In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this section we are going to show you how to configure other WordPress widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Section To The Sidebar Navigation Menu
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on the sidebar navigation menu.
The Categories widget already displays on the sidebar navigation 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 on your sidebar widget area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
your your WordPress post categories …
(Post Categories Panel)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure and use categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for your widget 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 your widget 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 unchecked. (2)
- Leave the remaining options unchecked, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your web browser or refresh your page to see how your sidebar categories will look 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, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts To The Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget is added to the sidebar navigation area by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to configure in this widget. 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 Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter a number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will appear on the sidebar navigation menu …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar navigation area)
To learn how to create a WordPress Post, see this tutorial: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding Links To Your Site’s Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation section showing links to your pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into your sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site Info“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide selected pages on the sidebar navigation menu (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 select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To prevent certain pages from showing on the widget, type or paste in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
A tutorial is provided on how to find a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Locate Post And Page 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 your blog’s pages will now appear in the sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar section. This is helpful if you would like to display separate page groups on the sidebar navigation area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To The Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a Links widget to the sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar navigation area, we recommend first setting up the Links feature inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: Setting up and using the Links feature will be covered in other tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress 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 navigation menu …
(WordPress 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 WordPress Links Widgets To Your 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 …
( 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)
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 WordPress sidebar navigation section.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial on how to use Widgets.
To continue reading, click here:
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