In the widget sidebar, is it better to have Recent Posts or Categories first?

Well, that all depends ??

What do you want to draw most attention to first? Do you want visitors to go deeper into the categories, or explore the recent posts?

Personally I would go for recent posts, as it’s a much more targeted place in terms of the user journey, but the question is too open ended to be able to give a great answer to.

It’s not about what I want, it’s about what’s best for the user, because that translates into the most convenience for them and the least annoyance. I don’t know which is better to put first; what I want is irrelevant, because I don’t use the site.

On the homepage the most recent posts show already, so that’s an argument against it being above categories in the sidebar, but what I’m looking for is people’s experience in this and recommendation, meaning someone who’s actually heard people’s feedback or seen some usage of these sections by users to see which makes more sense. The opinion you posted isn’t any better or worse than my opinion, which would be to put categories first, for my own reasons, but I’m not the user, so neither opinion is substantive or based on user experience.

It’s not open-ended, it’s one or the other. If you have no idea, then there’s no need to post. I’m just looking for something substantive.

I think you might have misunderstood what I meant in my response…

It’s not about what I want, it’s about what’s best for the user, because that translates into the most convenience for them and the least annoyance. I don’t know which is better to put first; what I want is irrelevant, because I don’t use the site.

That’s exactly what I was trying to get at.

The answer to ‘what is most useful/effective’ will will depend entirely on what you are trying to achieve.

For example: Are you trying to direct users to a particular piece of content? Are you looking for the best user experience based on the number of articles they read/time spent on page/something else? Is your site’s purpose to sell/educate/encourage interaction?

If you are looking for a definitive answer, there isn’t one I’m afraid. One option is not objectively better than the other in every situation.

My context had nothing to do with my particular site; it was a general question. Assume it’s any WordPress site, and this has nothing to do with the actual content. I just want to know if it’s better to show the posts first or the categories first, overall, from a user-using-a-WordPress-blog experience. I can’t answer your questions because they’re context-relative and obviously have not already been answered by what-anybody-wants. If the boss wanted one first he would have said so. I am just asking in an overall sense whether it’s a better experience for the user to have Categories first or Posts first on the side. Those contextual/content questions don’t apply, and what I’m asking is not something that has to have those questions answered first, because it’s not 100% relative to that (it’s probably not even 50%, though for conversation’s sake lets just assume it is and address the other 50%).

This is just on an any-WordPress-site question, is it better to have Categories showing first or Recent Posts showing first in the sidebar? If anybody can provide any experience with this, please let me know.

I just want to know if it’s better to show the posts first or the categories first, overall, from a user-using-a-WordPress-blog experience. I can’t answer your questions because they’re context-relative

Exactly – the question you are asking depends on context, which is why the questions are necessary.

This is just on an any-WordPress-site question, is it better to have Categories showing first or Recent Posts showing first in the sidebar? If anybody can provide any experience with this, please let me know.

There is no answer that fits all circumstances.

From my experience, if it was a completely general question, with no other information about the type of site, the content, or anything else, then I would always default to showing recent posts first. Why? Because a single click would take a user to the most up-to-date and recent things that we had published, rather than relying on them digging through categories. The headlines of the posts would (presumably) pull them in more than just broad categories would.

But it’s never that straightforward. ??