Almost all small and large communities use VK widgets for a group. They greatly simplify the work of the administrator, help connect the site with a social network, sell their products, communicate with subscribers, collect and process requests for services. The developers are constantly adding new applications. We decided to make a list 10 of the best useful and interesting extensions to help improve efficiency.
After reading the article to the end, you will not only decide which widgets will be useful for a group dedicated to your business, but you will also be able to add and configure the desired widget.
Top 10 best and useful widgets in VK for a group
Despite their huge number, the most popular and required options... Let's take a look at them:
Shop of goods
For whom: people who sell goods.
Target: selling products directly in the group without going to other sites and online stores.
In 2015, a service was launched to provide support inside social network retail... It looks more like a showcase than a full-fledged online store, but you can make a sale and receive money without any problems.
To connect, you need to go to the menu "Community / Page Management"... Selecting a section "Applications" and add the appropriate widget. A window will automatically open in front of you, in which you need to configure all the parameters. You can see an example of filling in the fields in the screenshot above.
It is imperative to configure the main points:
- Delivery region.
- Currency. You can choose the Russian ruble, Ukrainian hryvnia, Kazakhstani currency - tenge, dollar or euro.
- Contact. Be sure to configure this section so that you can take orders. You can specify a team leader or arrange to receive orders through messages.
All these points will be on one page. Once you fill out the product cards, complete basic setting, the product block will appear on home page groups.
Donations
For whom: Communities that share useful information for free.
Target: support group owners.
Most communities provide useful content for free. At the same time, there are subscribers who are ready to support the administrator with money.
To connect the widget, you need to go to the section "Community Management"... Go to tab "Applications" and add "Donations".
Everything is already working, you just need to configure the basic parameters:
- if desired, you can change the name of the button;
- specify the category of users;
- select a snippet, it will be located next to the link to the application;
- the name of the application itself.
After that, be sure to save your changes. Enter information in the text block, set up your e-wallet.
After installation and configuration, be sure to write in which you accept funds for the development of the community.
Spycat: Lead widget builder for VK
For whom: community owners.
Target: improvements behavioral factors attracting customers.
Each person can set up a direct appeal to the visitor by name. You can write your own selling proposition to increase brand awareness.
To add an application, you must go to the group. Click on the three dots below the main photo. Select "Community Management" from the list. In the right column, click on "Applications". Select and add the appropriate widget.
Fill in the main fields:
- button name;
- who can see her;
- snippet;
- Application Name.
Select text or personal type.
We proceed to editing, fill in the main points. Next, save and turn it on right away. A small window will open in front of you, if you like everything, click "Update widget in the group".
The advantage of this widget is that it does not look like a call to purchase, rather it is like a greeting that improves the appearance and sets the user up in a more positive way. To delve deeper into the topic of the visual component, study.
Mailing messages
For whom: those who want to send messages with any materials, to automate the mailing.
Target: collect base active subscribers to which you can inform about new promotions or.
If you want to enable such a possibility, go to the page - https://vk.com/app5748831... Click Connect Application.
If everything was done correctly, you will see a window about the successful completion of the operation.
Applications
For whom: Ideal for businesses or groups looking to build a customer base to sell products, services, or invitations to events.
Target: Turn users on the social network into customers.
Go to the "Applications" section of your group page. Select the appropriate application and click Add.
Customize button title, visibility, snippet and app name. Then go to the main settings and fill in the fields as you see fit.
Tests
For whom: all communities, ideal for online stores and companies.
Target: Find out the opinions of subscribers without redirecting them to other sites.
Advantage in several types of tests. The administrator decides for himself when the audience finds out about the answers or it may not know them at all. You can assign points to each question.
The connection process is no different from others. You can see an example of filling out the main fields above. Save the changes and wait for the results of the users passing your test.
Questionnaires
For whom: Suitable for any group owner.
Target: Conduct a full survey or survey of subscribers and visitors to the community.
You can create Various types questionnaires and multi-step voting. Use this for audience research or as a brief for clients. There are detailed statistics that allow you to study the audience. A notification setting has been created to make the work of the administrator and users more comfortable.
To add, go to "Page Management" - "Applications". Select "Forms" and click "Add".
We fill in the basic settings and proceed to the creation of profiles. Click on the "Go to application management" button.
