How to Add Widgets and Custom Sidebars

WordPress Widgets add content to your Custom Sidebars and Footer. For example some of the default widgets that come with WordPress include post categories, tag clouds, navigation, search, etc. Widgets require no code experience or expertise. They can be added, removed, and rearranged on the WordPress Administration Appearance > Widgets panel.

Guide to Use the Widgets Feature

1. Go to Appearance > Widgets.
2. Choose a Widget and drag it to the sidebar wherever you wish. The widget area is designated as No 1.
3. Once you’ve dropped the widget to the widget areas, WordPress automatically updates the Theme and it will appear in its area.
4. Preview the site and look for the specified area you dropped in your sidebar. For example if you used “archive widget area,” you should look for it in archive loop.
5. Return to the Widgets Panel to continue adding Widgets. Ken has 16 custom widgets as designated below with No 2. As you can see all have “TK” prefixes.
6. To arrange the Widgets within the sidebar or Widget area, click and drag them into place.
7. To customize the Widget features, click the down arrow in the upper right corner to expand the Widget’s interface.
8. To save the Widget’s customization, click Save.
9. To remove the Widget, click Remove or Delete.

Custom Sidebars

In some cases you need a specific widget area for a specific blog post or page. The good news is that we have a feature for this which gives you the ability to create unlimited widget areas apart from your predefined widget area (e.g. single widget area). To start, follow the steps below:

1. Go to Theme settings > General Settings > Custom sidebars
2. Write down your sidebar alias for the page you are creating, such as FAQ, contact us, etc.
3. If you want more just click “Add More” and input new alias names.
4. Save settings
5. Now go to Appearance > Widgets.
6. You will see the list of custom sidebar areas you just created in the section on the right (they should be added to the predefined widget areas).
7. Just like predefined widget areas, you can drag and drop widgets into custom sidebars.
8. Now it’s time to assign the custom sidebar to a post (blog or portfolio) or page. Add new page > in right section > Ken Page Layout > Choose a sidebar
9. Choose your custom sidebar from the select box.
10. Done! If your page is a left or right sidebar layout then you should see your custom sidebar widgets on your page.

How to Add Custom Sidebars for Custom Post Type

In Jupiter version 5.1 and above a new option is added in Theme Options > General > Custom Sidebars called Activate Sidebars For Custom Post Types. Use this option to select the Custom Post Types which you want to activate your Custom Sidebars for. Custom Sidebars will be available only for the Single Posts of the custom post types. You can choose the custom post types added by the thirdt party plugins you installed in this option too.

Frequently asked questions

1 – How Can I specify widgets per language?
You can use Widget Logic to do so… (and some explanations). You can also add more logic like the logged in or logged out users…

2 – Can I use Visual Composer in a Text widget?
By default, no. You even need to enable the shortcode usage for the widgets like below:
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-use-shortcodes-in-your-wordpress-sidebar-widgets/

So, you can create your desired layout using Visual Composer in a page, and copy/paste the generated shortcodes into a Text widget after you enabled shortcodes for widgets.
(we can actually create our own tutorial)

3 – How can I save my widgets when I switch my theme?

Your widgets go nowhere, you just can’t use it when you switch the theme. It’s because every theme has its own widget areas and having the widgets after the theme switching is making a logical bug.