For months, I received a lot of requests asking whether Meta Box is possible to create theme options page or settings page for plugins. People asked this because they love the simplicity of the plugin and the beauty of the syntax (FYI the idea of using array syntax is inspired by Options Framework plugin). If they can integrate Meta Box into WordPress themes for adding custom data for posts, then why can't they do the same for theme options?
Now it's possible! The latest extension for creating theme options page and settings page was released some days ago which will help you create your theme options page just in some minutes.
Use it now by purchasing the extension at its own page or download it from your profile if you have a Core Extension Bundle license.
Alternative Options for Settings Page
Prior to MB Settings Page extension, there are several alternatives for you to create a settings page such as:
Maybe more like SMOF (not active), NHP options framework (transferred into a commercial one).
All of these frameworks offer a lot of options. And due to that, they're heavy and might affect the performance of your admin area in general. If you're already using Meta Box for your posts, you will have a huge benefit because the Meta Box plugin does all the things such as fields configuration and controls, output behind the scene and the settings page just add a new layer on top of it.
Features of MB Settings Page Extension
Flexible: the extension allows you to create top-level menus as well as submenus, as shown in the following screenshot:
It also allows you to create as many settings page as you want. So you can create a normal settings page for the plugin, another FAQ page and another Import/Export page. Everything can be done with just a tiny extension.
Powerful and easy to use: built on top of Meta Box plugin, the extension inherits all field types and their options as well as the beautiful syntax. All fields are registered the same way. That shorten the time to get started using the extension a lot.
Standard UI: the settings fields are organized in meta boxes with 2 columns, the same as in edit post screen. It doesn't use the tabbed interface, but meta boxes which is quite familiar with WordPress users.
Conclusion
This is one of the most interesting extension that I've ever made for Meta Box. Its difference is it doesn't add more functionality to the core of the plugin or add UI options, but it changes the API of the Meta Box plugin from interacting with post meta to option. It opens a lot of opportunities for development in the future and I'm very exciting about that.
Go and get the MB Settings Page extension now!
Is it possible to make a "settings page" as a new section under customizer? I've tried by setting "parent" to "customize.php" but that doesn't seem to work. Also is it possible after adding a settings page, to use the MB Meta Box Builder (UI) to add a meta box to the settings page? I'm not seeing that as possible either because there is no option "Settings Page" under the meta box builder.
Hi,
Currently the MB Settings Page extension can't create sections in the Customizer. We actually worked on the Customizer, but there's too much work on JavaScript that requires rewriting the code, so we postpone it for now.
Regarding the Meta Box Builder extension, you can add custom attributes "settings_pages" to the meta box to assign it to a settings page.
Understandable, the process for registering customizer settings is quite unique. It's unfortunate because the trend is toward theme settings being in customizer, and it would be great to have more fields available there. Instead to have a really powerful settings system it seems like we still need theme options pages in the WP Admin. On a theme we're working on now I think what we'll do is put only colors, fonts, truly front-end design options into customizer... but then still have a theme options made by Meta Box settings pages in the WP Admin.
Thanks for the answer on the Meta Box Builder extension.