In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained the basics of how to use WordPress widgets.
In this tutorial you are going to learn how to configure several WordPress sidebar widgets.
Configuring Frequently-Used WordPress Widgets
In a default WordPress installation, your site comes with a number of built-in widgets, such as widgets that let you display links to your pages, recent posts, news items, add site search features, etc.
(In a default WordPress installation, your site comes with a number of pre-installed widgets)
How To Set Up Commonly-Used Widgets On Your Sidebar Section: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this step-by-step tutorial series, we will add, configure and reorder various commonly-used widgets, including:
- Adding a Support Contact graphic linking visitors to your help page.
- Adding a Categories section.
- Adding a Recent Posts section to display your latest posts.
- Add a list of your site’s most important Pages.
- Display a list of useful Links on your sidebar.
- Display news items using an RSS Feed section.
- Add a list of clickable tags through a Tag Cloud.
- Add and configure an Archives section to your sidebar navigation area.
To access the Widgets section go to Appearance > Widgets …
(WordPress Widgets Menu)
This brings up the Widgets screen in your web browser …
(Widgets Screen)
Let’s start to configure some widgets …
Add A Text Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Text widgets are incredibly versatile …
(Text widget)
Rich Text Widget
From version 4.8 onward, WordPress has added native rich-text editing capabilities to text widgets …
(Rich Text Widget)
This lets you quickly and easily format text, create lists, add emphasis, and insert links into your sidebar text …
(Format text easily with the new text widget)
A text widget can be used to add events, maps and directions, forms and more to your site … just type in text or add HTML into the widget content area. You can also give the widget a title. Remember to save your settings …
(A text widget is versatile!)
Example: Add A Contact Button To The Sidebar Navigation Menu Using A Text Widget
For this example, let’s set up a clickable support button on the sidebar area that will take visitors to a page on your site (or an external site, e.g. a helpdesk) where they can contact you for help and support.
First, create or source a “help button” graphic image that visitors can click on …
We’ll set up a clickable Help button to display at the top of your sidebar like in the example shown below …
Step 1 – Upload your image.
To display the clickable image on your site, the image must be uploaded to your server. Upload your button image to the images folder in your server and note down the address of your image location.
For example …
http://www.yourdomain.com/images/supportbutton.jpg
This information will be used in Step 3.
In order for someone to be taken to your contact page when they click on the graphic button, you will need to either create a contact page, or have an existing destination page already set up (e.g. a helpdesk). We will link your button image to this URL in Step 3 …
Step 2 – Add a support page.
Create a contact page on your site and note its URL …
Step 3 – Compose your text widget code.
If you’re not a technical-minded person, don’t worry … this sounds a lot more technical than it is. In simple terms, you just need to create the instructions for your clickable image.
Your code can be typed in a simple text editor and will look something like this …
- Replace “http://www.yourdomain.com/contact-us” in the code above with the URL of your contact page location.
- Replace “http://yourimagelocation.com/img/supportbutton.jpg” in the code with the URL of your image location.
The screenshot below shows the sections of the above code that you need to replace with the actual web addresses …
Replace the above URLs and then copy the above code to your clipboard when finished.
If you need help understanding basic HTML code, refer to this tutorial:
Now, go back to your Widgets panel …
(Widgets Screen)
Step 4 – Add a Text widget.
Add a Text widget to your sidebar where you want your clickable button to display.
In the Available Widgets area, select a Text widget …
(WordPress text widget)
Drag your Text widget to your Active Widgets section and release it at the top of the Widget Area …
(Dragging and dropping your Text widget)
Step 5 – Configure your text widget settings.
Click on the widget title bar to configure the widget options. Paste the code with the links to your contact page and graphic button into your text widget content area and click the save button …
Add a heading to your widget if you want (e.g. “Need Help?”, “Support”, etc.) and paste the code with the correct destination links into the Content box, then click the save button …
Note: Make sure to check your contact page and button image URLs before pasting scripts into your Text Widget, or your button won’t work.
*** If using WordPress version pre-4.8 ***
If you’re adding text with no formatting tags like paragraph breaks, you may want to tick the Automatically add paragraphs box to wrap each block of text in paragraphs (note: not required if you’re pasting in HTML code like we’re doing in this tutorial).
Here is some text with Automatically add paragraphs box not selected …
(Automatically add paragraphs option unchecked)
Here is some text added to a Text widget with Automatically add paragraphs box selected …
(Automatically add paragraphs option checked)
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Step 6 – Refresh the browser.
After adding your widget and code content, visit your site and refresh your browser. If you have entered all of the links correctly, then the support button should display in your sidebar menu …
(Clickable support button widget on sidebar)
The screenshot above shows a clickable button in the sidebar of a brand new WordPress site.
Step 7 – Test the widget.
The final step is to make sure that the destination URL works. Test your button to make sure that your visitors will go to the contact page when they click on the graphic image. If you are taken directly to the contact page, then everything has been set up correctly …
(Test the clickable button to ensure you’ve set up everything correctly)
Useful Tips:
If you would like a new window to open up when visitors go to your support page (so they don’t leave the page they’re on), then change the button code from this:
To this (i.e. insert the part that says: target=”_blank” in the text widget code):
When adding images to your sidebar navigation section, make sure that the width of the image does not exceed the width of the sidebar column, especially if you are using a non-responsive WordPress theme. As we’ve previously explained, some themes may display elements differently depending on their templates and their layout. Some sidebars may be wider or narrower. If the sidebar of your theme is narrower than the width of your button image, then you may need to either adjust the graphic size, or the width of your sidebar column to make the images display correctly on your sidebar.
(Adjust column width or reduce image size)
Extra Tips:
- If you don’t want to center the image inside your sidebar, delete the <center> and </center> tags from the beginning and end of the HTML code. The image will then be aligned to its default settings (normally left-aligned).
- Link your contact button to any URL you like (e.g. to an external site, helpdesk, FAQ page, etc.) and change this anytime by replacing the code in your text widget.
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This is the end of part 2 of this series of tutorials.
To keep reading, click here:
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group