This post is to quickly get a zip file online for the Free Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0

Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0 Download

See “Plugin Installation” section below for how to upgrade etc…

The Display Widgets Plugin v2.6.3.1 was recently removed from the WordPress Plugin Repository for adding malicious hacking code (I was the person who reported it multiple times to the WP Plugin team) and the WP Plugin Team decided (in September 2017) to close the plugin permanently and downgraded the plugin to v2.05 (renamed v2.7).

If your site is running any 2.6.* version your site is compromised: see the Display Widgets Plugin Includes Malicious Code to Publish Spam on WP Sites article: I’m the David Law mentioned in the article.

The Display Widgets Plugin Repository page is closed (only the support forum remains open) and only users who already have the plugin installed can easily find the relevant v2.7 update: when the plugin is installed there’s an update to v2.7 under the WP Dashboards Upgrade page.

This means there’s 200,000+ active Display Widgets users (many running malicious code!!!) with no support and no possibility of future development: no new features and no bug fixes (the 2.05/2.7 code has bugs).

The Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0 is Born

I created a fork of the original plugin in November 2016 called the Display Widgets SEO Plus Plugin, this fixed all the bugs I found including the broken WPML Language Plugin support and added a lot of new widget logic features.

While I was trying to help protect Display Widgets plugin users from the low life which added hacking code to v2.6.* of the plugin I was unfairly moderated on the support forum!!!!

Being moderated is an insult and a negative mark on my reputation (my reputation is very important to me) and so I removed ALL my plugins from the WordPress Repository including the Display Widgets SEO Plus Plugin.

I plan to release an updated premium version of the Display Widgets SEO Plus Plugin (on this page, renamed to the Display Widgets Plus Plugin) AND an accompanying free version the Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0.

The first release is the free Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0.

Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0 Download

Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0

Display Widgets Plugin Version 4

Display Widgets Plugin Version 4

The Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0 is a direct upgrade to the now closed Display Widgets Plugin v2.7 from the WordPress Plugin Repository: in September 2017 version 2.6 of the plugin was closed because the current ‘owner’ (user: ‘@displaywidget’) had been caught (by yours truly) adding malicious hacking code to the plugin!

The WordPress plugin team closed the plugin, rolled the download back to v2.05 with a new version number (v2.7) and have said the plugin will never be reopened, which means it will never be updated/supported.

As it stands current users of the Display Widgets plugin can upgrade (technically downgrade) to v2.7 under their WordPress Dashboard, but the WordPress Plugin team do not want new sites installing the v2.7 plugin, they want the plugin to die off: doesn’t make sense to me, but it’s their call.

The Display Widgets plugin is a good plugin used on over 200,000 WordPress sites without major problems (had small bugs: fixed in v4.0.0) prior to the v2.6 updates and it feels wrong to end it this way, so I’ve taken the v2.05 plugin code, added bug fixes and new widget logic features.

If a significant number of people upgrade to v4.0.0 I’ll develop the code further.

To distance my new version from the hacked version I’ve jumped direct to version 4.0.0 skipping v3.0.0.

Display Widgets Plugin v4.0.0 Features

Note: when the plugin is first installed/activated by default, ‘Hide on checked pages’ is selected with no boxes checked, so all current widgets will continue to display on all pages. After activation go to ‘Appearance’ > ‘Widgets’ to set widget logic options.

WordPress widgets by default include no widget logic, when a widget is added to a widget area it will load sitewide: unless the widget area has widget logic, some themes include widget areas for specific sections of a site.

For example if you want a widget only to load on a specific Static Page or only on Categories the Display Widgets plugin can achieve this.

