Term and User Dynamic Tags in Sky Addons for Elementor
The Elementor user dynamic tags and term tags in Sky Addons bind a control to a person or a category instead of text you typed. Seven term tags cover a term’s name, description, slug, ID, post count, custom fields and archive link. Five user tags cover profile fields, user meta, profile links and avatars. Both sets are free, and both turn on one decision per tag: which term, or which user. This documentation covers those pickers, every option each tag carries, and the two things people most often get wrong.
Features:
- Seven term tags: Term ID, Title, Description, Slug, Count, Meta and URL, all from one term picker.
- Search and select: The term and user pickers search as you type, so hundreds of categories stay usable.
- Term Count: The number of posts filed under a term, for badges and category cards.
- User Info: Ten profile fields from one dropdown — display name, first and last name, bio, role and more.
- User Meta and Term Meta: Read any custom field stored against a user or a term by key.
- Profile links: Author archive, personal website, email and author feed from a single URL Type control.
- Two avatar tags: One for any user with a size control, one that follows the current post’s author.
Requirements
- Elementor and the free Sky Addons plugin. No Pro licence is needed for any dynamic tag.
- A control of the matching type: text, link or image, depending on the tag.
- For term tags, at least one term in a public taxonomy for the picker to find.
- Editing permission on posts, since both pickers search through an authenticated request.
Inserting a Term or User Dynamic Tag
- Edit the page or template with Elementor and select a widget.
- Hover the control and click the dynamic icon at its right edge.
- Open Sky Addons – Term or Sky Addons – User and pick a tag.
- Click the tag chip and fill in its picker first. The wrench icon opens Advanced: Word Limit, Before, After and Fallback on text tags, Fallback alone on URL and image tags.
The general workflow is in Inserting a Dynamic Tag, and the full group map in the Dynamic Content overview.
The Term Tags and the Term Picker
All seven term tags share one control: Search & Select Term. Start typing and it searches your public taxonomies — categories, tags and any custom taxonomy — then stores the one you choose.
The picker is not optional. These tags do not fall back to whichever term an archive is showing. Leave it empty and the tag outputs nothing. Term tags point at a term you chose — a badge, a promo card, a footer link. To follow the archive the visitor is on use the Archive tags; to list the terms on the current post use Post Terms from the Post group.
| Tag | Extra controls | What it outputs |
|---|---|---|
| Term ID | None | The term’s numeric ID. Also available on number controls. |
| Term Title | Advanced panel | The term name, as shown in the admin. |
| Term Description | None | The term description, with its basic formatting kept. |
| Term Slug | None | The URL slug, such as field-notes. |
| Term Count | None | The number of posts filed under the term. |
| Term Meta | Meta Key | A custom field stored against the term. |
| Term URL | URL Type, Fallback | The term archive link, or the term’s feed link. |
Two details. Term Meta only reveals its Meta Key field once a term is selected. Term URL offers Term Archive (the default) and Term Feed, the RSS feed for that term alone.
The User Tags and the User Source
User Info, User Meta and User URL share one control: Search & Select User. Its behaviour when empty is the opposite of the term picker.
Leave the picker empty and the tag reads the currently logged-in user. That is right for a members area — a dashboard greeting, an account page showing each person their own details. Everywhere else it is a trap: logged in as an administrator you see your own name and the block looks perfect, while a logged-out visitor sees nothing at all. Check a public page in a private window before calling it done.
Pick a user explicitly whenever the content is about a particular person. These tags never follow the author of the post being viewed: for a byline, use the Post Author and Post Author URL tags from the Post group.
| Tag | Controls | What it outputs |
|---|---|---|
| User Info | Search & Select User, User Info Type | One profile field, chosen from ten. |
| User Meta | Search & Select User, Meta Key | A custom field stored against the user. |
| User URL | Search & Select User, URL Type, Fallback | Author archive, website, email link or author feed. |
| User Avatar | Avatar Source, Meta Key, User, Gravatar Size, Fallback | An avatar image for any user. |
| Author Avatar | Post Type, Search & Select Post, Fallback | The avatar of the current or chosen post’s author. |
User URL offers four types: Author Archive (their post listing), Website (the profile website field), Email (a mail link) and Author Feed. If the chosen field is empty on the profile the tag returns nothing.
