In Part 1 of this 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 we will continue configuring other commonly-used WordPress widgets.
Add Post Categories
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable contact button, let’s configure a widget for Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on your sidebar menu. Place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar navigation section, we recommend setting up your post categories first …
(Post Categories)
Note: Configuring and using WordPress categories will be covered in other tutorials.
Configure the Categories settings for this widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to use several categories (this significantly reduces the length of the widget 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 navigation menu. (2)
- You can leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or refresh the page to see how your sidebar categories will display to your visitors …
(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 option, otherwise leave this box unchecked.
- 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 Recent Posts
The Recent Posts widget normally shows on your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is 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 setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter the number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will now display to visitors on the sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar)
For a tutorial about how to create WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A WP Post
Add A Pages Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar menu)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site Info“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from being visible 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 select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing in your sidebar, enter their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
For a tutorial about how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Find Page And Post IDs In WordPress
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the main pages will now appear on the sidebar …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar section. This is helpful if you would like to display separate groups of pages on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On Your Blog Sidebar
Now, let’s add a Links widget to your sidebar.
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend first setting up your Links feature inside the WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Configuring the Links feature will be covered in other tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar …
(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 …
(WordPress 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 WordPress Links Widgets To The Sidebar Navigation Area)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(WordPress 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. Your widget will display immediately on your site …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar)
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 link lists to your WordPress sidebar section.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial.
To keep reading, click here:
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