Let's look at an example of creating a questionnaire:
- Enter the name.
- Click on the first item (see the example in the screenshot above).
- We ask a question and add answer options.
- Click "Save".
You can significantly expand the questionnaire by adding more items, photos, different types of questions.
Personal account for the joint venture
For whom: for online store owners.
Target: makes it easy to participate in joint purchases.
Immediately after installation, you will receive the following features:
- display of the general account for purchases;
- notifications are received if there are changes in purchases;
- order history is saved;
The addition is no different from the rest. After starting, you must click on the "Subscribe" button.
Attention! In the screenshot, you can see the application setting. It will only be available after other users subscribe and you create a group for purchasing and managing items.
Event Schedule
For whom: administrators who are targeting concerts, exhibitions or other events.
Target: drawing attention to a specific event, notifying subscribers about it.
Adding is no different from working with previous widgets. After filling in the main fields, go to the settings.
Click on the "Create event" button.
Fill in all the required fields and save the changes. After that, users will have access to the event notification.
Order status
Target: Buyers can see the status of the order.
If you sell products on VKontakte, be sure to install this application. Thanks to it, users will be able to see the status of their purchase. There are 3 statuses in total: pending approval, shipping and delivery. Able to integrate with the virtual store, which we considered before. This allows you to automatically load statuses for which templates are pre-configured.
Go to "Community Management", select the "Applications" section. The widget is located almost at the end of the page, so we recommend using the search. Click "Add".
You do not have integration yet, so the system will offer you to choose CRM. Next, you need to follow the prompts of the system, because further settings and work with orders depend on the selected item.
Conclusion
VK widgets for a group make work much easier. You can not only share information with subscribers and visitors, but also give them the opportunity to buy goods, attend your events, collect a base for further mailings. Thanks to applications, an ordinary group on a social network can be turned into a tool that can replace a site in functionality!
So friends. Once upon a time I promised you to write how to add to your WordPress template new widget zones or edit old ones. But, unfortunately, I forgot about it.
I apologize for that. Thank you very much Marina for reminding me of this. I really love to receive feedback from visitors to my site. And I'm always happy to help.
Let's get started.
First of all, I would like to talk about what a widget is in WordPress. Surely many do not know.
Widgets Are functional blocks that are used to mark up your template. WordPress has over a dozen widgets by default. For example: headings, archives, text box, calendar, and more. They are located in the WordPress admin panel in tabs. « Appearance» ->"Widgets" .
In addition, many plugins can add their own widgets, which, after installing the plugin, we can also place on the site. But we cannot place them everywhere. And only in those places that were originally assigned to widgets.
This is what we'll talk about now.
1. Initialization of widget zones in functions.php file
Yes Yes. It is in this file that the widget zones are registered. This file is located in the folder with your theme. More specifically, here:
/wp-content/themes/theme_name/functions.php
We open it with any text editor... The most convenient way to use Notepad ++ (for more advanced - Adobe Dreamweaver). And we scroll it down almost to the very end. Before function:
They may be somewhat similar. As a matter of fact, as many of them will be spelled out - as many widget zones will be in your template.
Let's take a look at the syntax.
This line indicates that we will now describe exactly the widget zones, and not something else.
This line sets the name for the widget zone, which will be displayed in the admin panel on the "Widgets" tab. "Twentyten" - the name of the topic (it may differ for you).
This is the description that will be displayed when you open the widget area in the "Widgets" tab.
Let's continue looking at the code:
This code will be added before the title that we will enter in the text box when creating the widget itself.
| "after_title" => "" , |
Accordingly, this code will be added after the title. We close the tags in it that we opened before the heading.
That's all! The initialization of the widget area is complete. Move on.
2. Placing the widget area in the template.
It all depends on where you want to place the widget area. If you want to place it in the header, then add the code to the header.php file.
If in the sidebar - then in the file sidebar.php
If in the footer, then in footer.php
Now let's look at the code that needs to be added:
This code checks to see if any widgets have been added to a specific zone. After all, you must agree - there is no point in displaying a zone if there is no widget in it.
"Primary-widget-area" is exactly the same identifier that I talked about in the previous chapter. He points to a specific area.
So, the condition has been checked. If the widget is not added to the zone, the zone is not displayed; if it is added, then the following structure is inserted into the page code:
Inserts a specific widget area at this location. Again, it is identified by the "primary-widget-area" - the same identifier.
