As discussed in this post, there are many benefits in choosing the WordPress CMS platform to build, manage and grow a web site. One of these is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, expand your website’s functionality, or reconfigure your site’s layout with no code editing skills and knowledge required.
WordPress gives you the ability to easily add, delete, and reorganize content on your website’s sidebar (or header and footer sections too, 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 your theme) like:
- site pages
- post categories
- archives
- customized menus
- links to external sites
- links to recent posts
- user comments
- clickable text ads
- client testimonials
- survey questions & results
- RSS content excerpts
- shopping cart forms
- image galleries
- social media buttons
- display widgets from other sites (e.g. Twitter)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what widgets are, how widgets work and why widgets make managing your site easier, see this article:
In this step-by-step tutorial we are going to show you how to use and configure a number of frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
Using WordPress Widgets
The Basics
Before we start learning how to configure widgets, it helps to first go over some of the basic concepts of how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Layouts
Many 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 the theme installed on your site, widgets can sometimes also be used in the content area …
(Many themes offer users a number of widget-enabled sections)
These widget-ready areas correspond to a feature inside your Widget screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Panel
The Widgets panel displays a list of all the widgets that are available.
The right-hand section of the window displays the “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets by dragging and dropping)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag-and-drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like the sidebar, footer, etc. instantly become active.
In addition, your Widgets screen includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want actively displayed on your website. Inactive widgets do not lose their pre-configured settings.
Reorganize Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, rearrange and delete widgets with drag & drop in your Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets on your WordPress site using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reorder your theme’s layout using drag-and-drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- An opt-in form,
- A click for support banner, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control the order certain features display on your WordPress site)
If you look inside this site’s Widget area, you will see that these features correspond to the order of widgets inside the active widget section …
Let’s now reorganize the above widgets in the Active Widget Area using drag-and-drop …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in your widget area)
The widget features have now been reorganized in your sidebar navigation menu …
As you can see, this immediately reorganizes the layout of the sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar elements with widgets can improve user 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’ banner (2) has been moved to the location above the newsletter subscription form (1) …
(Rearrange sidebar elements with widgets to improve your site’s visitor experience)
Removing Widgets From Your WordPress Blog Sidebar Navigation Section
Deleting widgets from your sidebar menu is very easy.
For example, let’s delete the Search widget from your sidebar area …
(WordPress Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, you can either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Delete your WordPress widget)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and drop it into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Remove a widget)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want to remove from your sidebar navigation menu. You can always reactivate widgets by dragging them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be further customized. This includes making certain types of information hidden to site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Clicking on the little triangle in the corner of a widget toggles between expanding and collapsing the item and displays the widget’s settings …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, delete the widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets offer little to no customizable options, or they may only allow you to add something like an optional title …
(Some widgets offer little to no customization)
Previewing Your Widgets
Depending upon which theme you have installed, you’re also able to preview any changes live without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like the customized edits before committing anything to your website.
The ability to manage widgets from within your own dashboard 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 mistakes), or manage widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(preview widget changes in the Customize feature)
If you need to make changes to your site while viewing the front-end, just click on the Customize link …
(Customize link in the toolbar)
This will bring you to the Customizer screen in the backend.
You can do many edits and adjustments to your widgets in preview mode (like adding, deleting and reorganizing your widgets), and it’s all done in real time. If you like what you have done, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will be instantly updated and made visible on your site.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
After saving changes, the new settings will automatically show on your site.
Since WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview your changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial (one to work in and one to check how the site is coming along).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, let’s configure a number of commonly-used widgets in WordPress.
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This is the end of section one of this tutorial series on how to use Widgets.
To continue reading, 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)
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