More Widgets For Your Blog
Everyone loves widgets right? They allow you to add neat features to your blog and really make it your own. They are universal, because you can use them on all different themes, so no matter which theme you’ve used to represent your own personal style, widgets can help you round out the features that make your blog tick. Some of WordPress.com’s newer features like Following and Liking have needed some widget-love, so we’ve whipped up a few new ones to help you out. All of these widgets can be used immediately and added to one of your sidebars under Appearance → Widgets.
Blogs I Follow
The first widget, named Blogs I Follow, allows you to display a list of the blogs that you are following via the WordPress.com Reader. You can display the list as a grid of images representing the blogs or just a series of links. This widget is perfect for introducing your readers to the blogs that inspire and interest you.
Posts I Like
Next up, the Posts I Like widget displays an image grid or a linked list of posts that you have liked recently. This widget is a great way to expose your readers to specific posts and content that you really enjoy. It’ll stay automatically updated by only showing the most recent content you have liked.
My Community
The new My Community widget allows you to highlight all of the activity happening on your blog. You can show people who have commented, liked, or followed your blog, or any combination of the three.
Gravatar Profile
We have also added a Gravatar Profile widget that will automatically pull in your Gravatar profile information including your photo, bio, verified services, and custom links. There’s no need to type out your information again when you can automatically display it using Gravatar. Drop this widget in your sidebar and introduce yourself to your readers!
Top Posts & Pages
In addition to the four brand new widgets above, we have also expanded the functionality of the Top Posts & Pages widget. You can now toggle between measuring top posts by views or by likes. You can also choose to display the list as a simple text list, a list with images, or a more visual grid of larger images.
We hope you enjoy these new widget choices. Let us know what you think in the comments and be sure to continue to let us know what kind of widgets you’re interested in!
Jul 20th at 6:47 pm
Could we get the image/grid option for the recent post widget too? And if it’s not too much to ask, could we get a widget that does the same as top posts, except with manual control over which posts are displayed?
Anyways, love this update! Thanks, all. ^ ^
Aug 1st at 3:00 pm
Hi, I’ll mark down your suggestions for both widgets. Thanks!
Jul 20th at 7:35 pm
Awesome! Really great widgets.
Jul 20th at 11:47 pm
Hi, my Top Post widget is now showing exactly 0 posts.
This makes no sense at all as all this has been happening since you have upgraded this widget. I believe there has to be a logical explanation of things. If my blog is the only blog which has been affected by this, than you should be able to investigate. I’ve been blogging here for 6 plus years and this is the only time I feel frustrated given that you are taking so long to reply to this critical piece of the blog.
Jul 20th at 11:51 pm
Guys, here’s another great and wonderful work of the WP team!
They are all to be congratulated! In this case, especially you, Justin!
Each day I am amazed at the new features of WordPress and is a daily pleasure blogging here!
Great job!
Jul 21st at 7:23 am
If you want ideas for new wigets, a random post one could be handy to let readers view almost forgotten (but good) old posts.
Jul 21st at 2:10 pm
I started using some of the widgets on my photo contest blog and there has been more involvement on my blog with all of the photo options on the widgets. I think these are some great features and I hope to see more continued improvements and additions to WP. Thanks.
Jul 21st at 8:19 pm
You guys at WordPress do an amazing job, I really like the Gravatar Profile, it’s a great time saver.
Jul 21st at 10:56 pm
I’m thinking that, regarding the My Community Widget, whether it shows three people across or two people across depends on the blog theme you’re using and the fixed width of your sidebar. Right? My widget would only show two across and took up more room than I wanted. But it’s a cool widget and I’m glad you created it.
Jul 22nd at 3:25 am
Love these- VERY interested in an instagram widget!!
Jul 22nd at 10:08 am
Great widgets, thanks for the additions! Would also love a Pinterest widget. Are you guys going to develop one of those soon?
Jul 24th at 2:07 am
We’ve got it on a list of requested features already, but no set timeline on when it’ll be done
Jul 22nd at 3:54 pm
I love it, Thnx You
Jul 22nd at 11:05 pm
nice widgets! is there a giveaway widget that will work with wordpress.COM? I can’t seem to find one. :-/
Jul 23rd at 2:00 am
That’s just awesome!!
Jul 23rd at 3:11 am
Where are the widgets I don’t see them, wanted to pick an interesting one??
