As discussed in this article, one of the many benefits of using WordPress to manage your web presence is that you can easily add content, improve your site’s functionality, or change the layout of your site without web coding knowledge required.
WordPress allows you to easily add, remove, and rearrange various blocks of content in your website’s sidebar (and header and footer sections, depending on what theme is installed on your site) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site’s sidebar area (plus headers and footers and other areas, depending on the theme) like:
- list of pages
- post categories
- archive
- menus that display only selected pages
- links to external sites
- links to recent posts
- post comments
- clickable ads
- testimonials
- surveys
- RSS content excerpts
- registration box
- product catalog images
- twitter feeds
- display widgets from external sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what widgets are, how they work and how using widgets can help you expand your site’s functionality, go here:
In this tutorial series we will show you how to use and configure various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
How To Use WordPress Widgets
What You Need To Know First
Before configuring and using widgets, let’s first explain some of the basics about using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Layouts
Most WordPress themes support widgets and provide areas in your theme’s layout where widgets can be used, such as the sidebar, header area, and footer. Depending on what theme you are using, widgets can also display in the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users multiple widget-enabled areas)
These widget-ready areas correspond to a feature inside your Widget management area called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Your Widgets Panel
The Widgets screen displays a list of all the widgets you can use on your site.
The right-hand section of the window displays all “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag-and-drop)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive using drag-and-drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like the sidebar, footer, etc. instantly become available for use.
In addition, the Widgets panel includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove any widgets that you no longer want actively displayed on your website. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange WordPress Widgets With Drag And Drop
You can easily add new functionality to your site, or activate, deactivate, rearrange and delete things using widgets with drag & drop inside the Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reorder the layout of your website’s widget-ready layout using drag-and-drop.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this site, the widgets have already been configured to display things on your site like:
- A newsletter opt-in form,
- A contact support banner, and
- A ‘click to call’ function from a widgetized WordPress plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features appear on your WordPress site)
If you take a look inside the example site’s Widget area, you will see that these features appear on the site in the same order as they have been arranged in the active widget screen …
If we change the order the above widgets in the Active Widget Area using drag-and-drop …
(Drag-and-drop widgets in your widget area to rearrange their order)
The widget features have now been reorganized in your sidebar menu …
As you can see, this instantly reorganizes the layout of the sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar layout using widgets can help improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now at the top of the sidebar navigation area, and the ‘contact us’ image banner (2) has been moved to the spot above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar elements with widgets to improve your site’s user experience)
Removing Widgets From Your WordPress Sidebar Area
Deleting widgets from the sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s delete the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To remove an active widget, either open up the widget and click the Delete link …
(Deleting widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove your widgets)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want to remove from your sidebar. You can always reactivate widgets by dragging them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be customized further. This can include things like hiding information from users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to toggle between expanding and collapsing the item …
(Toggling expands/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, delete your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add something like an optional title …
(Some widgets give you little to no configurable options)
WordPress Theme Customizer
Depending on which theme you use, you’re also able to customize your widgets without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you are happy with your customizations before making any permanent changes to your site.
Widget management is a valuable feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how your widget content will appear before publishing any changes you’ve made (and avoid making errors), or manage your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize feature)
If you need to make changes to the site while viewing the front-end, just click on the Customize link …
(Customize link in the toolbar)
This brings you to the Customizer feature in the backend.
You can do many things in preview mode (like adding, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and see all changes in real time. If you are happy with what you’ve done, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will then be instantly updated and reflected on the blog’s frontend.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
After saving your changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Because WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install your theme first before configuring widgets on your sidebar.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview your changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to learn how to configure various frequently-used WordPress widgets.
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This is the end of part one of this series of tutorials.
Click on this link to access Part 2:
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com
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