As discussed in this post, one of the many benefits of using the WordPress web publishing software for building, managing and growing your web site is that you can easily add content, expand your website’s functionality, and reconfigure the layout of your website with no code editing skills and knowledge required.
WordPress lets you easily insert, delete, and control various types of content on your blog’s sidebar (or header and footer sections, depending on what theme you use) 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 theme you have installed) like:
- index of pages
- categories
- archive
- custom menus
- links to external sites
- most popular posts
- comments
- clickable text ads
- client testimonials
- survey questions & results
- RSS feed items
- shopping cart information
- videos
- Facebook feeds
- display widgets from other sites (e.g. StumbleUpon)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets make managing and using WordPress easy)
To learn more about what WordPress widgets are, how widgets work and why widgets make managing your site easier, go here:
In this tutorial series we explain how to use and configure various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
Using WordPress Widgets
Basic Concepts
Before configuring and using widgets, it helps to first make sure that you understand some of the basics of how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide sections in your theme’s layout where widgets can be added, such as the sidebar, header area, and footer. Depending on the theme, widgets can sometimes also get added below or above the content area …
(Many WP themes offer users a number of widget areas)
These widgetized areas correspond to a feature inside the Widget administration screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Panel
The Widgets panel displays a list of 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 with drag & drop ease)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive using drag-and-drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. instantly become active and available for use.
The Widgets screen also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want actively displayed on your website. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange WordPress Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete widgets just by dragging and dropping items in the Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets using drag and drop)
You can also easily rearrange the order of your theme’s widget-enabled layout using drag-and-drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- An opt-in form,
- A click for support banner, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control how certain features appear on your WordPress site)
If we took a look inside the Widget area, you would see that the front-end features appear on the site’s sidebar menu in exactly the same order as they have been arranged in the active widget area …
Let’s now reorganize these widgets in the Widget Area using drag and drop …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widget features have now been reordered in the sidebar navigation menu …
As you can see, this immediately changes the order of items in the sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar elements with widgets can help improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now first the sidebar, and the support image button (2) now sits above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Reorganizing sidebar layout with widgets can improve visitor experience)
Deleting Widgets From The Sidebar Navigation Area
Removing widgets from your WordPress sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s remove the Search widget from the sidebar navigation area …
(WordPress Search widget)
To remove an active widget, either open up the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Delete widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove a widget)
Repeat this process for all widgets you want removed from your sidebar navigation menu. You can always reactivate widgets by moving them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be further customized. This includes hiding information from users (but allowing access to registered users), displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to display the widget’s settings …
(Toggles expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets provide users with little to no customization, or they may only allow you to add something like an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no configuration options)
Previewing Widgets
Depending on the theme you have installed, you can also manage and customize your widgets without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like what you see before committing anything live to your site.
Widget management 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 changes (to avoid making errors), or manage widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize feature)
If you need to make changes to the site while viewing the frontend, just click on the Customize link …
(Customize link in the toolbar)
This will bring you to the Customizer area in the backend.
You can do several modifications and adjustments in preview mode (like adding, deleting and reorganizing your widgets), and it’s all done in real time. If you are happy with the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will instantly become available to your site visitors.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
After saving your changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Because WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets on your sidebar navigation section.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview your changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you work through this tutorial (one to work in and one to check how the site is coming along).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to learn how to start configuring a number of commonly-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
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This is the end of section one of this tutorial series about how to use WordPress widgets.
Click on this link to continue:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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