Do You REALLY Need That Plugin?
I’d decided I wanted a ‘Random Thoughts’ area in my sidebar for little tidbits worth mentioning but not worthy of posting about.
So, off I went on a plugin hunt. After a half hour of hunting and asking around in IRC I was finally given a link. By that time I’d come up with a better idea.
Text Widget. By creating one line of HTML within a Text Widget I managed to get my sick little thought out into the open. 
Keep in mind that Text Widgets obey the laws of HTML very nicely. If you can do it on a HTML web page, you can likely do it in a Text Widget as well.
<ul><li>Ever notice how Puritan Stew comes in the same size cans as dog food?</li></ul>
That’s all the code I needed to scare readers off Puritan Stew forever. 
I could likely fancy it up a bit using CSS but it seems to fit well into the sidebar as is.
As far as maintaining something like this… It can’t be any more work than maintaining a plugin. A quick line of code, save, and we’re done.
<li> <i>Give a man a program, you frustrate him for a day. Teach a man to program, you frustrate him for a lifetime.</i> — unknown</li>
Plus, as an added bonus, you’ll never have to worry about those pesky upgrades that plugins seem to go through so frequently these days. It’s all you!
So, next time you’re thinking about something simple for your sidebar, think Text Widget first, plugin second.
