Description
Periscopio lets you replace the default “WordPress Events and News” dashboard widget with a fully customizable version that displays news from RSS feeds and events from the WordPress.org API.
Perfect for agencies, developers, and site owners who want to display relevant news sources on the WordPress dashboard instead of the default WordPress.org news.
Features
- Replace or complement the default WordPress news widget
- Customizable widget title
- Events section with WordPress community events and editable location
- News section with aggregated RSS feeds sorted by date
- Add unlimited RSS feeds with URL validation before adding
- Configure items per feed and maximum total items displayed
- Configurable footer links for both events and news sections
- Automatic feed caching with configurable duration
- Fully translatable (all URLs are translatable for locale support)
- Clean, native WordPress admin styling
- Two-column settings page with meta box layout
- Cache management tools
Default Feeds
The plugin comes pre-configured with these feeds (you can change them):
- WordPress News (wordpress.org)
- Matt Mullenweg’s blog (ma.tt)
- Make WordPress Project
- WordPress España News
- AyudaWP
External services
This plugin connects to the following external services:
WordPress.org Events API
This plugin uses the WordPress.org Events API to retrieve WordPress community events (meetups, WordCamps) near the user’s location. The user’s configured location and locale are sent to the API when the dashboard widget is loaded or when the location is updated in the settings page.
- Service: WordPress.org Events API
- Data sent: city/location name, user locale, and timezone
- WordPress.org Privacy Policy
RSS feeds
This plugin fetches RSS feeds from URLs configured by the site administrator. By default it includes feeds from wordpress.org, ma.tt, make.wordpress.org, and ayudawp.com, but administrators can add, remove, or change feeds in the settings page. Feed content is cached locally for the configured cache duration.
- Data sent: standard HTTP requests to the configured feed URLs
- No personal user data is transmitted to the feed providers
Support
Need help or have suggestions?
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About AyudaWP
We are specialists in WordPress security, SEO, and performance optimization plugins. We create tools that solve real problems for WordPress site owners while maintaining the highest coding standards and accessibility requirements.
Screenshots
Dashboard widget showing events and aggregated news 
Settings page with two-column layout 
Feed management with URL validation
Installation
- Upload the
periscopiofolder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Go to Settings > Periscopio to configure your feeds
- Visit your Dashboard to see the new widget
FAQ
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Can I hide the default WordPress news widget?
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Yes, there’s an option in the settings to hide the default “WordPress Events and News” widget.
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How many feeds can I add?
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There’s no hard limit. However, adding too many feeds may slow down your dashboard. We recommend 5-10 feeds maximum. Each feed URL is validated before it can be added.
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How often are feeds updated?
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By default, feeds are cached for 12 hours. You can change this in the settings (1-72 hours) or manually clear the cache.
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Yes. Both the events and news sections have configurable footer links (2 per section) that you can customize in the settings page.
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Are the URLs translatable?
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Yes. All default URLs (feeds, footer links) are wrapped in translation functions so each locale can point to their own resources.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Periscopio” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
“Periscopio” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.
Translate “Periscopio” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.1
- Fix: Fixed promotional banner button alignment on WordPress 7.0 due to core CSS specificity changes
- Tested up to WordPress 7.0
1.0.0
- Initial release
- Custom dashboard widget with events and RSS aggregation
- Two-column settings page with meta box layout
- Feed management with URL validation
- Configurable footer links for events and news sections
- Option to hide default WordPress widget
- Configurable cache duration
- Default feeds included
- Promotional banner with plugin recommendations