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 tutorial we are going to show you how to configure other sidebar widgets.
Adding Post Categories
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget to display your Post Categories.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
your post categories …
(WordPress Post Categories)
Note: We plan to provide tutorials on setting up and using post categories.
Configure the Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of the 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 unticked. (2)
- You can leave the other options as the default, 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 refresh the page to see how your content will look to your blog readers …
(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 section 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 To The Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget is normally added to your sidebar section by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is very little to set up here. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy to use the default setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter the number of posts to show and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will be listed on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget added to sidebar)
For a step-by-step tutorial about how to create and edit WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Displaying Your Site’s Pages In Your WordPress Sidebar Navigation Area
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Inserting a Pages widget into the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Useful Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to hide pages on your sidebar navigation section (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying in your sidebar, enter the Page Ids for all the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: Finding WordPress Page And Post IDs
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your blog’s pages will now appear on your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar navigation menu. This is useful if you want to display separate groups of pages on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Next, let’s add a widget to display external links on the WordPress sidebar section.
Before adding the Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend setting up your Links section inside your WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: How to set up and use Links will be explained in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, select 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 menu …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar navigation area 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)
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 …
(Links added to sidebar navigation section)
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 link lists to your sidebar.
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This is the end of part 3 of this series of tutorials about using Widgets.
To keep reading, click here:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum