Widgets are the pre-built modular element that helps to add specific features to blogs/websites. It can be added in the footer, sidebar, etc..
The area where widgets will be added also depends upon the theme that you are using. Most of the themes allow using widgets in the footer and sidebar whereas some themes also allow using widgets in the header and homepage.
Is Plugin and Widget Same?
No, Plugins and widgets are not the same. Sometimes people understand widgets as plugins but this is not correct. Plugins function in the background whereas widgets are those which the user can see and from which can interact.
So you will see many widgets in the plugin section. So it is true that there are many widgets that we can use is as plugins. But there is no need to confuse them. For example, the Contact form is a widget but we install it as a plugin.
Some Popular Widgets of WordPress:
- Meta Widget: It helps you or anybody to log in directly into the WordPress control panel from the main website.
- Email Subscriber List Widget: Many email marketing software can be integrated with WordPress by adding some simple lines of code. So by this, we can get the functionality of email subscription
- Search Widget: This will add a search bar to your page. So that the user can type any heading of the article that he wants to search and after that, your website will find that and show it to the user.
- Author Widget: This will add the “About Author” section on your website. So that users can know about the author of that blog and can connect with the content.
- Calculator Widget: This will add a calculator to a page. Users can do whatever calculation he/she want to do on that calculator.
- Call Button Widget: This widget helps you to add a call button on your WordPress site so that users can directly click that button and call you.
One example of these types of widgets is WP Call Button. You can add that in a sticky position so that whether users scroll up or down this button remains stuck to one corner of the phone/Desktop. - Contact Form Widgets: This will add a contact form on our website. So that whenever a user has any query then he or she can submit their name, email address, and query. After that, the author will solve their query and can send him a solution in the submitted email.
- Social Media count widget: These widgets will show how many counts you have on different social media. This means it will show how many subscribers you have on Youtube, how many followers you have on Instagram, Twitter Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
What is the limit of adding widgets?
You can add an unlimited amount of widgets but different websites need different amounts of widgets according to their niche. The quantity of widgets depends mostly upon the niche because widgets add functionality to the website and different categories of users need different functionality. But always remember to not put many widgets in one place or neither overcrowd the page with widgets because that will pull the user’s attention from the main content.
What are the different types of widgets in WordPress?
- Inbuilt widgets: These are the widgets that are with WordPress and no matter which theme you are using which services you have bought still you can use these widgets.
- Widget integrated with themes: There are some widgets that are theme-specific means those widgets come with a theme. Different themes have different types of widgets in their free and paid plan, so you can choose those widgets on the basis of your theme.
- Install widgets as a plugin: There are some widgets that are also available in the plugin section. You can go to the plugin section to install those widgets
- Make your own widgets using coding: There are many developers that are using WordPress but they are not getting good widgets of their choice. So they can code and make special widgets for their requirements.
How to use different types of widgets in WordPress?
So now we will understand how to use the above 4 types of widgets.
Using Inbuilt Widgets”
Step 1: Go to appearance and then in the widget section.
Step 2: After clicking on the widget you can see all the “widgets” on the left side and “area where you need to add widget” on the right side. So you can drag your widget from the left side and drop it to the area on the right side to add that widget in that area.
Using a widget integrated with a theme:
Step 1: Here also you need to go to appearance and then click on widgets.
Step 2: Now you will see inbuilt widgets. So you have to scroll down and then you will see widgets provided by the theme
Step 3: After clicking on any one widget, you will get all the sections where you can add that widget. So choose any one of your favorite sections for that widget.
Install a widget as a plugin:
Step 1: Go to the plugin section and click on “Add New”
Step 2: Type on the search box on the right-top corner and find your required widget and then install that.
Like here we searched for an Author widget because we want to add an “About Author” section on our website. So we got different options and we will install anyone from them to get the required functionality.
Own widget using Coding:
Step 1: Go to appearance and then go to theme section and in that click on theme file editor
Step 2: On the right side you will get many themes files and in those choose “function.php” .Then in the last of their code add your coded widget’s code. After that click on the update file
