Scheduled Posts Showcase

Scheduled Posts Showcase lets you display your scheduled (future) posts on the frontend of your WordPress site without creating problematic links to unpublished content.

Unlike other solutions that link to scheduled posts and generate 404 errors for visitors, this plugin shows post information (title, date, excerpt, featured image, categories) without ever exposing the permalink or post ID.

Key Features

• No 404 errors – Never generates links to unpublished content
• Multiple display methods – Use shortcode, widget, Gutenberg block, or REST API
• Content filters – Pick what to list by taxonomy, author and post type
• Fully customizable – Control what information to display and how it looks
• Global settings with per-instance overrides – Set defaults once, customize where needed
• Translation ready – Fully prepared for localization
• Developer friendly – Extensive hooks for customization

Content Filters

Choose exactly which scheduled posts get listed:

• Post types – One or several at a time, so posts, events and any other public post type can share the same list, plus an “All content types” box that also covers the ones registered later
• Taxonomies – Categories, tags and any other public taxonomy, including the ones registered by your custom post types
• Include or exclude – Show only the posts in the ticked terms, or hide them
• Authors – Perfect for a “coming soon” section per columnist on multi-author sites

Every filter starts on “any”, so nothing is filtered until you untick one and pick what you want. Filters can be set globally in the settings page and overridden on each widget, block and shortcode.

Display Options

• Number of posts to show
• Featured image at any registered size, including a responsive “full width” option that fills the container
• Scheduled publication date
• Post excerpt (with configurable word count)
• Categories
• Custom heading with selectable HTML tag (headings, paragraph, span or div)
• Custom footer content for calls to action
• Custom CSS classes on the main container, both globally and per instance

Appearance Options

• Card or minimal container style
• Dashicon, theme default, or no list bullets
• Curated icon selector for list bullets
• Accent color customization
• Responsive design

Visibility Control

Choose who can see your scheduled posts:

• Everyone (public)
• Logged-in users only
• Editors and administrators only

Usage

Shortcode:

[scheduled-posts-showcase]

Without parameters it uses everything configured in Appearance → Scheduled Posts. With parameters:

[scheduled-posts-showcase count="3" show_date="1" show_excerpt="1" container_style="card"]

Filtering by content:

[scheduled-posts-showcase post_type="post,event" categories="news,tutorials" authors="fernando" tax_mode="include"]

• post_type – one slug, a comma-separated list, or all for every public post type
• categories and tags – term IDs or slugs, comma-separated, or all to skip that filter
• tax_<taxonomy> – any other taxonomy, for example tax_genre="fiction,essay"
• authors – user IDs or nicenames, comma-separated, or all to skip that filter
• tax_mode – include (default) or exclude

Attributes you do not write inherit the global settings, so [scheduled-posts-showcase categories="news"] keeps everything else as configured.

Widget:

Add the “Scheduled Posts Showcase” widget to any widget area from Appearance → Widgets.

Gutenberg Block:

Search for “Scheduled Posts” in the block inserter and add the block to any post or page.

REST API:

GET /wp-json/scheduled-posts-showcase/v1/scheduled-posts

Parameters: per_page, fields, post_type (comma-separated or all), order, categories, tags, taxonomy, terms, authors, tax_mode. Term and author parameters also accept all to skip that filter.

GET /wp-json/scheduled-posts-showcase/v1/scheduled-posts?post_type=post,event&categories=news&authors=12

Why This Plugin?

Existing plugins for displaying scheduled posts either:

• Are abandoned (some over 10 years old)
• Link to scheduled posts, causing 404 errors
• Use deprecated WordPress functions
• Lack modern features like Gutenberg blocks

Scheduled Posts Showcase solves all these problems with a modern, secure, and fully-featured solution.

CSS Customization

The plugin provides semantic CSS classes for easy customization.

Available CSS Classes

• .sps-scheduled-posts – Main container
• .sps-style-card – Card style container
• .sps-style-minimal – Minimal style container
• .sps-scheduled-heading – Heading element
• .sps-scheduled-list – Posts list (ul)
• .sps-list-dashicon – List with dashicon bullets
• .sps-list-theme – List with theme default bullets
• .sps-list-none – List with no bullets
• .sps-scheduled-item – Each post item (li)
• .sps-scheduled-icon – Dashicon bullet
• .sps-scheduled-thumbnail – Featured image container
• .sps-scheduled-thumbnail--full-width – Added to the thumbnail container when the “Full width” image size is selected
• .sps-scheduled-title – Post title
• .sps-scheduled-date – Scheduled date
• .sps-scheduled-excerpt – Post excerpt
• .sps-scheduled-categories – Categories list
• .sps-scheduled-footer – Custom footer content
• .sps-no-scheduled – Empty state message

Example Customizations

/* Change font size for post titles */
.sps-scheduled-title {
    font-size: 1.1em;
}

/* Add more padding to the card container */
.sps-style-card {
    padding: 1.5em;
}

/* Custom color for the date */
.sps-scheduled-date {
    color: #666;
    font-style: italic;
}

Custom CSS Classes

You can target a specific widget, block or shortcode without writing a long selector by adding your own classes:

• Global: Appearance → Scheduled Posts → Appearance section → “Custom CSS class”. Space-separated. Applied to every instance.

• Per instance: each widget, block and shortcode has its own “Extra CSS class” field. These are appended to the global ones, never replace them.

  /* Style a specific instance */
  .sps-scheduled-posts.sidebar-cta {
  background: #fffbe6;
  padding: 1.5em;
  }

CSS Custom Property

The accent color is available as a CSS custom property:

/* Use the accent color in your custom styles */
.my-custom-element {
    border-color: var(--sps-accent-color);
}<h3>Developer Hooks</h3>

The plugin provides filters and actions for developers to customize behavior without modifying plugin code.