User Info Types
User Info Type is a single dropdown with ten choices. The default is Name.
| Type | Output | Safe to print publicly? |
|---|---|---|
| ID | The numeric user ID. | Avoid |
| Name | The display name. | Yes |
| Display Name | The display name — same result as Name. | Yes |
| Nickname | The nickname field on the profile. | Yes |
| First Name | The first name field. | Yes |
| Last Name | The last name field. | Yes |
| Description | The biographical info field. | Yes |
| Website | The website field, as plain text. | Yes |
| The account email address. | Avoid | |
| Role | The user’s role slug, such as editor. | Avoid |
Role returns the raw slug of the user’s first role — not a friendly label, and not a list when someone holds several. For job titles, use a custom field and User Meta.
Avatars: User Avatar and Author Avatar
User Avatar carries its own picker — a User dropdown listing everyone on the site, with the same rule: leave it empty and it uses the logged-in user. Avatar Source decides where the image comes from.
- Gravatar (the default) requests the avatar for that user’s account email. Gravatar Size appears alongside it, taking 1 to 2048 pixels, default 96. Set it to at least the size you display at — 96 pixels stretched into a 200-pixel circle looks soft.
- User Meta reads a Meta Key you name and expects an attachment ID or an image URL; anything else returns the Fallback. Use this when a membership plugin stores uploaded profile pictures.
Author Avatar is filed under Sky Addons – Post because it follows a post, not a person. It carries the Post group’s usual pair — Post Type set to Current or Selected, plus a post picker — and returns that post’s author avatar at 512 pixels, which you scale down with the image widget.
The Fallback on both avatar tags is narrower than it looks. It fires when there is no user or author to read, or when avatars are switched off. It does not fire when someone simply has no Gravatar: WordPress returns its own default avatar image, so the tag receives a valid image and never reaches your fallback. Change that image under Settings → Discussion → Default Avatar.
What Not to Print Publicly
These tags reach every field on a user account, including some never meant for visitors:
- Email addresses. User Info’s Email type and User URL’s Email type both expose a real account address to scrapers. Use a contact form publicly.
- Roles. Printing
administratornext to a name tells an attacker which account is worth attacking. Store a job title in a custom field instead. - User IDs. Rarely useful in a design, and they make user enumeration easier.
- Unfamiliar meta keys. Plugins store all sorts against a user, from internal tokens to purchase history. Check what a key holds before printing it.
Example: An Author Box Built from User Tags
A contributor card for a named person, as used at the foot of an about page or inside a team grid.
- Add a container with an Image widget inside. Click the dynamic icon on Choose Image and pick User Avatar.
- Choose the person in the User dropdown, leave Avatar Source on Gravatar, set Gravatar Size to
300, and add a Fallback image. - Add a Heading below and bind its Title to User Info, selecting the same person and leaving User Info Type on Name.
- Add a smaller Heading for the job title, bind it to User Meta, select the same person and enter your profile field’s key, such as
job_title. - Add a Text Editor for the bio, bind it to User Info with User Info Type set to Description, and set Word Limit to
45so every card matches. - Add a button and bind its Link to User URL with URL Type on Author Archive.
- Save and check the page while logged out. Every field should still be filled, because you selected the user explicitly.
For a byline that changes with each post, swap the image for Author Avatar and take the name and bio from the Post group’s Post Author tag. The Team Member widget covers the same layout ready-made.
Example: A Category Badge Built from Term Tags
- Add a small container styled as a pill, in a row layout with a tight gap.
- Add a Heading, bind its Title to Term Title, then type the first letters of the category into Search & Select Term and choose it.
- Add a second Heading beside it, bound to Term Count with the same term.
- Open that tag’s Advanced panel and set Before to
·and After toarticles. - Select the container, set Link to Custom URL, then choose Term URL with the same term and URL Type on Term Archive.
