Dashboard Widget Generator

<?php
/**
 * The "Site Overview" dashboard widget.
 */

/**
 * Registers the widget.
 */
function my_plugin_add_dashboard_widget() {
	// The dashboard is open to every logged-in user, subscribers included.
	if ( ! current_user_can( 'edit_posts' ) ) {
		return;
	}

	wp_add_dashboard_widget(
		'my_plugin_overview',
		__( 'Site Overview', 'my-plugin' ),
		'my_plugin_dashboard_widget',
		null
	);
}
add_action( 'wp_dashboard_setup', 'my_plugin_add_dashboard_widget' );

/**
 * Prints the widget.
 */
function my_plugin_dashboard_widget() {
	$count = 5;

	echo '<p>' . esc_html__( 'Everything that changed this week.', 'my-plugin' ) . '</p>';

	$recent = get_posts(
		array(
			'post_type'      => 'post',
			'posts_per_page' => $count,
			'post_status'    => 'publish',
			// The dashboard runs on every admin page load, so keep it cheap.
			'no_found_rows'  => true,
		)
	);

	if ( ! $recent ) {
		echo '<p>' . esc_html__( 'Nothing published yet.', 'my-plugin' ) . '</p>';

		return;
	}

	echo '<ul>';

	foreach ( $recent as $item ) {
		printf(
			'<li><a href="%1$s">%2$s</a> <span class="description">%3$s</span></li>',
			esc_url( get_edit_post_link( $item->ID ) ),
			esc_html( get_the_title( $item ) ),
			esc_html( get_the_date( '', $item ) )
		);
	}

	echo '</ul>';
}