In Part One of this tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this section you are going to learn how to configure other WordPress widgets.
How To Add Post Categories
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a clickable contact button, let’s configure a widget for your Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on your sidebar. 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 the sidebar, we recommend setting up the Post Categoriessection first …
(Post Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure and use categories in WordPress.
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 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)
- Leave the remaining options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or reload your page to see how the Categories widget will display to site visitors …
(WordPress Categories widget added to sidebar area)
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 on your site, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section To Your Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget typically appears on your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is very little to configure. 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 change the number of posts and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will display on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to sidebar)
To learn how to create and edit a WordPress Post, see this tutorial: How To Create A WP Post
Adding A Pages Widget
Next, let’s 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 widget section …
(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. “Site Info“) (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 appearing on your sidebar (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent certain pages from displaying in the widget, simply type their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
Finding a WordPress post or page ID is explained in this step-by-step tutorial: Finding WordPress Page And Post IDs
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your site’s main pages will now appear on your sidebar navigation section …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is handy if you would like to display different groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On Your WordPress Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a Links widget to the sidebar.
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar, you should first configure your Links feature inside the WordPress dashboard …
(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 the widget to your sidebar 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 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 WordPress Links Widgets To Your Sidebar 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 …
( WordPress Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will display immediately on your site …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar navigation area)
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 part three of this series of tutorials on using Widgets.
Click on this link to keep reading:
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