In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this section you will learn how to configure other commonly-used WordPress widgets.
Add Categories
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable contact button, let’s configure a widget to display your Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on your sidebar navigation menu. Place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend configuring your post categories first …
(Post Categories Panel)
Note: We plan to create step-by-step tutorials on how to configure and use WordPress post categories.
Configure the Categories settings for this widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the size of the widget content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on your sidebar navigation area. (2)
- You can leave the remaining options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or reload the page to see how the Categories widget will look to your site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar)
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 box unticked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section To The Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget typically displays in the sidebar navigation area by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on its title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is not much to set up in this widget. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy to use the default setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter a number of posts to show and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
Your most recent posts will display on your sidebar menu …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar navigation area)
A tutorial is provided on how to create a WordPress Post here: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation menu to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Inserting a Pages widget into your sidebar menu)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Site Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from being visible on the sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then choose a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying to your visitors, type or paste in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
For a tutorial on how to find a WordPress post or page ID, go here: Finding WordPress Post And Page IDs
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your blog’s pages will now display on your sidebar navigation section …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is handy if you need to display different page groups on the sidebar navigation menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On Your WordPress Sidebar Navigation Section
Next, let’s add a Links widget to display external links on the WordPress sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend configuring the Links feature first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Setting up the Links feature will be explained in other tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the Links 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 the sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar navigation menu 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 WordPress Links Widgets To The Sidebar)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(WordPress 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 the Links Widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your widget will become immediately visible on your WordPress sidebar …
(Links added to sidebar navigation menu)
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 link lists to the WordPress sidebar menu.
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This is the end of section three of this tutorial series.
Click here to continue reading:
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