In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this section we will continue configuring other frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Widget
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on your sidebar navigation section.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on your sidebar navigation section. All you need to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation section, we recommend setting up the Post Categoriessection first …
(Categories Panel)
Note: We plan to provide a tutorial that explains how to configure WordPress post categories.
Configure your categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the 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 the sidebar section. (2)
- You can leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Load the site in your browser or refresh your page to see how the Categories widget will display to your blog readers …
(Categories widget added to sidebar menu)
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 unticked.
- 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
The Recent Posts widget typically displays on the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on your Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s very little to set up here. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy with the default Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter the number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
Your most recent posts will now display to visitors on your sidebar menu …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar section)
To learn how to create WordPress Posts, see this tutorial: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding Links To Your Site’s Main Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar area showing links to your site’s pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget area …
(Inserting a Pages widget into your sidebar section)
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 page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from being visible on the sidebar navigation section (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 prevent certain pages from showing to visitors, type in the Page Ids for the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial about how to find a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Locate The Page Or Post ID In Your WP Site
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the blog’s main pages will now show in your sidebar navigation menu …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar area. This is handy if you want to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Sidebar Navigation Area
Now, we’ll add a widget to your WordPress sidebar navigation section that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding the Links widget to the sidebar, you will first need to configure your Links section inside the WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Using the Links feature in WordPress will be covered in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag it to your active area …
(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 the sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar 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 Links Widgets To The Sidebar Navigation Menu)
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 sidebar navigation menu …
(Links added to sidebar)
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 sidebar section.
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This is the end of section 3 of this tutorial series on using Widgets.
Click on this link to view the rest of this tutorial series:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum