In Part One of this tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you are going to learn how to configure other WordPress widgets.
How To Add Post Categories
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Post Categories on your sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar navigation area. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Categoriessection inside your WordPress dashboard …
(Post Categories)
Note: We plan to create a tutorial that explains how to use categories in WordPress.
Configure your Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to use many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the widget content by displaying all categories inside 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 when done …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how your Categories widget will display to your visitors …
(WordPress Categories widget added to sidebar area)
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, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts
The Recent Posts widget displays on your sidebar navigation area by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really very little to set up in this widget. You can add a title if you want, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy 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 now display to visitors on your sidebar navigation section …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar navigation area)
To learn how to create and edit WordPress Posts, see this tutorial: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar menu to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from appearing on your sidebar (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing to your visitors, enter the Page Ids for all the pages you would like excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
For a tutorial on how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Locate A WP Page Or Post ID
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the blog’s pages will now appear in your sidebar …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar menu. This is handy if you want to display different page groups on the sidebar menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Blog Sidebar
Now, let’s add a Links widget that will display external links on the WordPress sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Links feature inside the WP dashboard first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to create a step-by-step tutorial that explains how to configure and use Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your sidebar area …
(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 the sidebar navigation area …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar 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 Area)
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 the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to WordPress sidebar menu)
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 sidebar.
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This is the end of section 3 of this series of tutorials on how to use Widgets.
Click here to continue:
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