Change the Look of Your Site with Jetpack Modules

Jetpack offers dozens of different options to expand upon the basic layout and settings within WordPress. With the expanded Appearance modules, you can add several exciting options to your site. These will improve the look and feel of your site as well as add additional functionality and usability.

We at DevPress think these are great options for your site, and encourage you to check them out. Below we’ll look at each option and how it can be used.

Infinite Scroll

By default, your WordPress site will display a certain number of posts, and then will show navigation options for newer and older posts, forcing your site visitor to page through the content. With Infinite Scroll, all of your posts will appear on your home page or blog page without any need to navigate away. Initially a handful of posts are loaded up, with more loading when a visitor reaches the bottom, so that your website presents a single stream of content.

One note about infinite scroll: it cannot be used if you have widgets in your footer.

Extra Sidebar Widgets

This module adds additional widget options for your sidebars and footers. Currently Jetpack ships with the following widgets:

  • Social Media Icons – Allows you to display your social media icons right in your sidebar without needing to add any additional graphics. Just type in your account information and visitors will be able to find you across the internet.
  • Gravatar Profile Widget – Inserts your Gravatar profile into your sidebar.
  • Gallery Widget – Allows you to display a gallery of images in your sidebar.
  • Display WordPress Posts Widget – Allows you to display posts from another WordPress site in your sidebar.
  • Facebook Like Box Widget – Want people to be able to like a Facebook Page from your website? Just use this widget and connect it to your account.
  • Image Widget – A handy way to insert a photo, website badge or other image into your sidebar. You can control some of the image parameters right within the widget.
  • Twitter Timeline Widget – Displays your recent tweets in a Twitter-styled window.
  • RSS Links – Add links to your blog and comments RSS feeds to your sidebar.

For a more detailed rundown of each of these widgets, visit the Jetpack Extra Sidebar Widgets page.

Widget Visibility

This module gives you control over where your widgets appear on your site. Do you want some sidebar widgets to show up on your blog but not on the home page? Do you have private or password-protected areas that should have different content? Do you want a different sidebar for your pages from your posts? With Widget Visibility all of these things are possible!

For more information on how widget visibility works, check out Jetpack’s Widget Visibility page.

Custom CSS

At DevPress we love our themes and all of the customization options we offer, but we know there are times when you’ll want to tweak the design. Maybe you would like to modify a color or size of an element on a page, or hide it altogether. This is where Custom CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) comes in. With this module activated, you will be able to modify your CSS file right in the Customization window in your Dashboard or under the Appearance > Edit CSS tab.

In addition to giving you a way to modify your CSS, this module does two cool things that are worth pointing out. First, you can see a CSS revision history, so if you make a change that you don’t like, you can revert back to a previous version. Second, all CSS changes remain intact if you update your theme. Before this module, the only way to save your modifications was to create an entirely new child theme. While we still recommend child themes for major customizations or if you want to modify the theme’s functionality, the Custom CSS option is great to modify your site on the fly.

Jetpack offers more details on using this module on the Custom CSS page.

How to get Appearance Modules on your Site

If you don’t already have Jetpack, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site. For each of the modules above, to use that module on your site you’ll need to activate it within Jetpack first. To do so, go to the Jetpack settings in your site’s Dashboard and activate the modules you’d like to use. From there, some modules are ready to go immediately, while others may need some individual configuration.

4 Responses

  1. I have been using jetpack since 2014.You guys are doing good job.I like Social Media Icons new look :) really wonderful.another cool stuff is the comment box.I don’t like default wordpress comment platform.Thanks to jetpack team

  2. This is great,
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