A Scenic Route
  • Welcome Back
  • Blog
  • About
  • Other Projects
    • Feathers In A Blender
    • From My Drawing Board
    • Backstage At The Blog
  • Privacy Policy

Backstage at the Blog: W is for Widget

  • Blogging

W © A Scenic Route-croppedI don’t think I’ve ever met a widget I didn’t like. These amazing mini applications do everything from display my mounting word count to help visitors find other members of my blogging community.

Where does one find these cute little buggers?

In the Appearance category! Just click the menu and the page loads to show the ‘Available Widgets’ on the left side of the screen. To activate a widget, simply drag it from the ‘Available’ column into one of the columns on the right side. And don’t worry about using them up. The ‘Available Widgets’ column always repopulates itself. I don’t know how it does that, maybe the widgets throw a party when I’m away…

Not This Kind of Widget!
Not This Kind of Widget!
Inside A Widget's Brain
A Peek Inside a Widget. Code courtesy of Critique Circle.

Anyway, each widget can be opened with the triangle on the right, where it will display all the knobs and wires boxes and menus inside.

I like a busy sidebar. Image and text widgets display everything from the disposition of my Muse to my myriad WIPs and their various stages of incompletion. Even my hard-won A to Z badge has earned a place on my sidebar. I also have the requisite Follow Blog widget, and the My Community widget is a favorite of mine as it displays the avatars of all my blogging friends. I even have a calendar of my latest blog offenses posts.

This kind of Widget!
This kind of Widget!

I know some bloggers find a crowded sidebar to be distracting, and I get that, but for now, having my badges next to my words inspires me to more confident blogging. Besides, they’re colorful!

Do you like to put lots of badges in your sidebar? Or do you prefer the sleek, minimalist look?Lady Robot

 

 

(Here’s your link back to the A to Z Challenge Sign Up list.)

Robot images courtesy of Cécile Graat @ stock.xchng

A-Z Challenge critique circle Progress Meter The Letter W Widgets WordPress Widgets
April 26, 2014 Kirsten

Post navigation

Backstage at the Blog: X is for .xml → ← Backstage at the Blog: V is for Visit

15 thoughts on “Backstage at the Blog: W is for Widget”

  1. Alex J. Cavanaugh (@AlexJCavanaugh) says:
    April 26, 2014 at 9:10 am

    You’ve seen my sidebars – I like images and widgets as well!

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 26, 2014 at 11:03 am

      I remember when I first visited your website and was floored by the impressive array of badges and images! I wanted to have that many someday. 🙂

  2. melinda says:
    April 26, 2014 at 9:11 am

    You have the most awesome widgets! Even though I use WordPress too (and I assume I have all the same widgets available to me), I don’t know how to do half of the ones you have. I especially love the progress ones. I also notice that I come up in the Community widget as a quilt piece. I need to fix that.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 26, 2014 at 11:05 am

      It took me a while to figure out the widgets, but little by little I got them up there. I like that it’s easy to change them around once in a while, to reflect whatever I happen to be working on.

  3. nancyrae4 says:
    April 26, 2014 at 11:18 am

    OK. I love widgets on other folks’ blogs and I use lots of them myself. I’ve always wanted to ask you where you found the wonderful glass button widgets you use for progress reports. (I created a couple in Photoshop, but I’ve never been happy with the results.) But, if you tell me your secret please remember imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 26, 2014 at 3:04 pm

      Nancy
      I get the secret code at Critique Circle, where they have a tool chest for all kinds of fun things like that. It’s free to join there, and I suspect some people join solely for that reason!

      I’m thinking it might be fun to include some of these tidbits in my regular blogging schedule. Something like the Weekly Widget … 😉

  4. susan says:
    April 26, 2014 at 11:58 am

    I do use widgets. But frankly I’m lazy and can’t always take the time to add more. Oh right, this is my author blog which I put together at the spur of the moment. My real blog does show my badges on the sidebar

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 26, 2014 at 3:06 pm

      I know how widgets can take up time. 🙂 They’re just so irresistible!

  5. Shell Flower says:
    April 26, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    I love a good widget. Goodreads has some cool ones, as well as Nanowrimo. I wish I knew more about coding them.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 26, 2014 at 3:08 pm

      I’ve been stumped by many a widget too. There’s one with a changing book cover that I would love to add, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how it works.
      There’s a learning curve on these, for sure.

  6. Kristina Stanley says:
    April 28, 2014 at 6:19 am

    W? How did you get to W already. I love the topic and the widgets. I’ve been out of internet reach for a while and now I have to go back to A and read the posts I missed. Thanks for my morning entertainment.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:11 pm

      You’re welcome, Kristina! I’m glad you like the posts.
      This challenge has been a whirlwind, and I ask myself the same thing–how the heck did I post all these letters already?

  7. Pingback: A WIP thing | Jaye Em Edgecliff
  8. Loni Townsend says:
    April 29, 2014 at 11:44 am

    I’m a minimalist myself. I have dozens of inactive widgets, that I’ve installed and then decided later that I didn’t like. I find myself glossing over busy screens, and I hardly ever take the time to look at the colorful badges. But I’ve always preferred simplicity. 🙂

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 29, 2014 at 7:50 pm

      I’m torn actually. I love seeing all my blogging buddies lined up along the margin, but at the same time I do love a clean layout. Fortunately, widgets are easy to reactivate if I decide to give the clean look a try. 🙂

Comments are closed.

Calendar

May 2022
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Mar    

Recent Posts

Dearest Novel

Dearest Novel

Hopping on board the blog again, and look! It’s like riding a bicycle … just gotta get the rust out of my fingers. Not that I’ve been neglecting my writing, […]

More Info
IWSG: Fear, Love, and Writing

IWSG: Fear, Love, and Writing

It’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group, again. I know, don’t remind me– I was insecure two months ago, and haven’t been here since! But it’s the first Wednesday of the month […]

More Info
IWSG: Why Can't I Write Like Everyone Else?

IWSG: Why Can't I Write Like Everyone Else?

Welcome to this month’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post, which you’ll notice is the only post on this blog since last month’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. I know. I […]

More Info
IWSG: The Siren Call of NaNoWriMo

IWSG: The Siren Call of NaNoWriMo

Wait. IWSG? And NaNoWriMo? I know you’re staring at your screen thinking, “What’s with all the acronyms? She’s really lost it now. Things haven’t been the same at A Scenic Route […]

More Info
Stories and Trees

Stories and Trees

The arrival of fall got me thinking … Since I love walking in the woods, I find it often feels as if my Muse is wandering in a forest full […]

More Info
Infinity Edge

Infinity Edge

Since when do Muses need vacations? Apparently mine does, which is why he’s been suspiciously absent from the blog. Oh, wait, here he is … I brush aside the palmetto […]

More Info
IWSG: Enjoying the View

IWSG: Enjoying the View

Warning: This will not be the usual Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. Believe it or not, this month I’m actually a secure writer. Shocking, I know, but it’s true! I’ll […]

More Info
The Meet My Character Blog Hop-Nick Moore

The Meet My Character Blog Hop-Nick Moore

The cold wind gives me goose bumps as climb the front steps to Nick Moore’s beach house, gripping my laptop to my chest like a lover. I knock on the […]

More Info
Powered by WordPress theme Stained Glass