{"id":221,"date":"2012-09-12T22:47:40","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T22:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeffwoodonline.com\/?p=221"},"modified":"2023-04-09T05:00:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T12:00:45","slug":"how-to-set-up-a-blog-and-forum-widgets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffwoodonline.com\/blog\/221\/how-to-set-up-a-blog-and-forum-widgets-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Set Up A Blog And Forum \u2013 Widgets"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a list of articles in this series, go here: How To Set Up A Blog and Forum Article Index<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome to part nine of How To Set Up A Blog And Forum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today we will set up widgets for WordPress. Widgets are customized spots on your blog which are mostly things that the visitor will see.<\/p>\n

But first, I want to say three things:<\/p>\n

1) I changed the theme at http:\/\/saltwaterfishkeeping.com\/<\/a> to one called \u201cElegant Grunge\u201d<\/p>\n

I used it on another blog and I\u2019m rather partial to it and so it\u2019s there basically to show it to you.<\/p>\n

2) If I can, I\u2019m going to make the next post the last in this series as far as setting up the blog part. Though it\u2019s been a lot of fun, and headaches, to walk you through step by step learning how to create a blog, we do need to move on.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll walk through setting up a page (again) and a post and really, I think that\u2019s about all there is as far as major things. If you\u2019d like me to cover something in setting up blogs that I\u2019ve either forgotten about or that you want more details on, then leave me a comment or go to http:\/\/jeffwoodconsulting.com<\/a> and fill out a ticket.<\/p>\n

3) Widgets are a fairly personal thing. There\u2019s not really a right way or a wrong way to do it. There\u2019s things you probably should do if you\u2019re doing a blog for a business that won\u2019t matter so much if you\u2019re doing a personal blog, but too much depends on what you personally want.<\/p>\n

Also the theme you pick will affect your widgets. There\u2019s some themes that have no widgets, some that have widgets on both sides, on one side and Elegant Grunge, the one that\u2019s there for the moment, allows them both on the side and in the footer.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll set up some widgets for this tutorial, there may be more or less or different ones by the time you read this. I do like to experiment and change things so I make no promises that what you read here is what you\u2019ll see there if you check back in a month or so.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s get started. The first thing you want to do is bring up another browser window. You\u2019ll have one window viewing your dashboard and the other window viewing your blog. So if your blog was at http:\/\/www.myblog.com you would have one window on http:\/\/www.myblog.com and the other at <\/p>\n

Whenever you make a change on the \u2018admin\u2019 screen then go to the other window and press \u2018F5\u2032 or click on refresh to see what your visitors will see. If you don\u2019t like the way the change looks, change it back.<\/p>\n

Now on with the show, under your dashboard you\u2019ll look for the following on the left hand side of the screen:<\/p>\n

\n

\"widgets<\/p>\n

widgets 11<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Everything we are about to do is under the \u2018Appearance\u2019 heading under \u2018Widgets\u2019<\/p>\n

\n

\"widgets<\/p>\n

widgets 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After you click on \u2018Widgets\u2019 you see the above screen on the upper left of your screen. Here it is telling you that you are using no widgets on the sidebar menu.<\/p>\n

Again, this is theme specific so you won\u2019t see the exact same thing unless you are using the same theme I am.<\/p>\n

Use the drop down menu to go to the footer and click on show:<\/p>\n

\n

\"widgets<\/p>\n

widgets 3<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As you can see, I did not click on \u2019show\u2019 before I snapped the picture (in case you missed it, it tells you where it\u2019s currently viewing your widgets, just look at the picture again and you\u2019ll find it). It would say the same if I had clicked on \u2019show\u2019 that there\u2019s no widgets in the footer. So I could have 3 widgets in the footer and 7 widgets in the sidebar, or whatever combination I realistically wanted.<\/p>\n

The good and at the same time, annoying, part of this is that you are looking at either the sidebar or the footer, NOT at both. So it\u2019s easy to get confused and think you are looking at one while viewing the other when you actually forgot to click on \u2019show\u2019.<\/p>\n

You have some widget viewing options by the drop down menu on the upper left side of the screen (don\u2019t forget to click on \u2019show\u2019):<\/p>\n

\n

\"widgets<\/p>\n

widgets 4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Shows you all widgets that are available (activated).<\/p>\n

\n

\"widgets<\/p>\n

widgets 5<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Shows you all widgets you aren\u2019t using.<\/p>\n

\n

\"widgets<\/p>\n

widgets 6<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Shows all the widgets you are using.<\/p>\n

\n

\"dualfeeds<\/p>\n

dualfeeds 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Let\u2019s start with the DualFeeds widgets as it\u2019s the top one. Click on \u2018Add\u2019 next to it\u2019s name and on the right hand side of the screen you will see the following:<\/p>\n

\n

\"dualfeeds<\/p>\n

dualfeeds 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

So, click on \u2018edit\u2019 behind the name and you get:<\/p>\n

\n

\"dualfeeds<\/p>\n

dualfeeds 3<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Anytime you click on \u2018edit\u2019 you will be given the option to remove that widget, whether the widget itself can be customized or not.<\/p>\n

