In Part 1 of this tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial you will learn how to configure other frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Add Categories
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable help button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on the sidebar menu.
By default, the Categories widget displays on the sidebar section. All you need to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation area, we recommend configuring your post categories first …
(WordPress Post Categories)
Note: Setting up post categories in WordPress will be explained in other tutorials.
Configure your categories widget settings as shown 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 in a drop-down menu). Leave the box unchecked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar navigation area. (2)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how your sidebar categories will display to 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, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section To The Blog Sidebar Area
The Recent Posts widget is typically added to your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s not much to set up. 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 widget settings)
Your most recent posts will appear on the sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on blog sidebar)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to create WordPress Posts here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget To The Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget section …
(Inserting a Pages widget into the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from displaying on your sidebar section (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using one of the other options, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To prevent certain pages from displaying on the widget, enter the Page Ids for the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on finding a page ID in WordPress here: Finding WordPress Page And Post IDs
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your main pages will now display in your sidebar …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar menu. This is useful if you would like to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Sidebar Menu
Now, we’ll add a Links widget for displaying external links on your sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar area, we recommend setting up your Links feature first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring and using Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it to your active area …
(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 the sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar 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 Your Sidebar)
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 …
( 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 your site …
(External links added to sidebar area)
As the above example shows, you can display specific links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple link lists to the sidebar section.
***
This is the end of part three of this tutorial.
Click here to continue:
***
"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