As we discuss in this post, there are lots of great things about using the WordPress CMS platform to build and manage a website or blog. One of these is that you can easily add content, enhance your site, and reconfigure the site’s layout with no web programming skills required.
WordPress lets you easily insert, remove, and reorganize content on your site’s sidebar menu (and 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:
- nested page lists
- blog post categories
- blog post archive
- menus that display only the pages you choose
- links to external sites
- links to recent posts
- recent comments
- text ads
- client testimonials
- survey questions & results
- RSS content excerpts
- customers login section
- videos
- twitter feeds
- display widgets from other sites (e.g. Facebook)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WP widgets are, how they work and why they make managing your site easier, see this article:
In this step-by-step tutorial series we teach you how to use and configure a number of commonly-used WordPress widgets.
How To Use WordPress Widgets
The Basics
Before we show you how to configure widgets, it helps to first go over some of the basics about using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Areas
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide built-in areas in the theme’s layout where you can use widgets, such as the sidebar, header area, and footer. Depending on what theme you are using, widgets can sometimes also be found below or above the content area …
(Many WP themes offer users a number of widget sections)
These widgetized sections correspond to a feature inside the Widget management panel called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
The Widgets Screen
The Widgets panel displays all the widgets that are currently available for use on your site.
The right-hand section of the screen displays all “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging & dropping)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag & drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like the sidebar, footer, etc. become active and available for use.
The Widgets screen also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to use on your site. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete widgets by dragging and dropping items from the Widgets section …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reconfigure the order and layout of your theme’s widgetized areas with drag & drop ease.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this site, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- A newsletter subscription form,
- A click for support button, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features on your site display)
If we were to peek inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features display on the site’s sidebar menu in the same order as they have been arranged in the back-end widget section …
If we reorganize these widgets in the Main Sidebar Widget Area using drag & drop …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widgets have now been reordered in your sidebar …
This immediately changes the layout of the sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar elements using widgets can help to improve your site’s user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now at the top of the sidebar, and the ‘contact us’ graphic button (2) now sits above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar layout using widgets to improve user experience)
Deleting Widgets From Your WordPress Blog Sidebar
Removing widgets from the sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s show you how to remove the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To remove an active widget, you can either open up the widget and click the Delete link …
(Deleting your widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Removing your WP widgets)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want to remove from the sidebar section. You can always reinstate a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be further customized. This includes making certain types of information hidden to site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Clicking on the little triangle in the corner of a widget toggles between expanding and collapsing the item and displays the widget’s settings …
(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 settings …
(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 configurable options)
Customize Widgets Section
Depending on the WordPress theme you have installed, 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 what you see before making any permanent changes to your website.
The ability to manage widgets from within the WP 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 (to avoid making errors), or change your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(preview widget changes in the Customize feature)
When viewing your site on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize your site quickly)
This brings you to the Customizer area in the backend.
You can do a number of modifications and adjustments in preview mode (like inserting, removing and moving widgets around), and this will all be done 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.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
Once you have saved your changes, WordPress will automatically update the widget settings and display the new changes to your site visitors.
Since the WordPress theme you choose tend to affect how elements display on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview your 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, it’s time 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 one of this tutorial series on how to use Widgets.
To view Part Two, click this link:
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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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