In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you are going to learn how to configure other widgets.
Adding Post Categories
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a clickable help button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on the sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget displays on the sidebar. All you need to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up your post categories first …
(WordPress Post Categories)
Note: We plan to create a separate tutorial that explains how to use WordPress categories.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for your widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to have 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)
- You can leave the other options unchecked, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how your content will display to your 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 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
The Recent Posts widget displays in your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the Recent Posts title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to set up here. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy with 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 when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will now display to visitors on the sidebar section …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar)
A tutorial is provided on creating and editing a WordPress Post here: How To Create A New WordPress Post
Adding Links To Your Site’s Main Pages In Your WordPress Sidebar Menu
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar to display 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 area …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into the sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from displaying 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 select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To prevent certain pages from displaying in your sidebar, type in the Page Ids for the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
For a step-by-step tutorial about how to find a WordPress post or page ID, go here: How To Locate Post And Page IDs In WordPress
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the pages will now show on the sidebar …
(Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar area. This is handy if you want to display different page groups on your sidebar menu (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To Your Sidebar
Next, let’s add a Links widget for displaying external links on the sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend setting up the Links feature first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring and using WordPress Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget 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 the sidebar area …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the 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 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 display immediately on your site …
(Links added to 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 your sidebar.
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This is the end of part 3 of this tutorial on how to use WordPress widgets.
To continue, click this link:
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