So that is all! Now you know how to add a widget area to your WordPress template.
I wish you to understand this topic and create such templates that you need, and not the one who created the template.
And don't forget to subscribe to updates. A lot of interesting things are waiting for you.
Yandex is a huge portal visited by millions of people per day. The company's developers take care of the users of their resource, allowing each of them to customize it start page to fit your needs.
Unfortunately, the function of adding and creating widgets was suspended indefinitely, but the main information islands were left usable for change. First of all, let's consider setting up the page layout.
Now let's move on to customizing certain widgets. To access the parameters, click on the gear icon located next to some of the columns.
news
This widget displays a news feed, which is divided by headings. Initially, it displays materials on all topics from the list, but still provides access to their selection. To edit, click on the settings icon and in the pop-up window opposite the line "Favorite rubric" open the list of news topics. Select the position you are interested in and click "Save"... After that, the main page will provide up-to-date news from the selected section.
Weather
Everything is simple here - enter in the special field the name of the settlement, the weather of which you need to know, and click on the button "Save".
Visited
This widget shows user requests for the services you have selected. Go back to "Settings" and select the resources that you are interested in by ticking the boxes, then click on the button "Save".
TV program
The program guide widget is configurable in the same way as the previous ones. Go to the parameters and mark the channels you are interested in. Below, select the number displayed on the page, to fix it, click "Save".
For all the changes made to be applied, in the lower right corner of the screen, once again click on the button "Save".
In order to return the page parameters to their original state, click on "Reset settings" and then agree to the action with the button "Yes".
Thus, by customizing the Yandex start page to suit your needs and interests, you save time in the future looking for various information. Widgets will provide it immediately when you visit the resource.
Desktop widgets Windows table 7 or 10 provide users with a huge number of options, allowing them to rationally set up their workspace. In general, in the Microsoft system they are called gadgets. And before we move on to how to put widgets on the Windows 7 or 10 desktop, you need to know some information.
The fact is that this function is available by default only for users of the seven from Home Basic to Professional version. But dozens of users will have to sweat a little to install gadgets, since they are replaced in this version operating system came live tiles. In essence, they serve the same function as widgets. Therefore, try using stationary first Windows terms 10. If you still want to try something new, then we will tell you how to do it.
Windows 7
So, if you are a lover of desktop widgets and a user of any version of the operating Windows systems 7, then you are the lucky one. Because placing gadgets will be very simple for you: just right-click anywhere on the desktop (PC), select "Gadgets" and move any one you like to the PC. It couldn't be easier, isn't it?
Windows 10
Dozens of users will have to resort to the help of additional third party applications... The most popular today is Windows program Desktop Gadgets, which can be downloaded from http://gadgetsrevived.com/download-sidebar/. After that, you will have the same tab as the users of the seven. That is, the instruction will continue to be the same. Another application, but with more functionality called 8GadgetPack. It is available for download on the official website of the developer http://8gadgetpack.net/. Compared to the previous program, this one is not fully translated into Russian. But if this is not a problem for you, then this download option will be better.
Outcomes
Now you know how to enable homescreen widgets (like weather). The system includes the following gadgets:
- Currency. Provides information on the exchange rate of major currencies in real time. That is, everything that you see in the zone of the gold map with the world map is the last one on this moment information. The gadget requires an Internet connection to work.
- Puzzle. This is a cool mini-game, the goal of which is to assemble a puzzle from a picture. By default, there is a colorful picture with a bird. You need to move the squares to restore the original drawing. In the widget settings, you can choose any of eleven images. After you start shifting the squares, the countdown will begin at the top. Then you can compete with your friends, set your own records.
- News headlines. This gadget also requires an internet connection to work. It displays data from RSS feeds to which the user of the system has subscribed. It turns out that from now on you will always be aware of the latest news, the subject of which you choose on your own.
- CPU indicator. Here the CPU is CPU... The widget shows its load as a percentage. That is, you will be able to track how much your computer or laptop is clogged and even evaluate which programs are running and running the processor the most.
- Calendar. There is no need to explain the essence of this widget: it's just a nice calendar that shows months, day of the week, year (in general, everything you need to not get lost in time).
