Widgets* – Video & Article
Learn about widget areas and blocks and how to edit, move, remove, and add WordPress blocks to your sidebar, footer, and home page widget areas.
There are two types of widget editors depending on the age of your site – the classic editor and the block editor. The classic editor will have widgets with text-labels, and usually two columns of widget areas (though that may vary). The block editor will have a bunch of icons and one column of widget areas.
Note that not every theme uses widgets, so depending on how your site was built, these videos may be irrelevant.
The Classic Widget Editor
The classic widget editor is still used by websites using the Enfold theme and some StudioPress themes, as well as some of our custom sites.
The Classic Widget Editor – Article
What are widgets? Think of them like content blocks. Many of our websites use widgets on their home page, their sidebars, and in their footers. It is important to note that some themes require the use of widgets and some do not, so you may not see any widgets on your site.
To access widgets from your dashboard:
- Hover over Appearance and click on Widgets. You’ll see a list of available widgets on the left-hand side and a list of widget areas on the right-hand side.
The types of widgets available to you here on the left-hand side is determined to some extent by your theme and by the plugins that you have. Some are also native to WordPress.
The widget areas that are determined by your theme only are usually titled in such a way that it’s obvious what they represent. You’ll see words like sidebar, footer, home page, front page, and similar.
To add a widget:
- Take a widget from the left side, grab it, then drag-and-drop it over to the widget area on the right. You can pull it into any widget area that you like, and when it’s in the spot that you want it to, let go.
Alternatively:
- Click on a widget on the left-hand side and then tell it where you want to go, like Sidebar or Footer, and then click on Add Widget. This will add it to the bottom of the list in that widget area, and you can drag-and-drop it to where you want it.
To remove a widget:
- Grab a widget from a widget area. If you need to open up another widget area, you just click on that area. You drag and drop that widget from one side (right) to the other (left).
To save a widget:
- Drag-and-drop it to the bottom of the left-hand side, down to Inactive Widgets. That stores that specific widget and all of its settings in that area, and then when you want to use it again, you just pull it back out and drag it back up.
If you make any changes to the settings in a widget, click Save in that specific widget. Once you’ve made the changes that you’d like to make, you can go back to your front-end and refresh the page. Note that it is not necessary to save the “page,” just the individual widgets that you edit.
Also note that themes can display widgets in a lot of different ways, so you may have to play around with widgets a little bit to get the look that you want. And if you can’t get something to work exactly the way that you want it to, please reach out to us via support at support@worshiptimes.org or via a support ticket.
The Block Editor – Video
The new block editor is now available on most of our sites and themes. This includes Divi, X/Cornerstone, and some of our older StudioPress sites.
For more details on the widget block editor, check out our longer video.
The Block Editor – Article
What are widgets? Think of them like content blocks. Many of our websites use widgets on their home page, their sidebars, and in their footers. It is important to note that some themes require the use of widgets and some do not, so you may not see any widgets on your site.
To access widgets from your dashboard:
- Hover over Appearance and click on Widgets. Here, you’ll see a list of widget areas.
The widget areas that are determined by your theme only are usually titled in such a way that it’s obvious what they represent. You’ll see words like sidebar, footer, home page, front page, and similar.
To edit a widget:
- Click on a widget block to edit the settings available for that specific block.
To move a widget:
- Drag the widget block using the drag icon, move it up or down one widget block at a time with the arrow icons, or move it to a new widget area entirely with the move icon.
To remove a widget:
- Click on the vertical dots at the end of the icon bar and click on “Remove Block.”
To add a widget:
- Click on the + icon in the top-right corner. Select or search for a block. Drag it to the area where you’d like it.
The types of widget blocks available to you are determined to some extent by your theme and by the plugins that you have. Some are also native to WordPress.
To save a widget:
- Move the widget block to Inactive Widgets. That stores that specific widget block and all of its settings in that area, and then when you want to use it again, you just move it back into an active widget area.
Once you’ve made the changes that you’d like to make, click Update in the top-right corner of the screen. You also should go back to your front-end and refresh the page.
Also note that themes can display widgets in a lot of different ways, so you may have to play around with widgets a little bit to get the look that you want. And if you can’t get something to work exactly the way that you want it to, please reach out to us via support at support@worshiptimes.org or via a support ticket.