As we’ve discussed in this article, there are many great things about using the WordPress web publishing software for building, managing and growing your website. One of these is that you can easily add content, enhance your site, or rearrange the layout of your site without code editing skills required.
WordPress allows you to quickly and easily insert, delete, and reconfigure content in your site’s sidebar navigation section (or header and footer sections, depending on what theme you are using) 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 your theme) like:
- page lists
- post categories
- archive
- menus that display only the pages you choose
- links to resources
- your most read posts
- user comments
- text ads
- quotations
- poll results
- content from RSS feeds
- subscription form
- image galleries
- social media sharing buttons
- add widgets from other sites (e.g. Facebook friends)
- administrative forms (e.g. login, register, etc.)
(Widgets make managing and using WordPress easy)
To learn more about what WP widgets are, how widgets work and how using widgets can help you expand your site’s functionality, see this article:
In this step-by-step tutorial series we teach you how to use and configure various commonly-used WordPress widgets.
How To Use WordPress Widgets
Widgets – Basic Concepts
Before we begin configuring and using widgets, let’s first cover some of the basics of using widgets:
Most WordPress Themes Support Widgetized Layouts
Many WordPress themes support widgets and provide widget-ready areas in the theme’s layout where widgets can appear, such as the sidebar navigation section, header area, and footer. Depending on the theme, widgets can also get added inside the content area …
(Many themes provide a number of widget-enabled areas)
These widget-ready layouts correspond to a feature inside the Widget panel called “Widget Areas” …
(Widget Areas)
Your Widgets Panel
The Widgets section displays all the widgets that are currently available for use on your site.
The right-hand section of the screen displays your “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 the sidebar, footer, etc. automatically become active and can be used for their purpose.
The Widgets screen also includes an Inactive Widgets section that lets you remove widgets that you no longer want to actively display on your website. Inactive widgets retain their pre-configured settings.
Rearrange WordPress Widgets Using Drag And Drop
You can easily add, activate, deactivate, rearrange and delete things using widgets just by dragging and dropping items inside the Widgets section …
(Rearrange widgets on your WordPress site using drag-and-drop)
You can also easily rearrange the order and layout of your site’s widget-ready layout using drag and drop.
For example, in the image below, the widgets have already been configured to display the following to visitors:
- An opt-in form,
- A click for support button, and
- ’Click to call’ buttons from a widgetized plugin (i.e. a plugin that adds an accompanying widget to your site) …
(Widgets control the order certain features display on your site)
If you take a look inside the example site’s Widget area, you will see that these features appear on the site’s sidebar section in exactly the same order as their corresponding widgets have been arranged in the active widget section …
If we rearrange the order of the above widgets in the Main Sidebar Widget Area by dragging & dropping some of these widgets around …
(Drag and drop to rearrange widgets in the widget area)
The widgets have now been reorganized in your sidebar …
This immediately reorganizes the order of items in the site’s sidebar.
Reorganizing 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 at the top of the sidebar menu, and the support section (2) now sits above the newsletter subscription form (1) …
(Reorganizing sidebar layout using widgets can help improve user experience)
Deleting Widgets From The WordPress Blog Sidebar
Removing widgets from the sidebar is really easy.
For example, let’s delete the Search widget from the sidebar …
(Search widget)
To delete a widget from an active Widget area, you can either open up the widget and click the Delete link …
(Deleting widgets)
Or just drag the widget out of the Active Widgets section and into the Inactive Widgets section …
(Remove a widget)
Repeat this process for any widgets you want to remove from the 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 making certain types of information hidden to your site visitors but visible to registered users, displaying additional forms, fields, or data, specifying dimensions of sidebar images, videos, etc.
Click on the little triangle in the corner of a widget to display the widget’s settings …
(Toggle to 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 configurable options)
Customize Widgets Section
Depending upon which WP theme you have installed, you’re also able to preview any changes live without making actual changes to your site. This way, you can be sure that you like the customized edits before committing anything to your site.
Widget management 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 before publishing changes (and avoid making mistakes), or manage your widgets on the fly using the Widget editor screen.
(preview widget changes live in the Customize feature)
Wherever you are on the front-end just calick the Customize link in the toolbar …
(Customize link in the toolbar)
This brings you to the Customizer area in the back-end.
You can do many modifications and adjustments to widgets in preview mode (like adding, removing and moving widgets around), and see all changes in real time. If you are happy with what you have done, click the “Save and Publish” button and your changes will instantly become visible on your site to visitors.
(Widget management – configure widgets on the fly!)
After saving your changes, all changes made to widgets will be automatically updated.
Since the WordPress theme you choose affect how elements display on your site, we recommend that you install your theme first before configuring widgets on your sidebar.
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.
Now that you know the basics of using widgets, it’s time to learn how to configure various frequently-used widgets in WordPress.
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This is the end of part 1 of this tutorial series.
To view the rest of this tutorial, click here:
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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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