Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails Plugin

List the most recent posts with post titles, thumbnails, excerpts, authors, categories, dates and more!

Although the plugin is built only for widget areas users reported that it works in Elementor and works in Oxygen. Whether it runs in other page builders is unknown. Please let me know in which page builder you were able to use the plugin successfully.

The plugin does not collect any personal data, so it is ready for EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance.

Lightweight, simple and effective

No huge widget with hundreds of options. This plugin is based on the well-known WordPress default widget ‘Recent Posts’ and extended to display more information about the posts like e.g. thumbnails, excerpts and assigned categories. And it provides more options to build custom-taylored posts lists.

The thumbnails will be built from the featured image of a post or of the first image in the post content. If there is neither a featured image nor a content image then you can define a default thumbnail.

You can set the width and height of the thumbnails in the list. The thumbnails appear left-aligned to the post titles in left-to-right languages. In right-to-left languages they appear right-aligned.

What users wrote

• “I just want to say thank you for developing such a good plugin.” in the reviews by modelaid on July 3, 2024
• “Excellent plugin!” in the reviews by mystnick on April 18, 2023
• “… one of the dynamic and smart, yet admin and user optimized widget plugins …” in How to Add Widgets and Start Using Them in WordPress Website? by SKT Posts Themes on September 3, 2020
• “بهترین افزونه های نمایش آخرین نوشته ها در وردپرس” in ابزارک آخرین نوشته وردپرس by Ghodsi on December 16, 2019
• “Another good all around widget, suitable for most projects” in Free WordPress recent posts widget – Which one is the best? on December 3, 2019
• “In just a few clicks, your website will look considerably more established and professional.” in 3 Best WordPress Thumbnail Plugins to Manage Images Perfectly by HubSpot Staff on October 29, 2019
• The best of the recent posts widgets in the reviews by noddemix on June 13, 2019
• Number 8 in 14 Plugins para Otimizar seu Site by Ideias Dig on November 8, 2018
• “Truly EXCELLENT Plugin!” in the reviews by dnuttal on October 11, 2018
• “Easier than making an egg, seriously.” in the reviews by djackofall on October 2, 2017
• “This plugin is INCREDIBLE” in the reviews by lucio7 on August 25, 2017
• Widgets Users Will Love in 10 Ultra-Useful Free WordPress Widget Plugins by Eric Karkovack on June 16, 2017
• listed in 20 WordPress Plugins that Steals Attention to Engage Visitors of Your Site by WP Team Support on March 6, 2017
• Number 1 in 8 essential WordPress widgets to supercharge your website by Rafay Ansari on January 31, 2017
• “Excellent (after trying a few)!” in the reviews by giorgissimo on January 6, 2017

What users filmed

Some users published video tutorials on YouTube:

• Class 09 – Working with Plugins (Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails) by WordPress Learning Bangladesh on March 7, 2017
• Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails Setup Tutorial – WordPress Lesson and Tip by Making a Website on April 17, 2016
• Add Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnail – WordPress by eMediaCoach on August 15, 2015

Options you can set

1. Title of the widget
2. Number of listed posts
3. Open post links in new windows
4. Different options for post order and sorting
5. Hide the current post in list
6. Show only sticky posts
7. Hide sticky posts
8. Keep sticky posts on top of the list if not hidden
9. Hide post title
10. Maximum length of post title
11. Show post author name
12. Label for the author names
13. Show post categories
14. Show post category names as links to their archives
15. Label for categories
16. Show post date
17. Show post excerpt
18. Show number of comments
19. Excerpt length
20. Signs after excerpt
21. Ignore post excerpt field as excerpt source (builds excerpts only from the post content)
22. Ignore post content as excerpt source (builds excerpts only from the excerpt fields)
23. Show posts of selected categories (or of all categories)
24. Show post thumbnail (featured image)
25. Registered thumbnail dimensions
26. Thumbnail width in px
27. Thumbnail height in px
28. Keep the aspect ratio of thumbnails
29. Try to take the first post image as thumbnail
30. Only use the first post image as thumbnail
31. Use default thumbnail if no thumbnail is available
32. Always use default thumbnail
33. Default thumbnail URL
34. Alternative text of the default thumbnail
35. Omit all alternative texts of the thumbnails for a better accessibility
36. Print slugs of post categories in class attribute of LI elements
37. Print inline CSS instead of creating a CSS file
38. No CSS generation at all

