This post is a continuation of posts about WordPress plugins we’ve worked with. I just installed a plugin called the PHP Code Widget for a client today. This plugin takes the basic function of a text widget and lets you place PHP code in it. Very useful if you’re using a widgitized sidebar and need to place some PHP code in a widget. In this particular example, I needed a links widget that would display only one link category. The default WordPress links widget displays all categories and has no options. What do I do? Well, I download the PHP Code Widget and insert my PHP widget with the code to display one category only (assuming a category number 2):

<?php wp_list_bookmarks('category=2'); ?>

Beautiful!

Update: Things change radically in the plugin world, expecially when new version of WordPress is released and the developer stops supporting the plugin. While The Excerpt Reloaded still works as described below, it will not strip shortcodes in your post text before creating your excerpt. I am now using the Advanced Excerpt plugin, which does strip shortcodes.

I intend to use part of this blog to help me remember which plugins I have worked with, how I implemented them, and what I thought. I used The Excerpt Reloaded for a client a few weeks ago, and at the time I thought it was the handiest little plugin for the task at hand. Now my client has asked for the same thing on another blog, and I can’t remember how exactly I implemented his request. So here is a chronicle of my second time around with The Excerpt Reloaded.
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