No links widget in Wordpress 3.5?

[draggar]

I set up a new Wordpress (3.5 - latest version) site the other day and I'm starting to get content added but I noticed that there is no links widget nor is there a links menu in the dashboard.

The site is using a custom theme that I made (like I always do) and there is still no widget or dashboard item when I switch back to the default themes.

I've also reinstalled WP a couple of times (once with the default theme activated) and there is still no widget or dashboard menu.

Any suggestions?

In the dashboard I see Dashboard - Posts - Media - Pages - Comments -- Appearance - Plugins - Users - Tools - Settings

I don't see a setting that could turn the links on or off (but I could be missing one).

 

[iBizStart]

They removed it from 3.5 but you can download it now as a separate plugin. I think it was removed because it's not good to link to external sites using sitewide links which is what most people were using that feature for.

 

[iBizStart]

http://codex.wordpress.org/Links_Manager

To download it:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/link-manager/

 

[draggar]

Thank you both. I'll check into those when I get home. I guess I was only of the only people who used them to link to external sites.

I guess sites upgraded from older versions still have it since this is the first site I've installed 3.5 from scratch?

 

[amplify]

It's not a separate plugin?

It can be found under Appearance -> Widgets -> Links. Drag and drop into the section of your page. Then select the link category, how you want them sorted, misc options and how many links to display.

To add links to a category, go to Links -> Links Categories to add one first (Possibly "Portfolio", "Partners", etc.), then go to Links -> Add New. Put in the URL, description and category to add it to.

See for example on DJW.NET, there are 2 link widgets. One for my portfolio and one for external sites.

Hope this helps or if I understood your question right.

Something doesn't seem right with your WP install. Try Dashboard -> Updates -> "Reinstall Now" to see if that corrects the problem...

....


My bad, it is a plugin for 3.5. When I install WP, I use cPanel and it puts on 2.6 or something (which includes the blogroll), so when I update, it remains.

 

[draggar]

Correct, it's on all of my other sites which were installed pre-3.5 but with the new site I made with 3.5 it is not there so the two options are:

Install a pre 3.5 version and then upgrade after the install or get a plugin. I just wonder if it has any performance issues / differences than it being internal as opposed to the plugin?

 

[amplify]

With a 10mbit+ port and dedicated server, installing a pre 3.5 with a click of the button in cPanel with the option of configuring admin username and password and then a 3.5 upgrade with another click of the button in the dashboard is by far easier than uploading a whole install and going through the process. I believe it would take 10 minutes to do a complete install of 3.5 and 1-3 minutes for a pre 3.5 to 3.5 upgrade.

Then, if you do choose to install 3.5 from scratch, you need to search for the plugin and install that as well adding more time to your schedule if you want the links widget.

Time vs. convenience.

 

[draggar]

I'm not worried about performance on my end, I'm worried about the visitor's experience and their time. I'm sure the difference is minimal for 99% of the people, maybe a ms or two different?

 

[amplify]

That all varies on server configuration, server load, memory limit, connection, server location, etc. I highly doubt there is any performance difference between a pre 3.5 to 3.5 upgrade than a fresh 3.5 install adding a plugin. If anything, adding a plugin may cause it to slow down possibly by adding different/more hooks?

Probably something that needs to be tested because that ms or two make a difference for both user experience and SERPS.

 

[amplify]

And if you're worried about that ms or two, there is always PHP caching which will speed up dynamic sites dramatically.

 

[draggar]

http://codex.wordpress.org/Links_Manager

To download it:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/link-manager/

I just installed that and it's working great.

Thank you.