Customisation

Customisation

Sermon Browser works out of the box, but if you wish, you can customise it to fit in with your own theme, and to display or hide whatever information you choose. If you want to create an extra page on your site that just shows a few sermons (for example, just the sermons preached at a recent conference), use shortcodes. If you want to customise how Sermon Browser appears throughout your site, use template tags (scroll down for more info), or the built-in CSS editor.

Shortcodes

Shortcodes allow you to put individual sermons or lists of sermons on any page or post of your website. A simple shortcode looks like this: [sermons id=52], though you can combine parameters like this: [sermons filter=none preacher=3 series=7]. The list below gives examples of shortcode uses. A pipe character | means 'or'. So [sermons id=52|latest] means you would either write [sermons id=52], or [sermons id=latest].

[sermons id=52|latest]

Displays a single sermon page corresponding to the ID of the sermon (you can see a list of sermon IDs by looking on the Sermons page in admin). You can also use the special value of latest which displays the most recent sermon.

[sermons filter=dropdown|oneclick|none]

Specifies which filter to display with a sermon list.

[sermons filterhide=show|hide]

Specifies whether the filter should be shown or hidden by default.

[sermons preacher=6]

Displays a list of sermons preached by one preacher (you can see a list of preacher IDs by looking on the Preachers page in admin).

[sermons series=11]

Displays a list of sermons in particular series (you can see a list of series IDs by looking on the Series & Services page in admin).

[sermons service=2]

Displays a list of sermons preached at a particular service (you can see a list of service IDs by looking on the Series & Services page in admin).

[sermons book="1 John"]

Displays a list of sermons on a particular Bible book. The book name should be written out in full, and if it includes spaces, should be surrounded by quotes.

[sermons tag=hope]

Displays a list of sermons matching a particular tag.

[sermons limit=5]

Sets the number of sermons on each page, instead of the number on the Options page.

[sermons dir=asc|desc]

Sets the sort order to ascending or descending.

Template Tags

If you want to change the output of Sermon Browser, you'll need to edit the templates. You'll need to understand the basics of HTML and CSS, and to know the special SermonBrowser template tags. There are two templates, one (called the results page) is used to produce the search results on the main sermons page. The other template (called the sermon page) is used to produce the page for single sermon. Most tags can be used in both templates, but some are specific.

Results Page Only

• [filters_form] - The search form which allows filtering by preacher, series, date, etc.
• [sermons_count] - The number of sermons which match the current search criteria.
• [sermons_loop][/sermons_loop] - These two tags should be placed around the output for one sermon. (That is all of the tags that return data about sermons should come between these two tags.)
• [first_passage] - The main bible passage for this sermon
• [previous_page] - Displays the link to the previous page of search results (if needed)
• [next_page] - Displays the link to the next page of search results (if needed)
• [podcast] - Link to the podcast of all sermons
• [podcast_for_search] - Link to the podcast of sermons that match the current search
• [itunes_podcast] - iTunes (itpc://) link to the podcast of all sermons
• [itunes_podcast_for_search] - iTunes (itpc://) link to the podcast of sermons that match the current search
• [podcasticon] - Displays the icon used for the main podcast
• [podcasticon_for_search] - Displays the icon used for the custom podcast
• [tag_cloud] - Displays a tag cloud
• [most_popular] - The most popular sermons, series and preachers, as in the popular sermons widget

Both results page and sermon page

• [sermon_title] - The title of the sermon
• [preacher_link] - The name of the preacher (hyperlinked to their sermons)
• [series_link] - The name of the series (hyperlinked to search results)
• [service_link] - The name of the service (hyperlinked to search results)
• [date] - The date of the sermon
• [files_loop][/files_loop] - These two tags should be placed around the [file] tag if you want to display all the files linked with to sermon. They are not needed if you only want to display the first file.
• [file] - Displays the files and external URLs
• [file_with_download] - The same as [file], but includes a download link after the media player for MP3 files
• [embed_loop][/embed_loop] - These two tags should be placed around the tag if you want to display all the embedded objects linked to this sermon. They are not needed if you only want to display the first embedded object.
• [embed] - Displays an embedded object (e.g. video)
• [creditlink] - displays a "Powered by Sermon Browser" link to the plugin's home page.
• [editlink] - Displays a link to edit the current sermon if you are logged in as an admin

Sermon page only

• [sermon_description] - The description of the sermon.
• [preacher_description] - The description of the preacher.
• [preacher_image] - The photo of the preacher.
• [passages_loop][/passages_loop] - These two tags should be placed around the [passage] tag if you want to display all the passages linked with to sermon.
• [passage] - Displays the reference of the bible passage with the book name hyperlinked to search results.
• [next_sermon] - Displays a link to the next sermon preached (excluding ones preached on the same day)
• [prev_sermon] - Displays a link to the previous sermon preached
• [sameday_sermon] - Displays a link to other sermons preached on that day
• [tags] - Displays the tags for that sermons
• [esvtext] - Displays the full text of the ESV Bible for all passages linked to that sermon (needs an API key).
• [nettext] - Displays the full text of the NET Bible for all passages linked to that sermon.
• [biblepassage] - Displays the reference of the bible passages for that sermon. Useful for utilising other bible plugins (see FAQ).

The tags for other Bible versions ([kjvtext], [asvtext], [ylttext], [webtext], [akjvtext], [hnvtext], [lbrvtext], [cornilescutext] and [synodaltext]) print nothing, because the service that provided them no longer exists. The help tab on the Templates page lists every tag.