As we explain in this post, there are loads of benefits in using the WordPress CMS platform to manage and grow a business online. One of these is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, expand your site’s functionality, and rearrange the layout of your website without the need to have code editing skills.

WordPress allows you to easily add, remove, and rearrange content on your site’s sidebar navigation menu (or header and footer sections too, depending on what theme you are using) using widgets.

Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site like:

• index of pages
• categories
• archive
• menus that display only the pages you choose
• links to resources
• posts that you want to promote
• user comments
• advertising
• client testimonials
• surveys
• RSS content excerpts
• newsletter registration form
• images
• twitter feeds
• display widgets from external sites (e.g. Facebook)
• administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)

(Widgets make managing and using WordPress easy)

To learn more about what widgets are, how widgets work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, see this article:

• Using WordPress: Everything You Need To Know About WordPress Widgets

In this step-by-step tutorial series we will show you how to use and configure a number of commonly-used WordPress widgets.

How To Use Widgets In WordPress

Widgets – The Basics

Before we get into configuring and using widgets, it helps to first cover some of the basic concepts about using widgets:

Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts

Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide widget-ready sections in the theme’s layout where you can use widgets, such as the sidebar, header area, and footer. Depending on the theme installed on your site, widgets can also be added below or above the content area …

(Many themes offer users multiple widget-ready sections)

These widget-ready areas correspond to a feature inside the Widget management screen called “Widget Areas” …

(Widget Areas)

Widgets Panel

The Widgets area displays all the widgets that you currently have available.

The right-hand section of the screen displays your “active” widgets …

(Activate or deactivate widgets by dragging and dropping)

Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive by dragging & dropping items to different areas of the widgets screen.

Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like the sidebar, footer, etc. become immediately available for use.

The Widgets area also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to actively display on your website. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.

Rearrange WordPress Widgets With Drag And Drop

You can easily add functionality to your site, and activate, deactivate, reorder and remove widgets using drag & drop in the Widgets area …

(Rearrange widgets on your WordPress site using drag and drop)

You can also easily reorder your theme’s layout using drag & drop.

For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:

1. An opt-in form,
2. A click for support button, and
3. A ‘click to call’ feature from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …

(Widgets control how certain features on your site appear)

If we look inside this site’s Widget area, you will see that these features appear on the site in exactly the same order as their corresponding widgets have been arranged in the active widget area …

Let’s now change the above widgets in the Main Sidebar Widget Area using drag-and-drop …

(Drag & drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)

The widget features have now been reordered in the sidebar …

This instantly changes the layout of the site’s sidebar.

Reorganizing sidebar elements using widgets can help to improve visitor experience.

Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now the first item on the sidebar, and the support banner (2) is now located above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …

(Rearranging sidebar elements with widgets can help to improve visitor experience)

Removing Widgets From The Sidebar Navigation Section

Deleting widgets from your sidebar navigation menu is really easy.

For example, let’s show you how to delete the Search widget from the sidebar …

(WordPress Search widget)

To delete a widget from an active Widget area, either open up the widget and click the Delete link …

(How to delete widgets)

Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and drop it into the Inactive Widgets section …

(How to remove WordPress widgets)

Repeat this process for all widgets you want removed from your 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. This includes hiding information from users (but allowing access to registered users), displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.

Clicking on the little triangle in the corner of a widget expands the item and displays the widget’s settings …

(Toggling expands/collapse widget settings)

When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, click Delete to remove the widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …

(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 give you little to no configurable options)

Theme Customizer

Depending on the WP theme you have installed on your site, you’re also able to preview any changes live without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like what you have done before committing anything to your website or blog.

The ability to manage widgets from within 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 you’ve made (and avoid making mistakes), or configure widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.

(Edit widgets live in the Customize section)

When viewing your site on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …

(Customize link in the toolbar)

This brings you to the Customizer area in the back-end.

You can do many things to widgets in preview mode (like inserting, deleting and moving widgets around), and it’s all done in real time. If you are happy with what you have done, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will then be instantly updated and reflected on your site to visitors.

(Widget management – work in preview mode)

After the changes are saved, WordPress will automatically update the widget settings and display your latest changes to your site visitors.

Because WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install your theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar navigation area.

Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you work through this tutorial (one to work in and one to check how the site is coming along).

Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to configure a number of commonly-used sidebar widgets in WordPress.

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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial series.

To continue reading, click this link:

• Adding And Configuring Widgets On Your WordPress Sidebar Menu – Part 2

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