How and why I used widgets to wrangle content on a couple WordPress websites.

1. Creative Use of
Widgetsfor Content Management
Jessica Gardner
WordCamp North Canton
May 9, 2015

2. Jessica Collura Gardner
b. Cleveland, 1976
jessica@btwrx.com

8. widget
whatsit?
calendar
mailing list signup
text (including code!) images
navigation menu
plugin functions
admin loginblog archives
STATIC AND DYNAMIC CONTENT & FEATURES
“…a simple and easy‐to‐use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress Theme to the user.”
(http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Widgets)

9. widget
wheresit?
widget area, fka “sidebar”
which widgets?
themes
plugins

10. WordPress 2015 Theme

11. WordPress 2015 Theme + Jetpack

12. g{xÉÜxà|vtÄ tÑÑÄ|vtà|ÉÇá
Secondary navigation
Anything you want on multiple pages
Anything that is subject to change
hours
schedules
contact
mailing list signup

13. More widget areas?
functions.php (in your CHILD THEME!)
layout builders (plugin)
shortcodes (plugin)

14. case study 1:
widgets on pages
layout builder w/ widgetized areas

15. 93/114 pages have this little menu:
8 sub‐sections 65 procedures
plus a specialized
menu based on
the sub‐section

18. Case Study #2
Widgets on Pages
Per‐Page Sidebar
Widgets in Widgets!

19. built into theme
10 Subsections
with custom menus

22. 1 7

26. 20/20 Hindsight

27. why?