Create your own WordPress Dashboard Widgets
Did you know that you can tweak your WordPress Dashboard with custom Widgets? Take note that this is different from the Widgets feature you can use on your blog. WooCamp has a nice two-step tutorial on it:
- Copy the given code in the blog post
- Modify the given code for specific functionality for your widget
Easy-peasy! Another great way to customize the backend of WordPress-powered sites, especially if you’re using it as a CMS for clients and friends.
How to create Widgets in WordPress 2.8
Justin Tadlock has a nice tutorial on the new way to create WordPress Widgets in WP 2.8. You might remember that in the upcoming version of WordPress the admin interface for Widgets has been revamped, but the method of developing Widgets has been updated as well.
In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through the steps of setting up a widget, its settings form, and displaying it on your site. At the end of the tutorial, you can download an example plugin to build from. Of course, you can apply this to your themes as well.
According to him, coding a widget is much easier this time because you just have to extend the WP_Widget class. The tutorial also gets into advanced widget controls and display settings.