The important thing is that if you want to keep your changes then you must click on \u2019save\u2019 at the bottom of the list, not just on the \u2018done\u2019 on the individual widget (if it can be customized).<\/p>\n

Now a brief look at the Google Adsense:<\/p>\n

\n

\"google<\/p>\n

google 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As you can see, you have three options. \u2018Google ads\u2019 puts an ad in your sidebar. \u2018Google search\u2019 puts a search box for Google in your sidebar and \u2018Google Link Units\u2019 Shows the links instead of the ads.<\/p>\n

Where the \u2018Google ads\u2019 or \u2018Google links\u2019 appear in your posts and pages was decided under the Easy Adsenser configuration menu which was on your dashboard under \u2018Settings\u2019.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t like where they appear, change them.<\/p>\n

\n

\"google<\/p>\n

google 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Now we will look at Simple TwitterBox. Now you already entered your username and password, but that\u2019s not all you need to do:<\/p>\n

\n

\"simpletwitter<\/p>\n

simpletwitter 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Click on \u2018Add\u2019 and click on \u2018edit\u2019 when it appears on the right and you see the following:<\/p>\n

\n

\"simpletwitter<\/p>\n

simpletwitter 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As you can see, I already filled in the spots that were blank. Your username, how many of your last tweets, what the box says before (header) and after (footer) the tweets.<\/p>\n

Now Yarpp:<\/p>\n

\n

\"yarpp<\/p>\n

yarpp 11<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Yarpp doesn\u2019t have options here, you either show them or you don\u2019t. You customized it last time under \u2018Settings\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now the next few are kind of an \u201cif you want to\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"options<\/p>\n

options 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Pretty self-explanatory.<\/p>\n

The next one you can add as many times as you want:<\/p>\n

\n

\"text<\/p>\n

text 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Puts a spot on your sidebar that displays whatever you put in the box, so Add it then click on \u2018edit\u2019:<\/p>\n

\n

\"text<\/p>\n

text 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Where I put \u2018hey there\u2019 is the title, the rest is the text box. Here\u2019s what that looks like to the visitor:<\/p>\n

\n

\"text<\/p>\n

text 3<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Yes, I know I misspelled \u2018test\u2019. It was just that, a test post so I could check something else. Sheesh, what a bunch of complainers\u2026. \":)\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a more practical use for the \u2018Text\u2019 box, a subscription for the blog:<\/p>\n

\n

\"text<\/p>\n

text 4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The \u2018Subscribe to this blog and forum via e-mail\u2019 is all in the title, the rest of it was simply copied from my autoresponder into the text box. I clicked on \u2019save\u2019 and there you go.<\/p>\n

On to RSS:<\/p>\n

\n

\"rss<\/p>\n

rss 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Don\u2019t be confused, this doesn\u2019t add your RSS feed to your blog, this allows you to display the RSS feed of someone else\u2019s blog or newspost.<\/p>\n

\n

\"misc<\/p>\n

misc 11<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ok, \u201crecent comments\u201d does just that, displays the most recent comments on your sidebar. \u201cGoogle Analytics and Akismet\u201d are running whether you add them or not. The difference is that if you add them then your stats are available for anyone to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cTweetmyblog\u201d is a dual plugin. Remember this is the one that will send a Tweet to Twitter whenever you update your blog. Well, it will also display your most recent Tweets if you add it as a widget.<\/p>\n

Why use \u2018Simple Tweetbox\u2019 if \u2018Tweetmyblog\u2019 does both? Personal preference. I like the way \u2018Simple Tweetbox\u2019 looks more than I like the way \u2018Tweetmyblog\u2019 looks. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

You may have noticed that the order you are adding the widgets in is the order they are appearing on your blog. So currently, my blog\u2019s widgets are in the following order:<\/p>\n

\n

\"switched<\/p>\n

switched 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I don\u2019t like that order. The tweets change frequently, I want people to see the subscribe option nearer the top of the page and a few other things. So you can do one of two things.<\/p>\n

You can very carefully plan it out and add the widgets you want in the order you want. Of course, if you change your mind or don\u2019t like how it looks you can end up wasting a lot of time doing it that way.<\/p>\n

So for the other way, just drag and drop and click on \u2019save\u2019 and we now have:<\/p>\n

\n

\"switched<\/p>\n

switched 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I like this better, but I don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll stay that way. If I waited on getting it just right before I wrote this tutorial, then the tutorial would never get written.<\/p>\n

SO let\u2019s see how it looks to those visitors (if you\u2019ve set up your screens like I told you to, then you already know how your blog looks):<\/p>\n

\n

\"final<\/p>\n

final 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a bit difficult to read, but part of my title is on top of (or under as the case may be) the top line on my welcome page.<\/p>\n

Sigh, there\u2019s always something.<\/p>\n

Until next time<\/p>\n

– Jeffery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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