In Part One of this tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this section you will learn how to configure other WordPress widgets.
Adding Categories To The Sidebar
Now that you know how to configure a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget to display Post Categories on the sidebar navigation area.
The Categories widget already displays on your sidebar navigation area by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it in your sidebar area …
(Categories widget)
your post categories …
(Post Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on setting up and using WordPress categories.
Configure the Categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that your visitors will understand, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you have too many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the length of your content by displaying all categories in a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unticked. (2)
- You can leave the default settings for the remaining options, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a Categories widget)
Load the site in your web browser or reload the page to see how your content will look to your blog readers …
(Categories widget added to sidebar menu)
Tips:
- Change the default Uncategorized post category to something more meaningful.
- If you use nested categories on your site, you may want to check the Show hierarchy box, otherwise leave this box unticked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category, tick the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts
The Recent Posts widget normally shows on your sidebar navigation menu by default. All you need to do is configure the widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is very little to set up here. You can add a widget title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy with the default Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will display on your sidebar navigation area …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget displayed on sidebar)
To learn how to create a WordPress Post, see this tutorial: How To Create A New WordPress Post
Adding Links To Your Site’s Pages
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar for listing pages.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your active widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to the sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following settings:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Prevent pages from displaying on your sidebar navigation menu (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using another option, then choose a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying to visitors, type or paste in the Page Ids for all the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
For a tutorial about how to find a WordPress page ID, go here: How To Find The ID Of Any WordPress Page Or Post
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to the blog’s main pages will now show in the sidebar …
(Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is helpful if you need to display separate groups of pages on the sidebar area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your WordPress Sidebar
Now, we’ll add a widget to the sidebar section to display links to external resources.
Before adding a Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend setting up your Links section inside your dashboard first …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: Setting up WordPress Links will be explained in other tutorials.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar …
(Making Links Widget active)
The Links widget offers a number of configurable options, including the ability to specify what information to show about your links and how many links you want to display on your sidebar navigation section …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar navigation menu as you want. As you will see in a moment, this lets you create and display specific lists of links on your site …
(Add Multiple Links Widgets To The Sidebar)
You can sort links by Link title, Link rating, Link ID, or display links in Random order …
(Links widget: ‘Sort by:’ drop-down menu)
You can also create and display a list of items for a specific category, by selecting a link category from the ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu …
( WordPress Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring the Links Widget, click the Save button …
(Links added to sidebar)
As the above example shows, you can display specific links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple lists of links to your sidebar.
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This is the end of section 3 of this tutorial about how to use Widgets.
Click on this link to continue:
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