In Part 1 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 section we will continue configuring other frequently-used widgets.
Adding Categories To The Blog Sidebar
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Post Categories on your sidebar navigation area.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on your sidebar. All you have to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Categoriesfeature first …
(WordPress Post Categories Screen)
Note: We plan to provide a separate tutorial on how to configure and use post categories in WordPress.
Configure your Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that blog readers will understand, 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 inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar area. (2)
- You can leave the remaining options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or reload your page to see how the sidebar categories will display to your visitors …
(WordPress 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 box, otherwise leave this option as is.
- 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 Recent Posts To Your Sidebar Navigation 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 title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to set up in this widget. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy to use 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 widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will appear on the sidebar navigation section …
(Recent Posts widget added to blog sidebar)
Creating and editing WordPress Posts is covered here: How To Create A WordPress Post
Add A Pages Widget
Next, we’ll 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 your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from showing on your sidebar (3) …
(WordPress 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 from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying to visitors, just type or paste in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
How to find a page ID in WordPress is explained here: How To Find The Post Or Page ID In A WordPress Website
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the blog’s pages will now appear in the sidebar menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is handy if you want to display different groups of pages on the sidebar section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To Your WordPress Sidebar
Now, we’ll add a widget to the sidebar that displays links to external resources.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend setting up the Links section inside the dashboard first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure Links.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your sidebar …
(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 the sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your 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 Links Widgets To The Sidebar Navigation Section)
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 …
( WordPress Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring the Links Widget, click the Save button. Your widget will display immediately on your site …
(External links added to sidebar)
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 the WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of section three of this tutorial about how to use Widgets.
To continue reading, click this link:
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