Site Section – WordPress Conditional Function

* Static Front Page – is_front_page()
* Home Page Archives – is_home()
* Category Archives – is_category()
* Specific Categories : New v4 Feature
* Posts Within Specific Categories : New v4 Feature
* Tag Archives – is_tag()
* Dated Archives – is_date() : New v4 Feature
* Author Archives – is_author() : New v4 Feature
* Search Results – is_search()
* Archives – is_archive()
* Posts – is_single()
* Static Pages – is_page() : New v4 Feature
* Specific Static Pages
* Attachment Pages – is_attachment() : New v4 Feature
* Singular Pages (Posts, Pages, Attachments) – is_singular() : New v4 Feature
* 404 Error Page – is_404()
* Custom Taxonomy Archives – is_tax()
* Custom Post Type Archives – is_post_type_archive()
* Specific Custom Post Type – via get_post_type()
* Full WPML Language Plugin support : New v4 Feature
* Basic BuddyPress Plugin support – is_buddypress() : New v4 Feature
* Basic bbPress Plugin support – is_bbpress() : New v4 Feature

The above conditional options are further extended with these conditional functions in the Premium Display Widgets Plus plugin:

* Paged Archives/Paged Comments – via is_paged() : Premium Feature
* Specific bbPress sections : Premium Feature
* Specific BuddyPress sections : Premium Feature

BuddyPress Plugin and bbPress Plugin Support : Premium Feature

Display Widgets Plus v4.0.0 (Premium version) includes support for the BuddyPress plugin and the bbPress plugin.

BuddyPress Plugin Conditional Widget Logic Functions

* ALL BuddyPress Pages – is_buddypress() : New v4 Feature
* BuddyPress Members Directory – bp_is_members_directory() : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress User Pages – bp_is_user() : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress Activity Streams Directory – bp_is_activity_directory() : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress Activity Streams Item – bp_is_single_activity() : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress Groups Directory – bp_is_groups_directory() : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress Group – bp_is_group() : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress Group Forum – bp_is_current_action( ‘forum’ ) : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress Group Forum Topic – bp_is_group_forum_topic() : Premium Feature
* BuddyPress Registration Page – bp_is_register_page() : Premium Feature

bbPress Plugin Conditional Widget Logic Functions

* ALL bbPress Pages – is_bbpress() : New v4 Feature
* bbPress User Pages – bbp_is_single_user() : Premium Feature
* bbPress Forum Archive – bbp_is_forum_archive() : Premium Feature
* bbPress Category Forum – bbp_is_forum_category() : Premium Feature
* bbPress Forum – bbp_is_single_forum() : Premium Feature
* bbPress Forum Topic – bbp_is_single_topic() : Premium Feature
* bbPress Topic Tag – bbp_is_topic_tag() : Premium Feature

Plugin Installation

You can use the built in WordPress plugin installer:

1. Go to the Display Widgets Plugin Page and download the latest Display Widgets zip file (filename display-widgets.zip).
2. Under your Dashboard go to ‘Plugins’ > ‘Add New’ : ‘Upload’ and click the ‘Browse’ button to find the zip file you just downloaded on your computer and install it.
3. Activate the Display Widgets plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
4. Under ‘Appearance’ > ‘Widgets’ each widget includes a new Display Widgets Options section.

Or you can use an FTP program like Filezilla:

1. Go to the Display Widgets Plugin Page and download the latest Display Widgets zip file (filename display-widgets.zip).
2. Extract the ‘display-wigets.zip’ file on your computer.
3. Inside the ‘/display-wigets/’ folder there’s another folder ‘/display-wigets/’.
4. Upload the second ‘/display-widgets/’ folder to the ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ directory using FTP so it reads as ‘/wp-content/plugins/display-wigets/’.
5. Activate the Display Widgets plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
6. Under ‘Appearance’ > ‘Widgets’ each widget includes a new Display Widgets Options section.

See FAQ section for upgrading from v2.05/v2.7.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to upgrade the Display Widgets Plugin v2.05/v2.7 to the new Display Widgets Plugin.

To upgrade from Display Widgets v2.05/v2.7 to Display Widgets v4.0.0.

1. Go to the Display Widgets Plugin Page and download the latest Display Widgets zip file (filename display-widgets.zip).
2. Under ‘Plugins’ > ‘Installed Plugins’ deactivate the Display Widgets Plugin v2.05/v2.7.
3. Still under ‘Plugins’ > ‘Installed Plugins’ DELETE the Display Widgets Plugin v2.05/v2.7. This won’t delete your widget settings.
4. Follow the standard Installation instructions listed earlier.

