Update: When you upgrade your Wordpress via Fantastico, it automatically deletes the modified widgets.php. You have to redo it again Sorry but this is the only way. Why not just copy the old version one? This is to ensure that your widgets.php will always follow the lastest version. If you used the older version, I’m afraid it may not work as intendend.

If you have your own site and using Wordpress, you’d probably familiar with themes. Changing themes can be fun and yet sometimes frustrating. One of those is the “Home” link. If you have a long blog sometimes your current theme forces your readers to scroll all the way up to return to the front page. Either by clicking on your blog title or clicking on the home link on the menu. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could put the “Home” link on your side bar? Like in the Meta menu perhaps?

Most of the themes I found put the “Home” link as a standard, so you don’t have to worry about creating one. Still, you might find a theme that is gorgeous but you put it off because the “Home” link is not there– I have.

Digging a little bit into Wordpress source code and into themes that have “Home” link with it, I managed to tweak the Meta menu to include “Home” in it.

This is how (I use Wordpress version 2.2.2, but it should also work with version 2.1):

1. Login to your ftp site account and look for the Wordpress installation. It’s usually under the public_html folder.

2. Go to wp-includes folder and copy widgets.php to your desktop.

3. Open the widgets.php using notepad or a text editor like Notepad++, so you could see the programming code better.

4. Look for function wp_widget_meta($args)

5. Type <li><a href=”<?php echo get_settings(’home’); ?>”>Home</a></li> just above the <?php wp_register(); ?>. Make sure you put it below the <ul> code, otherwise it won’t show as a list item. (Warning: Don’t straight away copy and paste this code from this page. I found an error you do it like this. Simply type the code.

6. Save the file and upload it back to the wp-includes folder (you may be asked to overwrite the existing file, click yes).

7. Whoala! You have “Home” in your meta menu.

Precaution, make a backup copy of the widgets.php before you do any editing on the file. Tip, you can actually arrange the order of the Home link the way you see it fit (perhaps at the buttom of the Meta menu). You can also add other links such as a link to your forum.

Happy blogging!

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