Useful hints for developers: Supported Hooks

The plugin considers the output of actions hooked on:

1. rpwwt_widget_posts_args
   • passed argument: the query arguments as an array
   • expected return value: an array of query arguments
2. widget_title
   • passed arguments:
     1. the widget title as a string
     2. the widget settings as an array
     3. the widget base ID as a string
   • expected return value: a string
3. rpwwt_excerpt_length
   • passed argument: the maximum number of characters for the post excerpt as an integer
   • expected return value: an integer
4. rpwwt_excerpt_more
   • passed argument: the string to append after the post excerpt
   • expected return value: a string
5. rpwwt_the_excerpt
   • passed arguments:
     1. the content of the post excerpt field as a string
     2. the post object
   • expected return value: a string
6. the_excerpt
   • passed argument: the post excerpt as a string
   • expected return value: a string
7. rpwwt_categories
   • passed argument: the category list of each post as a string
   • expected return value: a string
8. rpwwt_list_cats
   • passed arguments:
     1. the category name as a string
     2. the category as an array
   • expected return value: a string

Useful hints for developers: Available CSS Selectors

To design the list and its items, you can use these CSS selectors:

.rpwwt-widget: the element which contains the post list .rpwwt-widget ul: the list which contains the list items .rpwwt-widget ul li: the list item in the list .rpwwt-widget ul li.rpwwt-sticky: the list item of a sticky post .rpwwt-widget ul li a: link in the list .rpwwt-widget ul li a img: linked image .rpwwt-widget ul li a span.rpwwt-post-title: the post title .rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-author: the post author .rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-categories: the post category list .rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-date: the post date .rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-excerpt: the post excerpt .rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-excerpt .rpwwt-post-excerpt-more: the "more" text following the excerpt. .rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-comments-number: the number of comments 

Languages

The user interface is available in several languages.

Starting from version 7.1.0 the handling for translations are moved to translate.wordpress.org.
Please help to translate into more languages, or you can re-work on the current translations if you think it’s needed.
If you have done your translation, please leave a comment in the plugin’s support forum. I’ll take care of the review and approval.

Using The WordPress Dashboard

1. Navigate to the ‘Add New’ in the plugins dashboard
2. Search for ‘Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails’
3. Click ‘Install Now’
4. Activate the plugin on the Plugin dashboard
5. Go to ‘Appearance’ => ‘Widgets’ and select ‘Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails’

Uploading in WordPress Dashboard

1. Navigate to the ‘Add New’ in the plugins dashboard
2. Navigate to the ‘Upload’ area
3. Select recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails.zip from your computer
4. Click ‘Install Now’
5. Activate the plugin in the Plugin dashboard
6. Go to ‘Appearance’ => ‘Widgets’ and select ‘Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails’

Using FTP

1. Download recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails.zip
2. Extract the recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails directory to your computer
3. Upload the recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
4. Activate the plugin in the Plugin dashboard
5. Go to ‘Appearance’ => ‘Widgets’ and select ‘Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails’

1. 

   The first screenshot shows the widget in the sidebar with five teasers of current posts. Each list item shows the title, image, date, assigned categories and excerpt of a post.

2. 

   The second screenshot shows the widget on the Widget Management Page in the backend.

7.1.1

• Restored PHP 5.x support

7.1.0

• Added feature for post order and sorting (feature request: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sort-posts-by-title/)
• Added class .rpwwt-post-excerpt-more for the “more” text following the excerpt. (feature request: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/class-for-more-sign/)
• Dropped PHP 5 support
• Moved language files to translate.wordpress.org. So, please contribute as a translator to make Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails available in more and more languages.
• Compatibility with WordPress 5.8

7.0.3

• new branding
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.6.2

7.0.2

• Corrected comments in uninstall.php
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.6

7.0.1

• Added catalan translation, thanks to Ibidem Group
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.5.3