- Weather. The gadget provides the latest weather information for your location. In the settings, you can either set desired city, or set up automatic location detection.
- Slide show. In fact, this widget is a kind of photo frame on the desktop of Windows 7 or 10. In the settings, you can set the time interval with which the pictures will change, as well as select a library of images for the slide show.
- And the last thing is the clock. Oddly enough, they show the time. In the parameters, you can choose one of eight types of clocks, which is most suitable for the design of your desktop.
Have a nice work, Dear friends! Do not forget to share your opinion in the comments: tell us which of the widgets is the most useful for you. For many, this is the Weather gadget.
More functional WordPress themes, among other details, have the advantage of displaying information through a widget to different places on the site. They are not limited to just one sidebar and can be located on pages, in posts, in the header, in the footer, etc. All this makes the work with the site much easier and more convenient, and also allows you to avoid the need to edit the source code in each case (except for the first time, when we ourselves will add our own widget display area to the theme). In the future, it will only be necessary to add widgets with any information to it.
The complete construction of a widget area consists of three parts: styling, a registration function, and an output function that we can place anywhere on the site. After all these manipulations, new tabs for widgets will appear in the "Appearance - Widgets" section. For them to be fully functional, you need to do to be able to put functions directly into the widget.
Registering our widget area
The first place to start is with the registration function. As an example, I will create four areas for the widget in more appropriate places on the site. Then you can simply duplicate the code, thereby creating even more regions. Only with this action you need to change the unique identifier. It is also worth noting that depending on what we want to display in the widgets, the design styles will have to be changed to our own. That is, if we are dealing with advertising banner then the widget block should stretch. And if, for example, this is, then there should be a different approach to design.
Widget area in sidebar
Add the first part of the code to the functions.php file. This is the registration function.
// area in the sidebar if (function_exists ("register_sidebar")) (register_sidebar (array ("name" => "Area in the sidebar", // the name of the widget in the admin panel "id" => "wsidebar-1", / / widget identifier "description" => "is visible in all sections of the site", // widget description in the admin panel "before_widget" => " ", // closing tag of the widget with a clearing block" before_title "=>"
The second part of the code is responsible for the display location of this or that content, which in in this case put it in the sidebar. Open the sidebar.php file, find the main block (it usually comes with the sidebar class or identifier). And right after it we insert our function.
Pay attention to the inscription in single quotes - this is the widget identifier. When duplicating code, do not forget to change the ID in the output function (the one above). The next step should be followed by design styles. But here, given the place of the output, the styles from the theme should be suitable.
Widget area on pages
Now we repeat everything, just change the ID and the output location. Add the following code to the functions.php file.
// widget area on pages if (function_exists ("register_sidebar")) (register_sidebar (array ("name" => "Area on pages", // widget name in the admin panel "id" => "wsidebar-2", // widget identifier "description" => "content for pages", // widget description in the admin panel "before_widget" => "
", // closing tag of the widget with a clearing block" before_title "=>" ", // closing widget title tag));)Open the page.php file and find the function in it... Immediately after it, you can insert our call function. The code is wrapped in a condition that specifies a specific page ID. This means that only on this page the content of the widget will be displayed (if desired, remove the condition).
Widget area in posts
Open the functions.php file and add the code to it.
// area in posts if (function_exists ("register_sidebar")) (register_sidebar (array ("name" => "area in posts", // name of the widget in the admin panel "id" => "wsidebar-3", / / widget identifier "description" => "content for posts", // widget description in the admin panel "before_widget" => "
", // closing tag of the widget with a clearing block" before_title "=>" ", // closing widget title tag));)Open the single.php file and after the functionor paste the code anywhere else.
Widget area in the "header"
In the latter case, the same scheme. Open the functions.php file and add the code.
// area in the header if (function_exists ("register_sidebar")) (register_sidebar (array ("name" => "area in the header", // name of the widget in the admin panel "id" => "wsidebar-4", / / widget identifier "description" => "content for the header", // description of the widget in the admin panel "before_widget" => "
", // closing tag of the widget with a clearing block" before_title "=>" ", // closing widget title tag));)Open the header.php file and after the main block, for example, insert the call function. It also has a condition to show content only on the home page (this condition can be removed if desired).
After all this, it remains to make minor edits to the styles, depending on the content of the widget.
