In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial you will learn how to configure other default blog widgets.
How To Add A Categories Widget
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories on the sidebar.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar section by default. All you have to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Categories widget)
your post categories …
(Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up WordPress categories.
Let’s configure the Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to have several categories (this significantly reduces the length of your widget content by displaying all categories in a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unticked. (2)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Load the site in your browser or reload the page to see how the content will look to site visitors …
(WordPress Categories widget added to sidebar navigation section)
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 unchecked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts To The Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget is typically added to the sidebar area by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on its widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s very little to set up. You can add a title if you want, 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 widget settings)
The number of posts you have specified will now display to visitors on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar navigation area)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial that show you how to create a post in WordPress here: How To Create A WordPress Post
Adding Links To Your Site’s Main Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation area for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget section …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into your sidebar menu)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to hide pages 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 one of the other options, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To prevent certain pages from showing in your widget, type in the Page Ids for all the pages you would like excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
To learn how to find a WordPress post or page ID, see this tutorial: How To Find The ID Of Any WordPress Post Or Page
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the blog’s main pages will now show on your sidebar navigation menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is helpful if you would like to display separate page groups on the sidebar navigation area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Now, we’ll add a widget to the sidebar that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar area, we recommend setting up your Links feature inside your dashboard first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: How to set up and use WordPress Links will be covered in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar …
(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 your sidebar section …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your 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 the Links Widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your widget will become immediately visible on your site …
(Links added to sidebar navigation section)
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 link lists to your sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial series.
Click on this link to continue:
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