In Part 1 of this step-by-step tutorial, we explained how to use widgets in WordPress and in Part Two, you learned how to configure text widgets.
In this tutorial you are going to learn how to configure other frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Adding A Post Categories Widget
Now that you have set up a text widget containing a help button, let’s configure Post Categories.
The Categories widget already displays on the sidebar section by default. All you need to do, therefore, is place this widget wherever you want your post categories to display by clicking and dragging it on your sidebar widget area …
(Post Categories widget)
your categories …
(Post Categories)
Note: Configuring and using WordPress post categories will be covered in other tutorials.
Configure your categories widget settings as described below:
- In Title: type something that will make sense to visitors, like “Choose A Topic…” (1)
- If you plan to add many categories, check Display as dropdown (this significantly reduces the size of your content by displaying all categories inside a drop-down menu). Leave the box unticked if you want a list of all categories to display on your sidebar navigation section. (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 …
(Categories widget settings)
Click Visit Site or refresh the page to see how the content will look to your visitors …
(WordPress Categories widget added to sidebar navigation area)
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 unchecked.
- 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 A Recent Posts Section To Your Blog Sidebar
The Recent Posts widget normally displays in your sidebar menu by default. All you need to do is configure this widget.
Click on the Recent Posts widget title bar to display the configuration settings …
(Recent Posts widget)
There’s really not much to set up here. You can add a title, select the number of posts to display and opt to display post dates. If you’re happy to use the default Number of posts to show setting, then just leave the widget as is, otherwise change the number of posts and click Save when done …
(Recent Posts widget settings)
The most recent number of posts you have specified will now display to visitors on your sidebar area …
(Recent Posts widget displayed on sidebar)
To learn how to create a WordPress Post, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A New Post In WordPress
Adding A Pages Widget To Your Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget to your sidebar navigation section that will link to the pages you select.
Find a Pages widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Pages Widget)
Drag the Pages widget to your widget area …
(Adding a Pages widget to your sidebar)
The Pages widget lets you configure the following options:
- Title: Add a title to the widget (e.g. “Useful Information“) (1)
- Sort by: Sort how your pages display: by title (i.e. alphabetically), by page order, or page ID. (2)
- Exclude: Hide pages on your sidebar (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 …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – item sorting options)
To exclude certain pages from showing in your widget, type in the Page Ids for all the pages you would like excluded separated by commas into the Exclude field …
(WordPress Pages Widget settings – exclude pages)
We provide a step-by-step tutorial that show you how to find a page ID in WordPress here: How To Locate The ID Of WordPress Pages And Posts
Click the Save button when finished and click Close at the bottom of the widget box to minimize the widget.
Links to your pages will now appear on your sidebar …
(WordPress Pages Widget on blog sidebar)
Tip: You can add multiple Pages widgets to the sidebar. This is helpful if you want to display different page groups on your sidebar (e.g. “Products”, “Legal Pages” etc.)
Add Links To Your WordPress Blog Sidebar
Next, we’ll add a widget for displaying external links on your sidebar navigation section.
Before adding a Links widget to your sidebar menu, we recommend setting up your Links feature inside the dashboard first …
(WordPress Links section)
Note: We plan to create tutorials that explain how to set up the WordPress Links feature.
To add the widget, select a Links widget in the Available Widgets section …
(WordPress Links Widget)
Drag the Links widget to your active 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 navigation menu …
(Links Widget Settings)
You can add as many separate ‘Link Widgets’ to the sidebar navigation 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 The Sidebar Navigation Menu)
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 the Links Widget, click the Save button to update your settings. Your links will become immediately visible on your site …
(Links added to WordPress sidebar navigation 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 your WordPress sidebar.
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This is the end of part three of this tutorial about using WordPress widgets.
Click on this link to keep reading:
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