The Categories WidgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. organizes your posts by categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. in your blog’s sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. This can be handy for readers who want to find more of your posts about certain topics.

Here’s what it looks like when it’s activated on a blog sidebar:

Note: Only categories that are attached to posts will be displayed in the widget.

Once you add the widget to your sidebar from Appearance -> Widgets, you’ll see that the widget settings look like this:

Title – Sets the title that will display above the categories in the sidebar. (i.e. Categories)

Show as dropdown – Check this box to display the categories in a drop down menu rather than as a list. This is handy if you want to save space or have a lot of categories.

Show post counts – If this box is checked, the the total number of published posts for that particular category will be displayed next to the link. You can show post counts with both the list and dropdown menu formats.

Show hierarchy – If you have parent and child categories (subcategories within main categories) you can choose to display the hierarchy (pictured below) or just leave the list “flat,” without indicating which subcategories fit inside your main categories (pictured above). You can show category hierarchies with both the list and dropdown menu formats.

Category Order

If you need to show your categories in a certain order, you can build a Custom Menu then add a Custom Menu Widget.

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