7.0.0

• Added option for omitting all alternative texts of images to improve accessibility
• Added ARIA attribute for the list item of the current page to improve accessibility
• Revised output if the post has no title
• Revised thumbnail display functions
• Improved description for the default alternative text
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of the widget form

6.9.0

• Added option for the alt text of the default thumbnail
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of the widget form

6.8.0

• Added option for the author name (please set a label if you have activated author names)
• Added placeholders for the text fields
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.5.1
• Updated screenshot of the widget form

6.7.1

• Added NAV element around the post list if the theme supports the ‘navigation-widgets’ type (introduced in WP 5.5)
• Added aria-label to the NAV element for better accessibility
• Added loading=”lazy” attribute to the default image (introduced in WP 5.5)
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.5

6.7.0

• Added new hook for developers ‘rpwwt_categories’ to modify the category list of each list item
• Added spanish translation
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.3.2

6.6.1

• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.3

6.6.0

• Added option to display only the default thumbnail
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.2.4
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend

6.5.1

• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.2.1

6.5.0

• Added option to use only except fields as the source for excerpts
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.0.3
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend

6.4.1

• Revised image size selection if a registered image size name is used
• Changed variable names in get_first_content_image_id()
• Changed initalization of variables site_protocol and site_url
• Tested successfully with WordPress 5.0.2

6.4.0

• Added option to omit CSS generation
• Moved option for CSS class names to section “Additional settings”
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend

6.3.1

• Fixed missing “more” links at excerpts from excerpt fields
• Fixed missing line break in the widget form

6.3.0

• Added option to show only sticky posts
• Added option to print inline CSS instead of writing it in a file
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.9.8

6.2.1

• Fixed missing sticky posts in category filtered lists
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.9.7

6.2

• Added option for category names as links or not
• Added subheadlines in the widget for a more comprehensive appereance
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.9.5

6.1

• Added new filter hook ‘rpwwt_the_excerpt’ for manual excerpts
• Removed sanitation of the widget title to allow HTML code as output
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.9.4

6.0

• Added option for custom category label
• Improved recognition of first images in post contents (now considers domain relative paths and protocol relative paths)
• Fixed missing deactivation of thumbnails in version 5.3
• Revised checks of variables
• Further refactoring to simplify code management
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend

5.3

• Added option to hide sticky posts
• Changed excerpt filter from ‘the_content’ to ‘the_excerpt’
• Thorough refactoring to simplify code management
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.9.2

5.2.2

• Fixed missing feature opening links in excerpts in new windows
• Revised FAQ

5.2.1

• Added greek translation. Thank you, Kostas Arvanitidis!
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.9.1

5.2

• Added option to set the ‘more’ text as link
• Updated *.pot file and some translations

5.1.2

• Added japanese translation. Thank you very much, Kazuyuki Kumai
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.8.2

5.1.1

• Added turkish translation. Thank you very much, Mehmet HAKAN
• Added ‘Requires PHP’ info in readme.txt
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.8.1

5.1

• Revised sanitations for texts and URLs on the pages
• Revised translations
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.8

5.0

• Removed usage of cache
• Removed usage of extract()
• Improved: Faster check for found first image against being an image
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.7.2

4.13.3

• Revised translation of author line

4.13.2

• Revised widget template for more conformity to WP standard widget output

4.13.1

• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.7

4.13

• Added option to print the post category slugs as class names at LI elements
• Fixed outdated URL to reviews
• Updated *.pot file and german translation

4.12

• Added option to ignore the post excerpt field as source of the excerpt
• Updated *.pot file and german translation

4.11

• Revised uninstall function for WordPress 4.6 due to the introduction of WP_Site_Query class
• Narrowed down loading of plugin’s admin CSS file to Widgets page only
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.6

4.10.2

• Fixed wrong length of excerpts

4.10.1

• Added chmod after creation of public.css to ensure correct file permissions
• Revised excerpt creation

4.10

• Fixed old-to-new posts sort order in some installations to force new-to-old sort order
• Fixed outdated translation
• Added russian translation. Thank you very much, dmitriynn
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.5.2

4.9.2

• Added polish translation. Thank you very much, Marcin Mikolajczyk
• Improved: Manual excerpts are taken unchanged (“as is”)
• I18n description in the backend’s plugin list
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.5
• Updated *.pot file and translations

