As we’ve discussed in this post, one of the many benefits of using WordPress is that you can easily add content, expand your site’s functionality, or reorganize the layout of your website without requiring any programming skills.
WordPress allows you to easily add, delete, and rearrange content on your blog’s sidebar (and header and footer sections too, depending on what theme you have installed) using widgets.
Once you know how to use widgets, you can easily add things to your site like:
- nested page lists
- blog post categories
- post archives
- custom page menus
- links to external sites
- most read posts
- excerpts of recent comments added to your posts
- text ads
- customer testimonials
- polls
- RSS content
- opt-in form
- image galleries
- twitter feeds
- add widgets from external sites (e.g. Facebook)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WordPress widgets make managing and using WordPress easier)
To learn more about what widgets are, how widgets work and how using widgets can help you expand the functionality of your website, go here:
In this step-by-step tutorial you are going to learn how to use and configure a number of frequently-used WordPress widgets.
Using Widgets In WordPress
The Basics
Before configuring and using widgets, let’s first explain some of the basics about using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide widgetized sections in the theme’s layout where widgets can be added to, such as the sidebar, header area, and the footer area. Depending on the theme installed on your site, widgets can sometimes also be added inside the content area …
(Many WP themes offer users a number of widget-ready sections)
These widget-ready sections correspond to a feature inside your Widget administration screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
The Widgets Screen
The Widgets section displays a list of all the widgets that are available.
The right-hand section of the screen displays the “active” widgets …
(Activate or deactivate widgets with drag & drop ease)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging & dropping items to different areas of the widgets screen.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. immediately become activated for use.
In addition, the Widgets screen includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove any widgets that you no longer want on your site. Inactive widgets retain their settings.
Reorganize WordPress Widgets With Drag-And-Drop
You can easily insert, activate, deactivate, rearrange and delete widgets by dragging and dropping items from the Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets using drag and drop)
You can also easily reorder your theme’s layout by with drag & drop ease.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this example site, the widgets have already been configured to display things like:
- An opt-in form,
- A click for support banner, and
- A ‘click to call’ section from a widgetized WP plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control how certain features appear on your WordPress site)
If you could peek inside the Widget area, you would see that the front-end features display on the site in exactly the same order as their corresponding widgets have been arranged in the back-end widget area …
If we rearrange the above widgets in the Main Sidebar Widget Area by dragging and dropping some of the widgets around …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widgets have now been reorganized in your sidebar navigation area …
This immediately reorganizes the order of items in your sidebar.
Reorganizing sidebar elements with widgets can improve your site’s user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now at the top of the sidebar navigation section, and the support banner (2) can now be found above the newsletter sign-up form (1) …
(Rearrange sidebar layout with widgets to improve visitor experience)
Removing Widgets From Your Sidebar
Deleting widgets from your WordPress sidebar menu is really easy.
For example, let’s show you how to remove the Search widget from the sidebar area …
(WordPress Search widget)
To delete a widget from an active Widget area, either expand the widget settings and click the Delete link …
(How to delete widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets area and drop it into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove your WordPress widget)
Repeat this process for any other widgets you want to remove 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. This includes hiding information from users, displaying additional forms, fields, or information, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to toggle between expanding and collapsing the item …
(Toggles expand/collapse widget settings)
When the widget expands, you can change and save your settings, delete your widget from the “Active Widgets” section, close the widget, or click on the triangle to collapse the widget …
(Widget settings)
Some widgets may require or offer no customization, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no customization)
Widget Previews
Depending upon which WordPress theme you choose, you’re also able to preview any changes live without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like what you have done before committing anything live to your website.
Widget management is a great feature of WordPress. You can work in preview mode inside the WordPress Theme Customizer screen (Appearance > Customize) and see how your widget content will appear before publishing any changes you’ve made (and avoid making errors), or manage widgets on the fly using the Widget editor area.
(Edit widgets in the Customize feature)
If you need to make changes to the site while viewing the frontend, just click on the Customize link …
(Toolbar Customize Link)
This brings you to the Customizer screen in the backend.
You can do many edits to widgets in preview mode (like inserting, removing and moving widgets around), and see all changes in real time. If you are happy with the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and the changes will instantly become available on your site.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
Once you have saved your changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Since WordPress Themes can display elements differently on your site, we recommend installing the theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the Customizer feature to preview your changes. This saves you from having to keep two browsers open while you complete this tutorial (one to work in and one to see your site the way your visitors will see it).
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, the next step is to learn how to configure a number of frequently-used WordPress sidebar widgets.
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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial series on how to use WordPress widgets.
Click on this link to keep reading:
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