MaxRef Widgets Plugin for Maximum Link Display Options in WordPress…
Download: Max-Ref Widgets (419)
Version: 1.7 (zipped) - Programmed for WordPress version 2.5 and up. Tested through 2.6.1.

WebFadds.com is pleased to release its MaxRef Widgets plugin for WordPress 2.5 and up. MaxRef Widgets enables you to display multiple sidebar widgets to maximize how your visitors reference your posts, links, categories and comments. We will maintain and upgrade it here, and take your suggestions and comments below. Your donations will be appreciated to offset the continuing development expense.
Developed by Scott Frangos, Managing Partner for WebFadds.com *, and programmed by Antonie Potgieter of Tribulant Software, the plugin is a powerful way to add unlimited widgets on your sidebars to display posts only from a certain category, the links from a particular link category, posts, comments and more. Choose how many items appear, to display an RSS feed for categories, and how to sort the links presented. It uses the latest Wordpress methods and functions and of course adapts the style of the WP 2.5 administration panel.
Installation…
- Upload the whole plugin folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder.
- Go to the Plugins page and activate the plugin.
- Go to your widgets area, and add a MaxRef Widget (as many as you want)
- Click on Edit to configure your new widget to display Posts by Category, Pages, Links by Category, or Comments, and then select sorting method and other options.
Usage Examples…
Please leave your comments, suggestions, and questions below. We look forward to continued development of this plugin, and appreciate your support and donations.
Version Notes
Version 1.7 (Aug. 25, 2008)
- Bug fix release (fixed dual link bug)
Version 1.6 (June 14, 2008)
- Linkable widget titles
Version 1.4 (May 22, 2008)
- Added Category (parent/child) link group capability
Version 1.3 (May 12, 2008)
- Add ability to turn top level (parent) page off or on when displaying page link groups
Version 1.2 (May 6, 2008)
- Add display of Page links by groups of Parent and Child pages
- Fix Link Category Display
Version 1.1 (May 1, 2008)
- Ability to Sort by Name or Date, Ascending or Descending
- Ability to add RSS feed per Category
* We would like to recognize the work of Denis de Bernardy, of Semiologic.com, for his work on the plugin called “Fuzzy Widgets,” which also does a great job of presenting link display options.


Hi All -
Please note that we plan a tweak, and feature enhancement upgrade for MaxRef Widgets by mid-month (May ‘08). It will revise and fix the Link Categories, and add display of Page links by Page groups so a hierarchy including a top-level page, and its sub pages may be displayed.
- Scott
Wow, Scott this plugin sounds good.
So say I make a category named, “Clients Say” and each post is a different testimonal. Using this plugin I could add the latest testimonals my sidebox .
And if people wanted to read the whole testimonal they could click on the title. The post could have a link back to the person’s site and if you’re a designer an image of the completed project - screenshot of website or banner ad.
Or maybe for an artist one could make a catagory named, “Latest Artwork” or “Art Projects” and the titles to the newest posts about current art jobs would show up in the sidebar.
I would love to read a post about how to use WordPress pages and categories for business site use.
Thanks for the new plugin!
Hi Joni -
Excellent idea - I might have to try the testimonial thing myself. The titles you give to your testimonials are what would appear in your sidebar “box” using the current version of the plugin. Again your suggestion on “how to use WordPress pages and categories for business site use” is great as well. I might add to that “how to use the link categories for business use.” We have a client who organizes links in categories like “Business Resources,” “Chambers of Commerce,” etc., and then uses the MaxRef Widgets to place each in a separate location on their sidebars. You could work link trades, or even possibly sell links this way.
- Scott
[...] MaxRef Widgets - To show separate link blocks in the sidebar with parent/child hierarchies [...]
[...] Download [...]
i have been using your plug-in on my site (it is still under construction but you can see it on the right sidebar) and it works really great. The website runs on WordPress 2.5.
However, I have tried to install the plug-in on a local WAMP installation where i use WordPress 2.6 and it seems to have some problems. it has been activated and appears on the widget list but if i try to use it the form comes out strange with parts of the html mark-up visible. Some of the form fields appear filled with mark-up and it is impossible to use them.
i don’t know if it because of WAMP or of WordPress 2.6.
Any ideas about how to solve this?
Thanks again, apart from this strange problem the plug-in is great
Hello Miss Fallen -
Good to hear from you. I am glad the plugin is working on your site, and have not heard of the WAMP problem before. We have a couple of hundred users, but you’re the first with a test using WAMP (a windows local machine Apache server running MySQL and PHP). I know that WordPress itself prefers Linux to Windows OS on web servers. But that may not be the root of your problems. I am going to confer with Antonie, the other half of this plugin team and the code maven who wrote it and we’ll see if he has some suggestions for you. - Scott
I have a similar problem as Miss Fallen, albeit I’m using Xampp on a home box to test. (my site is going thru a redesign and will incorporate this feature, I hope)
When I attempt to place a list of other cat posts within a category page it listed it correctly the first time tried.
However when calling up different category page the header for the widget changed to the correct cat ID number but the posts listed remain as the previous cat list.
I’ve ensured the browser cache was cleared but that had no effect.
Hi Marc - Good to hear from you. Hmmm… seems that local installations could be a problem. I will investigate more and report back here. - Scott
@Marc & Miss Fallen
From what I understand, the problem could be related to the PHP short open tag support. It seems like this support is turned off and causes problems. You can easily turn it on though.
I am on Mac OS. In the Applications folder, there is a folder named “xampp”. Within that is another folder named “etc”. Within that is a file named “php.ini”. Open this “php.ini” file with a text editor and search for “short_open_tag”. If it holds the value “Off”, change it to “On”, save the file, close it and restart your local Apache server.
Please let me know if that helps.
All the best,
Antonie Potgieter
Very cool plugin! Thanks for having the insight and taking the time to create it!
Just one small issue I can’t seem to resolve. For that matter, I’m a bit of a neophyte, so I don’t even know where to begin. The plugin is active and 4 widgets have been added to my first sidebar, yet they don’t appear.
If you look at the site, right under the blogroll you’ll see a series of 4 advertisements. There should be other categories of blogrolls in between each one (using MaxRef).
It must have something to do with my theme? Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi -
Thanks for stopping by, and for using the plugin. I am going to have my programming partner have a look and I will get back to you.
- Scott
I really appreciate it!