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!

Freemius

vegacorp

Jose Vega

<p><strong>This plugin works with Gutenberg (new editor). It works with the classic editor and the gutenberg editor.</strong></p>
<p>Require users to select a taxonomy term when publishing posts. For example, require the selection of a category or tag.</p>
<h4>It works with</h4>
<ul>
<li>All taxonomies , including post categories , post tags , product categories, product tags, and custom taxonomies.</li>
<li>All post types , including posts, pages, WooCommerce Products, Events, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Use cases</h4>
<ul>
<li>Force users to select a category when publishing posts</li>
<li>Force users to select a tag when publishing posts</li>
<li>Force users to select a custom taxonomy term when publishing posts</li>
<li>Force users to select a category when publishing WooCommerce Products</li>
<li>Force users to select a tag when publishing WooCommerce Products</li>
<li>Force users to select a category or tag when publishing Events</li>
<li>Force users to select any Taxonomy Term when publishing any custom post type</li>
</ul>
<p>This plugin is completely free.</p>


WP Required Taxonomies – Categories and Tags Mandatory

Great for making categories required , so users can´t publish without selecting a category.

Great

Force users to select a taxonomy term when publishing posts. For example, make category or tags required

Flexible Posts Widget vs WP Required Taxonomies – Categories and Tags Mandatory