As we explain in this article, there are loads of great benefits in choosing WordPress for building and managing a web site. One of these is that you can easily add content, enhance your website, and reconfigure the layout of your site without code editing skills or knowledge required.
WordPress lets you quickly and easily insert, remove, and reorganize content from your blog’s sidebar area (or 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 like:
- list of pages
- categories
- blog post archive
- custom page menus
- links to resources
- posts that you want to promote
- post comments
- image banners
- customer testimonials
- surveys & polls
- RSS feed items
- customers login section
- product images
- social media share buttons
- add widgets from other sites (e.g. Amazon)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(WordPress widgets help make managing and using WordPress easy)
To learn more about what widgets are, how widgets work and why they make managing your site easier, go here:
In this tutorial series we show you how to use and configure a number of frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
Using Widgets In WordPress
Basic Concepts
Before we start learning how to configure widgets, let’s explain some of the basics about using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widget-Ready 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 your theme, widgets can sometimes also appear below or above the content area …
(Many themes provide multiple widget areas)
These widgetized areas correspond to a feature inside your Widget screen called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Your Widgets Screen
The Widgets section displays all the widgets that you currently have available.
On the right-hand side of the window, you can see all “active” widgets …
(Widgets can be activated or deactivated by dragging & dropping)
Available widgets can be activated or deactivated using drag & drop.
Widgets dragged from the Available Widgets section to widget areas like your sidebar, footer, etc. immediately become activated for use on your site.
In addition, your Widgets area 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 Widgets Using Drag-And-Drop
You can easily add new functionality to your site, or activate, deactivate, reorder and delete things using widgets just by dragging and dropping items in your Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets on your WordPress site using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily reorder the layout of your website’s widget-ready sections by dragging & dropping widgets.
For example, take a look at the image below. In this example site, the widgets have already been configured to show the following:
- A newsletter subscription form,
- A click for support banner, and
- ’Click to call’ feature from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a WordPress plugin with an accompanying widget) …
(Widgets control the order certain features on your site appear)
If you took a look inside the Widget area, you would see that the front end features display on the site’s sidebar area in exactly the same order as they have been arranged in the active widget section …
Let’s now reorganize these widgets in the Widget Area using drag and drop …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widget features have now been reorganized in your sidebar navigation section …
As you can see, this immediately reorganizes the layout of your site’s sidebar.
Rearranging sidebar layout using widgets can help improve your site’s user experience.
Note in the screenshot below that the ‘click to call’ function (3) is now the first item on the sidebar, and the ‘contact us’ section (2) can now be found above the newsletter opt-in form (1) …
(Rearranging sidebar elements using widgets can help improve your site’s user experience)
Deleting Widgets From The WordPress Sidebar Navigation Section
Removing widgets from the sidebar is very easy.
For example, let’s show you how to delete the Search widget from the sidebar menu …
(WordPress Search widget)
To remove a widget from an active Widget area, you can either open up the widget and click the Delete link …
(Delete your widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and into the Inactive Widgets area …
(Remove your WordPress widgets)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want removed from the sidebar navigation section. You can always reinstate widgets by moving them back into the active widgets area.
Widget Settings
Many widgets can be customized. This can include things like making certain types of information hidden to visitors but visible to registered 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 expands the item and displays the widget’s settings …
(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 provide users with little to no configuration options, or they may only allow you to add an optional title …
(Some widgets provide users with little to no customizing options)
Widget Previews
Depending on the theme you have installed, you can also manage and customize widgets without actually making changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like the customized edits before making any permanent changes to your site.
The ability to manage widgets from the 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 your widget content will appear prior to publishing any changes you’ve made (and avoid making errors), or change widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(Edit widgets live in the Customize feature)
When viewing your site on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize your site quickly)
This brings you to the Customizer feature in the backend.
You can do many edits in preview mode (like inserting, removing and reorganizing your widgets), and this will all be done in real time. If you like the results, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will be instantly applied and made visible on your site to visitors.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
After saving the changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Because the WordPress theme you use can affect how elements display on your site, we recommend installing your theme first before configuring widgets.
Also, remember to use the WordPress Customizer to preview your 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 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 various commonly-used widgets in WordPress.
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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial.
Click here to read Part 2:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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