Wordpress
Widgets

This icon indicates that there is a screen capture or animation describing the concept.

This icon indicates that there is a sound clip describing the tutorial.

Tutorial Overview

Topics covered in this tutorial (click link to jump to topic):

What Exactly Is a Widget?

Widgets allow you to quickly and easily customize the side bar area(s) your site. A widget usually does a specific function, like a calendar, or a menu. You can get widgets that just do text or a picture.

In a short, all you do is choose a widget from the menu, and drag and drop it into the position that you would like it to appear in on your blog or site, click save, and your finished.

Widgets provide you with a way to quickly and easily change your site. They are very easy to setup and the results are immediate.

You can revert back at anytime to "factory condition" specs by deleting the widgets you add to your site. When you do this, the default options will be restored.

Are all themes "Widgetised"?

Mostly yes, but not all. Some themes have a left and a right side bar or two right sidebars. In which case you will have to swap from one sidebar to another before adding widgets to it. If the theme is not widgetised, you can still customize it using the theme editor (bottom option on the Appearance menu) but you will need html and css skills for this.

Every time you select a theme, be aware that each theme already has its on set of widgets pre set. Whenever you go into the widgets menu, and add something, everything else gets erased on that theme (as far as widgets go, on your sidebar). It's a good idea to have your site open in a new tab prior to changing anything, so you can see where stuff was prior to modifying it.

Adding Widgets To Your Site

Inside the Dashboard, on the left side menu under Appearance, click Widgets. The widgets themselves appear in a column on the left. Click add to shift a widget to the right hand column. This column builds dynamically as you choose widgets on the left. Now click save changes. Now you can reorder the widgets by dragging and dropping them (click save changes again). And finally, you can click edit and change a few settings that are specific to that widget.

Return to top

[Web Site Design] [Search Engine Submission] [Web Site Hosting] [.AU Domain Name Registration] [Web Marketing Blog] [Sitemap] [dynamicwebs.com.au Homepage]

24-May-2008
© 2008 Dynamic Web Solutions Pty Ltd