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Can I show different category lists in my category widgets?

  1. haqohelet
    Member

    I'm working on customizing "Connections" theme. I want to show some info in the sidebar that would be nice as categories (Coming Events -- the "description" would show up in the hover, and could include date and time, and the "category" link would take interested parties to posts on the event, containing background, etc.); but I'd like OTHER info (real categories) to show up elsewhere in the sidebar (like, under "Categories").

    Since the presentation/widgets/ page lets me create more than one categories widget, it seems I ought to be able to exclude some categories from one of those widgets, as I can with the different links widgets. But HOW? Then again, maybe it is really impossible and I will have to find another solution. Either way, I'd like to hear from someone.

    [PS, I have purchased the custom CSS option, so if this is something I could handle in customization, that would be nice to know. But I don't have the skill to go modifying templates, changing php files, etc.] I will be grateful for any help! Thanks!!

  2. lazyaussie
    Member

    I too want to have two category sets. It asks you how many category widgets you want to display, and I say two, but it seems like identical info comes up in both, apart from the title which can be customised.it must be doable, otherwise what would be the point of allowing more than one category.

  3. jamesewelch
    Member

    What do you mean by real categories? How is that different from the categories that you have attributed your posts with?

    Just a guess, but maybe you should use categories as your real categories and tags for other keywords but not real categories, etc.

  4. thesacredpath
    Member

    Well, I've been crawling all over the wordpress.org forum, the codex, and searching in Google, and there is absolutely no where that I can find anything about the multiple category widgets and how to use them. In the .org forum, there are several threads where people have asked, but no answers (not really unusual for the .org forum). I can only assume that they came from some benevolent alien civilization with an incredible sense of humor.

  5. thesacredpath
    Member

    Perhaps instead of benevolent, mischievous would better describe the aliens.

    OT: I would have edited my previous entry, but it has disappeared.

  6. cjwriter
    Member

    @thesacredpath: I noticed the same thing about half an hour ago, but another post here and now the edit seems to be back. Maybe something's going on behind the scenes?

    As far as the categories widget goes, as far as I know the only reason you'd want to add a second category widget is so you can display it as a dropdown if you think people are less likely to look through them all in your sidebar. Other than that, it seems very redundant.

    The category cloud widget, though, has a limit of the maximum number of categories you can show. If you set that to something like 15, it should (I think) only show the 15 most used categories in your blog and cut out the rest. So if the categories you want to display independently are your most used categories, that might be one way you could do it.

  7. museditions
    Member

    I'm not sure I'm clear on what you want, but could a text widget work? You could put "Coming Events" as the title, then put the event's name in hypertext linking to the individual post, and have the "hover" say whatever you like. Of course, you'd have to enter each event individually, rather than having them added automatically as in "categories".

  8. haqohelet
    Member

    Yes, lazyaussie, this was my intuition as well. I'm afraid it might be theme-dependent. Still, I'd appreciate knowing definitively "yes" or "no", so I could stop seeking the holy grail of different categories lists in the sidebar if it's the blogging equivalent of physically impossible.

    As for other alternatives: I'd really prefer to be able to do this with categories, because of the nice properties of the category description. Re: jamesewelch's question, I probably didn't express myself well. These categories are real, too, in that there will be multiple posts on these topics, and it would be nice for all of those posts to come up in response to a click on that category name (e.g., there'll be the initial announcement, additional information, background, posts with related links, etc. etc. -- at least, this is the vision), as well as having the brief description with key info in the hover. But I'd like to segregate the events categories from other categories.

    For that reason (thanks, museditions!), I would rather be able to use categories than a text box, or subpages. But if I get annoyed enough about having a heterogeneous list of categories in the sidebar, I might resort to one or the other.

  9. haqohelet
    Member

    Re: cjwriter's question: the reason I want to show more than one category list is: I want to segregate one class of categories, which will all be similar (each will be an upcoming event) for which I will create a fairly detailed description, from other categories, which will be more topical. Then I could give them different titles, which I would like to do.

    Also, as it turns out, when I ask for a drop down menu, it looks ugly with the current configuration of the sidebar.

  10. haqohelet
    Member

    Sorry, had a clarification and some further thoughts, namely:

    As to being able to exclude things: I was thinking of the "pages" widget, not the "links" one; I have been able to segregate links in the links widget by managing the links' categories; if I could do THAT in the categories widget, I'd be home free. (Categories of categories!)

    I am doubtful that the text widget approach, or the subpages approach, will really do what I want. I want a click on the category name in the sidebar to pull up all the posts filed under that category. I don't know that I can make that happen in a text widget or on a subpage without a lot more work than it would be worth, if at all, especially since the category feature is already set up to do just that.

    I just want to be able to list some categories under one title, and other categories under a different title. This seems like the point of having multiple categories widgets. It remains my elusive goal.

  11. thesacredpath
    Member

    I'm wondering if it was an idea that never got finished or fully implemented. Why would you need up to 9 category widgets that all display the same thing? I would think there is more to it, or there was supposed to be, and we just don't know what that is, and neither do they over at .org as several have posted wanting to do the same as haqohelet, with no answers.

  12. timethief
    Member

    I just want to be able to list some categories under one title, and other categories under a different title. This seems like the point of having multiple categories widgets. It remains my elusive goal.

    This to was what many of us wanted and what we expected but it is not what we got. We got multiple category widgets that all all "clones". http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=12848

  13. haqohelet
    Member

    Well . . . I finally tracked down documentation on the template tag wp_list_categories in the Codex. I'm pretty sure I don't really understand it, but I think it confirms my suspicion that whether or not what I want to do is a possibility is governed by the underlying template. Which is to say, in my case, the answer seems to be "no." Until I decide to rise to a whole new level of competence. (not holding my breath)

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