PHP Code for an Author Sidebar Module for a Multi-Author WordPress Blog

I just got a DM from fellow Geek Estate contributor Josh Ferris and thought it best to just answer the question publicly rather than privately given that it’s a question I myself had awhile back.

Question: “what plug-in did you use for the author sidebar [module] on GEB? I’d like to have something similar for a multi-author blog I’m working on.”

Answer: It’s not a plug-in, but some custom PHP code that originated with Cory Miller and was iterated upon by one of Zillow’s developers (@henryrose) as part of developing the theme for Mortgages Unzipped. Since I actually spent a fair amount of time searching for sample code or a plug-in to accomplish this and came away with nothing, I thought I might as well post the full code here to save others time in the future. Here’s the code:

<h2>Recent Contributors</h2>
<div>
<?php

$limit = ’10′;
$query = “select post_author as ID, max(post_date)
from $wpdb->posts
where post_type = ‘post’ and post_status = ‘publish’
group by post_author
order by 2 desc
limit $limit;”;
$usersinfo = $wpdb->get_results($query);
foreach($usersinfo as $userinfo){
$user = get_userdata($userinfo->ID);
$user->postcount = $userinfo->postcount;
?>

<div>
<?php if( $user->aim != ”){ ?>
<img width=”57″ alt=”<?php echo $user->aim; ?>”   src=”<?PHP echo $user->aim; ?>” />
<? }else{
?>
<img width=”57″ alt=”no image”   src=”http://www.geekestateblog.com/images/blankphoto.jpg” />
<?php } ?>
<ul>
<li><strong><?php echo $user->first_name;  ?> <?php echo     $user->last_name;  ?> </strong></li>

<?php if ($user->yim != ”){  ?>
<li><a href=”<?PHP echo $user->user_url; ?>”><?PHP echo $user->yim; ?></a></li>
<? } ?>

<?php if ($user->jabber != ”){ ?>
<li><a href=”<?PHP echo $user->jabber ?>”>Blog</a></li>
<? } ?>

<li> <a rel=”nofollow” href=”http://www.geekestateblog.com/author/<?PHP echo $user->user_login ?>”>View Posts</a> | <a rel=”nofollow” href=”<?php echo get_author_feed_link($user->ID); ?>”>RSS</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<?php
}
?>
</div>

As you may or may not know, I’m a huge advocate of guest blogging and multi-author blogs (I also run myKRO.org), so very much understand the importance of giving authors as much recognition and exposure as possible for their time. Of course, if there is a great plug-in that offers similar functionality, please leave a link to it in the comments!