In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial we will continue configuring other WordPress widgets.
How To Add Post Categories To Your Blog Sidebar
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget for your Categories.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar menu. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar section, we first recommend configuring the Categoriessection inside the WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Categories)
Note: We plan to provide tutorials on how to configure categories.
Let’s configure the Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to add several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories in a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on your sidebar section. (2)
- You can leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how the content will look to your visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar)
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 unticked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section
The Recent Posts widget typically displays in the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on your Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s really not much to set up here. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy with 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)
Your most recent posts will appear on the sidebar navigation menu …
(Recent Posts widget on blog sidebar)
We provide a tutorial about how to create posts in WordPress here: How To Create A New WordPress Post
Display Your Site’s Main Pages In The Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Sections“) (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 prevent pages from showing 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 another option, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To prevent pages from showing on the sidebar, type in the Page Ids for the pages you would like excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial about how to find a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Find Page And Post IDs 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 your pages will now display on your sidebar navigation area …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar navigation menu. This is handy if you want to display separate page groups on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On The Sidebar
Now, let’s add a widget to the sidebar area to display links to external resources.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar area, we recommend configuring your Links feature inside your dashboard first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up the WordPress Links feature.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar 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 your sidebar menu …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the 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 WordPress Links Widgets To Your 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 your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar)
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 lists of links to your WordPress sidebar navigation area.
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This is the end of part 3 of this tutorial about using Widgets.
To keep reading, click here:
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