In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this section you are going to learn how to configure other frequently-used blog widgets.
Add A Post Categories Section
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories.
The Categories widget already displays on the sidebar navigation section by default. Place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
your categories …
(Post Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to use WordPress post categories.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for your widget as shown below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to use several categories (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unticked. (2)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how your Categories widget will display to site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar section)
Tips:
- Change the default Uncategorized post category to something more meaningful.
- If you use nested categories on your site, you may want to check the Show hierarchy box, otherwise leave this section as is.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section
The Recent Posts widget is typically added to your sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on your Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s really not much to configure in this widget. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you want to use the default setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will be listed on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget on sidebar)
To learn how to create and edit a WordPress Post, see this tutorial: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget To Your Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar navigation menu)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide selected pages on the sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing in the widget, type or paste in the Page Ids for all the pages you want to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
How to find a WordPress post or page ID is explained in this step-by-step tutorial: How To Locate A Post Or Page ID In WordPress
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your site’s main pages will now show in your sidebar navigation area …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation area. This is handy if you want to display separate groups of pages on your sidebar navigation section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Next, let’s add a widget to your WordPress sidebar that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding the Links widget to the sidebar navigation area, you will first need to configure your Links feature inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring and using Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your active area …
(Making Links Widget active)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable options, including the ability to specify what information to show about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar as you want. As you will see in a moment, this lets you create and display specific lists of links on your site …
(Add Multiple Links Widgets To The Sidebar)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Links widget: ‘Sort by:’ drop-down menu)
You can also create and display a list of items for a specific category, by selecting a link category from the ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to WordPress sidebar)
As the above example shows, you can display specific external links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple lists of links to the WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial series.
Click here to continue reading:
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