Filters with Examples

spscase_query_args

Modify WP_Query arguments before fetching scheduled posts.

add_filter( 'spscase_query_args', function( $args ) {
    // Only show posts from specific category
    $args['cat'] = 5;
    return $args;
} );

spscase_post_data

Modify the data array for each post before rendering.

add_filter( 'spscase_post_data', function( $post_data, $post ) {
    // Add custom field to post data
    $post_data['reading_time'] = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'reading_time', true );
    return $post_data;
}, 10, 2 );

spscase_post_html

Modify the HTML output for each individual post item.

add_filter( 'spscase_post_html', function( $html, $post_data ) {
    // Add reading time after the title
    if ( ! empty( $post_data['reading_time'] ) ) {
        $badge = '<span class="reading-time">' . esc_html( $post_data['reading_time'] ) . ' min read</span>';
        $html = str_replace( '</span class="sps-scheduled-title">', '</span>' . $badge, $html );
    }
    return $html;
}, 10, 2 );

spscase_output_html

Modify the complete rendered HTML output.

add_filter( 'spscase_output_html', function( $html, $posts, $settings ) {
    // Wrap output in custom container
    return '<div class="my-custom-wrapper">' . $html . '</div>';
}, 10, 3 );

spscase_rest_post_data

Modify post data in REST API responses.

add_filter( 'spscase_rest_post_data', function( $post_data, $post ) {
    // Add author name to API response
    $post_data['author'] = get_the_author_meta( 'display_name', $post->post_author );
    return $post_data;
}, 10, 2 );

spscase_excerpt_length

Override the excerpt word count.

add_filter( 'spscase_excerpt_length', function( $length ) {
    // Shorter excerpts for sidebar widgets
    return 15;
} );

spscase_date_format

Override the date format (default: WordPress date_format option). The special value relative renders the distance to the publication date (“in 3 days”) and keeps the absolute date in the title attribute of the <time> element.

add_filter( 'spscase_date_format', function( $format ) {
    // Show relative dates like "in 3 days"
    return 'relative';
} );

spscase_post_types

Filter the available post types everywhere: settings page, widget, block, shortcode and REST API.

add_filter( 'spscase_post_types', function( $post_types ) {
    // Remove 'page' from available post types
    unset( $post_types['page'] );
    return $post_types;
} );

spscase_filter_taxonomies

Filter which taxonomies are offered as content filters for a set of post types.

add_filter( 'spscase_filter_taxonomies', function( $taxonomies, $post_types ) {
    // Do not offer tags as a filter
    unset( $taxonomies['post_tag'] );
    return $taxonomies;
}, 10, 2 );

spscase_term_taxonomies

Filter which taxonomies provide the terms displayed under each post.

add_filter( 'spscase_term_taxonomies', function( $taxonomies, $post ) {
    // Show tags instead of categories
    return array( 'post_tag' );
}, 10, 2 );

spscase_terms_limit

Maximum number of terms listed per taxonomy in the admin selectors (default: 200). Does not limit the query itself.

add_filter( 'spscase_terms_limit', function( $limit, $taxonomy ) {
    return 'category' === $taxonomy ? 500 : $limit;
}, 10, 2 );

spscase_authors_limit

Maximum number of authors listed in the admin selectors (default: 200).

add_filter( 'spscase_authors_limit', function( $limit ) {
    return 50;
} );

spscase_author_options

Filter the authors offered as a content filter.

add_filter( 'spscase_author_options', function( $authors ) {
    // Only keep a given set of columnists
    return array_intersect_key( $authors, array_flip( array( 3, 7, 12 ) ) );
} );

spscase_cache_expiration

Modify cache duration in seconds (default: 3600 = 1 hour).

add_filter( 'spscase_cache_expiration', function( $seconds ) {
    // Cache for 6 hours on high-traffic sites
    return 6 * HOUR_IN_SECONDS;
} );

spscase_allowed_footer_html

Modify allowed HTML tags for footer content.

add_filter( 'spscase_allowed_footer_html', function( $allowed_tags ) {
    // Allow button element in footer
    $allowed_tags['button'] = array(
        'class' => true,
        'type'  => true,
    );
    return $allowed_tags;
} );

Actions with Examples

spscase_before_output

Fires before the scheduled posts list renders.

add_action( 'spscase_before_output', function( $posts, $settings ) {
    // Track impressions
    if ( function_exists( 'my_track_impression' ) ) {
        my_track_impression( 'scheduled_posts_widget' );
    }
}, 10, 2 );

spscase_after_output

Fires after the scheduled posts list renders.

add_action( 'spscase_after_output', function( $posts, $settings ) {
    // Output additional content after the list
    echo '<p class="sps-custom-note">Updated hourly</p>';
}, 10, 2 );<h3>Support</h3>

Need private support or custom development?

Do you need one-on-one help, priority troubleshooting, or a custom feature, integration, or tweak built specifically for your site? I offer private support and custom development. Just contact me and tell me what you need.

Need help or have suggestions?

• Official website
• WordPress support forum
• YouTube channel
• Documentation and tutorials

Love the plugin? Please leave us a 5-star review and help spread the word!

About AyudaWP

We are specialists in WordPress security, SEO, AI and performance optimization plugins. We create tools that solve real problems for WordPress site owners while maintaining the highest coding standards and accessibility requirements.

1. Upload the plugin files to /wp-content/plugins/scheduled-posts-showcase/ or install directly from the WordPress plugin repository.
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
3. Configure global settings at Appearance → Scheduled Posts.
4. Add the widget, block, or shortcode wherever you want to display scheduled posts.