Mentor Patch Adds Widget Feature

Want headlines from Mentor Patch delivered directly to your blog or website? Now, you can stream all the Mentor news — or just certain categories — directly there for you and your visitors. It was one several changes made to the Mentor Patch site this past week that also includes a news feed from other Patch sites in Northeast Ohio.

With a new widget feature, you can create a box that's easily insertable into blogs and web pages. It's also customizable by topic, so if you just want sports, you can limit  it to sports or if you just want police and fire news, you get police and fire news. Just scroll down to the bottom of the main page and click on "Widgets" to find the directions of how to insert the news feed. Or click here.

And for those who might still might be wondering: What is a widget (also, called gadgets in Blogger)? Not far from its mechanical origins, here's how our experts explain it:

"A widget is a self-contained piece of HTML code that you can embed into your site to add a cool new feature. All you have to do is paste the code into your web site. Patch's first widget offering is a News feed, but there are all sorts of widgets out there, including clock widgets, countdown widgets, and lots of other fun features."

Why would you want one? Again, the experts:

"Depending on what it does, a widget can add awesome functionality or content to your site, with you barely lifting a finger to get it. For example, our first Patch widget is a cool local news feed. So if you have a local business, government or school web site, or maybe a local blog, the Patch News Widget can be an easy source of awesome local content for your site."

In addition to widgets, the site also added a news feeds for four Northeast Ohio sites: Hillcrest Patch, Beachwood Patch, Solon Patch and Cleveland Heights Patch. News doesn't stop at the Mentor border and neither does Patch. We hope these feeds will keep you apprised of other close-by communities that we also cover.