Working With WordPress Text Widgets
Adding additional WordPress text widgets and what to do when you need more.
This post is for WordPress prior to version 2.5. The widget menu has changed with 2.5 and a new guide is posted here: WordPress 2.5 Sidebar Widgets Guide
The easiest way to Customize WordPress is working with WordPress widgets. Adding items to your sidebar and moving them into the order you want is easily accomplished by simply dragging and dropping. You can also add anything you want including HTML code into a text widget.
Widgets have been integrated into WordPress since Version 2.2.1 if you have an earlier version of WordPress and don’t want to upgrade you can grab the Sidebar widgets plugin to accomplish the same thing. Keep in mind that not all WordPress themes are “Widget Ready” so if you don’t see the widget option in your dashboard then you will need to Widgetize your theme.
To get started, from within the dashboard click Presentation then Widgets. The default sidebar will show until you drag a new widget from the Available Widget area into the Sidebar area.
The list of available widgets that can be dragged into the sidebar are pretty self explanatory. Simply drag the available widgets you want to show in the sidebar and drop them into place above. You can also order them however you wish by dragging them into position.
Text widgets are the most flexible and can be used to add more items to your sidebar. To add more text widgets to your WordPress sidebar, scroll down to Text Widgets, click the drop down box to add more text widgets and click Save.
Drag your text widget from the Available Widgets area up to the sidebar.
Drop the widget into the sidebar.
Click the blue text box next to the text widget to open it. If you don’t see the open widget, scroll up a bit, it may not be visible in your viewing area.
Here is where the power and flexibility of WordPress really shines. The top box is for the optional title and only text can be placed in there. You can add anything you want into the bottom box of a text widget. Including HTML code, Google AdSense code, Banner ad HTML code, links… The possibilities are endless.
But what if you run out of the 9 available text widgets? Well just add more to another text widget. Oh you want the title to show too? OK here is a little trick to add a title in the middle of a text widget. Just use the code in the body of a text widget shown below and the text will show like a widget title. Then place your new code below the title tags. This one widget will show on your sidebar like two WordPress sidebar widgets.
<h2 class=”widgettitle”>Create What Looks Like A New Title Here</h2><br>
Create your new widget, click the X on the top right of the widget to close it and click save changes.
Now view your site and admire your handy work, and remember if the girls don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!
WordPress sidebar widgets are very flexible, easy to work with and allow you to make changes to your entire blog with just a few clicks of the mouse.
Always make sure your HTML tags are closed and you are not trying to put very large items into the sidebar!
Questions and comments are always welcome.
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19 Responses to “Working With WordPress Text Widgets”
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XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Or just copy the example below and change your details.
Example - <a href="http://www.YourSite.com">Title Of Site</a>
Working With WordPress Text Widgets…
The easiest way to Customize WordPress is working with WordPress widgets. Adding items to your sidebar and moving them into the order you want is easily accomplished by simply dragging and dropping. You can also add anything you want including HTML cod…
More useful advice on maximizing your wordpress blog. Jeff is quite generous with the information he provides. Anyone looking to have a highly functional worpress blog should put Jeff’s advice to use!
Carl Hendricks,
http://www.cehmagic.com/blog
i just put up text widegt on my blog 5 minz after i read this …
the article has been very helpful …
thanks for sharing …
appreciated …
Hi Jeff,
Searching for some answers brought me to your site. I’m looking for a way to “pad” the left and right sidebars within my site, as I’m a great believer in whitespace, and I don’t particularly like how my adsense ads are stacked right up against the header… I sorta know how to edit my style.css file to make changes, but I don’t seem to understand enough about how the css deals with the php to find how the padding in the sidebars work for widgets, got a quick poke in the right direction for me?
thanks a bunch in advance.
bonafide, “who didn’t really get hit by a train.”
bonified a simple HTML break or a few, in front of the Adsense code should do the trick, like this:
<br>
[…] After you add your blog now its time to place the code on your WordPress blog’s sidebar. From the BlogRush dashboard click Get Code, and highlight and copy the code. Go to your WordPress blog’s dashboard, Click Presentation, Widgets, and paste the code into a new or existing text widget. Learn more about working with WordPress here: Working With WordPress Text Widgets […]
[…] is another post to help you learn more about Working With WordPress Text Widgets. WordPress WordPress Guide Share This Gregarious FeedFlare Sphere: Related ContentIf […]
Hi,
I am surprised there is no easy to use newsletter form in wordpress. I decided to put one (That I got from my cfepress shop) in the text widget. Everything shows excepting the email field and send button. I though one could add anything there, including html. Any way I can have my visitors sign up for a newsletter. (Honestly, I cant believe a Blog doesnt have an included or eassy to add Newsletter widget)
Hope I can receive some help. Thanks a lot.
Jorge
www.geowonders.com
Jorge, You blog is hosted on WordPress.com not your own domain. I don’t know if that is why your opt-in isn’t working but I do know that WordPress.com frowns upon anyone making money with a blog hosted on their domain. And usually a newsletter has some type of money making agenda associated with it.
I have a newsletter on another WordPress blog here: Work At Home Business Blog, and have added many on other peoples self-hosted blogs I have installed.
You may want to ask your question on the WordPress.com forum. Or if you are going to be serious about blogging get your own domain name.
Jeff
Thanks for that.. i honestly thought that it needed to be done via widget plugin etc, I didn’t know you could simply use the sidebar text widget… that’s awesome news!
[…] WordPress guide assumes your theme is widget ready and you know how to Work with WordPress text widgets. In your WordPress dashboard go to Presentation, Widgets. If the categories widget in not show on […]
I got the adsense to finally appear but my login link disappeared., along with my blogroll. How do I get into my blog to get to the dashboard again to write posts without the login link?? Help!
Caroline, your login URL is here;
http://www.broadwayundercover.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=%2Fwp-admin%2F
It is best to keep that URL off your blogs site to discourage hackers. You obviously removed the Meta widget from the sidebar and that is good but you should bookmark the URL of your blogs dashboard if you can’t remember it.
Jeff
You can always get to your WP login page by adding
wp-login.phpafter your blog URL.HTH.
Excellent advice Jeff,
I have been trying to add a widget for a long time, I just could not figure it out, until I read your article. Then it was so simple.
Regards
Alan
Internet Home Based Business
Hey Jeff,
I came to your site after doing an exhaustive search on this very topic. Just wanted to drop a note letting you know how much I appreciate your info. Your postings are very concise, informative and extraordinarily written. Your graphics are truly fantastic and very useful. As a writer, I appreciate the “art”. And your good…very good. Very well done. Thank yoi.
Len
Excellent Instructions. I seriously had no Idea to select the button on the widget bar… I feel stupid I never clicked there in the first place.
has anyone else has this problem - after pasting the code in the text widget, once I press save settings, the text disappears.
John that is a know issue in version 2.5 try upgrading to 2.5.1