Add a widget to sidebar

Add a widget to sidebar in WordPress — with the four heights of help laid out: do it now, make it easier for the next person to accept, work out the right move when you are stuck, and learn the pattern so it stops coming back.

4prompt heights
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The four heights

The same task, four distances: today's deadline, the next reviewer, the stuck moment, the pattern.

Execute — do the immediate task

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The sidebar should show recent posts. Add a Recent Posts widget to the Blog sidebar, set it to…
The sidebar should show recent posts. Add a Recent Posts widget to the Blog sidebar, set it to display five items with dates, place it above the newsletter signup widget, save, and preview a blog post to confirm the sidebar appears correctly on desktop and tablet.

Improve — make it easier to accept

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Before adding this widget, make it quick for a reviewer to approve — show where in the sidebar it…
Before adding this widget, make it quick for a reviewer to approve — show where in the sidebar it will appear, why five recent items are chosen, whether to show dates, and any speed or mobile layout trade-offs. Flag if the theme uses a different widget area or a block-based sidebar that changes placement.

Decide — diagnose the stuck moment

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I dropped a Recent Posts widget into the Blog sidebar and set it to five items, but on mobile the…

I added the widget but it’s invisible on mobile

I dropped a Recent Posts widget into the Blog sidebar and set it to five items, but on mobile the sidebar doesn’t show and desktop visitors asked where it went. The site owner, Carlos, wants the newsletter visible on phones. Is this likely a theme responsive setting or the wrong widget area, and what’s the fastest fix that keeps both widgets accessible on mobile?

Become — change the pattern

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Every time we update or switch themes, sidebar widgets end up missing or in the wrong order and I…

Widgets get misplaced after theme updates

Every time we update or switch themes, sidebar widgets end up missing or in the wrong order and I spend hours restoring them. What single change to my workflow or configuration will prevent these recurring widget breaks and save that time?

Next to this one

Other website builder work people do in WordPress.

Every task here came from the work, not from a feature list — which is why the prompts name what you want done and never the button that does it. The tool changes; the work does not.
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The rest of the map

Same library, five ways in.