This document discusses customizing WordPress through modifying general settings, categories, design considerations, and widgets. It provides an overview of widgets and how to add, configure, and order them. Important widgets for blogs include archives, categories, links, pages, recent posts, and recent comments. Additional widgets allow integration of services like Twitter, Flickr, and RSS feeds. The document stresses that widgets modify content while plugins add functionality.

1. Customizing WordPress
Kathy E Gill

2. What Is WordPress?
A content management system
Can be used for a blog or a basic
website without a blog

3. Today
1. General Settings
2. Categories
3. Design Considerations
4. Widgets

4. 1. General Settings
Modify the tag line and set time
zone to Pacific
 Dashboard -> Settings -> General
Change the home page
 Dashboard -> Settings -> Reading
 Requires that you have created a new
home page and a placeholder for the
blog, if you are going to have one

5. 2. Categories and Tags
What are they
Where are they
How to edit/delete
 Should never have “uncategorized”
posts
Tutorial; categories sub-panel; tags
sub-panel

6. 3. Design Considerations
Dark on light is easier to read
San Serif fonts are easier to read on
screen than Serif
Fixed versus variable widths:
impact on readability

7. 4. What Are Widgets?
A “configurable code snippet" that
makes it possible to modify
function and appearance

8. 4a. Widgets & WordPress
Themes
Not all themes are widget-capable
Themes vary in widget options,
location

9. Single Widget Area

10. Multiple Widget Areas

11. 4b. Where Are Widgets?
Access the widgets page
from the Appearance Menu
in your Dashboard.

12. Default Appearance - Single

13. Default Appearance - Multi

14. Monotone: No Widgets Supported

15. 4c. Editing Widgets
Note: once you edit a widget area, the
default widgets disappear, ie, they will
no longer be visible on the site
Recommendation: before editing, take
a screenshot of your theme
Tip: if you don’t want anything to show
up in a widget area, try adding a blank
text widget.

16. Adding Widgets
 To add a widget,
drag from the
Available or
Inactive Widgets
area on the left
onto the Sidebar
area on the right.
 When you see a
dashed line
appear, you can
drop the widget Single widget area; image from WP.com
into place.

17. Multiple Widget Locations
The Widget area, such as
Sidebar 1, must be “open”
in order to add widgets!

18. Configuring Widgets
Each widget has
configuration options.
Click on the triangle
on the right side of the
widget to configure.
You’ll need to save
only if you edit.

19. Ordering, Deleting Widgets
 Change the order of the widgets by
dragging and dropping them in the sidebar
area.
 Delete by dragging to the left or clicking the
“delete” link on the configuration box.
 Drag to “inactive” area to retain any custom
settings
 Note: design change is immediate – no
“save” required

20. Screencast

21. 4d. Important Widgets (1/5)
Archives
Navigation. Provides access to old
posts; a key characteristic of blog as a
genre
Categories
Navigation. Provides access to posts by
topic; a key characteristic of blog as a
genre

22. 4d. Important Widgets (2/5)
Links
As Blogroll, Background. Provides insight
into blog content, author; a key
characteristic of blog as a genre
Pages
Navigation. Provides access to pages;
essential if sidebar is primary navigation.

23. 4d. Important Widgets (3/5)
Tag Cloud
Navigation, Background. Provides
access to posts by keyword; requires
reasonably large corpus to be useful.
Category Cloud
Navigation, Background. Provides
alternative access to posts by category;
requires reasonably large corpus to be
useful.

24. 4d. Important Widgets (4/5)
Text
May be the most important widget; can
hold text or HTML but no javascript. For
javascript, get self-hosted WordPress.
RSS Links
Provides access to post and comment
RSS feed using orange button. Essential if
there is no other RSS subscription link in
the design.

25. 4d. Important Widgets (5/5)
Recent Posts
Background. Highlights most recent posts;
useful when “more” tag not employed.
Recent Comments
Background. Highlights most recent
comments; requires reasonably large
corpus/frequent comments to be
meaningful.

26. 4e. Interesting Widgets (1/3)
 Twitter
Background. Displays tweets by handle.
 Flickr
Background. Displays photos from Flickr based
on an RSS feed.
 Delicious
Background. Display Delicious links by handle.
 Goodreads
Background. Display your books.

27. 4e. Interesting Widgets (2/3)
 Box.net
Functionality. Share files with your readers.
 Meebo
Functionality. Enables private IM chat.
 RSS
Functionality. Display results from any RSS
feed.
 SocialVibe
Functionality. Support a charity.

28. 4e. Interesting Widgets (3/3)
 Blog Subscription
Functionality. Enables email alert when there
are new posts.
 Milestone
Functionality. Display a countdown to a
specific date.
 Facebook
Functionality. “Like” a Facebook page (not
profile)

29. Widgets Are Not Plug-ins
• WP.com does not allow user-
installed plug-ins
• Widgets = content (more or
less)
• Plug-Ins = functionality (usually
are back-end, such as Akismet,
statistics or Google analytics,
but may provide short-code
functionality or easy content
sharing)

30. WordPress Widgets
List and descriptions at WP.com:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/t
opic/widgets-sidebars/
Even more widgets available for
self-hosted WP accounts:
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordP
ress_Widgets

31. Credits
Kathy E Gill, @kegill
Creative Commons: share-and-
share alike, non-commercial,
attribution
Permanent home:
http://wiredpen.com/resources/pr
esentations/wordpress-using-
widgets-to-customize-your-theme/