As we discuss in this post, there are lots of great benefits in using WordPress to build, manage and grow your web site. One of these is that you can easily add content, expand your site’s functionality, or reconfigure your site’s layout without requiring web coding skills and knowledge.
WordPress lets you quickly and easily add, delete, and rearrange content on your website’s sidebar (and header and footer sections too, depending on what theme is installed on the site) 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 pages
- post categories
- blog post archive
- menus that display only the pages you select
- links to external sites
- your most read posts
- comments
- advertising
- quotations
- polls & surveys
- RSS content
- opt-in subscription form
- video galleries
- twitter feeds
- display widgets from other sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WordPress widgets help make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WP widgets are, how widgets work and why they make managing your site easier, see this article:
In this step-by-step tutorial we explain how to use and configure a number of frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
How To Use WordPress Widgets
What You Need To Know First
Before we start learning how to configure widgets, it helps to first explain some of the basic concepts about how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Areas
Most WordPress themes support widgets and provide widget-ready sections in your theme’s layout where you can use widgets, such as the sidebar area, header area, and the footer area. Depending on your theme, widgets can also show up inside the content area …
(Many WordPress themes offer users a number of widgetized sections)
These widget-ready sections correspond to a feature inside the Widget screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Panel
The Widgets screen displays a list of all the widgets that are currently available for use on your site.
On the right-hand side of the window, you can see your “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging and dropping)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive using drag-and-drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. become active and available for use on your site.
In addition, your Widgets panel includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want on your site. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange WordPress Widgets Using Drag-And-Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, reorder and remove widgets just by dragging and dropping items from your Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag and drop)
You can also easily rearrange your theme’s layout with drag-and-drop ease.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this example site, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- An opt-in form,
- A contact support button, and
- ’Click to call’ feature from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control how certain features on your site appear)
Looking inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features appear on the site in the same order as their corresponding widgets have been arranged in the backend widget section …
If we change the order these widgets in the Main Sidebar Widget Area by dragging and dropping some of these widgets around …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widget features have now been reordered in the sidebar …
This instantly changes the layout of your site’s sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar layout with widgets can help improve user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now at the top of the sidebar navigation area, and the ‘contact us’ section (2) is located above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Rearranging sidebar elements with widgets can help improve your site’s visitor experience)
Removing Widgets From The Sidebar Section
Deleting widgets from your WordPress sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s show you how to remove the Search widget from your sidebar …
(Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, either expand the widget and click the Delete link …
(Delete your WP widget)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove widgets)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want removed from the sidebar navigation menu. You can always reinstate a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be customized. This can include things like hiding information from users (but allowing access to registered users), displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying sizes of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Clicking on the little triangle in the corner of a widget toggles between expanding and collapsing the item and displays the widget’s settings …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, delete the widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no configuration options)
Previewing Your Widgets
Depending on the theme you use, you can also customize and manage widgets without actually making 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 great feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how your widget content will appear before publishing it (and avoid making errors), or manage your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize feature)
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 screen in the backend.
You can do many edits to the widgets in preview mode (like inserting, removing and moving widgets around), and this 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 then be instantly updated and reflected on the blog’s frontend.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
After your changes are saved, your new updates will automatically be added to your site.
Because WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend installing the theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar navigation section.
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.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to learn how to configure various frequently-used WordPress widgets.
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This is the end of section one of this series of tutorials on using WordPress widgets.
To view Part 2, click here:
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"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
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