Note: You have to delete Display Widgets plugin v2.05/v2.7 before installing via the built in WordPress plugin installer, WordPress can’t install a plugin via a zip file if the plugin already exists. Also makes sense to delete the plugin first if you plan to install via FTP because the old v2.6 plugin has malicious code, so best to start with a fresh install. If there’s any problems deleting the plugin using FTP go to ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ and manually delete the ‘/display-widgets/’ folder.

Deactivating the Display Widgets v2.05/v2.7 (any version) won’t delete your current widget options, you can turn this plugin on/off as many times as you like and the options will remain intact. The same is true for deleting the plugin folder, in both cases your widget logic options are safely stored in the WordPress database and when you install the new plugin it will use those options.

Some widgets lack the Display Widgets options?

Old widgets created for WordPress versions pre 2.8 are quite basic in format and lack the WordPress hooks to add additional widget logic options.

This tends to be widgets which lack a multi-widget option (can’t add the same widget multiple times).

There’s no work around.

Widgets are no longer available when the Display Widget Plugin is active!

Some WordPress plugins and themes alter when widget checking starts.

Try adding this to your WordPress themes functions.php file or within a plugin:

  add_filter( 'dwplus_callback_trigger', 'dwplus_callback_trigger' );
  function dwplus_callback_trigger() {
    return 'wp_head'; // change to: plugins_loaded, after_setup_theme, wp_loaded, wp_head, or a hook of your choice
  }

The above code is also commented out near the top (between lines 32 and 37) of the ‘display-widgets.php’ file under ‘/wp-content/plugins/display-widgets/’.

Edit the file and activate this code by deleting the `/*` on line 32 and the `*/` on line 37.

I’d like to hide some widget titles, is this possible?

Yes it is.

Maybe you have a WordPress site with dozens of widgets with different widget logic settings and some of them lack widget titles on the front-end: no obvious way to distinguish one widget from another on the Widget options page.

For example if you have 10 Text Widgets with empty widget titles all 10 will be listed under ‘Appearance’ > ‘Widgets’ with the the Widget Title ‘Text’. This can be difficult to manage, to edit a specific widget you might have to open up all 10 Text Widgets to find the right one!

As of Display Widgets v4.0.0 you can add a ‘Hidden Widget Title’ simply by adding an explanation mark (!) before the widget title like so.

!Hidden Widget Title

This would result in the Widget Title (!Hidden Widget Title) NOT showing on the front-end (your visitors won’t see it), but under ‘Appearance’ > ‘Widgets’ you can see the widget title.

Plugin Changelog

= 4.0.0 =
* Rolled code back to the 2.05/2.7 code base to remove 2.6 hacking code added by the `@displaywidget` user. Note, ALL 2.6 versions are problematic.
* Multiple bug fixes including fixing transients and WPML plugin support.
* Add lots of new widget logic options including BuddyPress/bbPress support.
* Added ability to hide widget titles.
* Added a custom update process using the [Plugin Update Checker library] (https://github.com/YahnisElsts/plugin-update-checker).
* All updates above are by the new developer [David Law] (https://profiles.wordpress.org/seo-dave/)

= 2.7 =
* The WordPress Plugin Team has permanently closed the plugin on the WordPress Plugin Repository.
* The WordPress Plugin Team made a copy of the 2.05 plugin, renamed it to 2.7 and released it as a upgrade to replace 2.6 code.
* There won’t be any more updates from the WordPress Plugin Repository, if you want updates move to v4.

= 2.6 =
* The original developer sold the plugin to [displaywidget] (https://profiles.wordpress.org/displaywidget/) in May 2017.
* The new developer added malicious code to the 2.6 updates!
* Do NOT use the v2.6 updates.

= 2.05 =
* All updates below and including v2.05 were by the original developer [strategy11] (https://profiles.wordpress.org/strategy11/) and are safe: v2.03 had a XSS vulnerability, so don’t use that version.
* Add “Text Domain” to the plugin header to enable translations
* Add Brazilian Portuguese translation

David Law

*
David Law : Technical SEO Expert with 20+ years Online Business, SEO, Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing experience... Creator of multiple WordPress SEO Themes and SEO Plugins. Interests: wildlife, walking, environmental issues, politics, economics, journalism, consumer rights.

Website - SEO Gold Services