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Widgets: Add content and functionality to pages

Widgets overview 

Content and functionality of Sitefinity CMS pages are defined through widgets. Anything you want your page to do, you must do it with a widget. Widgets allow you to display the content you create and configure how you want your content displayed. Sitefinity CMS comes with a set of built-in widgets, which can be directly used in the pages you create. Such widgets are, for example, the News, Image gallery, and Video gallery.

Widgets are controls which you drop on the page (in page content editing mode) and configure them to display already existing content. You can configure the widgets to display different parts of the content by combining widgets and by tagging and classifying content.

Technically speaking, the concept for a Sitefinity CMS widget is the same as the one for an ASP.NET control. 

There are special types of widgets that serve specific purposes. For example, field controls are used to read and write value from a single field. Utility widgets, on the other hand, are not part of a specific module and do not display content from the CMS in the frontend. They help administrators, designers, or developers to perform their jobs. For example, the ResourceLinks widget enables you to add resources like JavaScript file or CSS file.

Set widget properties

Widgets have properties that you set per widget and that modify the functionality of the particular widget. If you want to display blog posts using the Blog posts widget, you need to tell the widget which blog to use, how many posts to display on one page, and how to display them. You configure a widget through its widget designer, that is, in the Edit mode of widgets.

Change the appearance

With widget templates you can change the look of the build-in Sitefinity CMS widgets – Blog posts, News, Events, Generic content, Images, Videos, etc.

Customize and create

Apart from Sitefinity built-in widgets, you can also create your own widgets and use them side by side with the default ones. That is, implement new widget to specifically serve your business case needs and functionality requirements by implementing your own custom logic. You can create new custom and user widgets.

You can customize the following types of widgets:

  • Built-in Sitefinity CMS widgets, such as Blog posts and News, Field widgets, and Sitefinity CMS specific widgets
  • ASP.NET standard widgets, such as HyperLink, GridView, XmlDataSource
  • User widgets
  • Custom widgets
  • Custom module widgets, such as user or custom widgets, which are registered in Sitefinity CMS by the module to provide frontend functionality for the module.
  • Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX
  • Telerik RadControls for Silverlight
  • Telerik RadControls for Silverlight by properly wrapping them in an ASP.NET widget

You can also use Sitefinity CMS Thunder to create and customize widgets. For more information, see Sitefinity CMS Thunder: Automate your development.
This section contains:
  • Overview: Types of widgets
    Sitefinity supports a variety of widgets that define content and functionality of pages. The concept for a widget is the same as the one for an ASP.NET control.
  • Overview: Built-in widgets
    Display the content you create with the built-in content modules using built-in widgets. Configure what widgets display, combine widgets, and tag and classify content.
  • Overview: User and Custom widgets
    Create new user or custom widgets and use them side by side with the Sitefinity default ones. Implement new widget and custom logic to serve your requirements.
  • Layout widgets: Create custom layout widgets
    Use Sitefinity built-in layout widgets to create complex layout for pages or layout templates. Create new layout widgets and use them from the toolbox of the page editor.
  • Add widgets on pages and templates
    Add widgets on pages and open the configuration mode of widgets. Add a widget in a page template to have it displayed each time the template is used.
  • Overview: Widget templates
    Change the look of built-in Sitefinity widgets. Manage and customize widget templates.
  • Overview: Widget designers
    Configure the functionality of a widget to use its properties. Learn how to create simple widget designers and multiple view designers in Sitefinity
  • Create widgets and widget templates with Sitefinity Thunder
  • Overview: Use ASP.NET MVC widgets
    Leverage Sitefinity ASP.NET MVC technology in its classic, pure, and hybrid modes. Use Sitefinity Feather to develop in convention-based, mobile-first UI framework.
  • Overview: Field controls
    Field controls provide UI to read the value of a field or UI to write the value of a field. A field is the property of any content item in Sitefinity.
  • Utility widgets: ResourceLinks widget
    Utility widgets do not display content from the CMS in the frontend, but are used by administrators, designers, or developers.
  • Administration: Widget settings
    Configure widget settings and define individual properties of widgets via advanced configurations. Define shared behavior of content widgets. Register new widgets.
  • Tutorials: Create widgets
    Follow these tutorials to create your own user or custom widgets and use them side by side with the Sitefinity default ones.
  • Tutorials: Modify built-in widgets
    Modify Sitefinity built-in widgets to serve your requirements and needs. Extend the default functionality of a widget and implement custom logic.
  • Reference: CSS classes applied to widgets
    Each widget contains a list of CSS classes, where they are applied, and the default HTML tag of each CSS. See a reference which CSS classes are applied to what widget.

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