As we have discussed in this post, one of the many benefits of using the WordPress CMS platform is that you can easily add content, enhance your site, or rearrange the layout of your website without requiring programming skills.
WordPress gives you the ability to easily insert, remove, and rearrange various blocks of content from your site’s sidebar (and header and footer sections too, depending on what theme is installed on your site) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site’s sidebar area (plus headers and footers and other areas, depending on the WordPress theme you have installed) like:
- page lists
- post categories
- archive
- customized menus
- links to resources
- your most read posts
- comments
- advertisements
- testimonials
- poll results
- RSS feed content
- member login section
- product catalog images
- Facebook feeds
- add widgets from external sites (e.g. affiliate programs)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what WordPress widgets are, how widgets work and why widgets make managing your site easier, go here:
In this tutorial we teach you how to use and configure various commonly-used widgets in WordPress.
How To Use Widgets
Widgets – The Basics
Before we start learning how to configure widgets, it helps to first explain some of the basic concepts of using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Layouts
Most WordPress themes support widgets and provide widgetized sections in your theme’s layout where widgets can be added, such as the sidebar, header area, and the footer area. Depending on the theme, widgets can also appear in the content area …
(Many themes offer users a number of widget sections)
These widgetized sections correspond to a feature inside the Widget management screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Your Widgets Screen
The Widgets screen displays all the widgets you can use on your site.
On the right-hand side of the window, you can see all “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag-and-drop)
Available widgets can be made Active or Inactive using drag & drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. automatically become active and available for use on your site.
The Widgets screen also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want actively displayed on your site. Inactive widgets do not lose their pre-configured settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets Using Drag & Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, rearrange and remove widgets by dragging and dropping items inside the Widgets area …
(Rearrange your site’s widgets using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reconfigure the order and layout of your widget-ready sections using drag-and-drop.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this site, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- An opt-in form,
- A contact support button, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control how certain features appear on your site)
Looking inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features display on the site in exactly the same order as they have been arranged in the active widget area …
If we change these widgets in the Widget Area using drag & drop …
(Drag and drop widgets in the widget area to rearrange their order)
The widget features have now been reorganized in your sidebar …
As you can see, this immediately changes the layout of your sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar elements using widgets can improve user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now first the sidebar navigation area, and the support graphic button (2) now sits above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Reorganizing sidebar layout using widgets can help to improve user experience)
Deleting Widgets From The Sidebar
Deleting widgets from your WordPress sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s delete the Search widget from your sidebar navigation menu …
(Search widget)
To delete an active widget, you can either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(How to delete your widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Removing a widget)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want to remove from the sidebar section. You can always reactivate widgets by dragging them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Most widgets can be customized further. This includes hiding information from users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, 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 …
(Toggling expands/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove the widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget settings …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets give you little to no customizable options, or they may only allow you to add something like an optional title …
(Some widgets offer little to no configuration options)
Previewing Your Widgets
Depending upon the theme you have installed on your site, you can also preview any changes live without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like your customizations before making any permanent changes to your site.
The ability to manage widgets from within your dashboard is a valuable 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 prior to publishing it (and avoid making mistakes), or manage 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 your site quickly)
This brings you to the Customizer screen in the back-end.
You can do lots of edits to widgets in preview mode (like adding, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and it’s all done in real time. If you like the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will instantly become visible on the blog’s frontend.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
Once the changes have been saved, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Since WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend that you install the theme first before configuring widgets on the sidebar navigation menu.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This will save you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial (one to work in and one to check how your site is coming along).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to configure a number of frequently-used sidebar widgets in WordPress.
***
This is the end of part one of this series of tutorials.
Click here to continue:
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com
***