I found this widget for Wordpress which displays Twitter updates at http://seanys.com/2007/10/12/twitter-wordpress-widget/ . Simple and easy to understand it really applies the “Keep It Simple, Stupid”-rule.
I like it but according to Twitter there is an optimization you preferably should do. If the twitter servers are overloaded, this widget might halt the loading of ones blog since it tries to fetch the twitter status in the middle of the page building.
So, in a few minutes I read and understood the basics of wordpress plugins (that’s an achievement of Wordpress, making it that simple) and modified the widget. All in all I think I added 5 lines of code.
Twitter widget modified for speed
This plugin is installed by putting it in the usual plugins directory and adding it as a widget.
Addendum: I haven’t tried this widget for Wordpress 3.x. Has anyone else tried?
Good job bud, those 5 lines make a huge difference. Before, you would see a very noticeable ‘flash’ as the twitter content loaded, on every page refresh. The optimization got rid of that nicely.
Hi there,
I was hoping to get your optimized version, but the link appears to be broken or dead. Please let me know if it’s still available. Thank you.
The link should be working now.