How to Customize WordPress Sidebars
WordPress is a great software package which allows it users to create and manage their websites with ease. Usually, a WordPress website contains a header at the top of the page, content in the middle area of the page and different sidebars, which a visitor can use to navigate through the website.
The sidebars come with custom content from WordPress theme and you can also add different widgets to them at any time. You can customise the sidebars at any time you want and the process is really easy, if you know how to use WordPress dashboard.
Instructions
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1
Login to your WordPress account and move your cursor over the “Appearance” tab, present at the left side bar on the dashboard. From the menu that just appeared, click the “Editor” option.
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2
This will take you to the HTML section of your website. Here, you need to click the "sidebar.php" or "sidebar-left.php" text link, present at the right side of the page. This will open HTML coding for your sidebar. If you want to change the name of the sidebar, you can press Ctrl + F and search the current name of the side bar. You can delete the name and write a new one which you want to use for the sidebar.
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3
For every sidebar, you can change the name from HTML coding. Once done, make sure you click “Save” button, to save any changes that you made. In the meantime, if you find this method a bit difficult, then you can try going to the “Widgets” area from the “Appearance” tab.
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4
On the “Widgets” page, you will see a list of available widgets in the centre of the page, and the installed widgets, at the side of the page. The side bar shown on the widgets page actually depicts your original sidebar.
So, you can now click on the small arrow placed against every widget’s name, to view its options. Every widget will have different options. So, you can change them according to your requirements. -
5
You can add Social icons widget to the sidebar and link the icons with the social pages that are linked to your website. You can also add advertisements to your sidebar, if you want. WordPress offers advertisement widgets with different sizes. Therefore, you can choose the advertisement size, according to the available space in your sidebar.
