WordPress Widgets
Alex King
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 1

Introduction
• Background
• History with WordPress
• Crowd Favorite
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 2

Agenda
• WordPress Overview • CMS Integration
• WordPress Widgets • Other Benefits
• Demo • Resources
ShareThis, Lijit, Twitter,
• Q &A
Popularity Contest
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 3

WordPress
• Blogging system
• CMS
• Open Source
• Customizable (Themes, Plugins)
• Widgets standard in 2.2 (May 2007)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 4

WordPress Widgets
• Written in PHP, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Uses WordPress APIs
• Added by Plugin or Theme
• Settings (title, options, etc.)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 5

Demos
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 6

ShareThis
• Traditional widget delivery
• WordPress specific settings
• Coming soon: integrated registration
and configuration within WordPress
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 7

Lijit
• Delivers features of their standard
JavaScript widget
• User registration and login from the
WordPress interface
• WordPress specific settings
• Access Lijit stats and preferences from
WordPress interface
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 8

Twitter Tools
• API integration vs. Flash/JavaScript widget
• Two way integration between WordPress
and Twitter
• Delivers Twitter content from local
datastore
• Twitter content embedded in HTML source
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 9

Popularity Contest
• No 3rd party data or service
• Records and mines local data
• Provides sidebar widgets
• Local options and settings
• Local reports
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 10

Tight Integration
• WordPress specific settings
• WordPress-style UI and interactions
• Leverage/connect to local data
• APIs make it happen
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 11

Other Benefits
• Large publisher base
• Publisher control
• Performance: local data vs. remote data
• Content is indexed by search engines
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 12

Distribution
• Downloadable plugins
• Many sources including WordPress.org
(easier in 2.7)
• Significant publisher base
• Passionate community
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 13

Resources
• WordPress Widget API
http://automattic.com/code/widgets/api/
• WordPress Plugins
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 14

Q &A
http://crowdfavorite.com
WordPress Development, Design & Consulting
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 15