In Part 1 of this tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial we will continue configuring other frequently-used WordPress blog widgets.
Add Categories To The Sidebar Section
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure Categories.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar section by default. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up your post categories first …
(WordPress Post Categories)
Note: Configuring and using WordPress categories will be covered in other tutorials.
Configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the widget content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar. (2)
- Leave the remaining options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or refresh the page to see how your sidebar categories will look to 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 option, otherwise leave this option as is.
- 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 Widget
The Recent Posts widget typically displays in your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on its title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really not much to set up. 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 …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
Your most recent posts will be listed on the sidebar section …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar section)
We provide a tutorial about how to create and edit a WordPress Post here: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Display 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 widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Useful Pages“) (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 the sidebar (3) …
(WordPress 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 from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude pages from displaying to visitors, enter the Page Ids for the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
To learn how to find a WordPress post or page ID, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Find WordPress Page And Post IDs
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your blog’s pages will now show on your sidebar navigation area …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation menu. This is handy if you need to display separate groups of pages on your sidebar navigation section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To The WordPress Sidebar Area
Now, let’s add a widget to your sidebar that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar menu, you should first configure the Links feature inside the WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Setting up and using WordPress Links will be covered in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(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 your sidebar …
(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 Links Widgets To Your Sidebar Menu)
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 your Links Widget, click the Save button. Your widget will become immediately visible on your site …
(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 lists of links to the sidebar.
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This is the end of part 3 of this series of tutorials.
To view Part Four, click here:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now