In Part 1 of this tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this section we are going to show you how to configure other WordPress widgets.
Adding Categories
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a clickable contact button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on your sidebar section.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar section by default. 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 …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend configuring your Categoriesfeature first …
(Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure and use WordPress post categories.
Configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that blog readers will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories inside 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 when finished …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or refresh your page to see how your content will display to your 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 box, otherwise leave this box unchecked.
- 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
The Recent Posts widget displays in your sidebar navigation section by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts 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 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 when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will now display to visitors on the sidebar menu …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on sidebar)
How to create a post in WordPress is covered in this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A New WordPress Post
Display Your Site’s Main Pages
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar for listing 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 navigation section)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to hide pages 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 choose a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude pages from showing in your widget, just paste in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
For a tutorial about how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Locate Page And Post IDs In WordPress
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the site’s main pages will now appear on the sidebar section …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation area. This is useful if you would like to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar navigation menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Next, let’s add a Links widget to the sidebar.
Before adding the Links widget to the sidebar, you will first need to configure your Links feature inside the WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, select 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 menu …
(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 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 …
(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 the WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial.
To view Part 4, click here:
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