In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this section you are going to configure other widgets.
How To Add Post Categories
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on your sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar area. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
your post categories …
(WordPress Categories)
Note: We plan to provide a separate tutorial if you need help on how to set up and use categories.
Configure your categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the size of your content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar menu. (2)
- You can leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how the sidebar categories will display to visitors …
(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 Recent Posts To Your Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget is typically added to the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on its widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is very little to set up. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy with the default setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter the number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will now display to visitors on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar navigation section)
For a tutorial about how to create WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget To The Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar area)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from showing on your 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 choose a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude pages from showing to your visitors, enter the Page Ids for the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
How to find a page ID in WordPress is covered in this tutorial: How To Locate Post And Page IDs In A WP Website
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the blog’s main pages will now show on the sidebar …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is handy if you want to display separate groups of pages on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Sidebar Navigation Section
Now, let’s add a Links widget to the sidebar navigation menu.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar area, we recommend configuring the Links feature inside your WordPress dashboard first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up WordPress Links.
To add the widget, select 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 your sidebar area …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar 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 …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar menu)
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 lists of links to your WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of section 3 of this tutorial series on how to use WordPress widgets.
To view the rest of this tutorial series, click this link:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now