In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this section you are going to configure other frequently-used WordPress widgets.
How To Add A Post Categories Section
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories on the sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar area. Place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation section, we recommend setting up the Categoriesfeature inside your WordPress dashboard …
(Post Categories)
Note: We plan to create a step-by-step tutorial that explains how to set up post categories in WordPress.
Configure the Categories settings for this widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that blog readers will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to have several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of your 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)
- Leave the other options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or reload your page to see how the content will display to your site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar navigation 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 unticked.
- 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 A Recent Posts Widget To The Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget normally shows in the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on its title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s really not much to configure. You can add a widget title, 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 WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will be listed on the sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial about how to create and edit a post in WordPress here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding Links To Your Site’s Main Pages
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar navigation menu to display your pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar navigation area)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- 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: Hide pages on the 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 select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying on your sidebar, 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 – excluding pages by ID)
Finding a post or page ID in WordPress is covered in this tutorial: How To Find A Page Or Post ID In A WordPress Blog
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your site’s pages will now display on your sidebar section …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation section. This is handy if you need to display different page groups on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your WordPress Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a Links widget to your sidebar menu.
Before adding the Links widget to your sidebar area, you will first need to configure the Links section inside the WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to create step-by-step tutorials on how to configure and use Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your active area …
(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 the sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar 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 The Sidebar 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 your Links Widget, click the Save button. Your links will become immediately visible on the WordPress sidebar …
(External links added to sidebar navigation section)
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 the sidebar area.
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This is the end of section three of this tutorial series.
Click here to keep reading:
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