Using the WordPress Text Widget

WordPress has a handy-dandy widget maker right in the dashboard.

At the WordPress dashboard, click on Appearance, then click on Widgets. In the list of available widgets, you'll see one labeled "Text."

The widget named Text is the handy-dandy widget maker.

Drag the Text widget into either the Main Widget Area or the Secondary Widget Area. The Main is for the footer area of your pages and the Secondary is for the sidebar.

The neat thing is when you drag the Text widget into one of those areas, you're dragging only a copy. There are as many Text widgets available as are the number of widgets you make with it — no built-in limit that I'm aware of.

Now that you've dragged the Text widget into one of those areas, there's one thing left to do:

Paste whatever content you want for the widget in your sidebar or footer area. Paste it into the text box (not the one-line text form field, but the text box). It may be code provided by a website or it may be your own.

Save it and you're good to go.

Other things you can do:

• Type a title for your widget into the one-line text field. What you type here will show up above your new widget.

• Drag the widget up and down within the widget area to position it where you want it.

The Text widget is close to magic. Paste any widget code into it and it automatically gets published.

Will Bontrager