As we have explained in this article, there are loads of great benefits in choosing the WordPress web publishing tool to build and grow a website or blog. One of these is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, enhance your site, and reconfigure your site’s layout without the need to have web programming skills and knowledge.
WordPress allows you to easily add, delete, and manage various blocks of content from your website’s sidebar (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) like:
- list of your web pages
- site categories
- archived posts
- menus displaying only selected pages
- links to resources
- posts that you want to promote
- recent comments from users
- advertising banners
- user testimonials
- surveys
- RSS feed items
- newsletter subscription form
- images
- twitter feeds
- add widgets from external sites (e.g. Facebook)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WP widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WordPress widgets are, how they work and how using widgets can help you expand your site’s capabilities, go here:
In this tutorial you are going to learn how to use and configure various frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Using Widgets
Basic Concepts
Before configuring and using widgets, let’s make sure that you understand some of the basic concepts of using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide built-in widgetized sections in the theme’s layout where widgets can be used, such as the sidebar, header area, and footer sections. Depending on the theme installed on your site, widgets can sometimes also be added below or above the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users a number of widget-ready areas)
These widget-ready layouts correspond to a feature inside your Widget administration screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Your Widgets Screen
The Widgets panel displays all the widgets that are currently available for use on your site.
The right-hand section of the window displays all “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets with drag & drop ease)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive using drag & drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like the sidebar, footer, etc. automatically become active and can be used to perform their function on your site.
In addition, your Widgets area includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to actively display on your website. Inactive widgets do not lose their settings.
Reorganize Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete widgets just by dragging and dropping items from your Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets using drag & drop)
You can also easily reorder the order of your widgetized layout with drag & drop ease.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- An opt-in form,
- A contact support banner, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control the order certain features on your site appear)
If you take a look inside this site’s Widget area, you will see that these features correspond to the order of widgets inside the active widget section …
Let’s now reorganize these widgets in the Main Sidebar Widget Area by dragging & dropping elements …
(Drag & drop widgets in the widget area to rearrange their order)
The widget features have now been reorganized in the sidebar …
This instantly reorganizes the order of items in 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 first the sidebar menu, and the support banner (2) has been moved to the spot above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Rearranging sidebar elements using widgets can help improve visitor experience)
Deleting Widgets From Your Sidebar
Deleting widgets from your WordPress sidebar is very easy.
For example, let’s show you how to remove the Search widget from your sidebar navigation area …
(WordPress Search widget)
To delete an active widget, you can either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(Delete your widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove widgets)
Repeat this process for all widgets you want to remove from the sidebar navigation area. You can always reactivate widgets by moving them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be customized. This includes hiding information from users, displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to display the widget’s settings …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets give you little to no configurable options, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets give you little to no configuration options)
Customize Widgets Section
Depending on which theme you are using, you can also manage and customize widgets without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you are happy with your customizations before committing anything to your website.
The ability to manage widgets from your own 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 (and avoid making mistakes), or manage your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets in the Customize section)
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 several edits to widgets in preview mode (like adding, removing and moving widgets around), and it will all be done in real time. If you are happy with what you have done, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will be instantly updated and made visible on your site.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
After saving changes, the new settings will automatically be added to your site.
Because WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets on your sidebar.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to start configuring various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
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This is the end of part one of this series of tutorials.
To continue, click here:
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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya
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