In Part 1 of this tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you are going to configure other commonly-used blog widgets.
Adding Categories To The Sidebar
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on your sidebar.
The Categories widget already displays on your sidebar by default. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar section, you should first configure your post categories inside the WP dashboard …
(WordPress Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure and use post categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for this widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to use many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of the content by displaying all categories in a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unticked. (2)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your web browser or reload your page to see how your content will display to blog readers …
(Categories widget added to sidebar navigation 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, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section To Your Sidebar Menu
The Recent Posts widget normally shows in the sidebar menu 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 very little to set up in this widget. You can add a widget 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 a number of posts to show 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 added to sidebar)
How to create posts in WordPress is explained in this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A WordPress Post
Add A Pages Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar section showing links to your pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar navigation menu)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- 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: Hide selected pages 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 one of the other options, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent certain pages from displaying to your visitors, enter the Page Ids for the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
Finding a WordPress page ID is explained here: How To Find The ID Of Posts And Pages 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 blog’s pages will now show in the sidebar navigation section …
(WordPress Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar section. This is helpful if you want to display different groups of pages on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To The WordPress Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a Links widget to your sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up your Links section inside your dashboard first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to create a step-by-step tutorial that explains how to configure the WordPress Links feature.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag it 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 area …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar navigation section 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 Navigation Section)
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 …
( WordPress 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)
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 sidebar.
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This is the end of section three of this series of tutorials.
Click here to continue:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)