Display your latest tweets in a WordPress widget without slowing your website.

The Rapid Twitter Widget doesn't apply any styling to your website, giving you complete control over the look.

Tweets and your content are loaded separately to ensure a delayed response from Twitter doesn't slow down your website.

Now compatibile with Version 1.1 of the Twitter API.

App.net users might like the Rapid ADN Widget.

Can I customise the HTML output?

Yes, you can create the JavaScript function RapidTwitter.generate_html and the Rapid Twitter Widget will defer to your custom script.

Your custom function will need to be defined prior to the Rapid Twitter Widget JavaScript file loading.

Start your file:

if(typeof(RapidTwitter)=='undefined'){RapidTwitter={};}

RapidTwitter.generate_html = function (screen_name, tweets) {
    return '<li>Hello</li>';
}

You can convert Twitter entities by calling the function RapidTwitter.process_entities( tweet ) and obtain the relative time with the function RapidTwitter.relative_time(time).

Why have you re-written the Wickett Twitter Widget plugin?

The Wickett Twitter Widget has been grandfathered by Automattic and moved into their mega-plugin Jetpack. I like the simplicity of the Twitter widget but do not wish to use other Jetpack features.

I switched to using JavaScript to load tweets as the original widget could slow down page load if Twitter's API was taking too long to respond.

Can multiple instances of the widget be used?

Yes.

Can private Twitter accounts be used?

No. The widget does not support authenticated requests for private data.

I see less than the requested number of Tweets displayed

Twitter may return less than the requested number of Tweets if the requested account has a high number of @replies in its user timeline.

What's with the strange class names like .tweet__mention and .tweet__mention--reply?

The widget uses the BEM naming convention for class names, which has been nicely summarised by Nicolas Gallagher.

They're a little strange at first but I find them surprisingly useful.

1.2.1

• Removes cross-site scripting bug reported by Sjoerd Koelewijn

1.2

• Uses version 1.1 of the Twitter API.

1.1

• Fixes bug preventing multiple widgets appearing on a single page.

0.3.3

• Store the widget HTML element on page load. Earlier version presumed class names that may not exist.

0.3.2

• Suppress http error code and check myself

0.3.1

• Use timesince class on datestamp for backward compatibility

0.3

• Add trimmed user flag to API call.
• Add version constant

0.2

• Add tweet entities

0.1

• Initial version duplicating Automattic's original.

1. Upload to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. Go the the settings page ( Settings > Rapid Twitter Widget ) for instructions on setting up the Twitter API.