In Part 1 of this tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part 2, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial we are going to show you how to configure other sidebar widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Section To Your Sidebar Section
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure your Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on your sidebar. All you need to do, therefore, is place this 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 area, we recommend configuring your post categories first …
(Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring and using WordPress post categories.
Let’s configure your categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to have many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of your widget content by displaying all categories in a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unchecked. (2)
- Leave the remaining options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or reload your page to see how the sidebar categories will display to your visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar)
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, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts
The Recent Posts widget typically shows in the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on the widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is 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’re happy to use the default Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
The number of posts you have specified will appear on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget added to blog sidebar)
To learn how to create and edit WordPress Posts, see this tutorial: How To Create A New WP Post
Adding A Pages Widget To Your Sidebar Navigation Section
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar menu to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget area …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from showing 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 select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing on your widget, enter 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: How To Find A Page Or Post ID In A WordPress Website
Click the Save button when finished and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize your widget.
Links to the blog’s pages will now appear on your sidebar …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is useful if you want to display separate groups of pages on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Now, we’ll add a Links widget for displaying external links on your sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend first setting up your Links feature inside your WP dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We plan to provide separate tutorials on how to configure and use the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget 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 the sidebar …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar navigation section 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)
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 external links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple link lists to your sidebar.
***
This is the end of section 3 of this series of tutorials.
Click on this link to keep reading:
***
"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)