How to widgetize category pages?

[merlene]

I'm wondering if there is a way to (easily) widgetize the category pages for a site.

For example the site might have 5 categories, I'd like to have a widgets (much like home.php might have) for each of the categories with posts/features for that category on it's page. So domain.com/category1   would have a home.php style widgetized page with a grid loop and/or slider specifically for that category's posts; domain.com/category2 would have a widgetized page specifically for category 2 posts/features, etc.

Is this possible?

[Brad Dalton]

Yes it is however it does require a fair amount of work.

Hooking the slider in to display different images on each category archive is easy however creating a grid loop for each category archive is a bit of playing around.

The slider can be done with custom functions and conditional tags or by creating widget areas and then using a shortcode.

I just published a post about it which may help.

Code not displaying? Grab it on Github.

I would copy your home.php template and use that for each category.

What theme are you wanting to use?

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Tutorials for StudioPress Themes.

[merlene]

Thanks @braddalton I'll give that a whirl over the next couple of days and I'll post back here however it turns out.

I'm planning to use the basic sample child theme and go from there.

[Brad Dalton]

You might need to hook in the grid loop using a custom function with a conditional for categories.

Be very interested to see how you do it.

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Tutorials for StudioPress Themes.

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