In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you will learn how to configure other commonly-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
Adding Post Categories
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable help button, let’s configure a widget for your Categories.
The Categories widget already displays on the sidebar area by default. Place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar, we recommend configuring the Categoriesfeature inside your dashboard …
(Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up and using post categories in WordPress.
Configure your categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of your 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)
- 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 …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or refresh your page to see how your Categories widget will look to blog readers …
(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 Section
The Recent Posts widget is typically added to the sidebar area 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 widget)
There is not much to configure in this widget. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy with 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 when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will display on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on blog sidebar)
We provide a tutorial about how to create and edit a WordPress Post here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Displaying Your Site’s Pages
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
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: Hide selected pages 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 …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying in your sidebar, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
For a tutorial on how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Find Post And Page IDs In Your WP Site
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your site’s pages will now appear in your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is helpful if you would like to display different groups of pages on your sidebar navigation area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Next, we’ll add a widget to your WordPress sidebar that displays external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding the Links widget to the sidebar, you will first need to configure the Links feature inside the WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Configuring the WordPress Links feature will be covered in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar 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 section …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the 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 The Sidebar Navigation Area)
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 the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to WordPress 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 lists of links to the WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this series of tutorials.
To view the rest of this tutorial, click here:
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