Plugin profile · observed daily since 02 Aug 2026
Multicolumn Category Widget
Active installs300+ rounded
Current authorArno Welzel
Owner changesNone while we have been watching
Last release15 days ago 13 Aug 2026
Support— no recent threads
Releases on record30
Rating4.2 /5 · 5
Added to directory08 Apr 2014
Requires WP3.6
Requires PHPfalse
Version lag0 up to date
Tested up toWP 7.1 up to date
PluginPedia reports published data and observable changes. It does not rate plugin quality or safety, infer intent, or make recommendations. These are observations rather than a verdict. How this works
Ownership
Held by Arno Welzel throughout, with no change of ownership observed since daily tracking began on 02 Aug 2026.
Full observed history, including every field transition
Committing accounts
Read from the plugin’s public release log, so these predate this registry. A committing account is not an owner. Thirty accounts commit to WooCommerce and it has never changed hands.
| Account | Releases | First | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| awelzel | 30 | 08 Apr 2014 | 13 Aug 2026 |
This registry did not observe a transfer; it read these names off a public log. Whether that reflects a change of ownership is not something the directory publishes.
Adoption
How widely the plugin is installed, and what the people running it think of it. WordPress.org rounds install figures to one significant digit, so they describe an order of magnitude rather than a headcount.
Small but established: 300+ active installs. Enough sites to show it works in the wild, too few for adoption to say much on its own.
6 downloads a day over the last 7 days, falling 84% against the 7 days before. Downloads are counted exactly and without a ceiling, so they show movement the rounded install figure cannot.
08 Aug 2026peak 210/day28 Aug 2026
Daily record
Every field we record, one column per observation. Fields that never moved are named once rather than repeated across every column. A row of identical numbers would be padding.
| Field | 15 Aug | 16 Aug | 17 Aug | 18 Aug | 19 Aug | 20 Aug | 21 Aug | 22 Aug | 23 Aug | 24 Aug | 25 Aug | 26 Aug | 27 Aug | 28 Aug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downloads that day | — | 11 | 11 | 11 | 23 | 0 | 22 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 12 |
Unchanged throughout: ratings total (5) · active installs (300+) · version (1.0.29) · support threads (0) · threads resolved (0)
27 days of observation, most recent 14 shown.
Maintenance
When it was last released, and how far its declared compatibility has drifted from current WordPress.
Added to directory12 years ago 08 Apr 2014
Requires WP3.6
Requires PHPfalse
Version lagcurrent
Is anyone still maintaining this?
- Last released 13 Aug 2026, 15 days ago.
- Declares compatibility with WordPress 7.1, which is current.
- The same account maintains 4 other plugins, 4 of which were updated in the last 90 days. the account is active.
A plugin that does one thing correctly may need no changes for years; a long gap is not, by itself, evidence of neglect.
History
Everything dated that this registry holds about the plugin, most recent first. Releases carry the author’s own release date; everything else is dated to when it was observed.
Entries marked from the release log predate this registry, and daily observation began 02 Aug 2026. They were read from the plugin’s public SVN history after the fact, not watched as they happened. Everything else was observed directly.
- 13 Aug 202615 days agoVersion 1.0.29 released
- 02 Aug 202626 days agoFirst observed by PluginPediaDaily snapshots of this plugin’s directory record begin here. Everything above this line is observed; anything before it comes from fields the API itself reports.
- 27 May 20263 months agoVersion 1.0.28 released
- 14 Dec 20258 months agoVersion 1.0.27 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 28 Apr 202516 months agoVersion 1.0.26 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 27 Dec 202420 months agoVersion 1.0.24 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 27 Dec 202420 months agoVersion 1.0.25 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 19 Jul 20242 years agoVersion 1.0.23 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 28 Jun 20242 years agoVersion 1.0.22 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 14 Aug 20233 years agoVersion 1.0.21 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 20 Mar 20233 years agoVersion 1.0.20 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 19 Aug 20215 years agoVersion 1.0.19 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 08 May 20197 years agoVersion 1.0.18 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 14 Apr 201610 years agoVersion 1.0.17 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 20 Dec 201510 years agoVersion 1.0.16 releasedfrom the release logCommitted by awelzel.
- 08 Apr 201412 years ago16 earlier releasesfrom the release logBetween 08 Apr 2014 and 19 Nov 2015. Listed individually in the public release log rather than here.
- 08 Apr 201412 years agoAdded to the WordPress.org directoryReported by the plugin API as the date this plugin was added.
What we know, and what we don’t
Everything on this page in one place, including the gaps, so that nothing here is mistaken for a clean bill of health.
What we know
- It has been held by Arno Welzel for all 27 days we have observed it.
- It was last released 15 days ago (13 Aug 2026).
- Its author declares it tested up to WordPress 7.1, which is current.
- WordPress.org reports 300+ active installs.
- It carries 5 ratings, averaging 4.2 out of 5.
What we don’t know yet
- No forum threads were open in the two months we measure, so how responsive its support is cannot be said. One new thread starts answering that.
Every record on this site, this one included, works under the same limits. We read what WordPress.org publishes about a plugin, never the plugin’s own code, so nothing here says whether a plugin is well built or safe. Install counts reach us already rounded; a change smaller than a band step doesn’t show. We don’t track security advisories yet. For anything older than our first observation we rely on the plugin’s public release log, where one exists. What this registry can and cannot see
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Reach out about this record
Corrections, missing context, or anything else about Multicolumn Category Widget: a person reads every submission, and corrections get a reply within 5 business days.