In Part One of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use WordPress widgets and in Part Two, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you will configure other commonly-used WordPress widgets.
Adding Post Categories
Now that you have configure a text widget containing a clickable support button, let’s configure a widget to display Categories on your sidebar navigation menu.
The Categories widget displays on your sidebar navigation area by default. Place the widget wherever you want your categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(WordPress Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar, you should first configure your post categories inside your dashboard …
(WordPress Post Categories Screen)
Note: We plan to create tutorials that explain how to set up WordPress post categories.
Configure your Categories widget settings as shown below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to your visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you have too many categories (this significantly reduces the size of your widget 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 remaining options unchecked, or see the additional notes on configuring the Categories widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how your content will look to site visitors …
(Categories widget added to sidebar)
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 option, otherwise leave this section as is.
- 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 A Recent Posts Section To Your Blog Sidebar Area
The Recent Posts widget is normally added to your sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There is very little to set up here. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and display post dates. If you’re happy with the default setting for Number of posts to show, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise enter the number of posts to show and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
Your most recent posts will be listed on your sidebar section …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget on blog sidebar)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on creating a WordPress Post here: How To Create A WordPress Post
Adding A Pages Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar linking visitors to the pages you select.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Useful Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide pages on the sidebar navigation menu (3) …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages will be listed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using one of the other options, then select a different method from the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from displaying in the sidebar, type or paste in the Page Ids for all the pages you would like to exclude separated by commas into the Exclude field of the widget …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
A step-by-step tutorial is provided on finding a WordPress page ID here: How To Find The Unique ID Of Any WordPress Page Or Post
Click the Save button when done and then click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your main pages will now appear in your sidebar navigation area …
(WordPress Pages Widget on sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar. This is helpful if you need to display different groups of pages on the sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your WordPress Sidebar
Next, let’s add a Links widget to display external links on the WordPress sidebar area.
Before adding the Links widget to the sidebar, you should first configure your Links section inside the WordPress dashboard …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to provide separate tutorials on how to set up Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag it to your sidebar area …
(Making Links Widget active)
The 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 …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar 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 …
(WordPress 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 …
( Links widget: ‘Select Link Category’ drop-down menu)
When you have finished configuring your Links Widget, click the Save button. Your links will display immediately on your site …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar section)
As the above example shows, you can display specific external links to your site visitors (e.g. a list for a specific link category only), and add multiple link lists to the WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial on using WordPress widgets.
Click on this link to continue reading:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)