Title: Widgets and Plugins
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Widgets and Plugins

 *  [johnthomas19](https://wordpress.org/support/users/johnthomas19/)
 * (@johnthomas19)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/widgets-and-plugins-1/)
 * Still learning the whole wordpress world. I have found a theme I like, and have
   it up and running. However, I’m trying to learn more about side panel options(
   I think they’re referred to as widgets). Maybe someone can help me with this 
   one?
 * I’d like to have a side panel option for user login. A link that when selected
   takes the user right to a login screen. If a widget (I hoping I’m using the proper
   terminology) like that already exists, what file to I down load the code to? 
   How do I activate it? Is there any other pieces of info I need to get it running?
 * Thanks for your help.
 * John

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [wp-rory](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wp-rory/)
 * (@wp-rory)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/widgets-and-plugins-1/#post-1042400)
 * Hi John,
 * What you need to do is go to your Widgets menu (Appearance > Widgets) and select
   or drag across the ‘Meta’ widget to your sidebar. This widget contains a log 
   in link that users can click on to get through to the login page. If you click
   on ‘edit’ on the widget button you can also select a title for it, such as ‘Log
   In Here’ or whatever you like.
 * Make sure to click ‘Done’ and ‘Save Changes’ and then visit your site and you
   should see it there. Be aware that you may now have to rebuild your sidebar using
   widgets as the content in your sidebar will have all been replaced by that one
   widget. If you are using widgets, WordPress automatically shows your widgets 
   instead of the theme’s original sidebar content.
 * I hope that helps,
 * All the best,
 * Rory. 🙂
 *  Thread Starter [johnthomas19](https://wordpress.org/support/users/johnthomas19/)
 * (@johnthomas19)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/widgets-and-plugins-1/#post-1042525)
 * Thanks for the tips Rory.
    I see I have a handful of widgets available for activation,
   but is there anyway to add more? I saw a pretty extensive list of widgets on 
   wordpress.org, but I’m not clear on how to download in order to access them. 
   Is there a specific folder I need to save newly downloaded widget files to.
 * Thanks,
 *  [wp-rory](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wp-rory/)
 * (@wp-rory)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/widgets-and-plugins-1/#post-1042561)
 * Hi,
 * Very often widgets come bundled with plugins – when you install the plugin, the
   widget is included aswell. Installing a plugin is as easy as downloading it, 
   unzipping it, and then uploading the folder within to your wp-content/plugins/
   folder. Once you have activated it, when you go to click on Widgets (Appearance
   > Widgets) you should see the new widget(s) available for use.
 * Rory. 🙂

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Widgets and Plugins’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [login](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/login/)
 * [sidebar](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/sidebar/)
 * [widgets](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/widgets/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [wp-rory](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wp-rory/)
 * Last activity: [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/widgets-and-plugins-1/#post-1042561)
 * Status: not resolved

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