4.9.1

• Improved integration of 3rd party plugins for effects on the thumbnail

4.9

• Added option: Open post links in new windows
• Renamed back: Hook ‘rpwwt-widget-title’ to ‘widget-title’ to let 3rd party plugins change the title
• Improved sanitizing of stored variables
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend

4.8

• Added option: Show post author
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend

4.7

• Added option: Random order of posts
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.4.2

4.6.2

• Renamed the hook names to avoid interferences with other functions of plugins and the theme. If you use these hooks for that plugin please change them: just place ‘rpwwt_’ before the hook names
• Improved: Last list item has no space anymore to the next widget to keep same spaces between widgets

4.6.1

• Fixed: widget title. Now if no title is entered no title is displayed (instead of showing the plugin’s name)
• Fixed: commas in categories list. Commas are now internationalized (translated)

4.6

• Added option: Post categories
• Updated *.pot file and translations
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend

4.5.1

• Moved comment checkbox to position after form fields for the excerpt options
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.4

4.5

• Added option: Post title length
• Updated *.pot file and translations

4.4

• Added option: Show number of comments
• Updated *.pot file and translations

4.3.4

• Fixed search stop at more link
• Deleted visual intend of the linklist in some themes
• Refactored thumbnail size variable

4.3.3

Improved data sanitization

4.3.2

• Added widget description based on backend language
• Corrected text domain name for translate.wordpress.org
• Renamed translation files

4.3.1

• Little adaptions for language files, ready for translate.wordpress.org
• Updated *.pot file and translations

4.3

• Added arabic translation. Thank you very much, Shadi AlZard
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.3.1

4.2.1

• Fixed alignment of text and thumbnail in right-to-left (RTL) languages. Please re-save the widget to get the correct layout in RTL languages.

4.2

• Added persian translation (Farsi). Thank you very much Sajjad Panahi
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.3

4.1

• Changed single selection of a category to selection of multiple categories
• Added DIV with id rpwwt-{widget_id} and class rpwwt-widget around list for available container with ensured attribute for CSS selectors
• Updated admin CSS
• Updated *.pot file and german translation
• Updated screenshot of widget in the backend
• Revised readme.txt

4.0

• Added category option: widget only lists posts of a selected category, else lists posts of all categories
• Added sticky posts option: widget shows sticky posts on top of the list, else lists them in normal order
• Added hide current post option: widget does not list the post where the user is currently on, else lists it
• Added CSS class names for easy designing of the list and its list items; see Description for details
• Added style sheet for Widget page in the backend
• Fixed missing custom image sizes in frontend
• Formatted the code more readable
• Updated *.pot file and german translation
• Updated screenshots
• Revised readme.txt

3.0

• Added default image sizes dropdown menu
• Added options to print out excerpts
• Refactored: HTML output moved into include files
• Slight improvements for security and performance
• Updated *.pot file and german translation
• Revised readme.txt

2.3.3

• Fixed error message on trial to open the CSS file
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.2.2

2.3.2

• Fixed bug of wrong path to public.css file
• Changed HTML class names, now they start with ‘rpwwt-‘

2.3.1

• Set CSS for the list style to prevent dots in some themes
• Added span element with class “post-title” around the title
• Tested successfully with WordPress 4.2

2.3

• Added option to keep aspect ratios of the original images
• Added option to hide the post title in the list
• Moved inline CSS to external file
• Revised *.pot file and german translation

2.2.2

• Successfully tested with WordPress 4.1
• Fixed bug which threw a warning in debug mode when accessing options

2.2.1

• Fixed bug which prevented to find the first content image
• Slightly revised algorithm for detecting the first image in post content

2.2

Revised algorithm to detect the first image in post content.

2.1.1

Successfully tested with WordPress 4.0

2.1

• Improve uninstall routine
• Tested successfully with WordPress 3.9.2

2.0

• Added option to set width and height of the thumbnails
• Added option to prefer first content image to featured image
• Added option to use only first content image as thumbnail
• Added option to set a default thumbnail
• Added function to delete plugin’s settings in the database if the plugin is deleted
• Improved code for more robustness
• Updated *.pot file and german translation

1.0

• The plugin was released.