In Part One of this tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this section we will continue configuring other WordPress blog widgets.
How To Add Categories
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on your sidebar menu.
The Categories widget already displays on the sidebar by default. Place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar, we recommend configuring your categories first …
(WordPress Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to use WordPress categories.
Configure the Categories settings for your widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the 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 the sidebar. (2)
- 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 WordPress Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how your Categories widget will display to 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 section as is.
- 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 Section
The Recent Posts widget normally displays on your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on its title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s very little 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 when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will now display to visitors on the sidebar menu …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar area)
Creating and editing a post in WordPress is covered here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget To Your Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar linking visitors to 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 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: Use this setting to hide pages on the sidebar (3) …
(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 from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To prevent pages from displaying on the widget, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to find a WordPress post or page ID, go here: Finding A WordPress Post Or Page ID
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the blog’s main pages will now show in the sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar menu. This is helpful if you need to display different page groups on your sidebar navigation menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Now, let’s add a Links widget to the sidebar navigation area.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Links feature first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to provide a step-by-step tutorial if you need help on how to configure and use WordPress Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your sidebar …
(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 …
(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 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 …
( WordPress Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring the Links Widget, click the Save button. Your links will display immediately on your site …
(Links added to sidebar navigation menu)
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.
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This is the end of part three of this series of tutorials about how to use Widgets.
Click here to continue:
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