As discussed in this post, there are loads of great things about choosing the WordPress CMS platform to build and grow a website or blog. One of these is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, expand your website’s functionality, or rearrange the layout of your site without web programming skills or knowledge required.
WordPress gives you the ability to easily insert, delete, and reconfigure content on your blog’s sidebar (or 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 like:
- website page list
- site categories
- blog post archive
- menus displaying only selected pages
- links to external sites
- your most popular posts
- comments
- clickable images
- client testimonials
- survey questions & results
- RSS feed content
- registration box
- videos
- social media share buttons
- add widgets from other sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WordPress widgets make managing and using WordPress easy)
To learn more about what WP widgets are, how widgets work and why widgets can make managing your site easier, see this article:
In this tutorial series we explain how to use and configure a number of frequently-used WordPress widgets.
How To Use Widgets
The Basics
Before we begin configuring and using widgets, let’s make sure that you understand some of the basic concepts of how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Areas
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide widget-ready sections in your theme’s layout where you can use widgets, such as the sidebar, header area, and the footer area. Depending on what theme you are using, widgets can sometimes also appear in the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users multiple widget-enabled sections)
These widgetized layouts correspond to a feature inside your Widget management panel called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Screen
The Widgets section displays a list of all the widgets that are available.
On the right-hand side of the screen, you can see all “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets using drag-and-drop)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging-and-dropping items to different areas of the widgets screen.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. automatically become active and available for use.
In addition, your Widgets area includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want actively displayed on your site. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete widgets just by dragging and dropping items in your Widgets section …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily rearrange your theme’s layout using drag & drop.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this example site, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- A subscription form,
- A contact support button, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features on your site appear)
Inside the Widget area, you would see that the front-end 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 Active Widget Area by dragging and dropping elements …
(Drag-and-drop widgets in the widget area to rearrange their order)
The widget features have now been reorganized in the sidebar menu …
As you can see, this instantly reorganizes the layout of your sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar elements with widgets can help improve your site’s visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now first the sidebar navigation area, and the ‘contact us’ image banner (2) has been moved to the spot above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar layout using widgets to improve user experience)
Removing Widgets From The Sidebar Area
Deleting widgets from your sidebar navigation area is very easy.
For example, let’s show you how to remove the Search widget from your sidebar navigation area …
(Search widget)
To delete a widget from an active Widget area, you can either open up the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Deleting your WordPress widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Removing WordPress widgets)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want removed from your sidebar. You can always restore widgets by moving them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be further customized. This can include things like hiding information from users (but allowing access 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 toggles between expanding and collapsing the item and displays the widget’s settings …
(Toggles expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove the widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets offer little to no customizable options, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no configuration options)
Widget Previews
Depending upon which WordPress theme you are using, you’re also able to customize widgets without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you are happy with your customizations before making any permanent changes to your site.
Widget management 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 before publishing any changes you’ve made (to avoid making errors), or configure widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(preview widget changes in the Customize section)
When viewing your site on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize your site quickly)
This will bring you to the Customizer screen in the back-end.
You can do several edits and adjustments in preview mode (like inserting, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and see all changes in real time. If you are happy with what you’ve done, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will instantly become available on your site.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
After saving changes, WordPress will automatically update the widget settings and display your latest changes to your site visitors.
Because 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 go through this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to begin configuring various frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
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This is the end of part one of this tutorial.
To continue reading, click here:
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