Jul 23rd at 5:03 pm
You can access your Widgets by going to your wp-admin and going to Appearance -> Widgets. Find the widget in the grouping on the left of the main screen and then drag it into a sidebar (on the right) to activate it.
Jul 23rd at 5:09 am
nice widget, its so perfect
Jul 23rd at 6:44 am
pretty cool. particularly the gravatar widget.
Jul 23rd at 8:36 pm
I would add the ‘My Community’ widget straight away
Jul 24th at 6:29 am
WHAT ABOUT A TRANSLATOR WIDGET???
Jul 24th at 8:04 am
Hi Justin, here comes an idea for a new widget: I have the need to protect a collection of defined webpages with 1 password per user. I would prefer an automated solution where the user’s email address is the password. After registration the user should get an email notification granting the access with his email address as password.
Jul 24th at 8:20 am
Idea: Could the actual Text Widget be redesigned to support HTML code running in an iFrame?
Aug 1st at 2:56 pm
iFrames will not be allowed because of security restrictions. http://en.support.wordpress.com/code/. You can add the allowed HTML code from that page to a text widget however.
Jul 24th at 1:04 pm
Glad to see these. I too would love to see a widget that allows us to link back to related posts within a blog to keep the reader engaged. And a question about the gravatar. is it then a workaround for the google+ author authentication issue?
Jul 24th at 4:19 pm
These are some cool new widgets, WordPress, thanks!
Jul 25th at 2:07 am
Very Nice!
When will we get a widget for Amazon Affiliates?
Jul 25th at 11:51 am
Great Widgets..love this
Jul 25th at 12:28 pm
I’ve clicked the “show total number of followers” button, but the number doesn’t appear in the sidebar. Any idea why/how to get it there?
Aug 1st at 2:52 pm
This number currently only shows to users who are not already following your blog.
Jul 25th at 2:23 pm
Good Idea. I am new to wordpress, now if I could figure out how to get more views on my blogs I would be happy!
Jul 25th at 8:03 pm
This is great stuff, thanks. Could you work on an option for displaying recent posts with images next?
Jul 25th at 9:19 pm
great widget for me as a beginner in wordpress
Jul 25th at 10:05 pm
These are some widgets that will look very nice on my blog. Thank you WP. You continue to make lovely new things that are AWESOME! Thank so much!
Jul 26th at 11:32 am
how to add with menus icon?…..thanks
Jul 26th at 2:06 pm
Amazing, thanks
Jul 26th at 2:51 pm
Great Widgets! Is it possible to make an Instagram widget available for free WordPress accounts? …or does it already exist? Let me know!
Aug 1st at 2:47 pm
We will keep your suggestion in mind!
Jul 26th at 4:14 pm
I’ll use the “Posts I Like” widget right away. I was just wondering this morning how I could short-cut to link a post I read. Thanks!
Jul 26th at 4:19 pm
Good job and I love this!
Jul 27th at 2:12 am
So awesome! Love them.
Jul 27th at 3:56 am
NICE FEATURES!
Jul 27th at 4:28 am
Great widgets…thanks.
Jul 27th at 7:14 am
I use it, and I love it
). Thank you for the post. Petra
Jul 27th at 9:28 am
Very nice
Jul 29th at 5:12 am
…new to wordpress..still gauging what I’LL REALLY NEED…but the community widget is inspirational…somehow!.
Jul 29th at 5:47 am
Bwahahaha. I activated these widgets since it came out. I tried to look at my own blog today and found out that it shows nothing on my Community and Blogs I Follow. Hehehehe. Still, Great effort!
Aug 1st at 2:57 pm
Both of your widgets are displaying images under the widgets.
Jul 29th at 6:46 am
I wanna try it
Jul 29th at 6:31 pm
These widgets are really amazing and add excellent blogosphere functionality to wordpress sites. I was a little disappointed with the new buttons on the reader, but the new widgets more than make up for it.
I can’t wait to use these widgets on my blogs!
Thanks, automattic!
Jul 29th at 11:20 pm
i luv the blogs i follow widget
Jul 30th at 6:10 pm
Why are you getting rid of the stats feature? I actually like knowing the impact of my writing. I’d like to know more about who else has seen it. Just curious.
Aug 1st at 2:45 pm
We are not getting rid of the stats feature. You can view your stats from the WordPress.com home page.
Jul 31st at 2:16 pm
That’s greatest widgets I’ve added in my site. It’s a great help.
Jul 31st at 3:47 pm
great widget
Jul 31st at 4:02 pm
Amazing widgets!