How to Use Widgets in WordPress?

Hi, this is Digital Abhi, your digital marketing friend, and a contented digital marketer. In this post, we will see how to use Widgets in WordPress.

Widgets in WordPress

To help you understand better regarding the topic, I have attached a video here. So, I will highly recommend you watch this video as it is easier to understand these types of tutorials with the help of a video.

After watching the video, you can refer to these footnotes to have even a better understanding of how to use Widgets in WordPress:

Before moving on first, we need to know what are widgets in WordPress? So,…

What are Widgets?

In WordPress, widgets are tiny blocks of content that have some specific functionality. These widgets are generally shown in the sidebar and footer of the website. So as on the website, in the left bar, you can see there’s an option of recent posts, recent comments, archives, categories, meta.

All these are widgets. Each widget has different functionality. For example, the widget of the recent post shows all the recent posts published on a website. The widget of recent comment shows all the recent comments on the website. Archives will show all the archives. Categories will show all the categories which you have created for your website.

So I think now it is clear what are widgets in WordPress. Now, we will see how you can use these widgets on your website. So let’s move on to our WordPress dashboard.

Using Widgets in WordPress

There are two ways through which you can manage and use widgets on your website. We will see both of them.

First Method

The first way is, go to Appearance and then click on Widgets. Here in the column of available widgets, you can see all the widgets we have right now. On the right side you can see all the widgets which we are currently using. Now there’s one thing which you should know.

There are two types of widgets in WordPress which we can use. One set of widgets is that which WordPress offers us by default. And another set of widgets is that which the theme we are using offers us. And each theme offers a different set of widgets depending on the developer who developed that theme.

Also, the areas where we are using the widgets are defined by the developer who developed the WordPress theme. These are the widget areas that I have for the current theme I’m using. The widget areas which the theme offers are primary sidebar, secondary sidebar, footer one, footer two, footer three, footer four, header next to logo & footer full width.

So let’s see how you can use these widgets. Now as you can see in the primary sidebar we have all these options of search, recent posts, recent comments, archives, categories, and meta and on the website, you also saw all these options. So this is our primary sidebar.

Now, let’s say I want to delete the widget of meta so just click on the meta and then click on delete. And I also want to delete Archives. So I will just click on archives and then delete. And now if you want to rearrange these widgets, you have to just drag and drop.

Now let’s see how the changes of these widgets reflected on our website. Go to the website and click refresh. You will see that the widget of meta and archives are deleted and the categories are rearranged. Similarly, you can use widgets for all the other widget areas available in your theme.

Now let’s say you have to add a widget in the secondary sidebar. So, to do this, click on the secondary sidebar, and from all the available widgets you have to just drag and drop a widget here.

Let’s say I want to add the list of pages in the secondary sidebar. So I will just drag and drop it in the secondary sidebar option. And here you will give the title to the widget and once you have made your changes click on save. Now when you will see the website and refresh it, you can see that pages are shown in the secondary sidebar.

Similarly, you can use widgets for all the other available widget areas. You can use any of the available widgets which you have in WordPress and just drag and drop in the widget area where you want to place that widget. And if you want to delete any widget, just click on it and then click on the button delete. And to rearrange this, just drag and drop.

So this was the first way through which you can use widgets in WordPress. Now let’s see the second way.

Second Method

For the second way, again you have to go to appearance and then click on customize. The benefit of using this way is that you can manage the widgets with the live preview of your website. So you don’t have to refresh the website each time you are making a change.

To manage the widgets through the Customize screens you get an option of widgets in the sidebar. Click on it and then you can see all the widget areas which are available for your current theme.

Let’s say I want to add a widget in the footer one area. So I will click on footer one, then I will click on the button add the widget and the list of all the available widgets will show up in front of me. Then select any of the widgets you want to add in that area.

Let’s say, you want to add an image. So just click on the image and the image widget will get added to the footer one area. Now to add an image, click on the option of add image and select the image you want to add in the footer. And click on ‘Add to Widget. So the image widget is successfully added to the footer one area on the website.

Now let’s say I want to edit the widgets of the primary sidebar. So what I need to do is I will click on primary and here you will see all the widgets which we are currently using in the primary sidebar. To add a widget, click on the button add a widget and select any of the widgets you want to add.

Let’s say you want to add a calendar. So just click on the option of the calendar and it will be added to the primary sidebar. And to delete or rearrange the widgets you have to do the same which we did in the first method. To delete a widget, just click on the widget and then click on remove. To rearrange just drag and drop these widgets.

And once you are done, click on publish to save the changes. Also, if you want to learn WordPress for FREE, you need to check out the WordPress tutorial right now!

General FAQ

What are Widgets in WordPress?

In WordPress, widgets are tiny blocks of content which are generally used in the sidebars and footers of a website. Each widget has a specific functionality.

So, this is how you can use Widgets in WordPress. Thanks a lot for taking out time to read this post. I hope you got some value from this and if you did do let me know in the comments. Also, if you have any doubts, questions, or queries, you can shoot it in the comments section below.

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