As discussed in this post, one of the many great benefits of using WordPress is that you can easily add content, improve your site’s functionality, or reconfigure the layout of your website without web coding knowledge required.
WordPress allows you to easily insert, remove, and rearrange various types of content from your website’s sidebar (and header and footer sections too, depending on what theme is installed on your site) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site’s sidebar area (plus headers and footers and other areas, depending on the theme) like:
- nested page lists
- content categories
- blog post archive
- menus that display only the pages you select
- links to resources
- links to recent posts
- user comments
- text ads
- testimonials
- surveys
- RSS feed content
- shopping cart forms
- image galleries
- social media buttons
- display widgets from other sites (e.g. Facebook)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WP widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WordPress widgets are, how widgets work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, see this article:
In this step-by-step tutorial series we explain how to use and configure various frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Using WordPress Widgets
Widgets – Basic Concepts
Before configuring and using widgets, let’s explain some of the basics of how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Layouts
Most WordPress themes support widgets and provide areas in your theme’s layout where widgets can be added to, such as the sidebar area, header area, and footer sections. Depending on your theme, widgets can sometimes also be found inside the content area …
(Many themes provide multiple widget sections)
These widget-ready sections correspond to a feature inside your Widget management area called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Screen
The Widgets area displays a list of all the widgets that you currently have available.
On the right-hand side of the screen, you can see all “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated with drag and drop ease)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive by dragging & dropping items to different areas of the widgets screen.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. become activated for use.
The Widgets screen also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove any widgets that you no longer want to actively display on your site. Inactive widgets do not lose their settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets With Drag And Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, rearrange and delete widgets by dragging and dropping items from your Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily rearrange your theme’s layout using drag-and-drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- A newsletter opt-in form,
- A click for support button, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features on your site display)
If we take a look inside this site’s Widget area, you will see that these features display on the site’s sidebar area in the same order as their corresponding widgets are arranged in the active widget section …
If we change the above widgets in the Sidebar Widget Area using drag & drop …
(Drag & drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widget features have now been reordered in your sidebar …
This immediately reorganizes the order of items in your site’s sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar elements with widgets can help to improve your site’s user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now first the sidebar, and the ‘contact us’ image button (2) is placed above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Rearrange sidebar layout using widgets to improve user experience)
Deleting Widgets From Your WordPress Blog Sidebar Navigation Menu
Removing widgets from your WordPress sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s remove the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To delete a widget from an active Widget area, either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Deleting your widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Removing a widget)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want to remove from your sidebar. You can always reinstate a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be customized further. This can include things like making certain types of information hidden to site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Clicking on the little triangle in the corner of a widget toggles between expanding and collapsing the item and displays the settings for the widget …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, click Delete to delete your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets offer little to no configurable options)
Customize Widgets Section
Depending upon the theme you have installed on your site, you can also customize and manage widgets without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you are happy with what you see before making any permanent changes to your site.
Widget management is a great feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how the widget content will appear prior to publishing any changes you’ve made (to avoid making errors), or manage widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(preview widget changes in the Customize section)
When viewing your site on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Toolbar Customize Link)
This will bring you to the Customizer screen in the backend.
You can do many edits in preview mode (like adding, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and it will all be done in real time. If you like what you have done, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will be instantly applied and made visible to your site visitors.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
As soon as your changes have been saved, WordPress will automatically update the widget settings and display the new changes to your site visitors.
Because the WordPress theme you choose tend to affect how elements display on your site, we recommend that you install your theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar.
Also, remember to use the Customizer feature to preview your changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial (one to work in and one to check how your site is coming along).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, let’s begin configuring various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
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This is the end of part 1 of this tutorial series.
Click here to continue:
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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
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