What exactly is a widget-ready WordPress theme?
Are you seeing themes that appear as “widget ready ,” but you’re not sure what that means?
Widgets make designing pages and posts much easier. They help you edit and display visually stunning headers, footers, sidebars, and other areas of your site.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- What Exactly Is a Widget-Ready WordPress Theme
- Why you might want to use widgets anyway
- How to use widgets to customize a WordPress site
As usual, this tutorial includes screenshots to make it easy for you to follow along even if you are completely new to WordPress.
What exactly is a widget-ready WordPress theme?
Most WordPress themes come with widgetized areas that allow you to dynamically manipulate these areas in a drag-and-drop friendly manner.
For example, a widget could be the search bar in the image below:
These could also be sidebar items like Recent Posts, Recent Comments, and Categories.
Most often, widgets are used in theme sidebars and footers. Since WordPress 2.2, widgets are part of the “core” and are included in all new WordPress installations.
To make it easier for you to choose a widget-ready theme that suits your brand, we’ve put together a roundup of the best WordPress themes .
Why use widgets?
You may want to use widgets because they make changing the sidebar (or other widgetized areas) of your WordPress site much easier. Moving sidebar elements like category/archive listings and blogroll links can be done easily with a widget-ready theme.
Now you know what widgets are and why you would want to use them. Next up is how to use widgets to customize your WordPress site .
Step 1: Check if the theme is widget ready
You cannot use widgets if the theme you are using is not ready for them.
If you use the WordPress block/Gutenberg editor, you can easily access your site’s widget areas from the WordPress admin panel.
Navigate to the Appearance » Widgets tab and depending on the theme you are using, you will see options like header, footer, sidebar and other widget-ready areas here.
For example, the theme we are using only allows us to edit the footer. There is no option to edit the sidebar as the theme does not have a sidebar included.
Please note that most themes are widget-ready these days. Unless you are using a very old or basic theme, you may find that the available widgets are limited or non-existent.
That being said, over time,ecuador phone number library developers have made sure to include the option of widgets.
Step 2: WordPress Default Widgets
In the Appearance » Widgets tab , how to create an xml sitemap in wordpress in less than 2 minutes you will see the same block editor interface to edit your header, footer, and sidebars.
We will be editing the sidebar for this tutorial. In the right menu, there is a settings button that opens two submenus to edit the settings for the widget and block areas.
Clicking the + sign at the top will open a new menu with blocks that you can drag and drop into your sidebar.
You can add headings, paragraphs, lists, quotes, images, galleries, and more. You can also reorder the list by simply dragging and dropping them wherever you want.
It is very easy to use, but the customization options are limited.
Step 3: More widgets with other builders
With many theme builders on the market, you can get many virgin islands send more widget options for your site. Let’s explore what the 2 best builders have to offer – SeedProd and Thrive Themes .
Custom widgets with SeedProd
With SeedProd , when you choose a theme kit and activate it, the plugin will automatically import all the pages and widgets included in that theme.
You can use the toggle button to publish or unpublish them with just one click. For now, let’s edit the sidebar to show you what options you have.
Once you click the “Edit Layout” button, the drag and drop builder will launch. What we love about this builder is that you won’t have to edit and preview your layout every time you make a change. You’ll see a preview of your layout and be able to edit your widgetized areas visually.
If you want to add a new element to your sidebar, you’ll find a long list of options in the left menu. You’ll see standard and advanced blocks, as well as ready-made widgets. Just select the block, drag and drop it into your sidebar layout.