Hello,
Thanks for the feedback!
The title of this review is misleading tho. ACFE Form create a Post Title. It does even give you more freedom and control over it. Simply create a Field Group with a Title field that will be used as Post Title. Then you can hide that field on the Post Edit screen by different means:
- Set the Field Group as ‘disabled’
- Or hide the field using the Advanced Settings
- Or hide the field using the Field Visibility Widget
These methods require zero programming. Also, here are some use cases where the Post Title isn’t required, to name a few:
- When creating a ticket system (Generated id as title)
- When generating an invoice (#Generated id as title)
- When generating a User Profile page (Firstname + Lastname as title)
- etc…
I understand that you might like the solution of ACF Form. But there are some flaws in your logic:
– ACF Form requires some coding, as you have to write the acf_form() code in PHP, including the arguments to add a fake Post Title. So from your point of view, it is okay to require some code in ACF Form, but not in ACFE Form?
– ACF Form let you display a fake Post Title & Content using a setting, right. But what if:
- You want to display the title after an another field? You can’t
- You want to add a default value? You have to code it
- You want to change the label, so it’s not called “Title”? You have to code it
- You want to add some instructions? You have to code it
- You want to make it required or not? You have to code it
- You want to set a max length? You have to code it
- You want to use a textarea instead of text? You have to code it
- …
So sure, I could add that simple switch “Add a Post Title” in the ACFE Form UI. But then, within the next hours of release, I will receive feature requests asking me to add all the options listed above. Which essentially means to re-create the ACF Field Group UI in ACFE Form, as all these settings already exist in ACF and can be used with zero coding via the Field Group (and so via the ACFE Form Mapping).
And if I don’t implement these redundant options, few days later I will receive a 3-star review “This plugin doesn’t let you add instructions to the fake Post Title. How dumb is it? If developers could think with their heads…”
I’ve seen dozen and dozen of ACF support topics asking for all these customization in the ACF Form Post Title. The main objective of ACFE Form is to improve ACF Form, not to re-create its flaws. That’s why this logic was truncated and replaced with Actions and Field Mapping.
Now if you prefer ACF Form, fair enough, you’re free to use it. I don’t force you to adopt ACFE Form. But don’t tell me developers don’t think with their heads.
It’s quite the opposite. Most of us think about all possible use cases during days or even weeks when we implement features in a such complex environment, where everything is customizable. Use cases that some users are light years away to even conceptualize.
But that’s the life of being a Tech. You often have to justify your choices based on dozen of requirements, mechanics and dependencies, summarized in an understandable language for the user. And you’ll be blamed for it, because it’s never simple/advanced/good enough.
Regards.
