There are a few features that everyone running a WordPress website should be familiar with. Widget is one such feature of WordPress that plays an important role in the website building process.
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What are Widgets in WordPress
Widgets are blocks that you can add to various sections of your website such as sidebar, footer or any other section. These can be blocks of content or any other information that you might want to display on your website.
Widgets can hold many things such as text, links, menus, popular posts, calendars, social media sharing options and many more options. Many plugins add their own custom widgets that you can integrate in your website too.
Steps to add widgets on your WordPress website
- Visit Appearance -> Widgets from your admin dashboard.
- You will see two sections now. On the left hand side there are available widgets and on the right hand side the widgets that are already live on your website.
- To add a widget you just have to drag and drop the widget from the available options on the left to the right hand side.
- Each widget has its own settings that you can change to customize it.
Steps to delete a widget on your WordPress website
- Visit Appearance -> Widgets from your admin dashboard.
- Expand the widget on the right hand side that you want to remove.
- Click the Delete button. The widget should now be removed from your website.
If you want to temporarily disable a widget and stop displaying it in your website then you can also place it under the Inactive Widgets section. This way the widget will be removed from the website but the settings will still be saved. You just have to drag and drop it again to the widgets area to make it live again.
Bottom Line
Widgets play an important role in adding the ability to display content anywhere on your website without having too much technical knowledge. Many plugins also add their custom widgets which you can use to extend functionalities on your website.
The best thing about widgets is it allows you to do everything easily. If you are running a WordPress website then it is a must to take advantage of this WordPress feature.