In the past, modifying your blog sidebar required mucking around with your theme code, and even knowing a bit of PHP. Fortunately, WordPress widgets eliminate the hassle by allowing bloggers to easily configure a custom sidebar with drag-and-drop ease.

The WordPress community has developed a large and growing collection of widgets that will allow you to plug all sorts of things into your WordPress sidebar. From Flickr photos to your Twitter status, if there’s something you’d like to add to your blog sidebar, chances are there’s a widget to help you do it.

This video is an introduction to using WordPress Widgets. Additionally, you’ll learn what to do when widgets suddenly vanish — a probably that may occur unexpectedly when you change themes. Read More…

Once you’ve installed a new theme you’ll want to customize it to meet your needs. In many cases you can do that without touching the underlying code. This video shows you how to use the WordPress theme options to transform your theme into something unique. Choose an alternate color scheme, change the theme layout, and customize the header and background images — all without having to touch a line of HTML or CSS.

If you need help finding or installing a new theme, see our earlier video on using WordPress themes.
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One of the coolest features of WordPress is the ability to completely change the design of your blog by simply activating a new theme. The WordPress community has designed thousands of free, high-quality themes that you can use on your blog.

In this video you’ll learn how to find, preview, and install themes from both the WordPress theme directory and premium theme services like WooThemes.

To learn more about customizing WordPress themes, be sure to watch the next video in this series.
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The WordPress menu system gives you the ability to easily create custom menus right from within the admin area — no custom coding or template modifications required. This video demonstrates the process of setting up a menu system and assigning it to one of your theme’s menu locations. Additionally, I show you how easy it is to create a drop-down menu (provided your theme supports WordPress menus, of course). Read More…