DaveE

<p>The default Recent Posts widget is exceptionally basic. I always find myself in need of a way to easily display a selection of posts from any combination post type or taxonomy. Hence, Flexible Posts Widget.</p>
<p>Flexible Posts Widget (FPW) is more than just a simple alternative to the default Recent Posts widget.  With many per-instance options it is highly customizable and allows advanced users to display the resulting posts virtually any way imaginable.</p>
<h4>Features & options</h4>
<ul>
<li>Customizable widget title</li>
<li>Get posts by post type(s) and/or taxonomy & term(s) or directly by a list of post IDs.</li>
<li>Control the number of posts displayed and the number of posts to offset.</li>
<li>Option to display the post feature image.</li>
<li>Select the post feature image size to display from existing image sizes: thumbnail, medium, large, post-thumbnail or any size defined by the current theme.</li>
<li>Order posts by: date, modified date, ID, title, menu order, random, Post ID Order; and sort posts: ascending or descending.</li>
<li>Each widget’s output can be customized by user-defined templates added to the current theme folder.</li>
<li>Multi Language support. Compatible with <a href="http://wpml.org/" rel="nofollow ugc">WPML</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/polylang/" rel="ugc">PolyLang</a> for sure. Not tested with other multi-language plugins, but it should work.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Plugin Hooks</h4>
<p>Flexible posts widget currently has two public hooks:</p>
<ul>
<li>Filter: <a href="https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/flexible-posts-widget/trunk/includes/class-fpw-widget.php#L191" rel="nofollow ugc"><code>dpe_fpw_args</code></a> allows filtering the query vars before submitting the widget posts query.</li>
<li>Filter: <a href="https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/flexible-posts-widget/trunk/includes/class-fpw-widget.php#L354" rel="nofollow ugc"><code>dpe_fpw_template_{$template_name}</code></a> filters the template file path used to display the widget output.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Future updates & feature requests list</h4>
<ul>
<li>Use search box instead of ID text field for post id’s</li>
<li>Shortcode functionality.</li>
<li>Get posts by Author.</li>
<li>Filter out the post currently being viewed.</li>
<li>Get posts from the same archive (term/post type/etc).</li>
<li>Limit results by a time period.</li>
</ul>


Flexible Posts Widget

This has got to be the most useful plugin of its kind.



Seriousl excellent plugin

An advanced posts display widget with many options. Display posts in your sidebars any way you'd like!

Pratik Shrestha

Catch Plugins

Sakin Shrestha

dreamsapana

Mahesh Maharjan

Catch Themes

<p>Essential Widgets – a free WordPress plugin for widgets allows you to create and add interesting widgets on your website to make it more attractive and welcoming. Essential Widgets stays true to the essence of its name and offers exactly what you expect from a widgets plugin—all the “essential” widgets for your website. The plugin has been crafted beautifully to draw the extra attention to the important parts of your website. Essential Widgets provides you with the ability to have more control over the widgets with the various customization options. This free WordPress plugin for widgets allows you to create 7 different interesting widgets on your website. All the 7 widgets provided to you comes with so many customization options and are very easy to use. So, with Essential Widgets plugin, customize the interesting widgets your way and display them anywhere you want on your website to make it more dynamic.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>EW: Archives<br />
The Archives widget comes with various customization options. Choose a title, limit the number of posts, select the archive type, post type, order and more with the Archives widget.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>EW: Authors<br />
Displaying the author’s information is kind of a must-have feature if your website has multiple authors. Our new WordPress widgets plugin allows you to add Authors widget. With this widget, you can show the list of the authors on your website, the number of posts, select feed type, and more.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>EW: Categories<br />
Essential Widgets Pro supports Categories widget. The widget provides you with various customizable options such as the title of the widget, taxonomy option, order option, number of categories to show, display as a list or none, number of posts to display, sort by option, select feed type ton display and display as text or image.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>EW: Menus<br />
Bored with the same default menu? Our new WordPress plugin for widgets, Essential Widgets Pro supports Menus widget. With the Menus widget filled with various customization options, you can display your menus elegantly anywhere you want on your website.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>EW: Pages<br />
Display a list of pages with the Pages widget. With various customization options being provided to you, you can showcase the pages that are more important on your website wherever you want with Essential Widgets Pro.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>EW: Posts<br />
Essential Widgets Pro supports Posts widget. With the widget and its customizable options, you can easily display a list of posts on your website. You can add a title, select the post type, number of items to display, order, sort by, and more.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>EW: Tags<br />
And last, but definitely not the least, the Tags widget. You can display a list of tags as cloud or list, select the order of the tags, sort by option and the number of items to be displayed. The widget also provides you with more customization options including the unit, separator, search, text type, and more.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Translations</h3>
<p>To translate the plugin, use translate.wordpress.org (GlotPress). You only need your WordPress.org account to join the collaborative translation project.</p>
<p>You can translate Essential Widgets on <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/essential-widgets/" rel="nofollow ugc">translate.wordpress.org</a>.</p>


Essential Widgets

Essential Widgets is a WordPress plugin for widgets that allows you to create and add amazing widgets with high customization option

Flexible Posts Widget vs Essential Widgets