YNOT – In the previous article we focused on WordPress themes and how important theme-related choices can be throughout the life of an online portal. Today we will talk about widgets, which are user interface components that facilitate interaction with the underlying program.

WordPress themes often contain widgets that are integral to the theme’s function. Because each theme has its own idiosyncrasies, I will describe the appropriate section of the control panel and some of the more globally relevant add-ins.

To reach the section devoted to widget management, you need to expand the “Appearance” tab in the left-hand pane of the WordPress dashboard. Click “Widgets,” and a new page listing all available widgets for your theme will load in the center pane. Below each widget’s name is a brief description of what it does.

On the right-hand side of the page is a listing of the theme-specific areas in which you may place widgets, along with any widgets currently installed in those spots. To install a new widget, simply drag it from the central pane to the location in the right-hand pane representing the spot on the page where you want the widget to appear. Drag the widgets around within the right-hand pane until they are in the order you prefer.

These are a few of the most popular widgets:

• Archives: A monthly archive of all articles published on the website.
• Recent Posts: A short list of the most recent items that have been put online.
• Categories: A list of the categories into which your posts are divided.
• Search: A simple search field that will allow users to search content within your site quickly and easily.
• Recent Comments: A list of the most recent comments posted by readers. This widget is very useful for creating customer loyalty and for generating impact if your users leave numerous comments.
• Pages: A sitemap, of sorts, that is particularly useful for feeding search engine spiders and for helping end-users locate static pages like those bearing terms of service, 2257 documentation and contacts.
• Text: This is one of the most useful fields from a site-developer’s perspective, as it allows you to enter not only plain text, but also code snippets written in HTML, PHP or JavaScript. If you plan to include an email subscription form, ads, media players, ratings buttons or other components that require scripting, this widget facilitates that.

We have seen how to increase the power of our portal through widgets. In the next article we will learn how to create a personalized menu that contains not only all the items we consider most appropriate, but also those users consider indispensable.

This article was written for YNOT.com by Eng. Antonio Lodesani. For more information, visit ingoccupati.blogspot.com (in Italian).