In Part One of this tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part 2, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you will learn how to configure other frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
How To Add A Categories Widget To Your Sidebar Navigation Section
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a support button, let’s configure Categories.
The Categories widget displays on the sidebar by default. Place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(WordPress Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar menu, we first recommend setting up your Categoriessection inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Post Categories)
Note: We plan to provide a separate tutorial on how to configure and use WordPress categories.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for this widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to use several categories (this significantly reduces the length of the 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 other options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Categories widget settings)
Load the site in your web browser or reload the page to see how your Categories widget will display to your site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar navigation section)
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 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 displays on your sidebar navigation area by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on the widget title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s not much to set up. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and 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 …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The number of posts you’ve specified will be listed on the sidebar navigation menu …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on sidebar section)
For a tutorial about how to create and edit WordPress Posts, go here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget To The Sidebar Navigation Area
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar to display page links.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Dragging and dropping a Pages widget into the sidebar menu)
The Pages widget allows you to 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 page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Use this setting to prevent pages from showing on the sidebar (3) …
(WordPress 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 choose a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent pages from displaying on your widget, enter their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
How to find a WordPress post or page ID is explained in this step-by-step tutorial: How To Locate The Post Or Page ID In A WordPress Website
Click the Save button when done and then 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 …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar navigation menu. This is helpful if you need to display different groups of pages on your sidebar navigation area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To The WordPress Sidebar
Next, let’s add a Links widget to your sidebar menu.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend configuring the Links section first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to set up and use WordPress 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 the sidebar navigation menu …
(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 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 the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to sidebar navigation section)
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 area.
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This is the end of section three of this series of tutorials about how to use Widgets.
To continue, click here:
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