Extended Widget Options

Extended Widget Options - precise control over widget visibility and behavior

The Extended Widget Options plugin extends standard WordPress widget management capabilities by offering advanced visibility rules, styling settings, and conditional display without the need to modify theme code. This solution addresses the needs of website designers, store owners, and content editors who want more control over when and how widgets appear on a site.

Key functionalities of Extended Widget Options

• Visibility Rules: Set widget display based on page types (home, posts, pages, archives), specific pages, categories, tags, and custom post types.
• User Control: Ability to show or hide widgets depending on user status (logged in/not logged in) and user role.
• Device visibility: Options to hide or show widgets on desktop, tablet, and smartphone, making it easy to create responsive layouts.
• Menu and URL conditions: Rules based on menu items, URL paths, query parameters, or selected URLs.
• Display Schedule: Scheduling the start and end of widget display, useful for seasonal campaigns and promotions.
• Additional HTML attributes: Ability to add CSS classes, IDs, HTML wrappers, and custom attributes for easier styling and theme integration.
• Custom styles and animations: Quickly apply margins, alignments, backgrounds, or simple animation effects without having to edit CSS files.
• Builder integration: compatible with popular page builders and most themes based on native WordPress widgets.

Benefits of using Extended Widget Options

• Precise content targeting – content can be presented only where it matters most to the recipient, increasing the effectiveness of marketing messages.
• Better user experience – Hiding irrelevant widgets on mobile devices improves readability and page loading speed.
• Easier promotion management – Schedules and visibility rules make it easy to plan campaigns without having to manually enable or disable page elements.
• Reduced need for custom code – adding classes, wrappers and conditions is done from the administration panel, which speeds up implementations and reduces the risk of errors.
• Design flexibility – quickly experiment with element layout, A/B test widget placement, and personalize content for different user segments.

Example applications

• Displaying the newsletter subscription form only on guide category pages.
• Hiding sidebars with ads on mobile devices to speed up load times and improve UX.
• Showing promotional banners for logged-in users or a specific role (e.g. subscribers, customers).
• Plan holiday promotions by setting widget activation and deactivation dates.
• Display dedicated widgets within specific posts, product categories, or landing pages.

Implementation and good practices

Implementing Extended Widget Options is usually intuitive: after activating the plugin, additional options appear when editing each widget. Recommended approaches include creating a clear content display strategy, testing settings in a staging environment, and using unique CSS classes for advanced styling. For larger sites, it's worth documenting visibility rules to maintain consistency in layout and communication.

Extended Widget Options is ideal for news websites, online stores, and corporate websites, where personalization and performance directly impact conversions. By allowing for multi-level rule definition, the plugin simplifies dynamic content management, helping to better tailor the site to user needs and business goals.