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 tutorial you will learn how to configure other sidebar widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Section To The Sidebar Navigation Area
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories on the sidebar.
The Categories widget already displays on the sidebar by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation area, we recommend setting up your categories inside your dashboard …
(Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to use post categories in WordPress.
Configure your Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the length of your 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)
- Leave the other options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how your Categories widget will look to your site visitors …
(WordPress 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 unticked.
- 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 typically shows on the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the Recent Posts title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is very little to set up here. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and 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 the number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will now display to visitors on your sidebar section …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on sidebar)
To learn how to create and edit WordPress Posts, see this tutorial: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget To Your Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar that will link to the pages on your site.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget section …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you 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: Use this setting to hide pages on your sidebar section (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then choose a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent certain pages from showing on the widget, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
We provide a tutorial that explain how to find a post or page ID in WordPress here: How To Locate The Unique ID Of A Post Or Page In WordPress
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the site’s main pages will now appear on the sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is useful if you want to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar navigation area, we first recommend setting up your Links section inside your WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Configuring and using WordPress Links will be explained in other tutorials.
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 …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar navigation section 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 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 the Links Widget, click the Save button. Your links will become immediately visible on the WordPress sidebar …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar)
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 sidebar.
***
This is the end of part three of this tutorial.
Click on this link to continue reading:
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie