As we’ve discussed in this post, there are many great benefits in using the WordPress CMS platform to build and grow a business online. One of these is that WordPress makes it very easy to add content, enhance your site, and reconfigure the layout of your website with no coding skills and knowledge required.
WordPress lets you easily add, delete, and reorganize various blocks of content on your website’s sidebar (or header and footer sections too, depending on what theme you are using) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site like:
- pages on your site
- blog post categories
- archives
- custom menus
- links to external sites
- posts that you want to promote
- recent comments
- clickable ad banners
- testimonials
- polls
- RSS content
- registration box
- video
- twitter feeds
- display widgets from external 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 widgets make managing your site easier, see this article:
In this tutorial series we are going to show you how to use and configure various frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
Using Widgets In WordPress
Widgets – The Basics
Before we explain how to configure widgets, it helps to first review some of the basics about using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized 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, header area, and footer. Depending on the theme installed on your site, widgets can sometimes also be added below or above the content area …
(Many themes offer users multiple widget sections)
These widget-ready layouts correspond to a feature inside your Widget administration area called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Your Widgets Screen
The Widgets area displays a list of all the widgets you have available.
On the right-hand side of the screen, you can see your “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging & 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.
The Widgets area also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove any widgets that you no longer want to actively display on your website. Inactive widgets do not lose their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange Widgets With Drag And Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, reorder and delete things using widgets by dragging and dropping items from your Widgets area …
(Rearrange widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reorder the layout and order of your website’s widget-enabled areas using drag & 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
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control how certain features on your site display)
Looking inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features appear on the site in exactly the same order as their corresponding widgets have been arranged in the back-end widget section …
If we change the order the above widgets in the Active Widget Area by dragging and dropping some things around …
(Drag & drop to rearrange widgets in your widget area)
The widgets have now been reordered in your sidebar menu …
This immediately reorganizes the order of items in your sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar elements using widgets can help improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now first the sidebar, and the support section (2) is placed above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Rearranging sidebar elements with widgets can improve your site’s visitor experience)
Removing Widgets From The Sidebar Section
Removing widgets from the sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s show you how to delete the Search widget from your sidebar area …
(Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, 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 area and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(How to remove WordPress widgets)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want removed from your sidebar. You can always reactivate widgets by dragging 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 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 settings for the widget …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, delete 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 customization)
Previewing Your Widgets
Depending on the theme you have installed, you’re also able to preview any changes live without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you are happy with what you have done before committing anything live to your site.
The ability to manage widgets from within your WP dashboard 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 errors), or configure widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize section)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize link in the toolbar)
This brings you to the Customizer area in the backend.
You can do several edits, modifications and adjustments in preview mode (like adding, removing and moving widgets around), and see all changes in real time. If you are happy with what you’ve done, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will then be instantly applied and reflected on your site.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
After saving changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Because the WordPress theme you use determines how elements display on your site, we recommend that you install your theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview your changes. This saves 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, let’s configure a number of frequently-used WordPress widgets.
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This is the end of section 1 of this series of tutorials on how to use WordPress widgets.
To continue, click here:
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
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