As we’ve explained in this post, one of the many great benefits of using WordPress is that you can easily add content, improve your site’s functionality, or redesign the layout of your site with no web coding skills required.
WordPress gives you the ability to easily insert, delete, and rearrange various types of content from your site’s sidebar area (and header and footer sections, depending on what theme you use) 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:
- website page list
- blog post categories
- archived published posts
- custom page menus
- links to resources
- links to recent posts
- post comments
- advertising
- quotations
- poll results
- RSS content
- opt-in subscription form
- video
- social media buttons
- display widgets from external sites (e.g. Amazon)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets help make managing and using WordPress easy)
To learn more about what widgets are, how they work and how using widgets can help you expand your site’s functionality, go here:
In this step-by-step tutorial we show you how to use and configure a number of frequently-used WordPress widgets.
How To Use WordPress Widgets
The Basics
Before we explain how to configure widgets, let’s first make sure that you understand some of the basic concepts of how to use widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide built-in widgetized areas in your theme’s layout where widgets can be used, such as the sidebar section, header area, and the footer area. Depending on the theme, widgets can also get added in the content area …
(Many WP themes provide a number of widget-ready sections)
These widgetized layouts correspond to a feature inside the Widget screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Widgets Screen
The Widgets screen displays all the widgets that you currently have available.
On the right-hand side of the window, you can see the “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging & dropping)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag-and-drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. instantly become available for use.
In addition, your Widgets panel includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to use on your website. Inactive widgets do not lose their pre-configured settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily add new functionality to your site, and activate, deactivate, reorder and delete widgets by dragging and dropping items inside the Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets on your WordPress site using drag and drop)
You can also easily rearrange your theme’s layout with drag and drop ease.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this example site, the widgets have already been configured to display things on your site like:
- A subscription form,
- A contact support button, and
- ’Click to call’ feature from a widgetized WordPress plugin (i.e. a plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control the order certain features appear on your site)
If we take a look inside this site’s Widget area, you will see that these features correspond to the order of widgets inside the active widget section …
If we reorganize the above widgets in the Widget Area using drag and drop …
(Drag-and-drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widgets have now been reorganized in the sidebar …
This instantly changes the layout of the site’s sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar layout with widgets can help to improve visitor experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ feature (3) is now the first item on the sidebar area, and the support image button (2) now sits above the newsletter subscription form (1) …
(Rearranging sidebar elements with widgets can improve user experience)
Deleting Widgets From Your Sidebar
Removing widgets from the sidebar area is really easy.
For example, let’s delete the Search widget from your sidebar navigation section …
(Search widget)
To delete a widget from an active Widget area, either open up the widget and click the Delete link …
(How to delete widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(How to remove WordPress widgets)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want removed from your sidebar. You can always restore a widget by dragging it back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be customized further. This can include things like hiding information from users, displaying additional forms, fields, or data, 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 that widget …
(Toggle to expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, remove your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets offer little to no configurable options, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets offer little to no configurable options)
Preview Your Widgets
Depending on the theme you use, you’re also able to customize widgets without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like what you have done before committing anything to your site.
The ability to manage widgets inside your WP 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 before publishing any changes (to avoid making mistakes), or manage widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets in the Customize feature)
When viewing your site on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Toolbar Customize Link)
This will bring you to the Customizer area in the back-end.
You can do several edits to the widgets in preview mode (like adding, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and this will all be done in real time. If you are happy with what you’ve done, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will then be instantly applied and reflected on your site to visitors.
(Widget management – work in preview mode)
Once you have saved your changes, the new updates will automatically show on your site.
Since WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend installing the theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview all changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you go through this tutorial.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to start configuring various frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial on using Widgets.
Click here to read the rest of this tutorial series:
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"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
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