In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you are going to configure other default WordPress widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Section
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget to display your Categories.
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 …
(WordPress Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar, you should first configure your categories inside your WordPress dashboard …
(Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on using post categories in WordPress.
Configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to have several categories (this significantly reduces the size of your content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unchecked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar section. (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 …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Load the site in your browser or reload the page to see how your Categories widget will display to your visitors …
(WordPress 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 option 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 A Recent Posts Widget To The Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget normally appears in the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on your Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to set up. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you want to use 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 when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will be listed on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to sidebar section)
Creating a new post in WordPress is explained here: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display the pages you select.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into your sidebar section)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Pages“) (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 hide pages on your sidebar navigation area (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 select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent pages from displaying to visitors, enter the Page Ids for the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on how to find a page ID in WordPress here: How To Find The Page Or Post ID In Your WP Blog
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your pages will now appear in your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation section. This is helpful if you want to display different groups of pages on your sidebar section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To The WordPress Sidebar Navigation Area
Next, we’ll add a widget to the sidebar section for displaying external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend configuring the Links section inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on using the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your sidebar 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 the sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar navigation section 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 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 …
(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.
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This is the end of part three of this series of tutorials on how to use Widgets.
Click on this link to read Part 4:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum