Wordpress Widgets

What is it?

Although the word widget might look a bit funny it has become a commonly used term, especially among bloggers utilizing the world-famous Wordpress software.

The term 'Wordpress widgets' is applied to any user-friendly sidebar function in Wordpress themes including such elements as search box, meta-tags, RSS feed links, recent posts, categories, etc. which can be arranged by a blogger into the blog's sidebar in any way they want.

The majority of modern Wordpress themes are widget-ready, i.e. users can modify them without having to change the code. You just log in as the administrator and drag the elements you want to the sidebar adding and rearranging them whenever you wish.

Wordpress is in itself a very easy-to-use blogging application, and with the addition of widgets it has become even more user-friendly providing for a most pleasant blogging experience.

Where to find

There are numerous websites offering widget-ready themes for Wordpress, but the most extensive collection of them can be found at the official website of Wordpress. You will be offered a widest selection of blog templates arranged by color, width, sidebars on the left and on the right side, rounded and unrounded corners and so on.

Some of the Most Popular Wordpress Widgets

There are many widgets for Wordpress. You will find some of them more useful than the others and by experimenting with them you can come up with a most useful widget set that will make blogging even more fun. Your choice will depend on your personal needs and taste, but there are certain widgets that are so popular within the blogging community that they've become a 'must have' for almost every blogger.

ExecPHP

It is a text-box widget that allows inserting PHP code into your sidebar.php and executing it by means of an easy click-and-copy operation rather them having to modify it manually.

IM Online

This Wordpress widget allows you to display your online status to your blog readers with the help of instant messaging services such as MSN, Google Talk, Skype and others. Thus you can easily let your readers know when they can contact you.

With the dramatic increase in Wordpress users it has become rather hard to make your blog stand out against thousands of other blogs built with the same platform. However, the addition of widget-ready themes creates a unique opportunity to develop unique blog designs with just a couple of click-and-drag operations.