In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this section you will configure other default WordPress sidebar 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 displaying Post Categories on your sidebar navigation menu.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar navigation menu. All you need to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
your post categories …
(Categories)
Note: We plan to provide a separate step-by-step tutorial that shows you how to configure WordPress post categories.
Configure your categories settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to use many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the widget 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 unchecked. (2)
- You can leave the other options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your web browser or reload your page to see how your content will look 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 on your site, enable 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 typically appears on the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on your Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s not much to set up. You can add a title if you want, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy with 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 widget settings)
Your most recent posts will now display to visitors on your sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to sidebar navigation area)
To learn how to create and edit a WordPress Post, see this tutorial: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Adding Links To Your Site’s Main Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation menu to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget section …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- 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 by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide pages on the sidebar navigation menu (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed 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 – sort options)
To exclude certain pages from showing in your widget, simply paste in the Page Ids for all the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
How to find a WordPress page ID is covered here: How To Locate The Post Or Page ID In A WordPress Website
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 pages will now appear on your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is helpful if you need to display different page groups on the sidebar navigation area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To The Sidebar Navigation Section
Now, let’s add a widget that will display external links on the sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar navigation area, you should first configure your Links section inside your WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to create separate tutorials on how to set up and use Links.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar …
(Making Links Widget active)
The 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 section …
(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 The Sidebar 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 …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring the Links Widget, click the Save button. Your widget will become immediately visible on your site …
(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 lists of links to the WordPress sidebar navigation section.
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This is the end of section 3 of this tutorial series on using WordPress widgets.
To view Part 4, click this link:
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