contributor/editor/author widget

I wound up replacing the wp_list_authors() function. It went pretty smoothly. Here’s the function I made (sorry, it’s long):

function custom_list_authors_2($args = '', $user_levels) {
	global $wpdb;

	$defaults = array(
		'optioncount' => false, 'exclude_admin' => true,
		'show_fullname' => false, 'hide_empty' => false,
		'feed' => '', 'feed_image' => '', 'feed_type' => '', 'echo' => true,
		'style' => 'list', 'html' => true
	);

	$r = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );
	extract($r, EXTR_SKIP);
	$return = '';

	$user_levels = implode(',', $user_levels);
	$contributors = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT user_id from $wpdb->usermeta WHERE meta_key = 'wp_user_level' AND meta_value IN ($user_levels)" . ($exclude_admin ? " AND user_login <> 'admin' " : '') );

	$contributor_IDs = array();
	foreach ( (array) $contributors as $contributor )
	{
		$contributor_IDs[] = $contributor->user_id;
	}

	$contributor_IDs = implode(',', $contributor_IDs);

	/** @todo Move select to get_authors(). */
	$authors = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT ID, user_nicename from $wpdb->users WHERE ID IN ($contributor_IDs)" . ($exclude_admin ? " AND user_login <> 'admin' " : '') . "ORDER BY display_name");

	$author_count = array();
	foreach ((array) $wpdb->get_results("SELECT DISTINCT post_author, COUNT(ID) AS count FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_type = 'post' AND " . get_private_posts_cap_sql( 'post' ) . " GROUP BY post_author") as $row) {
		$author_count[$row->post_author] = $row->count;
	}

	foreach ( (array) $authors as $author ) {

		$link = '';

		$author = get_userdata( $author->ID );
		$posts = (isset($author_count[$author->ID])) ? $author_count[$author->ID] : 0;
		$name = $author->display_name;

		if ( $show_fullname && ($author->first_name != '' && $author->last_name != '') )
			$name = "$author->first_name $author->last_name";

		if( !$html ) {
			if ( $posts == 0 ) {
				if ( ! $hide_empty )
					$return .= $name . ', ';
			} else
				$return .= $name . ', ';

			// No need to go further to process HTML.
			continue;
		}

		if ( !($posts == 0 && $hide_empty) && 'list' == $style )
			$return .= '<li>';
		if ( $posts == 0 ) {
			if ( ! $hide_empty )
				$link = $name;
		} else {
			$link = '<a href="' . get_author_posts_url($author->ID, $author->user_nicename) . '" title="' . sprintf(__("Posts by %s"), esc_attr($author->display_name)) . '">' . $name . '</a>';

			if ( (! empty($feed_image)) || (! empty($feed)) ) {
				$link .= ' ';
				if (empty($feed_image))
					$link .= '(';
				$link .= '<a href="' . get_author_feed_link($author->ID) . '"';

				if ( !empty($feed) ) {
					$title = ' title="' . $feed . '"';
					$alt = ' alt="' . $feed . '"';
					$name = $feed;
					$link .= $title;
				}

				$link .= '>';

				if ( !empty($feed_image) )
					$link .= "<img src=\"$feed_image\" style=\"border: none;\"$alt$title" . ' />';
				else
					$link .= $name;

				$link .= '</a>';

				if ( empty($feed_image) )
					$link .= ')';
			}

			if ( $optioncount )
				$link .= ' ('. $posts . ')';

		}

		if ( !($posts == 0 && $hide_empty) && 'list' == $style )
			$return .= $link . '</li>';
		else if ( ! $hide_empty )
			$return .= $link . ', ';
	}

	$return = trim($return, ', ');

	if ( ! $echo )
		return $return;
	echo $return;
}

Stick this code at the top of your file and call it in place of wp_list_authors(). The added parameter is an array of user levels to select for. 10 = admin, 7 = editor, 2 author, 1 = contributor. The query probably could have been done better, but it saved me lot of time in writing it. Hopefully, somebody will find this useful.

–removed (sigh) —