Independent Digital

Widgets are similar to plugins. They are drag-and-drop elements that you use to personalize your website without knowing any code. Also called sidebar widgets because it allows you to move things (widgets) in and out of your sidebar. Widgets are things that you can have on your sidebar, such as a category list, recent comments or a link, etc.

Using widgets

Previous versions of WordPress required that you install a widget plugin to be able to use widgets but as of version 2.2 you no longer need to install this plugin as it is now part of the WordPress core. So now all you need do is install the widget that you want.

For widgets to work, you need to have a widget ready WordPress theme. If you?re sure your theme is widget ready, then download the widget that you want. Install it as per instructions (usually there is an included readme.txt file or there are instructions on the widget author?s website). Once you have installed it, go to the WordPress Admin panel and select the Presentation > Widget option. Then all you do is drag the relevant available widget into the sidebar panel, save the changes and you?re done. View your site and you should see the new widget in the sidebar. Have a look here for a short tutorial. You can also view more installation instructions here.

Text widgets

Text Widgets can add new abilities to your sidebar. You can have more than one text widget on your sidebar (set how many in the admin panel, Presentation > Widgets). Drag the text widget into the “Available Widgets” column in Administration > Panel Presentation > Widget.

Click on the icon on the right side of the widget to customize the widget. Here you can enter a description or title for that widget as well any text or HTML for that widget. See here for more on text widgets including a list of content which will work via the text widgets, just copy their code and paste it within your widget. Their content will then be displayed on your sidebar.

RSS widgets

RSS widgets can be included to add feeds to your sidebar. You decide how many feeds you want then drag the RSS widget onto your sidebar (this is done via the Administration panel > Presentation > Widgets option.) Click on the icon on the right side of the widget to enter the URL for the feed, a description of the feed, and how many items from the feed you want displayed then save the changes. See here for more on RSS feed widgets including a list of RSS feeds that you can use in your widgets.

Creating your own widgets

You can create your own widgets. Just create a function and wrap it in a WordPress plugin.

Resources

Here?s a link to the WordPress Codex on widgets.

Documentation of the WordPress widgets API ? for those wanting to create their own widgets.

Want to update a theme so that it is widget friendly? Then have a look at this document. Also have a look at this article, which explains how to make a theme widget friendly in 3 easy steps.

Here?s the link to the WordPress Codex resource list on widgets (some of which have been included above.)

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