In Part 1 of this tutorial, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this section you are going to learn how to configure other default widgets.
Add Categories
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable contact button, let’s configure a widget for your Categories.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar section. All you have to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar navigation menu, we recommend configuring your categories first …
(Post Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on using post categories in WordPress.
Configure your categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to add several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of the 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 this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or reload the page to see how your content 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 unticked.
- 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 Section
The Recent Posts widget typically displays on the sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on your Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really not much to set up here. 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 change the number of posts and click Save …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
Your most recent posts will be listed on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to sidebar navigation section)
A tutorial is provided on creating and editing WordPress Posts here: How To Create A New WordPress Post
Add A Pages Widget To The Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar 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 display above your links (e.g. “Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide selected pages on the sidebar menu (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To prevent certain pages from showing in your sidebar, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to find a WordPress post or page ID, go here: Finding WordPress Page And Post IDs
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your main pages will now appear in your sidebar navigation section …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar navigation area. This is handy if you need to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On Your Sidebar Navigation Section
Next, we’ll add a Links widget to the sidebar area.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, you will first need to configure the Links feature inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to create a separate step-by-step tutorial that shows you how to use the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the widget 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 …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your 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)
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 …
( WordPress Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to sidebar section)
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 navigation menu.
***
This is the end of section three of this tutorial series on how to use Widgets.
To view Part 4, click this link:
***
"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya