ACF Recent Posts Widget vs Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin

ACFRPW adds a new widget to the Appearance -> Widgets -> ACF Recent Posts Widget. Most of the fields are quite obvious, you can choose from a set of settings to display the posts from. Each setting alters the amount and type of posts listed in the sidebar. Available Settings The widget supports the following settings: Widget Title Custom Widget container CSS class Option to ignore sticky posts Search keyword query Id based post exclusion Date Display, Date Modified, Relative and Custom Date Format specifiaction Listing posts from specific date period (start and end) Listing posts with specific password, listing password protected posts only or excluding these Post Type selection Post Formats selection Post Statuses selection Listing posts limited to author via author id Order specifiaction (ASC or DESC) Orderby specification (ID, Author, Title, Date, Modified, Random, Comment Count, Menu Order, Meta Value, Meta Value Numeric) Meta Key specifiaction (if Meta Value or Meta Value Numeric were chosen as orderby rule) Meta Comparison selection Meta Value Specification (for the Meta Comparison selection) Category limitation Tag limitation Id based custom taxonomy limitation Operator specifiaction for the above rules Number of posts to show Number of posts to skip Thumbnail display, thumbnail size (width, height), thumbnail alignment, default thumbnail Excerpt display, its word limit, its readmore text (occurs only if the amount of words exceeds the limit) Custom HTML to display before the loop Custom HTML to display after the loop Custom HTML to display before each posts. It supports custom meta keys and ACF fields Custom HTML to display after each posts. It supports custom meta keys and ACF fields Custom HTML to display for no posts found Custom and default CSS Custom HTML templates ACF supported fields The plugin has been tested with ACF 6 (Free and Pro). The plugin supports the following ACF fields: Text Textarea Number Email Password Wysiwg Editor Image File No other fields have been tested and are supported at the moment. Shortcode From version 4.4 the plugin supports shortcode embeds. Given the amount of options and their specific names (as in shortcode attributes) the shorcode builder has been introduced see 7th and 8th screenshots for the reference. You’ll see a popup once clicked on ACFRPW button which gives one an ability to automatically set up the shortcode code for you. The rest follows all of the options specified here. To use the shortcode one needs to have the WordPress editor enabled for the current page / post type. In case it was disabled (say via ACF) the button won’t appear. Creating Custom Templates From version 4.3 the plugin supports custom templates. To make usage of these one needs to make a copy of all the files found in the acf-recent-posts-widget/templates directory and copy them over to the active template directory to acfrpw subdirectory. The approach is similar to the way WooCommerce plugin works and has it’s drawbacks. With every new feature the files may be outdated. Similarly to the widget template files, a separate, custom markup can be created for the shortcode build post listing. Copy the acf-recent-posts-widget/template files to acfrpw-blog directory created inside your active theme directory. Template files There are 3 main template files: loop-after.php (which displays the markup after each of the posts and closes the markup container) loop-before.php (which displays the markup before each of the posts and opens the markup container) loop-inner.php (which is enqueued for each of the posts separatelly and contains the markup of every single post) Usage The usage is quite advanced hence each template file contains a quite detailed documentation on how to use it. First of all the template files mustn’t have the global variables removed. Each of these variables stores the widget settings, which are then used to generate the code. Second of all the variable names are unobvious, loop-inner.php template file contains a list of all the names used, which are then extracted and available as php variables. Different template per widget / sidebar The templates allow one to adjust the markup of each single widget. One needs first to verify the widget id used, which may then be referenced. The variable which stores the widget id is $acf_rpw_args[‘widget_id’]. Dumping the value in the template is the best way to find out which automatic id has been created for your widget. The best way to handle the templates is to learn from their code. My personal suggestion is to copy over the templates to the current theme and work directly on them, doing one change at a time. The templates require learning curve to use and there’s no single answer to everyones problem. Complex usage This section covers plugin complex usage for advanced user willing to have more control over the behavior of the plugin as well as explains uncommon functionalities. Using the HTML textarea fields These sections might not be obvious. The HTML or text before / after the whole loop setting is an area where you can specify custom HTML markup to be added before / after the whole posts list. The HTML or text before / after each post is an area where you can not only specify custom HTML, but you are also given an ability to print any meta key or certain ACF fields (see ACF supported fields) Meta Key Name / ACF Usage These fields need to be wrapped inside the {meta name} or {acf field_name} tags (which are similar to shortcodes). The plugin will then parse these fields and print their according value. Say we have a custom ACF field of type text, for which the Field Name is “text”. To print its value one has to use [acf text] inside the befoe / after each post textarea. A similar solution applies to the meta key. Meta Value Usage