Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Table 3.8
Additional Functionality Is Always Welcome
Widget
Functionality
Settings
Copies
Box.net
Link to downloadable files
Width, Height of box
No
file share
for site visitors
Platial
Mapping tool for your blog
Paste MapCode
No
MapKit
users
RSS
Entries from any RSS or
Feed URL, title, # items, y/n
Yes
Atom feed
to show content, author, date
SocialVibe
Tie your blog to one of
Choose charity
No
dozens of charities
Text
Flexible “canvas” for text,
Title, text/HTML block,
Yes
links, and/or other HTML
paragraphs y/n
Vodpod
Your users can watch web
Paste HTML code, enable
No
Videos
videos on your blog
widescreen player
Getting the Most Out of Widgets
Widgets were only introduced to WordPress.com in 2007 and many blogs underuse them. They just
let the space taken up by the sidebar sit there, not doing anything.
Widgets are a great addition to WordPress.com, and the concept has been a spur to development
using the software available from WordPress.org as well. There are at least a few widgets that can
be considered must-haves, especially as your blog grows:
•
Archives
or
Calendar
—Archives lumps your posts together, one month's entries per link;
Calendar shows the posts per day. In a typical blog, with postings every day or two, Archives is
great for helping track your posts over time and to get a quick feel for the blog's progress; as the
month-by-month links accumulate, your blog develops a visible history. Calendar is a great alter-
native for a busy blog with more than one post a day.
•
Categories
,
Category Cloud
,
Tag Cloud
,
Search
—These are all connections into your posts by
concept or keyword, using the orderly structure of categories, the more will-o'-the-wisp flavor of
tags, or the raw power of search. (Tag clouds are trendy and a fun addition to your blog.)
•
Links/Blogroll
—These are almost a must-have for blogs that depend greatly on other blogs for
content and commentary—that is, for most blogs.
•
Meta
—Meta is great for managing your blog. It allows you (and any collaborators) to log in to
your Dashboard from the blog front page.
•
Pages
—Pages acts as a navigation bar you can edit, a must if you have more than a few pages.
•
Recent Comments
—We hate to tell you this, but many blog visitors will find the comments on
your site more interesting than your posts. This widget is great if you get a reasonable number
of comments, and is likely to encourage more.
•
Top Posts
—It might seem vain to put up your own Hall of Fame, but this is a great entry for new
visitors to use—especially if your site is gaining in popularity and bringing in lots of them. (You