In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial you will configure other frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
How To Add A Categories Section To The Sidebar Navigation Section
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure Categories.
The Categories widget already displays on your sidebar by default. All you have to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
your your WordPress categories …
(Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure and use post categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure the Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to add several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of the 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 navigation section. (2)
- You can 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 web browser or reload the page to see how your sidebar categories will look to your blog readers …
(Categories widget added to sidebar menu)
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 box unchecked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts
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 display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really very little to configure in this widget. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and opt to 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 WordPress widget settings)
The number of posts you’ve specified will now display to visitors on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar section)
We provide a tutorial on how to create a post in WordPress here: How To Create A New WordPress Post
Add Links To Your Site’s Main Pages In Your Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation menu for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Sections“) (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 prevent pages from showing on the sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then choose a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude pages from displaying in your sidebar, type or paste in the Page Ids for the pages you want to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
We provide a tutorial about how to find a WordPress post or page ID here: How To Find The Unique ID Of WordPress Pages And Posts
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 main pages will now appear in your sidebar navigation menu …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is useful if you need to display different page groups on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Next, we’ll add a Links widget to your sidebar navigation area.
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar navigation menu, you should first configure the Links section inside your WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Configuring Links will be explained in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your sidebar area …
(Making Links Widget active)
The 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 navigation section …
(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 Your Sidebar Area)
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 WordPress sidebar navigation area)
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.
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This is the end of part 3 of this series of tutorials.
To view Part Four, click here:
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com