In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial we will continue configuring other widgets.
How To Add A Categories Widget To The Sidebar Menu
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget for your Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on your sidebar section. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar navigation section, you should first configure your categories inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Post Categories Screen)
Note: We plan to provide a step-by-step tutorial if you need help on how to use categories.
Configure the Categories settings for your widget as shown below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the length of the widget content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on your sidebar. (2)
- Leave the remaining options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how your content will display to your site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar menu)
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 option as is.
- 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
The Recent Posts widget displays on your sidebar area by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on the title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to configure. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and opt to 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 change the number of posts and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The number of posts you’ve specified will appear on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar)
Creating and editing posts in WordPress is covered in this tutorial: How To Create A WordPress Post
Add A Pages Widget
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar section for listing 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 area)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Pages“) (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 your 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 from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude certain pages from showing to visitors, type or paste in the Page Ids for the pages you want to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
For a step-by-step tutorial about how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Locate The ID Of A WordPress Page Or Post
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your blog’s main pages will now show on your sidebar section …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar menu. This is useful if you need to display different page groups on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On Your WordPress Sidebar Area
Next, we’ll add a widget for displaying external links on your sidebar navigation area.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend configuring the Links section first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress 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 your sidebar navigation area …
(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 Links Widgets To Your Sidebar Navigation Menu)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(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 WordPress sidebar)
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 lists of links to your WordPress sidebar section.
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This is the end of part 3 of this tutorial series about how to use WordPress widgets.
Click here to keep reading:
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