11 Examples of Widgets in WordPress
- Recent Posts Widget
- Recent Comments Widget
- Call to Action Widgets
- Navigation Widgets
- Media Widgets
- Social Media Widgets
- Shopping Cart Widget
- Form Widget
- Map Widget
- Login Widget
- Search Widget
WordPress pre-installed widgets are:
- Archives: link to archives by month, designed for blogs but rather outdated now.
- Calendar: a calendar of your posts, again suitable for blogs especially if yours is time-sensitive (but not so common these days).
- Custom HTML: the ultimate in flexibility, add whatever content you want by typing or pasting in the HTML (like Google forms). Avoid if you aren’t comfortable with coding.
- Image: display an image from your media library.
- Navigation Menu: show the main navigation menu or a separate one you create.
- Recent Comments: a list of recent comments with links to them.
- Tag Cloud: a list of tags in a cloud format, with links to the relevant archives.
- Video: embed a video from YouTube or any other streaming service.
- Audio: embed a podcast, a player, song or other audio clips (suggested: How to Start a Podcast Using WordPress).
- Categories: a list of the categories in your blog, with links to the archive pages.
- Gallery: more advanced than the image widget, display a gallery of images.
- Meta: metadata such as login links and RSS feeds. A hangover from WordPress’s early days and not very useful now.
- Pages: show a list of your site’s pages with links.
- Recent Posts: display a list of your most recent posts to encourage people to read them.
- Search: a simple search box.
- Text: any text you want to add, such as information about the site.