for me, feel for those with lots more sites or occurrences of Collapse-o-Matic tags?to replace! ??