In Part 1 of this tutorial, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this section we are going to show you how to configure other frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
Add Post Categories
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Post Categories on the sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget displays on the sidebar navigation section. All you need to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation area, we recommend setting up the Categoriesfeature inside your WP dashboard …
(WordPress Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to use categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unchecked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar. (2)
- Leave the remaining options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how the Categories widget will display to your visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar section)
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 box unchecked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, 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 navigation section by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on its title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to set up in this widget. You can add a title if you want, select the number of posts to display and 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 number of posts you have specified will appear on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget on sidebar)
To learn how to create WordPress Posts, see this tutorial: How To Create A WP Post
Add Links To Your Site’s Pages
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar area)
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 prevent pages from showing 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 choose a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To prevent pages from displaying to visitors, simply enter the Page Ids for the pages you want to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
We provide a tutorial on how to find a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Locate The ID Of A WordPress Post Or Page
Click the Save button when done 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 the sidebar …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar area. This is handy if you would like to display separate page groups on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Now, we’ll add a widget that will display external links on your sidebar menu.
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend first setting up the Links section inside your WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring the Links feature.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it 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 …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar navigation menu 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 Navigation Area)
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 become immediately visible on your WordPress sidebar section …
(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 the sidebar area.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial series.
Click here to keep reading:
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