In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial we are going to show you how to configure other frequently-used blog widgets.
How To Add Categories
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a clickable contact button, let’s configure a widget for Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget displays on the sidebar. Place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation area, you will first need to configure the Post Categoriessection inside the WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Post Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to set up and use categories in WordPress.
Configure your Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the size of the content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on your sidebar menu. (2)
- Leave the remaining options unchecked, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or reload the page to see how the sidebar categories will look to 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 section as is.
- 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 To The Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget normally displays in your sidebar menu by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really very little to set up here. You can add a title if you want, 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 enter the number of posts to show and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will appear on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on creating and editing a WordPress Post here: How To Create A WordPress Post
Adding A Pages Widget
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget area …
(Inserting a Pages widget into the sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site Info“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to hide pages 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 …
(Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To prevent pages from displaying to your visitors, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
For a tutorial about how to find a WordPress post or page ID, go here: Finding The WP Post Or Page ID
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your blog’s main pages will now display in your sidebar …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is helpful if you need to display separate page groups on the sidebar menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On The Sidebar Section
Next, we’ll add a Links widget to display external links on the WordPress sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend setting up your Links feature first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: Using the WordPress Links feature will be explained in separate tutorials.
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 the sidebar navigation area …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar 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 Your Sidebar Navigation Section)
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 the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to sidebar area)
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 link lists to your WordPress sidebar navigation menu.
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This is the end of part 3 of this series of tutorials.
Click here to view the rest of this tutorial:
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"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)