As we’ve explained in this post, one of the many benefits of using the WordPress web publishing software to manage and grow a website or blog is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, expand your website’s functionality, and reorganize the layout of your website without code editing skills and knowledge required.
WordPress allows you to quickly and easily add, delete, and control content on your website’s sidebar navigation menu (and header and footer sections too, depending on what theme you have installed) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site’s sidebar area (plus headers and footers and other areas, depending on your theme) like:
- nested page lists
- site categories
- archives
- custom page menus
- links to external sites
- links to your recent posts
- user comments
- advertisements
- testimonials
- survey results
- RSS feed items
- registration box
- video
- social media buttons
- display widgets from external sites (e.g. Facebook friends)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WP widgets make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what widgets are, how they work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, go here:
In this step-by-step tutorial series we teach you how to use and configure various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
Using Widgets
Widgets – Basic Concepts
Before we start learning how to configure widgets, let’s first review some of the basics of using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide sections in the theme’s layout where you can use widgets, such as the sidebar navigation menu, header area, and footer. Depending on what theme you are using, widgets can sometimes also display inside the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users a number of widget-enabled areas)
These widget-ready areas correspond to a feature inside the Widget management screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
The Widgets Panel
The Widgets screen displays a list of all the widgets that you currently have available.
On the right-hand side of the screen, you can see your “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets with drag & drop ease)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive by dragging & dropping items to different areas of the panel.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. become immediately active and available for use on your site.
In addition, your Widgets panel includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove any widgets that you no longer want actively displayed on your website. Inactive widgets retain their settings.
Rearrange WordPress Widgets Using Drag & Drop
You can easily add functionality to your site, and activate, deactivate, rearrange and delete things using widgets with drag & drop inside the Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets on your WordPress site using drag and drop)
You can also easily reorder the order and layout of your widget-ready layout using drag and drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display things like:
- A newsletter opt-in form,
- A click for support banner, and
- A ‘click to call’ section from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control how certain features on your site appear)
If you take a look inside the example site’s Widget area, you will see that these features correspond to the order of widgets inside the active widget area …
If we reorganize the above widgets in the Widget Area using drag-and-drop …
(Drag-and-drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widget features have now been reorganized in your sidebar navigation section …
This immediately changes the layout of your site’s sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar elements with widgets can help improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now the first item on the sidebar navigation menu, and the support image banner (2) can now be found above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Rearranging sidebar layout using widgets can help improve your site’s user experience)
Removing Widgets From The WordPress Sidebar Navigation Menu
Deleting widgets from the sidebar section is really easy.
For example, let’s show you how to delete the Search widget from the sidebar …
(WordPress Search widget)
To remove an active widget, you can either open up the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Deleting widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Remove WordPress widgets)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want removed from your sidebar navigation menu. You can always restore widgets by dragging them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets offer various options that allow you to further configure these. This includes making certain types of information hidden to site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to display the widget’s settings …
(Toggling expands/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, click Delete to remove your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets offer little to no customizing options)
Widget Customizer Section
Depending upon the theme you use, you can also customize widgets without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like your customizations before committing anything live to your website or blog.
The ability to manage widgets inside the dashboard is a valuable feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how the widget content will appear prior to publishing any changes you’ve made (to avoid making mistakes), or configure widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize feature)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Toolbar Customize Link)
This brings you to the Customizer area in the back-end.
You can do a number of edits, modifications and adjustments to your widgets in preview mode (like inserting, removing and moving widgets around), and it’s all done in real time. If you like the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will be instantly applied and made visible on your site.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
Once the changes are saved, your new updates will automatically show on your site.
Because the theme you choose tend to affect how elements display on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you complete this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, let’s start configuring a number of frequently-used sidebar widgets in WordPress.
***
This is the end of part 1 of this tutorial series.
To keep reading, click this link:
***
"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)
***