Can't find plugins/widgets to do the following...help appreciated
 

Hello,
I'm looking for plugins/widgets to do the following, and have been unable to find any searching on WP's site. Have you found plugins/widgets to:

1. Show contents/nav menu from the level of any specific sub-category down. ie: If the category is "Harware Store" and I'm on the sub-category page "Power Tools", I would like to see a widget showing the sub-contents of "Power Tools" such as "Drills" "Table Saws", etc.

2. Show "latest post" by category or sub-category and - ideally - have option of leaving out the date and the option of choosing which category/sub-category to query. For example: the widget, titled "Latest Posts" would show "Drills (sub-category, ideally linked to that sub-category page): - "new Crafstman in stock" (link to latest post in that sub-category) Table Saws (different sub-category, ideally linked): "how to cut at 45 degrees" ( link to latest post in that sub-category).

Thanks!

Here are two (plugin 1 and plugin 2) to look at but this is the type of thing that requires experimentation as your requirements may or may not be met by either.

Thanks, Larry. I'll look into it. I've had a bear of a time trying to set up navigation/menues for a ATA/WP site.... I'm looking for the kind of heirarchical navigation one finds very commonly on forums (life this BFA forum), e-stores (to make it easy to browse/find the item you're looking for), e-info sites (like libraries or other info-rich sites), or a site map...or even a simple file tree ... where you can see where you are and what sub-categories or sub-pages are "below" you.

So if you're on the "Garden Tools" landing page, you get a menue showing what it contains "Power Tools" "Hand Tools" etc. Or if you're on this forum, you see "WordPress Themes" and then can choose from options. Or if you're looking at These links are dynamically generated, so if the admin adds a sub-category or sub-page, it will automatically appear in the correct spot.

I would like this kind of nav menue from a ready-to-go plug in and appear in a widget that I could place on any page/post category that had sub-pages or sub-categories.

Help much appreciated.

I have used plugins for sub pages but sub categories, as you have found, is a different issue. The collapsing categories plugin comes the closest to what I think you are looking for or your could get into a more creative approach by using a combo of plugins and pages. One thing that comes to mind but I have not tested is to create a page for each category and use the List Category Posts plugin to display the post dynamically on that page. Then you could use the Flexi Pages wiidget to display sub pages of the category page.

The Table of Contents Creator plugin makes a nice site map that might do one of the things you want. Take a look at http://www.larchmontgazette.com/site-map/. You can choose to show everything or not, all categories or just some, all static pages or exclude some.

And you can do a lot with the new WP 3.0 menus, but until Atahualpa's menu bars are updated, you'll have to use the new menus in the sidebars.

Thanks Larry and Paula, for your help. Larry, you implied that you've used plugins to have navigation appear on a page for its sub-pages - which plugins? I definitely want that option! I think that'll bring me closer too - Thanks!

If you the Widgets on Pages plugin you can add a widget to any page of your choice and then get a plugin that does the sub pages thing in a widget and add it to the new widget area for the page. Easier to do than explain.

Thanks again. Last question: I like that this website http://www.commondreams.org/ has several different widget areas that show title and excerpts of posts from different specific categories on the site. Are you aware of a good plugin that can do this?

Thank you!!!

I don't off hand but I usually find something at WordPress.org. What has been helpful to me is to build a test site and play with the various plugins. I have a site that has over 70 plugins installed (not all are activated) that I use to try out various plugins and code. If it breaks I don't care.

The Enhanced Recent Posts plugin does what you want. And the theme lets you have 4 sidebars, and you can put new widget areas all over the place.

On the Gazette, I have multiple instances of the plugin running in different places, for different uses. I use Widget Logic with it, to show a certain instance of it only where I want it.

Take Larry's advice and start using the wordpress.org plugin repository. Set up a test site where you can try out anything that looks promising without breaking your main site. You can set up a new instance of WP in a different directory from your main site and play there. That's how most of us, I expect, learned what we know about WP and Atahualpa and plugins.

good advice - thank you.

Hi Paula and Larry (and anyone else that's interested :-)
Wanted to let you know I found this nice little plug-in for specific page navigation function i was looking for. Perhaps it will be helpful to you as well:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/...on-navigation/

Thanks again for your help.

OMG! I love that Simple Section Navigation Widget plugin. Thank you!

For anyone else looking for breadcrumb navigation (ie: you are here: home / services) at the top of the page, Yoast Breadcrumb plugin works great, as does his Wordpress SEO plugin (includes breadcrumb nav as well as a host of other SEO options I am still playing with)