News Widget for WordPress Documentation by Sitebase v1.1

News Widget for WordPress

Created: 21.03.2011 13:34
By: Sitebase (Wim Mostmans)
Email: wim@sitebase.be

Informations about Updates and New Scripts are always announced on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Wim Mostmans Thank you for purchasing my script. If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this help file, please feel free to email via my user page contact form here or on Twitter. Thanks so much!

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Table of Contents

  1. Description
  2. How to install
  3. How to use
  4. Create a custom view
  5. Shortcode
  6. Changelog
  7. FAQ
  8. Updates and New releases
  9. Support notes
  10. Other Scripts

Descriptiontop

With this plugin you can display news from one or more RSS or Atom feeds. The news can be displayed with one of the 4 views I've included, or you can create your own view so you can customize how the news items are shown.

How to install top

Extract the zip you downloaded from codecanyon. Inside that zip you'll find a file called news-widget.zip. This is the widget file you need to install.
To do this go to Plugins > Add New, and select the Upload tab. Now upload and activate the news-widget.zip. After installation and activation you would have an extra widget in your Appearance > Widgets page:

Widget installed
Installed widget

How to use top

After the installation you can drag the widget to the location were you want to place it in your theme. Configure the settings and you are ready to go. All the settings are pretty simple and for the not so obvious ones I've added a description under the field.

As source for the news items you can use RSS and Atom feeds!

Using News Widget for WordPress

Create a custom view top

The views are located in the wp-content/plugins/news-widget/views/ directory. All views end with a suffix -view.php. So if you want to make your own view create a new file or copy and paste an existing view and rename it to [name-of-choise-here]-view.php. So for example my-view.php.

Below you find a list of variable that you can use in your view:

Below you find a list of properties that you can access on the news items you find in the $entries array.

<?php echo $before_widget ?>
<?php if ( !empty( $title ) ) { echo $before_title . $title . $after_title; }; ?>
         
<!-- Widget Content start -->
<ul>
<?php foreach($entries as $entry): ?>
		<li>
		<h4><a href="<?php echo $entry->link; ?>"><?php echo $entry->title ?></a></h4>
			<p><?php echo $entry->contentSnippet ?></p>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<!-- Widget Content end -->
         
<?php echo $after_widget ?>
         

Shortcode top

This widget has also support for shortcodes. This way you can also use it in your posts and pages. Below you find an overview of the different parameters that are possible.

Below you find an example of a shortcode:

[newswidget feed1="http://codecanyon.net/feeds/new-codecanyon-items.atom" view="basic-view" number="10" cache="60" use_ajax="true" random="true" ajax_refresh_time="20"]

I've also added an little feed button to insert and example news widget shortcode in your post. Then you can easily modify it to fit your needs.

Editor
Feed icon insert shortcode example

Changelog top


v1.1 (29/03/2011)
* Session started notice fixed
* Some random notices fixed
* Added support for shortcodes
        
v1.0 (13/03/2011)
* Initial version released

FAQ top

Does this support multiple instances on one page?

Yes

Does this support Atom feeds?

Yes, you can use Atom and RSS feeds

Updates and New releases top

Updates and new release of the script are free to download once you have bought this item. To download a new version you go to My Account on Codecanyon and

How to download an update
Follow these steps to download the latest release

Support notes top

Right now I'm simply getting more emails and requests for support than I can manage in a timely manner. Some times I can answer emails the same day, but often it'll take me as long as a month (or longer!) to completely empty my inbox.

Before sending a support request make sure that you have done the following things:

  1. Read the full documentation file
  2. See if your answser isn't already answered in the FAQ section of the script on Codecanyon.

To be able to help solve a problem quickly, please read the entries below. I'll do my best to assist you. I provide a full range of Support except:

  1. I don't (and can't) support the 3rd-party code (i.e. external plugins, javascripts, flash players, etc.) In such cases you shall have to contact the authors.
  2. I don't support errors provoked by the strong modification of the original packages.
  3. I do customization but this isn't included in the price of the script. To get a cost estimate for a modification you can email me on wim@sitebase.be.
  4. If you sure that your improvement ideas will be helpful to others, please don't hesitate to share it with me. Most likely that it will became a free package update.
  5. If you have a more general question relating to the script on Codecanyon, you might consider visiting the forums and asking your question in the "Item Discussion" section.

Other scripts top

I have released a lot of other cool and handy scripts, so make sure to checkout our other scripts. To get an overview you can take a look at our portfolio on Codecanyon.

Once again, thank you so much for purchasing this script. As I said at the beginning, I'd be glad to help you if you have any questions relating to this theme/script. No guarantees, but I'll do my best to assist.

Sitebase

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