- Save. The badge reads “Tutorials · 42 articles”, links to that category, and the number updates itself as you publish.
Full Settings Reference
Use this table when you know the tag but not the setting. It lists every option each tag in this group exposes, the exact wording you will see in the panel, the value it starts on, and the setting that has to be chosen before a dependent option appears. The Used on column says which kind of Elementor control the tag can be dropped onto. Alongside the settings below, the tags in this group offer a Search & Select Term field, which these tags require — they do not fall back to the term being viewed; a Search & Select User field; leave it empty and the tag reads the logged-in visitor; the Advanced panel — Word Limit, Before, After and Fallback — on the text tags; a Fallback field on the URL, image and gallery tags.
| Tag | Used on | Setting | Options | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term Count | Text | Only the shared controls listed above — the tag prints the value straight from the current context. | |||
| Term Description | Text | Only the shared controls listed above — the tag prints the value straight from the current context. | |||
| Term ID | Text, Number | Only the shared controls listed above — the tag prints the value straight from the current context. | |||
| Term Meta | Text | Meta Key | Free text | — | Search & Select Term has a value |
| Term Slug | Text | Only the shared controls listed above — the tag prints the value straight from the current context. | |||
| Term Title | Text | Only the shared controls listed above — the tag prints the value straight from the current context. | |||
| User Info | Text | User Info Type | ID · Name · Email · Website · Display Name · Nickname · First Name · Last Name · Description · Role | Name | — |
| User Meta | Text | Meta Key | Free text | — | — |
| Term URL | URL | URL Type | Term Archive · Term Feed | Term Archive | — |
| User URL | URL | URL Type | Author Archive · Website · Email · Author Feed | Author Archive | — |
Best Practices
- Fill in the term picker every time. There is no current-term fallback.
- Check user tags while logged out. An empty picker reads the viewer, so a block that works for you may be blank for everyone else.
- Store job titles in a custom field and read them with User Meta rather than printing the role.
- Request avatars larger than you display them. Set Gravatar Size to at least the rendered width.
- Set the default avatar globally under Settings → Discussion — the tag’s Fallback will not cover a missing Gravatar.
Troubleshooting
- A term tag outputs nothing. The Search & Select Term field is empty, or the term was deleted after you picked it. Select a term again.
- Term Meta shows no Meta Key field. That field only appears once a term is selected. Choose the term first.
- A user tag is filled for me but empty for visitors. The picker is empty, so the tag reads whoever is logged in. Select the person explicitly.
- The avatar shows a generic silhouette and the Fallback is ignored. That is WordPress’s default avatar for a user with no Gravatar, and the tag treats it as valid. Change it under Settings → Discussion → Default Avatar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Elementor user dynamic tags show the post author automatically?
No. With an empty picker they read the logged-in visitor, not the post’s author. For a byline, use the Post Author and Post Author URL tags from the Post group, and Author Avatar for the picture.
Why is my term dynamic tag empty on a category archive?
Term tags do not follow the archive being viewed — they need a term selected in their own picker. To show whichever category the visitor is on, use the Archive Title and Archive Description tags instead.
Can I replace a missing Gravatar with my own image?
Not through the tag’s Fallback, which only covers having no user or no avatars at all. Set the image under Settings → Discussion → Default Avatar instead, or store profile pictures in a custom field and set Avatar Source to User Meta.
Is it safe to display a user’s email with a dynamic tag?
On a public page, no. Both User Info’s Email type and User URL’s Email type print a real account address where scrapers can collect it. Use a contact form publicly, and keep email links inside a members-only area.
Conclusion
The Elementor user dynamic tags and term tags in Sky Addons come down to one habit: decide per tag whether you mean a specific person or term, or whoever is logged in. Term tags always need a pick, user tags default to the viewer, and neither follows the post or archive being displayed — that is what the Post tags and Archive tags are for. Keep private fields off public pages, and see Dynamic Content Troubleshooting when a tag stays blank. For anything else, our team is at https://wowdevs.com/support/.
