In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you will learn how to configure other commonly-used widgets.
Add A Post Categories Widget To Your Sidebar Area
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a clickable help button, let’s configure a widget to display your Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar navigation menu. Place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend configuring your categories inside the WP dashboard …
(Categories)
Note: We plan to provide separate tutorials about how to set up and use post categories.
Configure your categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to add many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of your 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 your sidebar. (2)
- You can leave the remaining options unchecked, 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 reload the page to see how the sidebar categories will display to your site visitors …
(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 box, otherwise leave this option as is.
- To display the number of posts published in each category, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section
The Recent Posts widget normally displays on the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on your Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really very little to set up here. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy with the default Number of posts to show setting, 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 be listed on the sidebar area …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar)
We provide a tutorial about how to create a post in WordPress here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar area to display your site’s main pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Site Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from being visible on the sidebar section (3) …
(WordPress 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 – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing to your visitors, enter the Page Ids for all the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to find a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Find The ID Of WordPress Pages And Posts
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your site’s pages will now show in your sidebar section …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar area. This is useful if you want to display separate page groups on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On The Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your WordPress sidebar for displaying external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up your Links feature inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to create a tutorial on how to set up and use the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget 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 …
(WordPress 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 WordPress 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 the Links Widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will become immediately visible on your site …
(External links added to WordPress sidebar)
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 link lists to your sidebar section.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial series about using WordPress widgets.
Click here to continue:
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