Feature Enhancement Request: Related Listings Widget

Hello eDirectory Team,

First, I'd like to thank your for continuing to improve the platform. I've been building a tourism directory and have found the Related Listings widget to be a valuable feature. D

uring implementation, however, I identified an enhancement that I believe would greatly increase its flexibility while remaining fully backward compatible.

Current Limitation

The Related Listings widget currently supports three display methods:

• By Category

• By Location

• By Category & Location

When By Category or By Category & Location is selected, the widget automatically displays listings from the same category as the page where the widget is placed.

Likewise, when By Location or By Category & Location is selected, the widget automatically uses the same location as the current listing.

While this works well for traditional "related listings," it prevents site owners from displaying complementary content from other categories or locations without custom development.

Proposed Enhancement

Add two optional override fields to the existing widget configuration.

Override Category (Optional)

Display this field whenever:

• By Category

• By Category & Location

is selected.

The field would present a dropdown containing all available listing categories.

Behavior

• If left blank, the widget behaves exactly as it does today by using the current listing's category.

• If a category is selected, the widget displays listings from the selected category instead.

Override Location (Optional)

Display this field whenever:

• By Location

• By Category & Location

is selected.

The field would allow the administrator to select a specific location.

Behavior

• If left blank, the widget behaves exactly as it does today by using the current listing's location.

• If a location is selected, the widget displays listings from that selected location instead.

Suggested Configuration

Display Method

□ By Category

□ By Location

□ By Category & Location

Override Category (Optional)

[Dropdown]

Override Location (Optional)

[Dropdown]

Sort By

[Highest Rated]

Number of Listings

[10]

If either override field is left empty, the widget simply falls back to its current behavior.

Backward Compatibility

One of the biggest advantages of this enhancement is that it is completely optional.

• Existing websites require no changes.

• Existing widgets continue to function exactly as they do today.

• Site owners only use the new functionality when desired.

• No existing implementations would be affected.

Example Use Case

Imagine a visitor viewing a museum listing.

The page could include three Related Listings widgets:

Similar Museums Nearby

• Category: Current Listing Category (default behavior)

• Location: Current Listing Location

Where to Eat Nearby

• Category: Restaurants

• Location: Current Listing Location

Where to Stay Nearby

• Category: Hotels

• Location: Current Listing Location

This allows visitors to discover complementary services that enhance their experience while encouraging them to explore more of the website.

Another example would be a beach listing:

• More Beaches Nearby

• Restaurants Nearby

• Hotels Nearby

All three widgets would use the same location while displaying different categories, creating a much richer browsing experience.

Benefits

This enhancement would:

• Maintain 100% backward compatibility.

• Require no changes to existing websites.

• Build upon the existing Related Listings infrastructure.

• Introduce only minimal UI changes.

• Enable powerful cross-category recommendations.

• Improve internal linking and content discovery.

• Increase visitor engagement and page views.

• Encourage users to explore additional content across the website.

• Give site owners significantly more flexibility without adding unnecessary complexity.

In effect, this enhancement transforms the Related Listings widget from a traditional "related content" widget into a powerful cross-category recommendation engine.

Broader Value

Although my use case is a tourism directory, this enhancement would benefit virtually any directory website, including:

• Tourism

• Business directories

• Real estate

• Healthcare

• Automotive

• Education

• Local services

• Community portals

Any website that organizes content into categories could leverage this functionality to create more relevant and engaging recommendations for its visitors.

Closing

I believe this enhancement would provide substantial value while requiring only a modest extension of the existing widget. Because it builds upon functionality already in place and remains fully backward compatible, it offers a high return on development effort for both the platform and its users.

I've attached annotated screenshots to help illustrate the proposed user interface and expected behavior.

Thank you for your time and for continuing to improve an already excellent platform. I hope you'll consider this enhancement for a future release.