In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial series, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, you learned how to configure a text widget.
In this tutorial you are going to learn how to configure other frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
How To Add A Post Categories Section
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a contact button, let’s configure a widget for your Categories.
By default, the Categories widget already displays on the sidebar. All you have to do, therefore, is place the widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on the sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
Before adding a Categories widget to the sidebar menu, we recommend setting up your Categoriesfeature inside your dashboard …
(Post Categories)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on configuring post categories in WordPress.
Let’s configure the Categories settings for your widget as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, for example, “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- Check Display as dropdown if you plan to use several categories (this significantly reduces the size of your content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). If you plan to publish posts under a few categories only, then leave the Display as dropdown box unticked. (2)
- Leave the remaining options as the default, or see the additional notes on configuring this widget below.
- Click Save to update your settings …
(Configuring a WordPress Categories widget)
Click Visit Site or refresh your page to see how your content will display to your site visitors …
(WordPress 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 box, otherwise leave this box unticked.
- To display the number of posts published in each category on your site, enable the Show post counts check box …
(Category widget options – Post Count Enabled vs Post Count Disabled)
Add Recent Posts To Your Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget is added to the sidebar by default. All you need to do is configure your widget.
Click on your Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget)
There is really not much to configure in this widget. You can add a widget 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 a number of posts to show and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts WordPress widget settings)
Your most recent posts will display on the sidebar menu …
(Recent Posts widget added to sidebar)
A tutorial is provided on creating posts in WordPress here: How To Create A Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget
Next, let’s 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 widget section …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar navigation area)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to display above your links (e.g. “Pages“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or by page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide selected pages on the sidebar (3) …
(Pages Widget settings)
By default, pages are displayed by title in alphabetical order. If you want to display pages using one of the other options, then select a different method in the Sort by: drop-down menu …
(Pages Widget settings – sort options)
To prevent pages from displaying to visitors, type in their Page Ids separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(Pages Widget settings – excluding pages)
For a step-by-step tutorial about how to find a WordPress post or page ID, go here: How To Find A Post Or Page ID In A WordPress Site
Click the Save button when done and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your pages will now display in the sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to your sidebar navigation section. This is handy if you want to display separate page groups on your sidebar navigation area (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add A Links Widget To The WordPress Blog Sidebar
Now, we’ll add a widget for displaying external links on the sidebar navigation menu.
Before adding the Links widget to the sidebar, we recommend setting up your Links feature inside the dashboard …
(WordPress Links screen)
Note: We are currently putting together tutorials on how to set up WordPress Links.
To add the widget, find a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(Links Widget)
Drag the widget to your sidebar area …
(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 …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to your sidebar section 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 Your 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 to update your settings. Your links will become immediately visible on your site …
(External links added to sidebar navigation section)
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 link lists to the sidebar.
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This is the end of section three of this tutorial about how to use Widgets.
To view Part Four, click this link:
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum