As we discuss in this article, one of the many great benefits of using WordPress to manage your website or blog is that you can easily add content, expand your site’s functionality, and reconfigure the layout of your website with no web coding knowledge required.
WordPress lets you quickly and easily add, remove, and rearrange various types of content from your blog’s sidebar (or header and footer sections, depending on what theme you use) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site like:
- pages on your site
- blog categories
- archived blog posts
- custom page menus
- links to resources
- your most read posts
- post comments
- advertising banners
- quotations
- survey questions & results
- RSS content
- registration box
- product catalog images
- Facebook feeds
- add widgets from other sites (e.g. Facebook friends)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WP widgets are, how widgets work and why widgets can make managing your site easier, see this article:
In this step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to use and configure various frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Using Widgets
What You Need To Know First
Before we explain how to configure widgets, let’s first make sure that you understand some of the basics of how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Most WordPress themes support widgets and provide built-in widgetized areas in the theme’s layout where widgets can be used, such as the sidebar area, header area, and the footer area. Depending on what theme you are using, widgets can sometimes also be found below or above the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users multiple widgetized areas)
These widgetized layouts correspond to a feature inside the Widget administration screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
The Widgets Screen
The Widgets area displays all the widgets you can use on your site.
The right-hand section of the window displays all “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated with drag & drop ease)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging & dropping items to different areas of the widgets panel.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. immediately become activated for use on your site.
In addition, the Widgets panel includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want actively displayed on your site. Inactive widgets do not lose their settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets Using Drag & Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete things using widgets just by dragging and dropping items in the Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reorder your theme’s layout with drag and drop ease.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- An opt-in form,
- A contact support button, and
- A ‘click to call’ section from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control how certain features display on your site)
Looking inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features display on the site’s sidebar section in the same order as they have been arranged in the backend widget section …
Let’s now change these widgets in the Main Sidebar Widget Area by dragging & dropping some of the widgets around …
(Drag & drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widgets have now been reorganized in the sidebar …
This immediately reorganizes the layout of your sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar layout using widgets can help to improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now the first item on the sidebar area, and the support graphic banner (2) now sits above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar layout with widgets to improve your site’s user experience)
Removing Widgets From The Sidebar
Removing widgets from the sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s remove the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To remove an active widget, either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Delete your widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Removing your widgets)
Repeat this process for all widgets you want removed from the sidebar area. You can always reinstate a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be customized further. This includes hiding information from users, displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to display the settings for that widget …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets offer little to no customizable options, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no customizable options)
WP Theme Customizer
Depending upon the WP theme you have installed, you can also customize widgets without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like what you see before making any permanent changes to your website or blog.
The ability to manage widgets from your own dashboard is a valuable feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how your widget content will appear prior to publishing any changes you’ve made (and avoid making errors), or configure widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets in the Customize feature)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize link in the toolbar)
This brings you to the Customizer screen in the back-end.
You can do several edits in preview mode (like adding, deleting and reorganizing your widgets), and it will all be done in real time. If you like the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will instantly become available on the blog’s frontend.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
Once you have saved your changes, WordPress will automatically update the widget settings and display your new changes to your site visitors.
Since the theme you choose tend to affect how elements display on your site, we recommend installing your theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer 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 changes are coming along).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to configure various frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial series.
Click on this link to continue:
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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
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