[deema]

whats the difference between Podcasting, Portfolio and Posts (blog) on your podkest theme? I am trying to create seasons/ categories. But it seems all of them have the same functionality/ features. Correct me if Im wrong

[serkan]

Hi there,

Great question! You’re partially right — under the hood, all three are WordPress post types so they share a similar editing experience. However, each one is designed for a different purpose and comes with its own set of features:

Podcasting (Episodes)
This is the one you should use for your podcast content. It includes:
• Built-in audio player support (self-hosted, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Podbean, Captivate, SimpleCast, etc.)
• Episode-specific meta fields (episode number, season, duration)
• Podcast-specific archive layouts (List, Grid, Circles, Block)
• Podcast RSS feed compatibility

Posts (Blog/News)
Standard WordPress blog posts. Best used for written content like news, articles, show notes, or announcements — not for actual episodes.

Portfolio
Designed for showcasing visual/creative work (projects, case studies, galleries). It has its own grid layouts optimized for visual presentation.

—

Creating Seasons / Categories:
For organizing your podcast into seasons, you should use the Podcasting post type’s own categories/taxonomy. Here’s how:

1. Go to Podcasting > Categories in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Create categories for each season (e.g., “Season 1”, “Season 2”, etc.).
3. When creating or editing an episode, assign it to the appropriate season category.

This way your episodes will be properly grouped by season, and visitors can filter/browse by season on the front end.
Hope that clears things up! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards
Serkan

[deema]

Hi Serkan, thank you. I check under podcasting for categories, it is not there. Categories only appear under portfolio and post. Unless you are referring to

Podcasting > All Podcasts (not all Episodes) to create the ‘categories/ seasons’. And whenever I create any new Episode, I can tag them under the categories I have created under All Podcasts. [Am I getting it right here?]

What about Podcast Player? If I have spotify etc where I can link it to Podcasting Episode, do I still need to use Podcast Player Plugin?

As for Portfolio, if I dont need it, can I delete the plugin? Or it is already embedded in this theme?

[serkan]

Hi Deema,
I owe you a correction on my previous reply — apologies for the confusion.
The Podcasting functionality on your site is actually provided by the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin (by Castos), not by the theme itself. That’s why the menu structure differs from what I described earlier. Let me address your questions properly:

Creating Seasons / Categories:
You were on the right track! There is no separate “Categories” submenu under Podcasting. Instead, you should use Podcasting → All Podcasts to organize your content into seasons. Here’s how:

Go to Podcasting → All Podcasts.
Create a new entry for each season (e.g., “Season 1”, “Season 2”, etc.).
When creating or editing an Episode (Podcasting → Add New Episode), assign it to the appropriate season from the “Podcasts” panel on the right side of the editor.

This way, your episodes will be grouped by season and visitors can browse them accordingly.

Podcast Player Plugin:
Good question — there are actually two separate podcast plugins active on your site, and they serve different purposes:

Seriously Simple Podcasting handles episode management, audio hosting, and generates your podcast RSS feed.
Podcast Player is a frontend display plugin — it takes a podcast feed URL and renders a visual player widget/shortcode on your site.

If you’re hosting your episodes through Seriously Simple Podcasting, the Podcast Player plugin gives you an additional way to display them on your pages with a nice player interface. However, if you prefer to simply embed from external platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts directly into your episodes, you may not need the Podcast Player plugin.
You can learn more about Seriously Simple Podcasting’s features and settings here: https://support.castos.com/

Portfolio Plugin:
The Portfolio feature comes from the Pixelwars Core plugin, which also provides other advanced features for the theme. Since removing it could affect other theme functionality, I would recommend simply not using the Portfolio section rather than deactivating the plugin. You can safely ignore it in your dashboard.

Sorry again for the mix-up in my earlier response, and great catch on the All Podcasts section — you were already heading in the right direction!
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Best regards
Serkan

[deema]

Thank you Serkan.

Just want to make sure I understand you fully and correctly.

https://unfilteredroomhq.com/podbean-post-example/ >
https://unfilteredroomhq.com/ep-1-welcome-to-unfiltered-room-hq/
Are these two links with frontend plugin using podcast player or seriously simple podcasting?

[deema]

https://unfilteredroomhq.com/home-podcast-playlist/ > what about this playlist, which plugin are they using? Podcast Player OR Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin

[serkan]

Hi Deema,

Yes, you’re right on both counts!

• /podbean-post-example/ and /ep-1-welcome-to-unfiltered-room-hq/ — These use the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin (by Castos). That’s the audio player you see on those pages.

• /home-podcast-playlist/ — This uses the Podcast Player plugin, which pulls episodes from an external RSS feed URL and displays them as a playlist.

So in short: two different plugins, two different purposes.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Best regards,
Serkan