In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial you are going to configure other WordPress widgets.
How To Add A Post Categories Widget To The Blog Sidebar
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable help button, let’s configure a widget for your Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar menu. All you have to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(Post Categories widget)
your your WordPress categories …
(Post Categories)
Note: Configuring WordPress post categories will be explained in separate tutorials.
Configure your Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of the widget content by displaying all categories in 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 remaining options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how your sidebar categories will look to your 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 box, otherwise leave this box unchecked.
- 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
The Recent Posts widget displays on the sidebar area by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on its title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s not much to set up. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you want to use the default Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter a number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The number of posts you’ve specified will now display to visitors on the sidebar menu …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to sidebar section)
How to create WordPress Posts is explained here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget To The Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display the pages on your site.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar navigation section)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Sections“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide pages on your sidebar (3) …
(WordPress 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 …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude pages from showing on your widget, just type their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
How to find a WordPress page ID is covered in this tutorial: How To Locate A Page Or Post ID In WordPress
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your main pages will now display on the sidebar navigation area …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar menu. This is useful if you would like to display separate page groups on your sidebar section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To Your WordPress Sidebar
Now, we’ll add a widget to display external links on your WordPress sidebar area.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar menu, you will first need to configure the Links section inside your WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it 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 navigation section …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar section 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 Navigation Area)
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 to update your settings. Your widget will become immediately visible on your site …
(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 your WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial series on how to use Widgets.
To keep reading, click here:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)