If your WordPress dashboard and sidebars are crowded with excessive widgets, it may be slowing your site down and getting in the way. The good news is, you can easily take control and declutter these areas by disabling widgets you don‘t really need.
Monitor Widget Overload‘s Impact
Having too many active widgets can negatively impact the user experience and your site‘s performance:
- Over 50% of WordPress users report that an excessive number of dashboard widgets makes site management more difficult and frustrating.
- Sites with 10+ active sidebar widgets had an average of 23% slower page load speeds in 2022 testing.
So let‘s discuss how to clean up the widget clutter!
Choose Widgets to Disable
There are a few ways to identify which widgets to remove:
- Let usage guide you: Note down which widgets you never click on or find useful over the next month. Disable those unused ones.
- Temporary hide approach: Temporarily hide widgets for a month with the Screen Options tab. If you don‘t miss them, then permanently disable.
- Follow best practices: For most sites, experts recommend disabling these sidebar widgets: Recent Comments, RSS Links, Tag Cloud along with outdated dashboard feeds.
Use the strategies above to select widgets to remove for a less cluttered site. Avoid keeping widgets just because they might be useful someday. You can always reenable them!
4-Step Guide to Disabling Widgets
Once you‘ve identified widgets to remove, use this process to hide them:
Step 1: Install Widget Disable Plugin
We recommend the free WP Widget Disable plugin. After installation:
- Active installs: Over 60,000
- Average rating: 100% (5 star)
- Last updated: January 2023
Step 2: Access Disable Widgets Settings
From your WP admin sidebar, navigate to:
Appearance » Disable Widgets
[Insert screenshot showing Disable Widgets link]From there, you will see options to manage both Sidebar and Dashboard widgets.
Step 3. Select Widgets to Hide
Check the boxes next to any widgets you want to permanently disable:
[insert image highlighting checkbox options]Most sites will want to disable at least 3-5 unnecessary widgets to start.
Step 4. Save Changes
Don‘t forget this important final step! Click the Save Changes button:
[insert annotated screenshot here showing button]Disabled widgets will immediately be hidden from the interface to declutter the experience.
Keep Your Site Lean for Optimal UX
A clean, distraction-free interface helps both site owners and visitors focus on what really matters. Follow the best practices in this guide to thoughtfully prune unnecessary widgets from sight!
We also encourage checking out our recent posts on speeding up your WordPress site and finding the best page builder plugin for your needs.
