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 section you will configure other default widgets.
Add A Categories Section To Your Sidebar
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on your sidebar.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar. Place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar section, we recommend setting up the Post Categoriessection inside the dashboard …
(Categories Panel)
Note: We plan to provide tutorials about configuring post categories.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for this widget as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to add many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories inside 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 default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or reload your page to see how the Categories widget will look to site visitors …
(WordPress Categories widget added to sidebar navigation section)
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 section as is.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, tick 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 normally displays on the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s really not much to set up in this widget. You can add a title if you want, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you want to use 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 widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will be listed on the sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar)
We provide a tutorial that explains how to create and edit a post in WordPress here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Displaying Your Site’s Pages
Next, we’ll 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 widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar navigation menu)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Useful Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from showing on your sidebar area (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed 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 – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing to visitors, type or paste in the Page Ids for the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – exclude pages by ID)
A tutorial is provided on finding a WordPress post or page ID here: How To Locate The Unique ID Of Posts And Pages In A WP Site
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the pages will now appear in your sidebar navigation area …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is useful if you need to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar navigation section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget that will display external links on your sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up your Links feature inside your dashboard first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to create separate tutorials about how to configure Links.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it 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 your sidebar navigation area …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your 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 Navigation Menu)
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 …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar menu)
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 WordPress sidebar menu.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial.
To keep reading, click this link:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)