{"id":1327,"date":"2018-02-05T05:00:20","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/?p=1327"},"modified":"2019-10-25T13:58:46","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T18:58:46","slug":"wordpress-widgets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/","title":{"rendered":"What are widgets in WordPress?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"What<\/p>\n

In WordPress, widgets get less attention than many of the more important elements of a website like posts and pages. Widgets are only used in a few areas of your website, but it’s important to understand what they do and how they work.<\/p>\n

What is a widget?<\/h2>\n

A widget is a small block of content that adds information to a specific area on your website.\u00a0Widgets were originally designed to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of a WordPress theme to the user. Some widgets provided dynamically-created data from the website easily, while others rely on user input.<\/p>\n

\"These

These widgets are provided in a basic WordPress installation. Themes and plugins can add additional options.<\/p><\/div>\n

Some widgets provide dynamic content. In other words, the widget’s content is loaded based on requested criteria. This includes data like a “tag cloud” of most-used tags, a list of most-read posts, or a list of most recent comments. Some load static content like a search box. Other widgets allow a user to select data to be shown, like a particular image, video, menu, or even simply text.<\/p>\n

Building a sidebar with widgets<\/h2>\n

For themes that use sidebars, widgets compose the content there. Some themes allow you to create multiple sidebars to use in different locations. Other themes and plugins also add additional sidebar options. For example, some themes add an additional sidebar to be used with WooCommerce pages.<\/p>\n

Building a footer with widgets<\/h2>\n

Many themes also use widgets to compose content for a site’s footer. Different themes provide different options for the site footer. Some themes provide multiple footer columns, each of which can be composed of its own separate widgets. On a computer, these columns appear side by side, and on mobile, they appear one after another vertically, with similar function to a content block or grid layout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Building pages with widgets<\/h2>\n

Though not as common as sidebar and footer widgets, some themes even use widgets to build entire pages. Many times, these themes come with extra widgets to give users additional options for building pages. These themes often compromise customization options with simplicity in mind. In some cases, a user can choose to create a regular page instead of using the widget-driven option, but this is not always the case.<\/p>\n

How to use widgets<\/h2>\n

Using widgets in WordPress is very simple. In the WordPress Dashboard, go to Appearance \u2192 Widgets. On the right side of the screen, a list of available areas to drop widgets \u2014 sidebar, footer, etc. \u2014 appears. The left side of the screen features a list of available widgets. It looks similar to the image above but may include additional options.<\/p>\n

To add a widget to an area of your site, click the down area next to the area you want to place a widget so that the menu opens to display widgets already there. Next, simply drag a widget into this area of the site. Some widgets require additional information from you; for example, you’ll want to type text into the text widget or choose an image in the image widget.\u00a0Once you’ve dragged a widget a widget into an area of your site and added the information the widget requests, the widget will begin appearing in that location on your website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WordPress uses widgets to build content throughout your website in places like the sidebar and footers. Learn how to use widgets in this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basics","category-wordpress-tips"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat are widgets in WordPress? - MPWR Design<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WordPress uses widgets to build content throughout your website in places like the sidebar and footers. Learn how to use widgets in this article.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are widgets in WordPress? - MPWR Design\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WordPress uses widgets to build content throughout your website in places like the sidebar and footers. Learn how to use widgets in this article.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MPWR Design\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mpwrdesign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-05T11:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-25T18:58:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/widgets-768x768.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan Guenther\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mpwrdesign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mpwrdesign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan Guenther\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathan Guenther\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9477aeacdbff900dec7e79d3e34bc606\"},\"headline\":\"What are widgets in WordPress?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-05T11:00:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-25T18:58:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":564,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"WordPress Basics\",\"WordPress Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/\",\"name\":\"What are widgets in WordPress? - MPWR Design\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-05T11:00:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-25T18:58:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9477aeacdbff900dec7e79d3e34bc606\"},\"description\":\"WordPress uses widgets to build content throughout your website in places like the sidebar and footers. Learn how to use widgets in this article.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"What are widgets in WordPress?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/wordpress-tips\\\/wordpress-widgets\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What are widgets in WordPress?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"MPWR Design\",\"description\":\"A Nashville-based WordPress website design company\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9477aeacdbff900dec7e79d3e34bc606\",\"name\":\"Jonathan Guenther\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ec139c35bced5c516fda9ab15b3bd962173f3d612e8d9c3feb3cc074f86de198?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ec139c35bced5c516fda9ab15b3bd962173f3d612e8d9c3feb3cc074f86de198?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ec139c35bced5c516fda9ab15b3bd962173f3d612e8d9c3feb3cc074f86de198?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jonathan Guenther\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mpwrdesign.com\\\/author\\\/jonathan\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What are widgets in WordPress? - MPWR Design","description":"WordPress uses widgets to build content throughout your website in places like the sidebar and footers. Learn how to use widgets in this article.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What are widgets in WordPress? - MPWR Design","og_description":"WordPress uses widgets to build content throughout your website in places like the sidebar and footers. Learn how to use widgets in this article.","og_url":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/","og_site_name":"MPWR Design","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mpwrdesign","article_published_time":"2018-02-05T11:00:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-25T18:58:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/widgets-768x768.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jonathan Guenther","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mpwrdesign","twitter_site":"@mpwrdesign","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jonathan Guenther","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/"},"author":{"name":"Jonathan Guenther","@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9477aeacdbff900dec7e79d3e34bc606"},"headline":"What are widgets in WordPress?","datePublished":"2018-02-05T11:00:20+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-25T18:58:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/"},"wordCount":564,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1","articleSection":["WordPress Basics","WordPress Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/","url":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/","name":"What are widgets in WordPress? - MPWR Design","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1","datePublished":"2018-02-05T11:00:20+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-25T18:58:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9477aeacdbff900dec7e79d3e34bc606"},"description":"WordPress uses widgets to build content throughout your website in places like the sidebar and footers. Learn how to use widgets in this article.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1","width":1200,"height":1200,"caption":"What are widgets in WordPress?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wordpress-tips\/wordpress-widgets\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What are widgets in WordPress?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/","name":"MPWR Design","description":"A Nashville-based WordPress website design company","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9477aeacdbff900dec7e79d3e34bc606","name":"Jonathan Guenther","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ec139c35bced5c516fda9ab15b3bd962173f3d612e8d9c3feb3cc074f86de198?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ec139c35bced5c516fda9ab15b3bd962173f3d612e8d9c3feb3cc074f86de198?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ec139c35bced5c516fda9ab15b3bd962173f3d612e8d9c3feb3cc074f86de198?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jonathan Guenther"},"url":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/author\/jonathan\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/widgets.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p793jh-lp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1333,"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions\/1333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mpwrdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}