KJ Coop

<p>This plugin will display a given number of random blogroll categories to show.<br />
It will show all the links in those categories.</p>
<h3>Usage</h3>
<p>Unless you’ve changed some defaults, your blogroll is most likely displayed by<br />
the following line of code in wp-content/themes/[your theme]/sidebar.php:
    </p>
<p>The simplest way to display a random category is just by replacing that line<br />
with a call to blogroll_random_category:
    </p>
<p>If you want to include a link to the whole blogroll, you can create a page in<br />
wordpress using the links template. Note the permalink. If you’ve already got a<br />
list of your pages in the sidebar, you’re in business. Otherwise you can add one<br />
with the following line of code:<br />
    <a href="[your permalink]" rel="nofollow ugc">See complete blogroll</a></p>
<p>If your blogroll is not set to be categorized, or if there is only one category,<br />
it will return the whole thing untouched.</p>
<h3>Advanced</h3>
<h3>Showing multiple categories</h3>
<p>If you want multiple categories returned, you can send the function that number.<br />
For example:</p>
<p>will return 5 randomized categories. If you only have 4 categories, it will<br />
return all of them in a random order.</p>
<h3>Retaining arguments sent to wp_list_bookmarks</h3>
<p>If you’re sending arguments to wp_list_bookmarks, you can send those to<br />
blogroll_random_category and it will pass them along to wp_list bookmarks. In<br />
this example, we’re showing all categories except #23:
    </p>
<p>The change below will show five random categories, none of which will be #23. If<br />
you only have four categories, this will return the three that are not #23:
    </p>
<h3>To show one category all the time and the rest randomize the rest</h3>
<p>In the sidebar you can explicitly call that category. When only one category is<br />
selected, this plugin knows to return it as it is. Any subsequent calls to<br />
blogroll_random_category ought to be instructed to exclude it in order to avoid<br />
the possibility that it happens to be randomly selected:</p>
<pre><code><?php wp_list_bookmarks('category=23'); ?>
<?php blogroll_random_category(5, 'exclude_category=23'); ?><h3>1.0</h3>* The first version.<h3>1.5</h3>* Whereas this plugin previously altered the behavior of wp_list_bookmarks in a
</code></pre>
<p>way that made it impossible to see the whole blogroll. Now it uses a separate<br />
  function call so that in some instances you can see random categories, but in<br />
  others you can see the whole blogroll.<br />
* Now possible to return multiple random categories without separate function<br />
  calls, thus eliminiating the possibility that two of the random categories<br />
  will be the same.</p>
<h3>1.5.1</h3>
<ul>
<li>The leading closing li tag was not actually getting trimmed off due to<br />
bad copying and pasting. That has been resolved.</li>
</ul>
<h3>A personal request</h3>
<p>If you use/enjoy this plugin, I’d love to hear from you. You’re under no<br />
obligation, but I’d enjoy knowing that somebody out there is enjoying my work.<br />
Promptly returning e-mail is not my strong suit, so you may never get the<br />
courtesy of a reply, but you can rest assured that I appreciated your effort.</p>
<p>I can be reached at kj@kjcoop.com.</p>


Random Blogroll Category

This plug in will select one or more random blogroll categories to show.

xenograg

rajivpant

<p>Blogroll Links is a WordPress plugin that displays your site’s link bookmarks (formerly called “blogroll”) within posts and pages using a simple shortcode.</p>
<p>For people who maintain their website or blog using the WordPress content management system, Blogroll Links uses WordPress’ built-in Links feature and presents links to friends’ pages, resources, and social networking profiles.</p>
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Display links by category using the category slug</li>
<li>Customizable sorting (by name, URL, rating, or ID)</li>
<li>Honors link visibility settings (show/hidden)</li>
<li>Respects target window settings for each link</li>
<li>Displays link descriptions and images if available</li>
<li>Works with WordPress’ built-in Links Manager</li>
<li>Supports XFN (XHTML Friends Network) relationship tags</li>
<li>Full PHP 8+ compatibility</li>
<li>Secure: Protected against SQL injection, XSS, and CSRF attacks</li>
</ul>
<h4>Usage</h4>
<p>Add this shortcode to any post or page:</p>
<pre><code>[blogroll-links categoryslug="my-links"]
</code></pre>
<h4>Full Shortcode Options</h4>
<pre><code>[blogroll-links categoryslug="my-links" sortby="link_name" sortorder="asc"]
</code></pre>
<h4>Parameters</h4>
<ul>
<li><code>categoryslug</code> – The slug of the link category to display (required)</li>
<li><code>sortby</code> – Sort field: link_name, link_url, link_rating, link_id (default: link_name)</li>
<li><code>sortorder</code> – Sort direction: asc or desc (default: asc)</li>
</ul>
<h4>Examples</h4>
<p><strong>Display friends’ websites sorted by name:</strong><br />
    [blogroll-links categoryslug=”friends” sortby=”link_name” sortorder=”asc”]</p>
<p><strong>Display resources sorted by rating (highest first):</strong><br />
    [blogroll-links categoryslug=”resources” sortby=”link_rating” sortorder=”desc”]</p>
<p><strong>Display social media profiles:</strong><br />
    [blogroll-links categoryslug=”social-profiles”]</p>
<h4>Live Examples</h4>
<p>See this plugin in action:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.rajiv.com/friends/" rel="nofollow ugc">www.rajiv.com/friends/</a> – Social networking links with XFN tags</li>
<li><a href="https://www.rajiv.com/charity/" rel="nofollow ugc">www.rajiv.com/charity/</a> – Charitable organizations list</li>
</ul>
<h4>Credits</h4>
<p>Thanks to Dave Grega and Adam E. Falk (xenograg) for their contributions to this code.</p>
<p>Version 3.0 was modernized using <a href="https://rajiv.com/blog/2025/11/09/synthesis-engineering-with-claude-code-technical-implementation-and-workflows/" rel="nofollow ugc">Synthesis Coding</a> with Claude Code – a human-AI collaborative development approach.</p>


Random Blogroll Category vs Blogroll Links