In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this section you will learn how to configure other commonly-used blog widgets.
Adding Categories
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Post Categories on the sidebar.
The Categories widget displays on your sidebar by default. 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 …
(WordPress Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar navigation area, we recommend configuring your categories inside the WP dashboard …
(Post Categories)
Note: We plan to create a step-by-step tutorial if you need help on how to set up and use post categories.
Configure the Categories settings for your widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to have many categories, check Display as dropdown (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 unchecked. (2)
- Leave the other options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or reload the page to see how your Categories widget will display to visitors …
(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 box, otherwise leave this box unchecked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, enable 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 displays on the sidebar menu by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really not much to configure in this widget. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy to use 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 WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will appear on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar)
For a tutorial on how to create a WordPress Post, go here: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Displaying Your Site’s Main Pages In Your Sidebar Navigation Section
Next, let’s 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 widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar navigation area)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site Info“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to prevent pages from showing on your sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using one of the other options, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent certain pages from displaying in the widget, type in the Page Ids for the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
For a step-by-step tutorial about how to find a WordPress post or page ID, go here: How To Locate The Post Or Page 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 blog’s main pages will now show on your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation menu. This is helpful if you need to display different groups of pages on the sidebar section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Sidebar
Now, let’s add a widget to the sidebar navigation menu to display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend setting up the Links section first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up and use Links.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar …
(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 area …
(WordPress 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 …
( WordPress Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to WordPress 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 the sidebar navigation section.
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This is the end of part 3 of this series of tutorials on using WordPress widgets.
To view the rest of this tutorial, click this link:
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