Hello,
i am desperately trying to find how to make a news widget display in full width on the home page, when the number of posts to display is set to one.
Currently, it displays in 3 columns. If only one post is displaying, it stays in that column, rather than spreading across the width of the page. All help appreciated 
Here the widget.php:
<?php /* * Add function to widgets_init that'll load our widget. */ add_action( 'widgets_init', 'dd_news_widgets' ); /* * Register widget. */ function dd_news_widgets() { register_widget( 'DD_News_Widget' ); } /* * Widget class. */ class dd_news_widget extends WP_Widget { /* ---------------------------- */ /* -------- Widget setup -------- */ /* ---------------------------- */ function DD_News_Widget() { /* Widget settings. */ $widget_ops = array( 'classname' => 'dd_news_widget', 'description' => __('A widget that displays your latest news.', 'localization') ); /* Widget control settings. */ $control_ops = array( 'width' => 300, 'height' => 350, 'id_base' => 'dd_news_widget' ); /* Create the widget. */ $this->WP_Widget( 'dd_news_widget', __('DD News Widget','localization'), $widget_ops, $control_ops ); } /* ---------------------------- */ /* ------- Display Widget -------- */ /* ---------------------------- */ function widget( $args, $instance ) { extract( $args ); /* Our variables from the widget settings. */ $title = apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title'] ); $postcount = $instance['postcount']; $categories = $instance['categories']; $viewall = $instance['viewall']; /* Before widget (defined by themes). */ /* Before widget (defined by themes). */ echo $before_widget; ?>
<?php echo $title ?>
<?php if ($viewall != '') { ?>
<span><a href="<?php echo $viewall ?>"><?php _e('VIEW ALL →', 'localization'); ?></a></span>
<?php } ?>
<?php echo $title ?>
<?php if ($viewall != '') { ?>
<span><a href="<?php echo $viewall ?>"><?php _e('VIEW ALL →', 'localization'); ?></a></span>
<?php } ?>
<ul>
<?php
global $paged;
$arguments = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status' => 'publish',
'paged' => $paged,
'showposts' => $postcount,
'cat' => $categories
);
$blog_query = new WP_Query($arguments);
dd_set_query($blog_query);
?>
<?php if ($blog_query->have_posts()) : while ($blog_query->have_posts()) : $blog_query->the_post(); ?>
<?php
$bigimg = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), ‘bigimg’, true);
?>
<li <?php post_class('dd_news_post'); ?>>
<?php if( $bigimg) { ?>
<div class="postTitleWithImage clearfix">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $bigimg; ?>" alt="" /></a>
<h1><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>
</div>
<?php } else { ?>
<div class="postTitle clearfix">
<h1><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<ul class="metaBtn clearfix">
<li class="widgetAuthor"><a href="<?php echo esc_url( get_author_posts_url( get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ) ) ); ?>" ><span><?php _e('By', 'localization'); ?></span> <?php the_author(); ?></a></li>
<li><a href="<?php echo get_month_link(get_the_time('Y'), get_the_time('m')); ?>"><span><?php _e('On', 'localization'); ?></span> <?php echo the_time('F j, Y'); ?></a></li>
</ul>
<div class="postCategories"> <span><?php _e('Posted In', 'localization'); ?></span> <?php the_category(', ');?> </div>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<a class="continue" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php _e('CONTINUE READING', 'localization'); ?> →</a>
</li>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</ul>
<?php
/* After widget (defined by themes). */
echo $after_widget;
}
/* ---------------------------- */
/* ------- Update Widget -------- */
/* ---------------------------- */
function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
$instance = $old_instance;
/* Strip tags for title and name to remove HTML (important for text inputs). */
$instance['title'] = strip_tags( $new_instance['title'] );
$instance['postcount'] = strip_tags( $new_instance['postcount'] );
$instance['categories'] = strip_tags( $new_instance['categories'] );
$instance['viewall'] = strip_tags( $new_instance['viewall'] );
/* No need to strip tags for.. */
return $instance;
}
/* ---------------------------- */
/* ------- Widget Settings ------- */
/* ---------------------------- */
/**
* Displays the widget settings controls on the widget panel.
* Make use of the get_field_id() and get_field_name() function
* when creating your form elements. This handles the confusing stuff.
*/
function form( $instance ) {
/* Set up some default widget settings. */
$defaults = array(
'title' => 'LATEST NEWS',
‘show_option_all’ => ‘All’,
‘postcount’ => ‘5’,
);
$instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, $defaults ); ?>
<!-- Widget Title: Text Input -->
<p>
<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>"><?php _e('Title:', 'localization') ?></label>
<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'title' ); ?>" value="<?php echo $instance['title']; ?>" />
</p>
<!-- Postcount: Text Input -->
<p>
<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'postcount' ); ?>"><?php _e('Number of posts', 'localization') ?></label>
<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'postcount' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'postcount' ); ?>" value="<?php echo $instance['postcount']; ?>" />
</p>
<p>
<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('categories'); ?>">
<?php _e('Category:', 'ototw'); ?>
<br />
</label>
<?php wp_dropdown_categories(
array(
'name' => $this->get_field_name("categories"),
'selected' => $instance["categories"],
'show_option_all' => 'All',
'hide_if_empty' => 1
)
); ?>
</p>
<!-- Postcount: Text Input -->
<p>
<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'viewall' ); ?>"><?php _e('"View All" button URL', 'localization') ?></label>
<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'viewall' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'viewall' ); ?>" value="<?php echo $instance['viewall']; ?>" />
</p>
<!-- Tweettext: Text Input -->
<?php
}
}
?>