I have created a little WordPress plugin in the shape of a widget, which allows the user to display an excerpt of a page in a sidebar area of their choice. I wrote this to replace a little theme hack I did for a client, where the front page was supposed to have an excerpt of a page on the front page, of course linking to the full page. Instead of keeping it that way and hard coding the page-id, I wanted something where the end user could change which page was supposed to be linked. I hope it will be of use to someone.

Right now you can:

• Define the amount of characters to use as an excerpt
• Select the page from all existing pages
• Link the title of the page, to the page
• Append a link to the page
• Decide a custom label for the read more link
• add multiple instances of the widget

I plan to increase the functionality with:

• some internationalisation

1. 

   This shows the widget in the backend and the options the user has.

2. 

   This shows the output of the widget in the twenty eleven theme.

1. Upload the page_excerpt_widget directory to /wp-content/plugins/ on your WordPress installation.
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress.
3. Go to 'Appearance > Widgets' to place the Page Excerpt Widget in one of your sidebar areas.

0.2

2013-1-6

Rewrite for multiple instances

• WP 2.8 is a requirement now

0.1

2012-7-11

Initial release

• Define the amount of characters to use as an excerpt
• Select the page from all existing pages
• Link the title of the page, to the page
• Append a link to the page
• Decide a custom label for the read more link

Can I have multiple page excerpt widgets active at the same time?

Yes.

Suggestions welcome

Since this is my first plugin and widget, suggestions, improvements and more are very welcome. I've also published the code on github, for easier discussion and improvement. https://github.com/JonathanMH/page-excerpt-widget