In Part 1 of this tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this section you will learn how to configure other default WordPress widgets.
How To Add A Categories Section
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar navigation area. All you need to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
your your WordPress categories …
(WordPress Categories)
Note: We plan to provide a tutorial that shows you how to configure and use WordPress post categories.
Configure the Categories settings for your widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many 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 this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or reload the page to see how your sidebar categories will look to site visitors …
(WordPress 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 option, otherwise leave this box unchecked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget typically displays on your sidebar navigation section by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to set up here. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy with the default Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will now display to visitors on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on sidebar)
A tutorial is provided on creating and editing WordPress Posts here: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Display Your Site’s Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation section for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar navigation menu)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- 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: Use this setting to hide pages on your sidebar navigation menu (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 in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude pages from showing to your visitors, simply type their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
We provide a tutorial that show you how to find a WordPress page ID here: How To Find WordPress Post And Page IDs
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the blog’s pages will now appear on your sidebar navigation section …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar section. This is useful if you need to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To The Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar menu that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar menu, we recommend configuring the Links section first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to create separate tutorials about setting up and using the Links feature.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your sidebar …
(Making Links Widget active)
The 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 …
(WordPress 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 WordPress Links Widgets To Your 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 your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to WordPress sidebar area)
As the above example shows, you can display specific links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple link lists to the WordPress sidebar section.
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This is the end of section 3 of this tutorial about how to use Widgets.
Click here to keep reading:
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