In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial you are going to configure other widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Widget To Your Sidebar
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure a widget for displaying Post Categories on your sidebar.
The Categories widget displays on your sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
your post categories …
(Post Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on using post categories in WordPress.
Configure your categories settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of your widget 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)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(WordPress Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or reload your page to see how the sidebar categories will look 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 section as is.
- 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 Recent Posts
The Recent Posts widget normally displays on the sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on the Recent Posts 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 widget title, select the number of posts to display and 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 …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
Your most recent posts will display on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on blog sidebar)
For a tutorial on how to create and edit WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add Links To Your Site’s Pages In Your WordPress Sidebar Navigation Menu
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation area to display your pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget section …
(Inserting a Pages widget into your sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- 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 page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from appearing on your sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using one of the other options, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying in the sidebar, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial that show you how to find a WordPress post or page ID here: How To Find The Unique ID Of WordPress Pages And Posts
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the main pages will now show in the sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar area. This is handy if you would like to display different groups of pages on your sidebar area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget
Now, we’ll add a Links widget to the sidebar.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar navigation section, we recommend configuring the Links feature first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to configure and use the Links feature in WordPress.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress 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 your 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 Links Widgets To The 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 the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar area)
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 link lists to your WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial series about using Widgets.
Click here to continue reading:
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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)