A Beginner’s Guide on How to Add WordPress Widgets
WordPress has been a very good platform for innovative creators to design their own websites from its early development in 2003. It has helped them to initiate and extend their careers in blogging, photography, business, e-commerce, e-news and e-magazines and many more through the internet. But how has it been possible? This is because of the fact that WordPress is packed with a lot of customizable themes, essential plugins, and widgets which enables you to create any type of website. Among them, WordPress widgets have significantly increased the ease of access and usability in WordPress.
What are WordPress Widgets?
WordPress widgets may be referred to as elements or small blocks that can perform a particular function in ease without writing any code by the user. Widgets also allow a user to add functionality and features or simply drag and drop the items in the sidebars or any other widget ready areas of the site.
Some of the pre-installed WordPress widgets can perform basic actions like adding text, videos, tag clouds, search boxes and many more. If these default widgets are insufficient, you can also install new ones as needed. Let us first go through how WordPress widgets can be installed.
Installing WordPress Widgets:
The WordPress widgets should be installed through plugins in the website before they are added to the sidebar or any other widget ready areas. There are many WordPress Plugins available but for this tutorial, I’ve used the plugin of the Google Maps Widget as a demonstration for installing a new WordPress widget.
Here’s a short video tutorial on installing the WordPress plugins and adding the WordPress widgets.
For more information on the installation of plugins, you can visit the link given below.
How to install WordPress Plugins
First, open the Dashboard and go to Plugins>>Add New. Then, search for Google Maps Widget in the top-right search box. After the plugin is found, click on Install Now.
Click on Activate once the installation is completed. Then, we can move forward with adding new WordPress Widgets.
How to add widgets to WordPress:
After the completion of installation of the plugin, we can add WordPress widgets. There are a number of convenient ways from which we can add them. We can add these widgets with the help of two interfaces.
Method 1: Using the WordPress Default Menu for adding a new WordPress Widget:
This is one of the most convenient methods of adding the WordPress Widget. All you have to do is go to Appearance>>Widgets on the sidebar of the Dashboard. Here, you’ll be able to see all the available widgets and the widget ready areas along with the Google Maps Widget that we’ve installed.
You can simply drag the available WordPress widgets and drop them into the desired widget areas.
Or, You can also just click on the widget then select the area where you want to place it and click on Add Widget.
Then, you’ll need to add the necessary information for the widget. Once you’ve completed, click on Done. You can also Delete the widget if it’s not needed anymore.
If you’re not convinced with this method and want to see changes simultaneously while adding and rearranging the widgets, the next method will be quite helpful to you.
Method 2: Using WordPress Customizer to add widgets to WordPress:
The second method is focused a bit more on precise editing with the help of previewing. First, go to Appearance>>Customize on the sidebar of the Dashboard.
Or you can access the Customizer from Manage with Live Preview from the Appearance>>Widgets.
Then, the Customizer interface will appear. Look for Widgets in the menu and click on it.
You’ll be able to see every widget ready areas for your website. It might look different from the screenshot as it varies according to the theme. After that, Click on the area where you want to add the WordPress widget.
Then, click on Add a Widget button and select the widget you want.
Similar to the first method, add the necessary information for the widget and click on Done.
Next, you’ll be able to view a live preview of any changes you’ve made for your WordPress website simultaneously. It will be updated on the right side of the screen.
Concluding:
Since the main objective of WordPress widgets is to make your website simple and easy to use, adding them will definitely make it more user-friendly. This also increases the possibility of attracting more readers to your website due to the ease of using it.
I hope that the above details have been helpful for you to add a new WordPress widget. If you liked this article, here are some more relevant articles which you might find interesting too.
- How to Embed Google Maps in WordPress Website
- 8 of the Best WordPress Plugins
- How to Add YouTube Subscribe Button on WordPress
