In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this section you are going to configure other frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
Add Post Categories
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories on your sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar navigation section. All you have to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
your your WordPress post categories …
(Categories)
Note: Configuring and using categories in WordPress will be covered in separate tutorials.
Configure your Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that blog readers will understand, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to have several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of the content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unticked. (2)
- You can leave the other options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how the content will display to visitors …
(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 option, otherwise leave this section as is.
- 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 normally shows in your sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on the Recent Posts title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is not much 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 enter the number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will display on the sidebar section …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar)
How to create a WordPress Post is explained here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget To The Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar 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 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 page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from displaying on the sidebar navigation section (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 – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing in your widget, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on finding a WordPress page ID here: Finding A WP Page Or Post ID
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the site’s pages will now display in your sidebar …
(WordPress 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 your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On The WordPress Blog Sidebar
Now, let’s add a widget to your WordPress sidebar navigation menu that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, you should first configure the Links section inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the Links 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 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 Navigation Menu)
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 the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to sidebar navigation menu)
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 link lists to your sidebar menu.
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This is the end of section 3 of this tutorial series on using Widgets.
Click here to continue:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)