In Part One of this tutorial, we cover the basics of using widgets in WordPress.
In this section you will learn how to begin configuring various widgets in WordPress.
How To Configure Widgets
By default, your site comes with several built-in widgets, such as widgets for displaying external links, recent posts, text or HTML banners, adding a search box, etc.
(In a default WordPress installation, your site comes with several pre-installed widgets)
Configuring Sidebar Widgets In WordPress In WordPress: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this step-by-step tutorial, we will add, configure and reorder s number of WordPress widgets to display in your site’s sidebar, including:
- Adding a Support Contact image linking visitors to the contact details page.
- Add a Categories section with a drop down menu.
- Add a Recent Posts section.
- Add a list of your site’s Pages.
- Display important Links on the sidebar section.
- Adding an RSS Feed section.
- Add a Tag Cloud section.
- Adding and configuring an Archives section to the sidebar navigation section.
To access the Widgets area go to Appearance > Widgets …
(Widgets Menu)
This opens the Widgets panel in your web browser …
(Widgets Screen)
Let’s start by configuring WordPress text widgets …
Adding Text Widgets
Text widgets are incredibly versatile …
(Text widget)
Rich Text Widget
From version 4.8 onward, WordPress has added native rich-text editing capabilities to text widgets …
(Rich Text Widget)
This lets you quickly and easily format text, create lists, add emphasis, and insert links into your sidebar text …
(Format text easily with the new text widget)
Text widgets let you insert just about anything you want into the sidebar navigation menu or other widget sections, such as lists, maps and directions, special promotions and more to your site … just by typing in text or inserting HTML into the content area. You can also give the widget a title. Remember to save your settings …
(A text widget is really useful!)
Example: Using A Text Widget To Add A Clickable Help Button To The Sidebar Area
For this example, we’ll set up a clickable contact button on the sidebar that will take your visitors to a page on your site (or an external site, e.g. a helpdesk) where they can contact you for help and support.
First, create or source a “help button” graphic image that your visitors can click on …
We’ll set up a clickable button to display at the top of your sidebar like in the example shown below …
Step 1 – Upload your image.
To display the image on your site, the button image must be uploaded to your server. Upload the image to your server and note the address of your image location.
For example …
http://www.yourdomain.com/images/supportbutton.jpg
You will use this information in Step 3.
In order for visitors to go to the contact page when the support button gets clicked, either create a contact page, or have an existing destination page already set up (e.g. a helpdesk). We will then link your button graphic to this URL in Step 3 …
Step 2 – Add your contact page.
Create a contact page on your site and note the page URL …
Step 3 – Create the HTML code for your text widget.
Don’t worry … this sounds a lot more technical than it is. In simple terms, we just need to create the instructions linking your button image to the contact page.
Your code can be composed in a simple text file and will look something like this …
- Replace “http://www.yourdomain.com/contact-us” in the code above with the URL of your contact page location.
- Replace “http://yourimagelocation.com/img/supportbutton.jpg” in the code with the URL of your image location.
The image below shows which sections of the above sample code you will need to replace with your actual contact details …
Replace the above URLs and then copy the above code to your clipboard when finished.
If you need help figuring out basic HTML code, refer to this tutorial:
Now, go back into your Widgets screen …
(Widgets Area)
Step 4 – Add a Text widget.
Add a Text widget to your sidebar in the location where the support button should display.
In the Available Widgets area, select the Text widget …
(Text widget)
Drag the Text widget to the Active Widgets section and release it at the very top of the Widget Area …
(Drag-and-drop your WordPress text widget)
Step 5 – Configure the text widget settings.
Click on the Text widget title bar to configure the widget options. Paste the code with the URLs to your contact page and graphic button into the text widget content area and click save …
Add a title section to your widget if you want (e.g. “Need Help?”, “Get Help”, etc.) and paste the code with the correct destination links into the text area, then click Save when done …
Note: Make sure to test all links before pasting scripts into your Text Widget, or your button will not work.
*** If using WordPress version pre-4.8 ***
If adding text without formatting tags, you may want to tick the Automatically add paragraphs box to wrap each block of text in paragraphs (note: this is not necessary if you type in HTML code like we’re doing in this tutorial).
Here is some text with Automatically add paragraphs option not checked …
(Automatically add paragraphs box not checked)
Here is some text with Automatically add paragraphs option ticked …
(Automatically add paragraphs box checked)
***
Step 6 – Refresh the browser.
After adding your widget and formatted content, visit your site and refresh your browser. If all links have been entered correctly, then your clickable support button should display at the top of your site’s sidebar menu …
(Clickable button widget on sidebar)
The screenshot above shows the contact button in the sidebar of a newly-installed WordPress site.
Step 7 – Test your button.
The final step is to ensure that your destination URL works. Test the button to make sure that your visitors will go to the help page when clicking the button. If you are taken directly to your contact page, then everything has been set up correctly …
(Test the clickable button)
Useful Tips:
If you want your support page to open in a new browser window when visitors click on the support (so they don’t leave the page they’re on), then change the button code from this:
To this (i.e. insert the part containing target=”_blank” in your code):
When adding images to your sidebar navigation section, make sure that the width of the image does not exceed the width of your sidebar column, especially if you are using a non-responsive WordPress theme. Note that some themes can display different column widths depending on their templates and layout. Some sidebars may be too wide or too narrow. If the sidebar of your theme is narrower than the width of your button image, then you may have to either adjust the image size, or the width of your sidebar column to make images display correctly on your sidebar area.
(Adjust column width or reduce image size)
Extra Tips:
- If you don’t want the image to be centered inside the sidebar, delete the <center> and </center> tags from the beginning and end of the code. The image will then align to the left.
- Link the help button to any destination you like (e.g. to an external site, helpdesk, support forum, etc.) and change this anytime by editing the code inside the widget.
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This is the end of section 2 of this tutorial about how to use Widgets.
Click here to keep reading:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now