What is a widget?
A widget is an additional piece of functionality you can install on your Wordpress based site. You can add, remove, reorder and customise most widgets.
All of our themes have at least one area that is “widgetized” so you can add widgets using a simple drag and drop interface via the admin section of your site.
Typical widgets include listing pages and categories, displaying a calender or adding custom text. But many people make third party widgets which can add amazing functions such as displaying the weather, showcasing your flicker photos and playing radio music.
How to add a widget
In the admin section of your Wordpress site click on the design menu item. Then in the sub-menu click Widgets.
Firstly you need to select which sidebar you want to add the widget to.
In the current widgets section select from the drop-down menu the section you want to affect. Typically these will be called by relevant names such as home or blog depending on where they show on your site. If there is only one option then it will appear throughout your entire site. Click show. This will show you what widgets are used (if any) on that particular section and enables you to edit it.
You can now add widgets from the available widget section by clicking add. They will now show in the current widget section. Add as many as you wish.
You can re-arrange the widgets if you like, by simply click-dragging the one you want to move into it’s new position. You can also edit these widgets to behave in certain ways.
Once you are happy with your choices click save changes. That’s it! All done. Now go and view your handiwork on your website!
How to add new widgets that are not in the available widgets list?
If your searching the internet and find a widget you want installed on your site, there are three possible ways to get it installed.
- Pre installed ones should be available to you straight away using the above method.
- Text input ones are as simple as copying code given to you by the widget creator and pasting it into the pre-installed “text widget”.
- By far the most complicated, the third type needs to be installed by a professional (like ourselves) as they need to be placed into particular directories of the site. These are rare however, as most use the text input method.
When you find a widget, look at the install notes. This will inform you how to install the widget. If in doubt, please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can advise you properly or quote to do it for you.
Here is a list of useful links involving widgets.
