In Part One of this step-by-step 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 will learn how to configure other WordPress widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Widget
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Categories on your sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget displays on the sidebar menu. Place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
your your WordPress post categories …
(Post Categories Screen)
Note: Setting up and using WordPress post categories will be covered in separate tutorials.
Let’s configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that blog readers will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to use several categories (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar. (2)
- You can leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or reload your page to see how your Categories widget will look to your site 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 box, otherwise leave this box unchecked.
- 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 normally shows in your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s really very little to set up. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to 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 widget settings)
The number of posts you’ve specified will be listed on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on blog sidebar)
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to create WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add Links To Your Site’s Pages
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display the pages on your site.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into the sidebar menu)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Site Info“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to hide pages on the sidebar (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 choose a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying on the sidebar, just type their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Locate A Page Or Post ID In WordPress
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the blog’s pages will now show in your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar area. This is handy if you would like to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to the WordPress sidebar navigation area for displaying links to external resources.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, you should first configure your Links section inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up and using the Links feature.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your active 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 navigation section …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar menu 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 WordPress Links Widgets To Your Sidebar Navigation Section)
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 …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External 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.
***
This is the end of part three of this tutorial about how to use Widgets.
Click here to keep reading:
***
"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya