Jun
25
Widget: Updated Blogs
Filed Under Web Programming, Widgets
After installing a blogging system and successfully configuring a site for multiple users, I really wanted to be able to have a main page that was a central hub for all of the dootdoot content.
I decided to setup a blog just for dootdoot, which will basically be the homepage, and main CMS for the site. Originally I was opposed to this, but WordPress just does such a great job, that I don’t see why not. As it is, the base blog for the dootdoot blogs is now the main dootdoot homepage.
Once I had that up and running, the first thing I realized was that there was little-to-no tie-in with the sub-blogs. What I really wanted, was something that would show some sort of content update, such as “most recently updated blogs” or “newest dootdoot blog posts”. To keep thing easy, I started with the first one.
I started by making a new ‘wordpress plugin.’ I had actually done this in the past for previous content (a long time ago). It’s not to hard, but kind of a pain once you start trying to work with multiple themes, as you often had to customize each theme to work with your plugin.
After playing around with some themes, I was noticing the “wordpress widgets.” I may be showing my age at just how long it’s been since I’ve updated WordPress, but the widgets provide much better support for working within themes. In essence, the Widgets are like standard plugins, but with “more better.”
So, I created my first plugin, “UBlogs: Updated Blogs.” It’s a specific plugin for use within Multi-User WordPress environments. It queries to see all new blogs, and returns a list of the most recently updated blogs (in order). The maximum number of results can be set, between 1 - 10.
To the right is a screen capture of the UBlogs configuration screen.
I haven’t done a lot of error-checking yet, first things first: make sure it works. Which it does. It’s actually quite neat, and so far I am very happy with its ability to work with multiple themes without the need for modifying any additional source code.
With how easy of a transition that was, I will be porting my old Xbox Live! Gamer Card plugin to be a new WordPress Widget as well. Look for that in the next week or so.