WP Tweets plugin enables easy embedding of twitter tweets in your WordPress blog. Any public user time line can be configured using WP Tweets. This is a very lightweight and secure plugin and uses client side look up for fetching latest tweets. It is also widget compatible.

You can embed WP Tweets using widget system or you can directly insert PHP code to your sidebar. WP Tweets allows you to configure the twitter user name, maximum number of tweets to be displayed and the title for the WP Tweets badge. This can be set using Widget properties page or can be passed as parameters to the WP Tweets function call.

I use the following code to embed WP Tweets in my sidebar,

<?php show_wp_tweets(‘jaysonjc’,5,’<li><h2>Twitter Updates</h2></li>’);?>

Note the use of html tags to control the appearance of WP Tweets badge heading. This is not required if you add WP Tweets as a widget. The second parameter (5) indicates the number of tweets to be displayed.

WP Tweets Feature List

1. Configurable twitter feed and tweet count.
2. Customize appearance by editing the plugin CSS file (wp-tweets.css).
3. Free online support for CSS customization.
4. Very lightweight and client side fetch.
5. Widget ready.
6. Human friendly display of tweet time.

Download

Download WP Tweets from official WordPress plugin repository. Current version is 1.1.

Installation

1. Download and extract WP Tweets zip file to the plugin folder. Verify that you have the wp-tweets folder right inside the plugin folder.
2. Activate WP Tweets from WordPress plugin administration page.
3. If you are using Widget system, add the WP Tweets as a widget. Configure twitter username, maximum tweets to display and title from the Widget properties tab.
4. If you embedding WP Tweets code, <?php show_wp_tweets(‘twitterusername’,3,’<li><h2>Twitter Updates</h2></li>’);?> in your theme file sidebar.
5. Customize appearance suitable for your theme by modifying wp-tweets.css file inside the plugin folder.  You can modify three style selectors – ul#wp_tweets_marker, ul#wp_tweets_marker li and ul#wp_tweets_marker li a. Following is the sample selector declaration that I use for my site. Note the use of !important to override default CSS inheritance rules.

ul#wp_tweets_marker li {
  border:0px 0px 0px 0px !important;
  font-weight: normal !important;
  background-image:none !important;
  background-position:0px 0px !important;
  padding:0px 0px 5px 10px !important;
  font-size:11px !important;
  font-family:Verdana !important;
  line-height:20px !important;
}

Technical Notes

• WP Tweets uses built-in jQuery library for accessing Twitter JSON API.
• This plugin is tested on IE8 and FF3.0 and Chrome.
• This plugin is tested on WordPress 3.0.1 (Should also work with higher versions).

License

WP Tweets is released under GPL license.

Feedback & Updates

If you have any comments or suggestions about this program please let me know. Watch this page or my twitter feed for any updates.

Software Disclaimer

This software is provided "as is" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the copyright owner be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages however caused.

Version History

• Version 1.1 – 19th September 2010 – Updated for WordPress 3.0.1
• Version 1.0 – 18th October 2009 – Initial Release