Everything you need to know about WordPress widgets

As you might know, a Widget is a block on a website that creates a specific function, providing your site with a structure and a unique design. Shortly put, widgets are there to add content and features to your site’s widget-ready areas. In the case of Themes Kingdom themes, widgetized areas are the sidebar and footer.

There are many different types of widgets. You can find the list of available widgets and widget areas when you navigate to Appearance → Widgets in your WordPress dashboard. Once you found the ones you’d like to include in your site, all you need to do is drag and drop them. It’s that simple!

In the following text, we have provided you with some tips on how you can add and remove widgets and change their order. We also gave you our perspective on why you should use the Widget Visibility module from the Jetpack plugin.

Adding widgets to widget-ready areas

If you want to add a widget to your website, do the following three steps:

1. Log in to your site’s admin panel and navigate to Appearance → Widgets.
2. On the left side of the page, you’ll see the section Available Widgets, and on the right available widget areas, the Sidebar and Footer Widgets.
3. From the Available Widgets section, choose a widget you would like to include in your website, drag it to the widgetized area, and drop it.
4. The steps you completed will become active after you refresh the page.

Removing widgets from widget-ready areas

If you want to remove a widget from a widgetized area, be sure to go through these quick steps:

1. Choose the widget you would like to remove.
2. Click on the arrow-down icon (in the right corner of your widget box).
3. Click on the Remove option. And you’re done!

Changing widgets’ order of appearance

If you want to change your widgets’ order in a widgetized area, all you need to do is drag the widget up/down and drop it as soon as you find the right position.

Widgets Visibility

Widgets Visibility is a module, a functionality that comes with the Jetpack plugin (the plugin that allows you to customize the theme, increase traffic, and keeps your site secure). This module will enable you to configure widgets to appear only on certain pages. For example, if you want to display Instagram feed on your site, you most likely want to include it after your blog posts. That’s when Widget Visibility can come in handy.

Setting up the Widget Visibility module

Widget Visibility feature is deactivated by default. If you want to activate it, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your site’s admin panel, and navigate to Jetpack → Settings → Writing.
2. Scroll down the Widgets section, and check the Enable widget visibility controls to display widgets only on particular posts or pages checkbox.

Once the module is activated, you can move onto deciding what widgets you want to place on which pages.

How the Widget Visibility module works

Widget Visibility module follows the simple if or if not logic. This means that you can set a widget to be visible or hidden if a condition occurs or does not occur.

If you are not sure what we mean, check the following examples.

Example: Showing/hiding a Widget on a Contact page

Let’s say you want to show a Navigation Widget only on your Contact page. Here are the steps you need to take to enable this option:

1. Navigate to Appearance → Widgets.
2. In the Sidebar, select the option Navigation Menu.
3. Instead of choosing the option Hide, the option Show only.
4. Select the page where you want the widget to be shown 一 the Contact page.
5. If you want a widget to appear on some other pages as well, all you need to do is click on the Add link, to add more conditions.
6. All that is left to do is click on the Save button to save changes, and your widget will be displayed only on the Contact page.

If you wanted to hide a widget on a Contact page, you would go through the same steps, but instead of choosing the option Show only, you would select the option Hide.