As we’ve discussed in this article, there are so many great things about choosing the WordPress web publishing software for building, managing and growing a website. One of these is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, enhance your site, and reconfigure your site’s layout without requiring web programming skills and knowledge.
WordPress gives you the ability to easily insert, remove, and reorganize content from your website’s sidebar (or header and footer sections too, depending on what theme is installed on the site) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site’s sidebar area (plus headers and footers and other areas, depending on the WordPress theme you have installed) like:
- list of pages
- blog post categories
- archives
- menus
- links to resources
- most read posts
- post comments
- clickable ad banners
- quotations
- surveys & polls
- RSS content excerpts
- newsletter subscription form
- product images
- twitter feeds
- add widgets from other sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WP widgets make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what widgets are, how they work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, see this article:
In this step-by-step tutorial we show you how to use and configure various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
Using Widgets In WordPress
Widgets – The Basics
Before we show you how to configure widgets, let’s first cover some of the basic concepts about how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide areas in your theme’s layout where widgets can be added to, such as the sidebar, header area, and the footer area. Depending on your theme, widgets can sometimes also get added inside the content area …
(Many WordPress themes provide multiple widget-enabled areas)
These widgetized layouts correspond to a feature inside the Widget administration screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Screen
The Widgets area displays a list of all the widgets that can be used on your site.
The right-hand section of the window displays all “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets by dragging and dropping)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag & drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. instantly become active and can be used to perform their function on your site.
In addition, the Widgets panel includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to use on your site. Inactive widgets do not lose their pre-configured settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets With Drag And Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, rearrange and remove things using widgets just by dragging and dropping items in the Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reorder your theme’s layout with drag and drop ease.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- An opt-in form,
- A contact support banner, and
- A ‘click to call’ section from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features on your site display)
Looking inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features display on the site’s sidebar area in exactly the same order as they have been arranged in the active widget area …
If we change the order the above widgets in the Active Widget Area using drag-and-drop …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in your widget area)
The widgets have now been reorganized in the sidebar navigation section …
This immediately reorganizes the order of items in the site’s sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar layout with widgets can help to improve your site’s user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now the first item on the sidebar, and the support section (2) is located above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Reorganizing sidebar layout with widgets can help improve user experience)
Deleting Widgets From The Sidebar Menu
Removing widgets from your WordPress sidebar area is really easy.
For example, let’s show you how to delete the Search widget from your sidebar …
(WordPress Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Delete your WP widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove widgets)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want removed from the sidebar. You can always reinstate a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be further customized. This can include things like making certain types of information hidden to visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to toggle between expanding and collapsing the item …
(Toggles expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove the widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add something like an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no customization)
Previewing Your Widgets
Depending on the theme you use, you can also manage and customize widgets without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you are happy with your customizations before making any permanent changes to your site.
The ability to manage widgets from your dashboard is a valuable feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how your widget content will appear before publishing any changes (and avoid making mistakes), or manage your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(preview widget changes live in the Customize section)
If you need to make changes to your site while viewing the front-end, just click on the Customize link …
(Customize your site quickly)
This brings you to the Customizer section in the backend.
You can do many edits, modifications and adjustments to the widgets in preview mode (like inserting, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and it will all be done in real time. If you like what you have done, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will instantly become available to your site visitors.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
Once you have saved your changes, WordPress will automatically update the widget settings and display your latest changes to your site visitors.
Since WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar.
Also, remember to use the Customizer feature to preview all changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you work through this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to learn how to begin configuring a number of frequently-used sidebar widgets in WordPress.
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This is the end of part 1 of this tutorial series.
To continue, 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)
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