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Dashboard Widgets Suite

By Jeff Starr

Site Administration & Utilities / Site Health & Diagnostics

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Dashboard Widgets Suite Review - In-Depth Analysis

Adds 9 awesome widgets to your WP Dashboard. Includes User Notes, Social Buttons, System Info, Debug/Error Logs, and more!

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.73/10

User Rating

4.9/5 (based on 38+ reviews)

Active Installations

4,000+

Update Frequency

Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

4.33 / 10 (Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

Dashboard Widgets Suite is a powerful plugin that adds nine useful widgets to your WordPress Dashboard. These widgets help streamline your workflow and enhance productivity.

The plugin includes a Control Panel for managing widgets directly from the Dashboard, User Notes for adding and editing notes for any user role, and a Feed Box for displaying and customizing any RSS feed. Other widgets include a Social Box for social links, a List Box for custom lists, a Widget Box for displaying any theme or WordPress widget, System Info for showing system information, and Debug Log and PHP Error Log for managing logs.

Each widget comes with customizable options, allowing you to tailor the display to your needs. The User Notes widget is particularly useful for note takers, offering formats like Text, HTML, or Code. The plugin is designed to be lightweight, fast, and secure, ensuring it integrates seamlessly with your WordPress setup.

Comparing to Alternatives

Dashboard Widgets Suite offers a comprehensive set of dashboard enhancements with several direct alternatives available, each focusing on specific dashboard functionalities.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Comprehensive and multifunctional dashboard widgets.
Lightweight and clean design.
Highly configurable and optional widgets.
Enhances workflow with notes and system info.
Widely praised for usability and efficiency.

Weaknesses

Has had multiple past security vulnerabilities, now fixed.
No pro version with additional premium features.
Some users request more widget instances and menu options.
May be more complex than simpler, single-purpose alternatives.

User Sentiment Analysis

With a near-perfect 4.9 rating from 38 reviews, users overwhelmingly praise the plugin's utility and ease of use, highlighting its positive impact on workflow and server management.

Positive highlights

'Clean, lightweight, and extremely useful' - effex1
'Great for adding notes and checking server load' - jburg3333
'One of the best plugins Jeff could ever devise' - mariushosting
'Instant favorite! Enhances dashboard functionality' - Sebastian "rawsta" Fiele
'Highly recommend you try it out' - TRUmsg

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Past security vulnerabilities including cross-site scripting issues.
No premium version to access advanced features.
Limited support for multiple instances of some widgets.
Lacks optional admin menu integration requested by users.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a versatile and efficient dashboard enhancement plugin that consolidates multiple useful widgets into one lightweight package.

Not ideal for

Those who prefer minimalistic, single-function plugins or require guaranteed zero security risks without past vulnerability history.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version includes a variety of dashboard widgets such as notes, system info, and feed boxes, providing substantial functionality without cost.

Final Verdict

Dashboard Widgets Suite stands out as a highly rated, multifunctional plugin that significantly enhances the WordPress dashboard experience with useful widgets and customization options. Its strong user approval reflects its practical benefits and ease of use.

However, users should be aware of its history of security vulnerabilities, now addressed in recent updates, and the absence of a premium version offering advanced features. Overall, it is a solid choice for users wanting a comprehensive dashboard toolset without additional cost.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Dashboard Widgets Suite plugin.

Dashboard widgets

User notes

Debug logs

Screenshots

FAQ

Yeah maybe, feel free to suggest a widget!

By default, the user may choose which format (text, html, code) they want for each note. To change that, so that only one format is used, add the following code to your theme (or child theme) functions.php, or add via simple custom plugin:

function dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_format_custom($field_default) {      return 'text'; // accepts: text, html, code  } add_filter('dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_format', 'dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_format_custom');

Change text to any accepted format: text, html, or code.

To override the default note styles, add the following code to your theme (or child theme) functions.php, or add via simple custom plugin:

function dashboard_widgets_suite_note_styles_custom($css) {      return '#dws-notes-user .dws-notes-user textarea, #dws-notes-user .dws-notes-user-note { font-size: 18px; }';  } add_filter('dashboard_widgets_suite_note_styles', 'dashboard_widgets_suite_note_styles_custom');

The returned CSS code is just an example, showing use of DWS existing selectors. You can change the CSS to whatever is necessary.

By default, the WordPress debug file is located at /wp-content/debug.log. To change that, add the following code to your theme (or child theme) functions.php, or add via simple custom plugin:

function dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug_path($log) {      return '/whatever/path/debug.log';   } add_filter('dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug_path', 'dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug_path');

Change the path to whatever is necessary.