As we discuss in this article, one of the many benefits of using WordPress is that you can easily add content, improve your site’s functionality, or change the layout of your website without web coding skills required.
WordPress lets you quickly and easily add, delete, and rearrange content in your site’s sidebar (or header and footer sections, 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 theme) like:
- site pages
- content categories
- archive
- customized menus
- links to external sites
- most read posts
- excerpts of recent comments added to posts
- text ads
- user testimonials
- surveys & polls
- RSS content
- shopping cart forms
- images
- Facebook feeds
- add widgets from other sites (e.g. Facebook friends)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WordPress widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WordPress widgets are, how they work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, see this article:
In this tutorial series we show you how to use and configure a number of frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
Using Widgets In WordPress
Widgets – Basic Concepts
Before we explain how to configure widgets, it helps to first make sure that you understand some of the basic concepts about how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Areas
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide areas in your theme’s layout where you can use widgets, such as the sidebar navigation section, header area, and footer. Depending on what theme you are using, widgets can sometimes also be found inside the content area …
(Many themes offer users a number of widgetized sections)
These widget-ready sections correspond to a feature inside your Widget administration area called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Screen
The Widgets area displays a list of all the widgets that are available.
On the right-hand side of the screen, you can see your “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag-and-drop)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive by dragging-and-dropping items to different areas of the panel.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. instantly become active and available for use.
Your Widgets area also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want on your website. Inactive widgets do not lose their settings.
Reorganize Widgets With Drag & Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete widgets by dragging and dropping items from your Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily rearrange the order of your website’s widget-ready areas with drag-and-drop ease.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- A newsletter subscription form,
- A contact support banner, and
- A ‘click to call’ function from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control how certain features on your site display)
If you take a look inside this site’s Widget area, you will see that these features correspond to the order of widgets inside the active widget screen …
If we rearrange the order of the above widgets in the Active Widget Area using drag and drop …
(Drag-and-drop widgets in the widget area to rearrange their order)
The widget features have now been reordered in the sidebar …
This immediately changes the order of items in your sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar elements using widgets can help improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now the first item on the sidebar, and the support graphic banner (2) is located above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Rearranging sidebar layout with widgets can improve your site’s user experience)
Removing Widgets From The WordPress Blog Sidebar Menu
Deleting widgets from your WordPress sidebar menu is very easy.
For example, let’s delete the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To delete a widget from an active Widget area, either expand the widget and click the Delete link …
(Delete a widget)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and into the Inactive Widgets area …
(How to remove widgets)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want removed from the sidebar navigation area. You can always restore a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be customized further. This includes making certain types of information hidden to visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to expand the item …
(Toggles expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove your 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 an optional title …
(Some widgets give you little to no configuration options)
Previewing Your Widgets
Depending upon which theme you have installed on your site, you can also customize and manage widgets without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like what you have done before making any permanent changes to your website.
The ability to manage widgets from your own 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.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize feature)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize your site quickly)
This brings you to the Customizer section in the back-end.
You can do a number of modifications and adjustments in preview mode (like adding, deleting and moving widgets around), and see all changes in real time. If you are happy with the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will instantly become available on your site to visitors.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
After saving changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Because WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install your theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the Customizer feature to preview your changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to start configuring various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
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This is the end of part one of this tutorial series.
Click on this link to continue:
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
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