As we have explained in this post, there are so many benefits in choosing the WordPress web publishing application to build, manage and grow your digital presence. One of these is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, expand your website’s functionality, and rearrange your site’s layout without having programming skills and knowledge.
WordPress allows you to quickly and easily insert, delete, and control various blocks of content from 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 WordPress theme you have installed) like:
- list of pages
- blog post categories
- archives
- custom page menus
- links to resources
- posts that you want to promote
- recent comments
- image banners
- client testimonials
- polls & surveys
- RSS feed content
- subscription form
- image galleries
- social media buttons
- add widgets from external sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WP widgets make managing and using WordPress easy)
To learn more about what widgets are, how they work and why widgets can make managing your site easier, see this article:
In this tutorial we are going to show you how to use and configure various commonly-used widgets in WordPress.
Using WordPress Widgets
The Basics
Before we get into configuring and using widgets, let’s cover some of the basic concepts about how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Areas
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide widgetized areas in your theme’s layout where you can add widgets, such as the sidebar area, header area, and footer. Depending on the theme, widgets can also appear below or above the content area …
(Many WordPress themes provide a number of widget-ready areas)
These widget-ready sections correspond to a feature inside your Widget administration screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Screen
The Widgets section displays a list of all the widgets that are currently available for use on your site.
The right-hand section of the window displays your “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets by dragging and dropping)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging & dropping items to different areas of the widgets panel.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like the sidebar, footer, etc. automatically become active on your site.
The Widgets area 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 settings.
Rearrange Widgets Using Drag And Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete things using widgets by dragging and dropping items in the Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag and drop)
You can also easily reconfigure the layout and order of your website’s widget-enabled areas using drag-and-drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display things on your site like:
- An opt-in form,
- A contact support banner, and
- A ‘click to call’ function from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control the order certain features display on your WordPress site)
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 rearrange these widgets in the Sidebar Widget Area using drag & drop …
(Drag-and-drop widgets in the widget area to rearrange their order)
The widgets have now been reorganized in the sidebar navigation menu …
As you can see, this instantly reorganizes the layout of your site’s sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar elements using widgets can help to improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now the first item on the sidebar, and the support banner (2) now sits above the newsletter subscription form (1) …
(Reorganize sidebar elements using widgets to improve your site’s visitor experience)
Deleting Widgets From The Sidebar Navigation Area
Deleting widgets from your WordPress sidebar is very easy.
For example, let’s delete the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, you can either open up the widget and click the Delete link …
(Deleting your WordPress widget)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and drop it into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Remove your widgets)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want to remove from the sidebar section. You can always reinstate widgets by dragging them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be customized. This can include things like making certain types of information hidden to site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying dimensions 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 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)
Customize Widgets Section
Depending on which WordPress theme you have installed, you can also manage widgets without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like what you have done before making any permanent changes to your site.
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 your widget content will appear before publishing any changes you’ve made (to avoid making errors), or manage widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize feature)
If you need to make changes to the site while viewing the front-end, just click on the Customize link …
(Customize your site quickly)
This will bring you to the Customizer feature in the backend.
You can do many edits, modifications and adjustments to widgets in preview mode (like inserting, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and this will all be done in real time. If you like the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will instantly become available on your site to visitors.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
Once you have saved your changes, your new configuration will automatically show on your site.
Since the WordPress theme you use can affect how elements display on your site, we recommend installing the theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you complete this tutorial (one to work in and one to check how the site is coming along).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to begin configuring various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
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This is the end of part 1 of this series of tutorials.
To continue reading, click here:
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum
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