Building a Custom Elementor WooCommerce Collection Widget – Tutorial Series

# Introduction

Welcome to this comprehensive tutorial series on building a custom Elementor widget for WooCommerce! In this series, you’ll learn how to create a “Collection Products” widget from scratch that displays WooCommerce products in a beautiful Pinterest-style grid layout with custom collection images, filtering, and sorting capabilities.

# What You’ll Build

By the end of this tutorial series, you’ll have created a fully functional Elementor widget that:

• • Displays WooCommerce products in a responsive 2-column grid layout

• Supports custom “collection” images separate from product featured images
• Shows featured images on hover (for portrait products)
• Includes client-side filtering by colors and sizes
• Provides sorting options (price low to high, high to low)
• Features a slide-in filter panel
• Displays product color swatches
• Works seamlessly across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices

The Elementor WooCommerce Collection Widget

# Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial series, you should have:

• Basic understanding of PHP (WordPress/WooCommerce development)
• Familiarity with JavaScript and jQuery
• Understanding of HTML and CSS
• Basic knowledge of WordPress hooks and filters
• WordPress installation with admin access
• WooCommerce plugin installed and activated
• Elementor plugin installed and activated
• Hello Biz theme with Hello Biz Child theme set up

# Tutorial Series Structure

Part 1: Setting Up the Development Environment

Learn how to set up your WordPress development environment, install necessary plugins, and create the child theme structure for the widget.

Part 2: Understanding Elementor Widget Architecture

Dive into the fundamentals of Elementor widget development, understanding the base class, required methods, and the widget lifecycle.

Part 3: Building the Basic Widget Structure

Create the foundation of your widget by implementing the widget class, registering it with Elementor, and adding basic controls.

Part 4: WooCommerce Product Integration

Learn how to query WooCommerce products, access product data, work with product taxonomies, and display product information.

Part 5: Implementing Custom Product Meta Fields

Add custom meta fields to WooCommerce products including a collection image uploader using the WordPress media library and product orientation settings.

Part 6: Creating the Frontend Rendering

Build the grid layout using CSS Grid, implement the product rendering logic, add color swatches, and create responsive designs.

Part 7: Adding Sorting and Filtering Functionality

Implement client-side JavaScript filtering and sorting, create the filter panel UI, and add touch-friendly interactions.

# Key Concepts Covered

Throughout this series, you’ll learn:

1. Elementor Widget Development
   • Extending \Elementor\Widget_Base
   • Implementing required methods
   • Adding widget controls
   • Rendering frontend output
2. WooCommerce Integration
   • Querying products with WP_Query
   • Working with product data
   • Handling product variations
   • Displaying product meta
3. WordPress Development Best Practices
   • Using WordPress hooks and filters
   • Sanitizing and escaping data
   • Enqueuing scripts and styles
   • Following WordPress coding standards
4. Modern Frontend Development
   • CSS Grid layouts
   • Responsive design with media queries
   • JavaScript DOM manipulation
   • Client-side filtering without AJAX
5. WordPress Media Library
   • Integrating wp.media() API
   • Creating custom media uploaders
   • Handling image selection

# File Structure

By the end of this series, your child theme will have the following structure:

wp-content/themes/hello-biz-child/
├── functions.php                                    # Main theme functions
├── style.css                                        # Child theme styles
├── widgets/
│   └── collection-products/
│       ├── collection-products-register.php         # Widget registration & helpers
│       └── collection-products-widget.php           # Main widget class
├── js/
│   ├── collection-image-uploader.js                # Admin media uploader
│   └── collection-filters.js                       # Frontend filtering & sorting
└── css/
    └── collection.css                              # Widget styles

# Tutorial Format

Each tutorial part includes:

• Clear objectives – What you’ll accomplish in that part
• Step-by-step instructions – Detailed implementation steps
• Code snippets with comments – Well-documented code examples
• Explanations – Understanding of what the code does and why
• Common issues and solutions – Troubleshooting tips
• Testing instructions – How to verify your implementation
• Summary – Key takeaways and what’s next

# Additional Resources

• Elementor Developers Documentation
• WooCommerce Developer Documentation
• WordPress Developer Resources
• WordPress Coding Standards

# Getting Started

Ready to begin? Start with Part 1: Setting Up the Development Environment!

# Support and Feedback

If you encounter any issues or have questions while following this tutorial series, please:

1. Review the troubleshooting sections in each part
2. Check the code examples in the repository
3. Consult the WordPress and Elementor documentation
4. Search for similar issues in WordPress/Elementor forums

Happy coding! Let’s build an amazing WooCommerce widget together!