In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial we will continue configuring other commonly-used sidebar widgets.
Add Categories To The Sidebar
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure Post Categories.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar navigation area by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
your your WordPress categories …
(WordPress Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up and using post categories in WordPress.
Configure the Categories settings for this widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the size of your 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 unchecked. (2)
- You can leave the remaining options as the default, 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 web browser or refresh the page to see how the content will look to site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar navigation area)
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 box, otherwise leave this box unticked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts
The Recent Posts widget displays on your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on your Recent Posts title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s very little to set up. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy with the default Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will display on the sidebar menu …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar)
A tutorial is provided on creating and editing a WordPress Post here: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation menu to display your pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar menu)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Site Info“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide pages on the sidebar navigation area (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 – item sorting options)
To prevent certain pages from displaying to visitors, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
To learn how to find a WordPress post or page ID, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Find The Unique ID Of A WordPress Page Or Post
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your site’s pages will now show in your sidebar area …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar section. This is useful if you need to display separate page groups on your sidebar area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On Your WordPress Sidebar Section
Now, we’ll add a Links widget to your sidebar area.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar area, we recommend configuring the Links feature first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Using the WordPress Links feature will be explained in other tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your active area …
(Making Links Widget active)
The Links 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 …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar navigation menu 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 Menu)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(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 …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar navigation menu)
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 the sidebar menu.
***
This is the end of part 3 of this tutorial series about how to use WordPress widgets.
Click on this link to continue reading:
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)