As we have discussed in this article, one of the many benefits of using WordPress is that you can easily add content, enhance your site, or rearrange your site’s layout without requiring code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to easily add, delete, and reorganize various blocks of content in your website’s sidebar menu (and header and footer sections too, depending on what theme you are using) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site’s sidebar area (plus headers and footers and other areas, depending on the WordPress theme you have installed) like:
- list of pages
- blog post categories
- archives
- menus displaying only selected pages
- links to external sites
- posts that you want to promote
- user comments
- advertisements
- testimonials
- polls
- RSS content excerpts
- opt-in form
- product images
- twitter feeds
- add widgets from external sites (e.g. Pinterest)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WP widgets make managing and using WordPress easy)
To learn more about what widgets are, how widgets work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, go here:
In this step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to use and configure a number of frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
Using Widgets
Widgets – The Basics
Before configuring and using widgets, let’s make sure that you understand some of the basics about using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Areas
Most WordPress themes support widgets and provide built-in widgetized sections in your theme’s layout where widgets can appear, such as the sidebar menu, header area, and footer. Depending on your theme, widgets can also be found inside the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users multiple widget sections)
These widgetized layouts correspond to a feature inside your Widget panel called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
The Widgets Panel
The Widgets panel displays a list of all the widgets that can be used on your site.
On the right-hand side of the window, you can see your “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag-and-drop)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive using drag-and-drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. become active.
In addition, your Widgets panel includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to use on your website. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange Widgets Using Drag & Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, rearrange and remove widgets by dragging and dropping items inside the Widgets area …
(Rearrange widgets using drag and drop)
You can also easily rearrange your theme’s layout with drag-and-drop ease.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- A subscription form,
- A contact support button, and
- ’Click to call’ feature from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features display on your WordPress site)
If you look inside this site’s Widget area, you will see that these features display on the site in the same order as their corresponding widgets have been arranged in the active widget area …
Let’s now change the above widgets in the Sidebar Widget Area using drag-and-drop …
(Drag-and-drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widgets have now been reorganized in your sidebar …
As you can see, this instantly changes the layout of the sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar layout using widgets can help to improve your site’s visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now at the top of the sidebar menu, and the support image banner (2) has been moved to the spot above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar elements with widgets to improve your site’s visitor experience)
Removing Widgets From Your Sidebar Navigation Area
Removing widgets from your WordPress sidebar is very easy.
For example, let’s show you how to remove the Search widget from the sidebar section …
(WordPress Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, either expand the widget and click the Delete link …
(Delete widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and drop it into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Removing your widgets)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want removed from the sidebar navigation section. You can always restore widgets by moving them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be customized. This can include things like making certain types of information hidden to your site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Clicking on the little triangle in the corner of a widget expands the item and displays the widget’s settings …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, click Delete to delete your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add something like an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no customizing options)
WordPress Theme Customizer
Depending upon the theme you have installed, you’re also able to preview any changes live without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like the customized edits before committing anything to your website or blog.
The ability to manage widgets from your own dashboard is a great feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how the widget content will appear prior to publishing it (to avoid making mistakes), or manage your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize section)
If you need to make changes to your site while viewing the front-end, just click on the Customize link …
(Customize your site quickly)
This brings you to the Customizer section in the backend.
You can do a number of edits and adjustments to the widgets in preview mode (like adding, removing and moving widgets around), and everything is done in real time. If you are happy with the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will be instantly updated and made visible to your site visitors.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
After saving your changes, your new settings will automatically show on your site.
Since WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you complete this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to learn how to begin configuring a number of commonly-used sidebar widgets in WordPress.
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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial.
Click here to view Part 2:
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