In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial we are going to show you how to configure other commonly-used widgets.
Add A Post Categories Widget
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure a widget for Categories.
The Categories widget displays on your sidebar navigation menu by default. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation menu, you will first need to configure the Post Categoriessection inside your WP dashboard …
(Categories)
Note: Setting up and using post categories in WordPress will be covered in other tutorials.
Let’s configure the Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to use several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size 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 unticked. (2)
- You can leave the remaining options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how the Categories widget will look to 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 unchecked.
- 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 To Your Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget is normally added to your sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on the widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is really not much to set up here. You can add a title if you want, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you want to use 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 widget settings)
The number of posts you have specified will now display to visitors on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar navigation area)
To learn how to create WordPress Posts, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget To The Blog Sidebar Menu
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display your pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- 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 page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to 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 another option, then choose a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude pages from showing in the sidebar, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
A tutorial is provided on finding a page ID in WordPress here: How To Find Post And Page IDs In WordPress
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to your site’s main pages will now show on your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar area. This is helpful if you need to display different groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To The Sidebar
Now, let’s add a widget to the WordPress sidebar navigation section that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar menu, we recommend setting up your Links feature first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Setting up and using Links will be explained in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your sidebar 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 navigation area …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the 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 Your Sidebar 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 your Links Widget, click the Save button …
(External links added to sidebar 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 your WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial series.
To view Part Four, click here:
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum