In Part One of this tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this section you are going to learn how to configure other WordPress blog widgets.
How To Add Post Categories To The Sidebar Navigation Area
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories on the sidebar menu.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar menu, we recommend setting up your categories first …
(WordPress Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to set up and use categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for your widget as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to have several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size 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 unchecked. (2)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how the sidebar categories will display to your site visitors …
(WordPress Categories widget added to sidebar)
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 on your site, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts
The Recent Posts widget is normally added to your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on your Recent Posts widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s very little to set up here. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you want to use the default setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will be listed on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to sidebar area)
For a tutorial on how to create and edit WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A WordPress Post
Adding A Pages Widget To Your Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar linking visitors to the pages on your site.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Useful Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from appearing on your sidebar area (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using one of the other options, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent certain pages from showing to visitors, type in the Page Ids for all the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on finding a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Find WordPress Post And Page IDs
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the site’s main pages will now show on your sidebar menu …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is helpful if you need to display different groups of pages on the sidebar menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a Links widget to your sidebar navigation menu.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar navigation section, we recommend configuring the Links section first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to create separate step-by-step tutorials that explain how to set up the Links feature.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your sidebar area …
(Making Links Widget active)
The 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 area …
(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)
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 your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar navigation area)
As the above example shows, you can display specific 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 part 3 of this tutorial series.
To view the rest of this tutorial series, click this link:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)