In Part One of this tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you will learn how to configure other WordPress widgets.
How To Add Post Categories
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Categories on the sidebar navigation area.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in the sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to your sidebar navigation menu, we first recommend configuring the Categoriessection inside the WordPress dashboard …
(Post Categories)
Note: We plan to provide tutorials about how to use post categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure your Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to add several 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 other options as the default, 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 refresh your page to see how your content will look to your visitors …
(WordPress 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 unchecked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section To The Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget normally appears in the sidebar navigation area by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on its widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s really not much to configure. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you want to use 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)
Your most recent posts will appear on your sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts widget on sidebar)
We provide a tutorial that shows you how to create and edit posts in WordPress here: How To Create A New WP Post
Displaying Your Site’s Pages
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar that will link to your site’s main pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar navigation menu)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Site Info“) (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 one of the other options, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent certain pages from showing in your widget, enter their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field of the Pages widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
Finding a WordPress page ID is explained here: How To Locate The ID Of WordPress Posts And Pages
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the blog’s main pages will now appear on the sidebar section …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar section. This is handy if you need to display different groups of pages on the sidebar section (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Display Links On The WordPress Sidebar Navigation Section
Now, let’s add a widget to the WordPress sidebar section that will display external links (e.g. to useful resources, affiliate links, etc).
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend setting up the Links feature inside the WordPress dashboard first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to provide tutorials about how to configure and use WordPress Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress 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 …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar 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 …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will display immediately on the WordPress sidebar …
(External links added to 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 sidebar navigation area.
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This is the end of section three of this tutorial.
To keep reading, click this link:
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