As we discuss in this post, one of the many benefits of choosing the WordPress CMS platform is that you can easily add content, enhance your website, and reconfigure the layout of your site without requiring coding skills.
WordPress allows you to quickly and easily insert, delete, and reorganize various blocks of content from your site’s sidebar navigation area (and header and footer sections, depending on what theme is installed on the site) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site’s sidebar area (plus headers and footers and other areas, depending on the WordPress theme you have installed) like:
- nested page lists
- blog post categories
- archives
- menus
- links to external sites
- most read posts
- comments
- clickable images
- testimonials
- survey results
- RSS feed items
- opt-in subscription form
- image galleries
- social media buttons
- add widgets from external sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WordPress widgets are, how widgets work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, go here:
In this tutorial series we show you how to use and configure a number of frequently-used WordPress widgets.
How To Use Widgets
Basic Concepts
Before configuring and using widgets, it helps to first go over some of the basic concepts of how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide areas in the theme’s layout where you can add widgets, such as the sidebar navigation area, header area, and footer. Depending on your theme, widgets can also appear in the content area …
(Many WP themes offer users multiple widget-enabled areas)
These widgetized sections correspond to a feature inside the Widget administration screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
The Widgets Screen
The Widgets section displays all the widgets that are currently available for use on your site.
On the right-hand side of the window, you can see your “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets by dragging & dropping)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive by dragging-and-dropping items to different sections of the widgets screen.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like the sidebar, footer, etc. instantly become active and available for use.
The Widgets area also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want on your site. Inactive widgets retain their settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets Using Drag-And-Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete widgets just by dragging and dropping items inside your Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reconfigure the order and layout of your website’s widgetized layout using drag and drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display things on your site like:
- An opt-in form,
- A contact support button, and
- ’Click to call’ feature from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control how certain features appear on your site)
Inside the Widget area, you would see that the front-end features display on the site’s sidebar menu in the same order as their corresponding widgets were arranged in the backend widget section …
If we reorganize the above widgets in the Sidebar Widget Area by dragging and dropping some of the items around …
(Drag-and-drop to rearrange widgets in your widget area)
The widget features have now been reorganized in your sidebar …
As you can see, this instantly reorganizes the order of items in your site’s sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar elements using widgets can improve user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now the first item on the sidebar, and the support graphic button (2) is now placed above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Reorganizing sidebar elements with widgets can help to improve visitor experience)
Deleting Widgets From Your WordPress Sidebar Menu
Deleting widgets from your sidebar area is really easy.
For example, let’s show you how to delete the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To delete an active widget, you can either open up the widget and click the Delete link …
(Deleting your widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and into the Inactive Widgets section …
(How to remove your widget)
Repeat this process for all widgets you want removed from your sidebar. You can always reinstate a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets provide various options that allow you to further configure things. This can include things like hiding information from users (but allowing access to registered users), displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to toggle between expanding and collapsing the item …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, delete your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add something like an optional title …
(Some widgets give you little to no configurable options)
WP Theme Customizer
Depending upon the WordPress theme you are using, you’re also able to preview any changes live without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you are happy with your customizations before committing anything live to your website.
The ability to manage widgets from within your own dashboard is a great feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how your widget content will appear prior to publishing it (and avoid making mistakes), or change your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(preview widget changes live in the Customize section)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Toolbar Customize Link)
This will bring you to the Customizer screen in the backend.
You can do lots of modifications and adjustments to widgets in preview mode (like adding, deleting and moving widgets around), and this will all be done in real time. If you like the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will be instantly updated and made visible on your site to visitors.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
After saving the changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Because the theme you choose determines how elements display on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the Customizer feature to preview all changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, let’s begin configuring various frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
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This is the end of part one of this series of tutorials on how to use WordPress widgets.
To view Part 2, click this link:
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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie
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