In Part 1 of this step-by-step 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 you will configure other widgets.
Add Post Categories To Your Sidebar Navigation Menu
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories on your sidebar navigation area.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar section, we recommend first configuring your post categories inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Categories)
Note: Setting up and using categories in WordPress will be covered in separate tutorials.
Configure the Categories settings for this widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size 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 navigation section. (2)
- You can leave the remaining options unchecked, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or reload your page to see how your content will look to your blog readers …
(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
The Recent Posts widget typically displays in the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on your Recent Posts widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s really not much to configure. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and 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 a number of posts to show and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will display on your sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar)
For a tutorial about how to create and edit a WordPress Post, go here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Displaying Your Site’s Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar section to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “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 hide pages on your 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 in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying to visitors, type or paste in the Page Ids for all the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on finding a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Find The ID Of Any WordPress Post Or Page
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your pages will now display in your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation area. This is helpful if you would like to display different groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Now, let’s add a Links widget to display external links on the WordPress sidebar navigation menu.
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar section, you will first need to configure the Links feature inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to set up and use WordPress Links.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the Links 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 …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar navigation area 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 Navigation Area)
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. Your widget will display immediately on your site …
(External links added to sidebar area)
As the above example shows, you can display specific links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple lists of links to your sidebar navigation section.
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This is the end of part 3 of this tutorial series.
Click here to view Part 4:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now