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 text widgets.
In this section you will learn how to configure other frequently-used WordPress blog widgets.
How To Add Post Categories
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Post Categories on the sidebar.
The Categories widget displays on your sidebar area by default. Place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, you should first configure your post categories inside your dashboard …
(Post Categories Panel)
Note: We plan to create step-by-step tutorials that show you how to configure post categories in WordPress.
Configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to use several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of the widget 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 unticked. (2)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or refresh your page to see how your Categories widget will look to your site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar navigation section)
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, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section To Your Blog Sidebar Menu
The Recent Posts widget normally shows in your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration 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 now display to visitors on the sidebar section …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to blog sidebar)
For a step-by-step tutorial about how to create WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget To Your Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation section for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Useful Pages“) (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 your sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using one of the other options, then choose a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To prevent certain pages from showing to visitors, type or paste in the Page Ids for all the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
To learn how to find a WordPress post or page ID, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Locate The ID Of WordPress Pages And Posts
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the site’s main pages will now display in your sidebar …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is useful if you would like to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On Your Blog Sidebar
Now, we’ll add a widget to the sidebar section to display links to external resources.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar navigation menu, you will first need to configure the Links section inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to use the WordPress Links feature.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag it to your active 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 menu …
(WordPress 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 The Sidebar Navigation Area)
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 …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring the Links Widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your widget will display immediately on your site …
(External links added to sidebar navigation section)
As the above example shows, you can display specific links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple link lists to your WordPress sidebar menu.
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This is the end of part 3 of this tutorial series.
Click here to continue:
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