In Part 1 of this tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial we will continue configuring other commonly-used widgets.
How To Add A Categories Widget
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Post Categories on the sidebar navigation menu.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar by default. All you have to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Post Categoriesfeature inside the dashboard …
(Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring and using WordPress post categories.
Configure the Categories settings for your widget as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories in a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unticked. (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 …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or reload your page to see how your Categories widget will display to site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar navigation menu)
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 unchecked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Widget To Your Blog Sidebar Menu
The Recent Posts widget displays in the sidebar menu by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the Recent Posts title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s really not much to configure. You can add a title if you want, 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 the number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
Your most recent posts will be listed on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar area)
To learn how to create a WordPress Post, see this tutorial: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar showing links to pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Useful Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to prevent pages from showing on the sidebar (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying in the sidebar, enter their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
A tutorial is provided on how to find a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Locate Post And Page IDs In Your WordPress Website
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the pages will now display on your sidebar navigation area …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is handy if you want to display different groups of pages on the sidebar area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To The WordPress Blog Sidebar Section
Next, we’ll add a Links widget that will display external links on the WordPress sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, you will first need to configure your Links section inside your WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure and use Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget 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 …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your 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)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(WordPress 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 …
( WordPress Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(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.
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This is the end of part 3 of this series of tutorials.
To view the rest of this tutorial, click here:
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