How to customize widgets location and style

Hi there,

Instead of moving the widget, I think the most straightforward approach would be you for you to add a shortcode that pulls in your latest posts to the LexploreUpdates section of your site.

The first step to do that is to enable Jetpack’s Shortcode Embeds module.

The [archives] shortcode can be then be added directly within the LexploreUpdates section in your editor.

By default, that shortcode will pull in a list of all of your site’s posts. You can customise it by following the steps here. For example, to display a list of 10 posts in descending of order of date, the following would be used:

[archives limit=10 order=desc]

By using the above shortcode rather than moving the widget, you will automatically inherit the background colour you’ve set for the LexploreUpdates section and won’t need to worry about removing the widget’s title.

Let me know what you think of that option!

Also, is there a way to make the posts unclickable? What I’m trying to do is have a small amount of text show up that can be added/edited directly in the wp-admin location in the web browser without having to go into the files.

You could eventually use pointer-events property with some custom CSS, as explained here:

https://css-tricks.com/almanac/properties/p/pointer-events/

Let me know once you’re setup with the list of posts in the location you want on your site and I can then help with specific CSS.

Hello,

The way I have the updates area set up is I added it to the front-page.php in my child theme. Where do I put the [archives limit=10 order=desc] shortcode? If I add it directly to the php file it just shows up as text.

I tried the shortcode in the wordpress visual editor for a new page, and it does display the posts, however for my front page, I don’t use the edit page button in wp-admin in the web browser, I just set up the format in a child theme. What should I do?

Thanks.

Ah, I see! In that case, we could create some code using the the WP_Query class that pulls in a static, unclickable list of your 10 most recent posts:

<ul>
	<?php $the_query = new WP_Query( 'posts_per_page=10' ); ?>
	<?php while ($the_query -> have_posts()) : $the_query -> the_post(); ?>
		<li><?php the_title(); ?></li>
	<?php
		endwhile;
		wp_reset_postdata();
	?>
</ul>

Add the above in your child theme’s .php file and let me know how you get on.

Hello,

Your solution works, thanks for the help!

You’re most welcome! I’m glad that helped out.

Hi great post and very helpful. Can I ask if I wanted to position a specific shortcode from a plugin to the front page of a theme can I just use the CSS or php of home page? Thanks

• This reply was modified 7 years, 12 months ago by ganton.