Add an EzineArticles Widget to Your Website
You can display articles from EzineArticles on your own website or blog with the EzineArticles Widget.
This page will guide you through choosing which articles to show, choosing (or creating) a color theme and, finally, adding the widget to your website.
Choosing Articles to Show
Customizing the Widget Size and Standard Themes
Customizing the Theme
Getting the Widget Code for your Website
Adding the Widget Code to your Website
Choosing Articles to Show
Using the widget, you can show articles from a particular EzineArticles category, from a specific EzineArticles Expert author, or a specific author's contributions to a category.
The widget shows articles in date order, starting with the most recently published.
The select box, which is the first highlighted item in the image above, contains all the categories that EzineArticles has articles in. You can choose a category, Automotive / Trucks, for example, to create a widget showing the latest published articles about trucks.
The second highlighted item is a text entry box, where you can type the name of an EzineArticles author. The widget will display the latest articles from any author you see on the EzineArticles website.
You can choose both a category and an author to show that author's contributions to a category.
If you are creating a widget in the EzineArticles Members Area, the widget will display articles from your account author name and any author names attached to your account. The public widget creator must be used to show articles from authors not attached to your user account.
Author Biography
When showing articles from a particular author, if that author has written a biography for themselves, a check box labeled "Show author biography" will appear.
Initially checked, you can check and uncheck this box to show or hide the author's biography at the top of the widget.
If the author has a photo, their photo will be displayed beside their biography, as shown in the image above.
Customizing the Widget Size and Standard Themes
The three boxes shown in this image contain values that control the width and height of the widget, as well as the number of articles it will display.
The widget can be between 160 - 600 pixels wide by 300 – 800 pixels high, providing a range of options for all types of websites and placement preferences. The width and height values are entered into the first two boxes.
Entered into the third box is the number of articles the widget should display. This can be between 5 – 15 article headlines.
Below the size customization options, there are several standard color themes for you to choose from. Clicking on a theme preview will change the widget color theme to match. If the standard color themes do not suit your website, consider a custom theme, explained below.
Customizing the Theme
A custom color theme provides the best integration into your website.
Creating a custom theme is easy. Each customizable component of the widget has a corresponding input box, shown on the left of the image above, which, when clicked, will cause a color picker to appear.
Clicking on any color in the color picker updates the input box you selected and the color of the associated component of the widget. Color changes happen live, so you can see your creation instantly. If you're not happy with a color, you can use the color picker to change it as many times as you like.
Users who have designed a particular color theme for their website may wish to enter the color values directly into the input boxes for perfect style integration.
Getting the Widget Code for your Website
When creating your widget, you will have noticed several links to "Get the code for your website." Clicking any of these links, or scrolling to the bottom of the page, will bring you to the code box shown in the image above. The code box contains your custom widget code.
Clicking inside the box will automatically highlight the widget code. Copy it to your clipboard using keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C or, with your mouse, right-click and select "Copy."
Adding the Widget Code to your Website
To add the widget code to your website, open the page you would like to add the widget to in a text editor.
If you have a WordPress blog, log in to the admin section, select Presentation, then Theme Editor.
The widget code should be pasted directly into your website code as shown in the image above.
If you use a visual editor to edit your website, ensure that it will not automatically alter JavaScript code that is pasted into it or the widget will fail to appear.