What are Widgets?

Here in Wordpress land, widgets are the little do-dads found in the side of the the posts with names like search, Categories, Pages, Archives, Meta and many more.

The widgets available are more or less defined by the theme you choose to use when using Wordpress.  This blog site currently uses the DEFAULT theme provided by Wordpress.  The DEFAULT theme was installed from the unzipped version intalled on a server here.

In Wordpress Version 2.6.3 the widgets are found by going to the Dashboard and clicking on design. From there click on the Widgets link.

On the left side of the screen are numerous “Widgets” with titles like Pages, Calendar.  The type and number of Widgets depends on the theme you are using.   You can download other themes and use them, but that is another topic.

Once you find the Widget you want to use in your blog, click on the add link next to the widget.   It will appear on the right side of the page.  The Widgets you have chosen can be re-arranged by clicking and dragging with your mouse arrow.

For an interesting video on “Using Widgets in a Sidebar” check it out at the Business Blogging 101 site.
I found this video and many others at the site very helpful.