Don’t like editing code? Want to change up your sidebar? No worries with PowerTheme’s WordPress themes, as all of them are widget-ready. In this tutorial, we’ll be going over how to use WordPress’ built in widgets system to manipulate your sidebar without touching any code.
Find The Widgets Menu
If you have a recent version of WordPress, this shouldn’t be too hard to find. In this guide, we’ll be using the latest version of WordPress (at the moment) which is 2.6. Simply click the “Design” link in your WordPress administration panel, and then visit the “Widgets” page, located in the sub-menu. Here’s a screenshot to show you exactly where it is.
WordPress Widget Menu
On this page, you’ll see a list of “Available Widgets” on the left, and “Current Widgets” on the right. The available widgets are all the possible widgets you are items you can place on your sidebar. Some of these include your Blogroll links, a list of pages, your categories and archives, a search box, and recent comments. You can drag these on over to the right, under Current Widgets, in a “drag and drop” fashion.
In the above screenshot, I am currently using only 5 widgets, although you can have as many as you’d like. Feel free to reorder, add, and remove new widgets to your heart’s content. The changes will be reflected on your WordPress site when you hit the “Save Changes” button.
Altering Widget Behavior
Most of WordPress’ default widgets have options configurable through the widget’s “Edit” under the Current Widgets list.
In the example to the left, I’ve clicked the “Edit” link to alter the behavior of the Categories and Archives widgets, respectively.
You’ll see that I can change the title of the widget, which is the text that is displayed above the widget content on the sidebar.
I can also choose to display the lists as a dropdown menu, as opposed to a list.
I’m also given the option to display post counts, which displays a number of posts contained in a respective category or archive.
The options vary from widget to widget, so it’s best to experiment by clicking the “Edit” links on any widget you’d like to place on your sidebar.
Most of them, at the very least, allow you to change the title of the widget.
Some widgets, such as the default “Search” widget, offer no options. This is because the search widget is usually just an input box, with no text or other options one would expect to configure.
Text Widgets
One of the most simple, but useful widgets is the text widget. These will allow you to place any text, or even HTML code, inside a widget. WordPress allows unlimited text widgets, so feel free to add as many as you need.
More Than One Widgetized Sidebar
Some themes, such as our three-column VideoDen theme, have more than one widgetized sidebar. To edit the widgets an another sidebar, simply select the dropdown menu under “Current Widgets” and click the Show button. Make sure you save your changes before switching to editing another sidebar. Sidebar widgets don’t necessary have to be on the sidebar either. Widgetized areas can be in other parts of the theme, such as the footer. Usually there will be a descriptive title in this dropdown menu so you can differentiate the different widget areas.
Finding New Widgets
Widgets are very similar to plugins in a sense. You are able to download and install them, which can breathe more life into your WordPress site’s sidebar. A good place to find new widgets for your sidebar is the WordPress plugin directory.