As we have discussed in this post, one of the many benefits of using WordPress is that you can easily add content, enhance your site’s functionality, or redesign the layout of your website without web coding knowledge required.
WordPress gives you the ability to quickly and easily add, remove, and reconfigure various types of content from your blog’s sidebar area (and header and footer sections too, depending on what theme you have installed) 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 you have installed) like:
- list of your web pages
- blog categories
- archived blog posts
- menus displaying only selected pages
- links to resources
- your most read posts
- post comments
- clickable ads
- testimonials
- poll results
- RSS content excerpts
- opt-in subscription form
- video thumbnails
- social media sharing buttons
- add widgets from external sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WordPress widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what widgets are, how widgets work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, go here:
In this tutorial series we explain how to use and configure a number of frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
Using Widgets
Basic Concepts
Before configuring and using widgets, it helps to first review some of the basics about how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide sections in your theme’s layout where widgets can appear, such as the sidebar menu, header area, and the footer area. Depending on the theme installed on your site, widgets can sometimes also be added inside the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users multiple widget-ready areas)
These widgetized sections correspond to a feature inside your Widget management screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Panel
The Widgets area displays all the widgets you can use on your site.
The right-hand section of the window displays the “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging and 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 available for use.
Your Widgets panel also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to actively display on your site. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange WordPress Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete things using widgets using simple drag and drop inside the Widgets area …
(Rearrange widgets on your WordPress site using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reorder your theme’s layout using drag-and-drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- An opt-in form,
- A click for support button, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control how certain features appear on your site)
If you look inside the example site’s Widget area, you will see that these features correspond to the order of widgets inside the active widget section …
If we change these widgets in the Sidebar Widget Area by dragging & dropping some of these items around …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widget features have now been reordered in your sidebar …
This immediately reorganizes the layout of your sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar elements with widgets can help to improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now first the sidebar navigation menu, and the ‘contact us’ section (2) is now found above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar layout with widgets to improve your site’s user experience)
Removing Widgets From The WordPress Blog Sidebar Navigation Area
Removing widgets from your WordPress sidebar section is very easy.
For example, let’s show you how to delete the Search widget from your sidebar menu …
(Search widget)
To delete a widget from an active Widget area, you can either open up the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Deleting a WP widget)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove your widgets)
Repeat this process for all widgets you want removed from the sidebar navigation menu. You can always reinstate widgets by dragging them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be customized. This can include things like 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 …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, delete 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 offer little to no customization)
Theme Customizer
Depending upon which WordPress theme you have installed on your site, you can also preview any changes live without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like the customized edits before committing anything live to your website.
The ability to manage widgets from your own WordPress 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 it (and avoid making errors), or manage your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(preview widget changes in the Customize feature)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize link in the toolbar)
This brings you to the Customizer screen in the back-end.
You can do several edits in preview mode (like inserting, removing and moving widgets around), and it will all be done in real time. If you like the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will be instantly updated and made visible to your site visitors.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
After the changes are saved, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Because the WordPress theme you choose can affect how elements display on your site, we recommend installing your 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 go through this tutorial (one to work in and one to see your site the way your visitors will see it).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to begin configuring a number of frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial on using Widgets.
Click here to read Part Two:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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