In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this section we will continue configuring other frequently-used widgets.
Adding Categories To The Sidebar Navigation Area
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure a widget for Categories.
The Categories widget already displays on your sidebar menu by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar navigation menu, we recommend setting up your Post Categoriesfeature inside your WP dashboard …
(Categories Screen)
Note: Setting up and using categories in WordPress will be explained in other tutorials.
Configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the widget content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unchecked. (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 …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or refresh 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 option, otherwise leave this box unticked.
- 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 typically displays on your sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on your Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really very little to set up in this widget. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy with the default setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The number of posts you have specified will display on your sidebar area …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar section)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to create and edit WordPress Posts here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget
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 area …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar area)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- 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 page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide pages on your sidebar navigation menu (3) …
(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 in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing in your widget, type in the Page Ids for the pages you want to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to find a WordPress post or page ID here: How To Locate The Unique ID Of A Page Or Post In Your WP Website
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the main pages will now appear in your sidebar navigation area …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is useful if you need to display separate page groups on the sidebar section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On The WordPress Sidebar
Now, let’s add a widget to the sidebar navigation section to display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar navigation menu, you should first configure your Links feature inside your WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to provide separate tutorials on configuring the WordPress Links feature.
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 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 navigation area …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the 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 The Sidebar)
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 your Links Widget, click the Save button. Your links will become immediately visible on the sidebar navigation menu …
(Links added to WordPress 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 link lists to the WordPress sidebar section.
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This is the end of part 3 of this series of tutorials.
To view Part 4, click this link:
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