The Meta Value field supports an array of elements, so that all of the meta_compare parameters could be used. To do so, please specify the two parameters separated by semicolon, for instance: 1234;12345. The plugin will convert these into an array and apply the proper operation for the two. Whatsmore the [date] shortcode can be used here. It takes the timestamp paramater as an argument, which is required – the possible arguments are the same as for the function described here: http://php.net/manual/pl/function.strtotime.php. For instance [date +1 day] would generate the tomorrow date in “Ymd” format. This can be used with custom meta field date. Plugin Filters The are several filters that can be used to enchance the plugin programatically: ‘acf_rwp_query’ which gives one the ability to filter the query applied to each widget. ‘acp_rwp_before’ which gives on the ability to filter the Front End output of the plugin before each post. There are two hooks attached here already which allow usage of the [acf] and [meta] shortcodes. ‘acp_rwp_after’ which gives on the ability to filter the Front End output of the plugin after each post. There are two hooks attached here already which allow usage of the [acf] and [meta] shortcodes. ‘acf_meta_value’ which filters the meta_value query parameter. Check the acf_widget_widget file for the arguments and use cases. Dependencies ACF (optional) Widget Base Class (included) Shortcode popups generator (included) Other Online Demo Plugin site and Docs Plugin Development Survey Languages Supported English (default) Polish (since May 11 2015) French (since June 29 2015), by wolforg, standalone source Spanish (since July 30 2023)

Content Aware Sidebars is the #1 WordPress Sidebar Plugin You can optimize conversion rates, boost on-site SEO, upsell products, and much more by displaying different widget areas on different conditions. Create tailored widget areas in seconds. No widget logic coding required. Show or Hide Widgets on Any Page (Yes, any) Replace your theme sidebars on different conditions, or insert widget areas with shortcodes. The following Display Conditions are available out of the box: Posts, Pages & Custom Post Types Content with Tags, Categories, or Custom Taxonomies Content written by select Authors Page Templates Blog Page & Post Type Archives Author Archives Taxonomy Archives Front Page, Search Results, 404 Not Found Page bbPress Profiles, Forums & Topics BuddyPress Profile Sections Languages (Polylang, qTranslate X, TranslatePress, Transposh, Weglot, WPML) Pods Pages You can even combine conditions in any way you like! E.g. target all posts in a select category and written by a specific author. Add Unlimited Sidebars & Widget Areas Create a post sidebar, a page sidebar, a category sidebar, or any custom sidebar you need – no coding required. CAS will never slow down your site, even if you create a lot of custom sidebars and conditions. Sidebars – Quick Select© lets you add or select widget areas directly when editing a post or page. Schedule & Disable Custom Sidebars In the All-in-one Sidebar Manager you just pick a start and end date for when widget areas should be displayed, and CAS will take care of the rest. 1-Click Sidebar Activation© lets you activate or deactivate widget areas instantly. The Most User-friendly Widget Manager When adding new widgets to sidebars, Live Search will find widgets instantly, and the smart split-screen makes it a joy to manage a lot of widgets and sidebars. The Enhanced Widget Manager adds the signature turquoise line to easily identify custom sidebars. Sidebar Plugin Integrations & Support CAS autodetects Custom Post Types and Taxonomies created by any plugin or theme. Built-in support for some of the most popular WordPress plugins means that you e.g. can create WooCommerce sidebars for select products or BuddyPress sidebars for your members. bbPress BuddyPress / BuddyBoss Easy Digital Downloads qTranslate X Pods Polylang TranslatePress Transposh Translation Filter WooCommerce Weglot WPML Customize Your Widget Areas Your Way Without writing any code, you can modify the HTML and CSS classes of widget areas, widgets, and widget titles. You get full control over the look and feel of your sidebars and widget areas, no matter what theme you use. Sidebar Visibility lets you elegantly hide any widget area for logged-out users. Complete control over your WordPress widget areas Upgrade to Content Aware Sidebars Pro and get these additional powerful features: Totem – Smart Floating Button Like the button you may have seen by Intercom or Helpscout, only this is for all your widgets Sticky Sidebars & Widget Areas Make any sidebar or widget area sticky without hurting site performance. No jQuery and no bloat Widget Areas after Paragraphs Display a widget area after a specific number or percentage of paragraphs in your content Even More Display Conditions Advanced Custom Fields data Meta Box data URLs + wildcards Referrer URLs Date Archives & Content by publish date BuddyPress Groups Random Widget Area Designer Add responsive widget columns and edit colors, backgrounds, paddings, etc. Widget Areas in Theme Hooks Intelligently infuse new widget areas into your theme without coding Automatic Widgets Backup Easily restore any changed or deleted widgets Widget Cleaner Save memory and remove clutter by disabling and removing unused widgets Extended User Visibility Show or hide widget areas for User Roles, BuddyPress Groups, and more Time & Weekday Schedule Display widget areas only in select time ranges on given days Container Widget Turn widget areas into reusable blocks and show the same widgets in different places Duplicate Widget Areas A real time-saver when adding new similar widget areas and so much more… Upgrade at anytime instantly and securely from your website’s Admin Dashboard. More Information Documentation GitHub Twitter