As we’ve explained in this article, one of the many benefits of choosing the WordPress web publishing tool for building and managing a business online is that you can easily add content, expand your website’s functionality, and reconfigure the site’s layout with no coding skills or knowledge required.
WordPress allows you to quickly and easily add, delete, and manage content on your site’s sidebar navigation menu (and header and footer sections, depending on your theme) 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 the theme you have installed) like:
- page lists
- categories
- blog post archive
- custom menus
- links to external sites
- posts that you want to promote
- post comments
- image banners
- user testimonials
- polls & surveys
- RSS content
- shopping cart forms
- images
- twitter feeds
- display widgets from other sites (e.g. Facebook)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what widgets are, how they work and why they make managing your site easier, go here:
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to use and configure a number of frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Using Widgets In WordPress
Widgets – Basic Concepts
Before we get into configuring and using widgets, let’s first make sure that you understand some of the basics of using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide built-in areas in your theme’s layout where widgets can appear, such as the sidebar menu, header area, and footer sections. Depending on your theme, widgets can also be used below or above the content area …
(Many themes offer users multiple widget sections)
These widget-ready layouts correspond to a feature inside the Widget screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Your Widgets Panel
The Widgets screen displays all the widgets that can be used on your site.
The right-hand section of the screen displays all “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag-and-drop)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive by dragging & dropping items to different sections of the panel.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. automatically become activated for use.
The Widgets panel also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove any widgets that you no longer want to use on your website. Inactive widgets do not lose their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange Widgets With Drag & Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete things using widgets using drag & drop in your Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily rearrange your theme’s layout using drag & drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- A newsletter opt-in form,
- A click for support button, and
- ’Click to call’ feature from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features on your site display)
If you take a look inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features display on the site’s sidebar area in exactly the same order as they have been arranged in the back-end widget section …
Let’s now change the order the above widgets in the Widget Area by dragging and dropping some things around …
(Drag-and-drop widgets in the widget area to rearrange their order)
The widget features have now been reordered in the sidebar navigation menu …
This instantly changes the order of items in the site’s sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar layout with widgets can improve user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now at the top of the sidebar, and the ‘contact us’ banner (2) can now be found above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar elements using widgets to improve your site’s visitor experience)
Removing Widgets From The Sidebar Area
Deleting widgets from your sidebar is very easy.
For example, let’s show you how to remove the Search widget from your sidebar …
(WordPress Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(How to delete widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Remove your widgets)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want to remove from your sidebar. You can always reactivate widgets by moving them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be customized further. This can include things like making certain types of information hidden to your site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to display the widget’s settings …
(Toggles expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove the widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets offer little to no customization, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets give you little to no customizing options)
Widget Customizer Section
Depending upon which theme you have installed on your site, you can also manage your widgets without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like the customized edits before committing anything live to your website.
Widget management is a great 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 before publishing any changes you’ve made (and avoid making mistakes), or manage widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize section)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize your site quickly)
This brings you to the Customizer area in the back-end.
You can do plenty of edits to your widgets in preview mode (like inserting, removing and moving widgets around), and see all changes in real time. If you are happy with the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will be instantly updated and reflected on your site to visitors.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
Once your changes are saved, your site will automatically update the widget settings and display your latest changes to your site visitors.
Since WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial (one to work in and one to see the site the way your visitors will see it).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to learn how to configure a number of frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
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This is the end of part 1 of this tutorial series.
Click here to access the rest of this tutorial:
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now
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