In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, we explained how to configure text widgets.
In this section you will learn how to configure other WordPress widgets.
Add A Categories Widget
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a clickable help button, let’s configure a widget for your Post Categories.
By default, the Categories widget displays on your sidebar navigation menu. Place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
your post categories …
(Categories Screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring and using WordPress post categories.
Configure the Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that blog readers will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to have several categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of the 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 unchecked. (2)
- Leave the remaining options unticked, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when finished …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Load the site in your browser or refresh your page to see how your Categories widget will display to your site 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 unchecked.
- 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 your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on your Recent Posts title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is very little to set up in this widget. 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 a number of posts to show and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will appear on the sidebar …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar navigation section)
We provide a tutorial about how to create and edit posts in WordPress here: How To Create A New WP Post
Add Links To Your Site’s Main Pages In The Blog Sidebar
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar area linking visitors to pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(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 options:
- 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: Hide pages 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 select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude pages from showing in the widget, type in the Page Ids for all the pages you want to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
To learn how to find a WordPress post or page ID, see this step-by-step tutorial: Finding WordPress Post And Page IDs
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the site’s pages will now show in your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar menu. This is useful if you want to display different page groups on your sidebar area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Now, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar navigation menu that will display links to external resources.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, we recommend configuring the Links feature first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: Configuring and using the WordPress Links feature will be explained in separate tutorials.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your active 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 the sidebar …
(WordPress Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your 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 …
(Links added to sidebar area)
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 the WordPress sidebar navigation section.
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This is the end of section 3 of this tutorial series about using Widgets.
To view Part Four, click this link:
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