Do you want to create your own custom widgets in WordPress? Widgets allow you to drag and drop elements into any sidebar or widget ready area of your website. In this article, we will show you how to easily create a custom WordPress widget.
What is a WordPress Widget?
WordPress widgets contain pieces of code that you can add to your website’s sidebars or widget ready areas. Think of them as modules that you can use to add different elements by using a simple drag and drop interface.
By default, WordPress comes with a standard set of widgets that you can use with any WordPress theme. See our beginner’s guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.
WordPress also allows developers to create their own custom widgets. Many WordPress themes and plugins come with their own custom widgets that you can add to your sidebars.
For example, you can add a contact form, a custom login form, or a photo gallery to a sidebar without writing any code.
Having said that, let’s see how to easily create your own custom widgets in WordPress.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
Creating a Custom Widget in WordPress
Before we get started, it would be best if you create a site-specific plugin where you will be pasting the widget code from this tutorial.
You can also paste the code in your theme’s functions.php file. However, it will only be available when that particular theme is active.
In this tutorial, we will create a simple widget that just greets visitors. Take a look at this code and then paste it in your site-specific plugin to see it in action.
// Register and load the widget
function wpb_load_widget() {
register_widget( 'wpb_widget' );
}
add_action( 'widgets_init', 'wpb_load_widget' );
// Creating the widget
class wpb_widget extends WP_Widget {
function __construct() {
parent::__construct(
// Base ID of your widget
'wpb_widget',
// Widget name will appear in UI
__('WPBeginner Widget', 'wpb_widget_domain'),
// Widget description
array( 'description' => __( 'Sample widget based on WPBeginner Tutorial', 'wpb_widget_domain' ), )
);
}
// Creating widget front-end
public function widget( $args, $instance ) {
$title = apply_filters( 'widget_title', $instance['title'] );
// before and after widget arguments are defined by themes
echo $args['before_widget'];
if ( ! empty( $title ) )
echo $args['before_title'] . $title . $args['after_title'];
// This is where you run the code and display the output
echo __( 'Hello, World!', 'wpb_widget_domain' );
echo $args['after_widget'];
}
// Widget Backend
public function form( $instance ) {
if ( isset( $instance[ 'title' ] ) ) {
$title = $instance[ 'title' ];
}
else {
$title = __( 'New title', 'wpb_widget_domain' );
}
// Widget admin form
?>
<p>
<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Title:' ); ?></label>
<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'title' ); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $title ); ?>" />
</p>
<?php
}
// Updating widget replacing old instances with new
public function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
$instance = array();
$instance['title'] = ( ! empty( $new_instance['title'] ) ) ? strip_tags( $new_instance['title'] ) : '';
return $instance;
}
} // Class wpb_widget ends here
After adding the code you need to head over to Appearance » Widgets page. You will notice the new WPBeginner Widget in the list of available widgets. You need to drag and drop this widget to a sidebar.
Now you can visit your website to see it in action.
Now let’s study the code again.
First we registered the ‘wpb_widget’ and loaded our custom widget. After that we defined what that widget does, and how to display the widget back-end.
Lastly, we defined how to handle changes made to the widget.
Now there are a few things that you might want to ask. For example, what’s the purpose wpb_text_domain?
WordPress uses gettext to handle translation and localization. This wpb_text_domain and __e tells gettext to make a string available for translation. See how you can find translation ready WordPress themes.
If you are creating a custom widget for your theme, then you can replace wpb_text_domain with your theme’s text domain.
We hope this article helped you learn how to easily create a custom WordPress widget. You may also want to see our list of the most useful WordPress widgets for your site.
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How can I create more than 1 custom widget?
And also, how can I set other fields like radio, checkbox, dropdown, text in widget?
You would need to replace the wpb_widget with what you want your new widget to be called and then the code would depend on what specifically you would like to add. If you take a look at the WordPress codex you can see the different codes available.
Hello!
Currently, I am developing a plugin and I need to create a widget to let the user add a specific functionality to his/her site.
I copied the code for your widget in a file and saved the file in my plugin’s directory. I used add_action and do_action in my plugin’s main file to load it but it still doesn’t work. Can you help me, please?
Thank you!
Sadly, that would depend heavily on how your plugin is set up, you may want to ensure both sections of this code are being loaded for the widget to be added and displayed
A short question, what if i want to create widgets in where i also can place other widgets? Like empty bootstrap columns 6-3-3 e.g. and in each column i can place then widgets like image, text, latest posts etc.
Is there a command / keyword to signalize that there is place for other widgets in this widget…
because im kind of confused about my own created theme and how WP is working… you see im a beginner ^^
I already placed general information like page title, make widget areas in my footer so ich can place menus, related links etc. on it. It worked.
But now im confused how i can realize my content in wordpress as i designed it before. Maybe some keywords are helpful to read more about them.
That would require more customization than we go into in this article, you may need to look into how to create a sidebar for code you can use: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-themes/how-to-add-dynamic-widget-ready-sidebars-in-wordpress/
Great tutorial! Worked perfectly.
Glad our tutorial could help
How do you get a custom post type field from wp database and use a widget to display on front end?
i can’t add two custom widgets .. the second widget is not showing up….
what should i do???.. pls help
Really understandable and helpful. Thank you.
hello, i would like to know where i can find in available widgets the “custom menu”. it doesn’t show and i haven’t been able to add a page to the footer through this widget.
thank you for your help!!!!
hi, how would i show a logo in place of text. would replacing logo url with the text suffice.
Thanks in advance.
Please see your theme settings or visit Appearance » Customizer page in admin area. There you will find an option to upload your logo image.
Which came first the widget or the app?
Does a widget have to be registered if so how Please?
How do you best protect your idea of a widget or app?
Thanks all
These instructions worked beautifully for creating my custom widget. I cannot, however, figure out how to change the font size to 60px. I did manage to add CSS to Divi theme options that centered the text and added a line border. But how do I change the styling of the font please? Adding “font-size:60px” does not work. I want the font to be large, like a tagline running across the page. Thanks.
Very helpfull. tankyou
Thanks so much for your tutorials
Hi! I hope you can help me.
I’ve created a custom post type that show the timetable for a shop. Of course, you can create as much timetables as you want, but my necessity is to show a given timetable in the sidebar of the website.
For this purpose I made a widget that loop the timetable posts showing only 1 (namely the first one, since I ordered in ASC order). This is a temporary solution, just to see if the widget works and it does, actually.
What I really want to do is to show in the backend a dropdown list of all posts belonging to “timetable” post type so that I can choose the one I need when I need it and show it in the frontend. How can I do this?
Thanks if you may/want to help.
Thanks Man for saving my time ..
I love this post, helped me often a lot! Thanks!