In Part 1 of this tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this section we will continue configuring other commonly-used sidebar widgets.
How To Add Post Categories To The Blog Sidebar
Now that you know how to set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure Post Categories.
The Categories widget displays on your sidebar section 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 your sidebar navigation area, we recommend first setting up your categories inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Categories)
Note: Setting up and using post categories in WordPress will be explained in other tutorials.
Configure your Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many 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 unticked. (2)
- Leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save when done …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or reload your page to see how your sidebar categories will display to your site visitors …
(WordPress Categories widget added to sidebar menu)
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, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add A Recent Posts Section
The Recent Posts widget displays in your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on its title bar to configure its settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There’s really very little to configure 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 when done …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you’ve specified will appear on your sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts widget on sidebar)
How to create a post in WordPress is explained in this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Add A Pages Widget To The Blog Sidebar Menu
Next, let’s add a widget to your sidebar navigation section to display the pages on your site.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget allows you to configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (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: 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 another option, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To exclude pages from displaying on the sidebar, type in the Page Ids for all the pages you want excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages by ID)
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Find A Page Or Post ID In WordPress
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 pages will now display in the sidebar …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar menu. This is useful if you want to display separate page groups on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To The Sidebar Navigation Section
Next, let’s add a widget to the sidebar to display links to external resources.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar, you should first configure the Links section inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to provide separate tutorials that show you how to configure the WordPress Links feature.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the Links 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 your sidebar …
(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 The Sidebar Navigation Area)
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 to update your settings. Your links will display immediately on your WordPress sidebar area …
(External links added to WordPress 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 link lists to the sidebar.
***
This is the end of part three of this tutorial.
Click here to read Part 4:
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com