In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you will learn how to configure other widgets.
How To Add Categories
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Categories on your sidebar area.
The Categories widget already displays on the sidebar navigation area by default. 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 Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Categoriesfeature first …
(Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up and using categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure the Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to have many categories, check Display as dropdown (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 menu. (2)
- Leave the other options unchecked, 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 reload the page to see how your Categories widget will look to your blog readers …
(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 box unticked.
- 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 A Recent Posts Widget To Your Blog Sidebar Section
The Recent Posts widget displays on the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s not much to configure in this widget. 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 Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter the number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will display on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar navigation area)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on creating a WordPress Post here: How To Create A New WordPress Post
Add A Pages Widget
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar navigation menu to display the pages you select.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- 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 by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to prevent pages from showing on the sidebar (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed 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 …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude pages from displaying on your sidebar, enter their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
A tutorial is provided on finding a WordPress page ID here: How To Locate WordPress Page And Post IDs
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your main pages will now show on the sidebar …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar navigation area. This is handy if you would like to display separate groups of pages on your sidebar menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Sidebar Navigation Menu
Now, let’s add a Links widget to the sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar navigation section, we recommend first configuring the Links section inside the WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up the WordPress Links feature.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your active 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 your sidebar …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar navigation area 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 Your Sidebar)
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 your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to sidebar navigation menu)
As the above example shows, you can display specific external links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple lists of links to the sidebar.
***
This is the end of part 3 of this tutorial.
To continue, click this link:
***
"Your training is the best in the world! It is simple, yet detailed, direct, understandable, memorable, and complete." Andrea Adams, FinancialJourney.org