Widgets are a great feature within WordPress, allowing blogmasters to add functonality to their site without having to understand the coding that lies behind them!

Widgets appear within the sidebar(s) of WordPress blogs and are easily implemented by drag-and-drop from within the WordPress online Administration or Control Panel – once they have been uploaded to the site of course.

There are a great number of widgets available to blogmasters and there is a temptation to add as many as possible, believing that this will increase the sophistication and popularity of the site, but care should be taken to install only those widgets that:

• Add value to your site
• You have tested and confirmed work as advertised
• Other blogmasters appear to endorse as reliable and effective
• You can configure to meet your requirements

As with all software, widgets can be of variable quality and can sometimes do more harm than good.

Blogmasters also need to bear in mind the implications of adding plug-ins to the core functions of WordPress for web site maintenance and security… For example:

• Is adding yet another widget worth the possible increased security risks presented by third-party coding?
• Will a widget genuinely add value to your blog?
• What will you do if you find that the widget no longer functions as you upgrade your version of WordPress over time?
• Can you test a widget you might want to use on a development WordPress site before implementing on your live blog?

Carefully chosen, reliable widgets can greatly enhance your blog with little effort, but can is not necessarily the same as will!