In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this section we will continue configuring other commonly-used widgets.
How To Add A Post Categories Widget
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure a widget to display your Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar navigation section. All you have to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
your post categories …
(Categories Panel)
Note: We plan to create tutorials on configuring categories.
Configure your Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that blog readers will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to have many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unchecked if you want a list of all categories to display on the sidebar. (2)
- You can leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your browser or refresh the page to see how your content will display to blog readers …
(Categories widget added to sidebar area)
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 box unticked.
- 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 shows in the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is 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’re happy with 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 …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will be listed on your sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar area)
Creating a WordPress Post is explained here: How To Create A WordPress Post
Displaying Your Site’s Main Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your sidebar widget area …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Site 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 prevent pages from showing on your sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed 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 …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying to visitors, type in the Page Ids for the pages you would like excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
To learn how to find a WordPress post or page ID, see this step-by-step tutorial: Finding The WordPress Page Or Post ID
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your site’s pages will now appear in your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar navigation menu. This is helpful if you want to display different page groups on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To Your WordPress Sidebar Area
Now, let’s add a Links widget to display external links on your sidebar area.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Links section inside your WordPress dashboard first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to provide a separate tutorial that shows you how to set up Links.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your sidebar area …
(Making Links Widget active)
The Links 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 menu …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar 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 WordPress Links Widgets To Your Sidebar Navigation 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 area)
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 the WordPress sidebar.
***
This is the end of section 3 of this series of tutorials about how to use WordPress widgets.
Click here to continue:
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie