Editing dynamic sidebar

To create a widget-ready sidebar, all you need to do is replace your sidebar code with this:

<div id="sidebar">

<?php
	if(dynamic_sidebar(Sidebar)) :

	else : // Do something if no widgets

	endif;
?>

</div>

The word Sidebar there needs to match whatever you set as your sidebar name in your functions.php.

This is what is in the functions.php

<?php
if ( function_exists(‘register_sidebar’) )
register_sidebar();
?>

So does that mean I need to name my sidebar register_sidebar in order for the sidebar to see my changes? Or, in other words, will anything in another <div> section show up?

Replace that code with this:

<?php
	register_sidebar(array(
			'name' => 'Sidebar',
			'before_widget' => '<div>',
			'after_widget' => '</div>',
			'before_title' => '<h2>',
			'after_title' => '</h2>',
	));
?>

You can change the before and after widget stuff with whatever you like.

Ok, I did that and the sidebar looks the same, the only thing you can see is the widgets (which is not a bad thing – I’m using the Text widget to place a horizontal line between all the widgets). But the sidebar still seems to be ignoring what is in the sidebar.php file. There is all this hard coded html I put in there to more or less make the sidebar look like I wanted it to before I got the widgets going that is not showing up when you view the site. So I’m still back to not being able to edit the sidebar in the sidebar.php file.

Well, do you want widgets or not?

If you want a combo of stuff, then you’d need to add your other stuff either before the opening <?php tag or after the closing ?> tag in your sidebar.

Well yes, I want widgets but I want other stuff too. Just so we’re understanding each other, I have minimal skills other than basic html. This is what’s in my functions.php file:

<?php
	register_sidebar(array(
			'name' => 'Sidebar',
			'before_widget' => '<div>',
			'after_widget' => '</div>',
			'before_title' => '<h2>',
			'after_title' => '</h2>',
	));
?>

This is what’s in my sidebar.php file

<div id="sidebar">
<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar() ) : ?>

	<div class="box">
		<h4>Site <em>Search</em></h4>
						<form method="get" id="search" action="<?php bloginfo('home'); ?>/">
						<input type="text" id="search_input"  name="s" size="30" value="Search..." 

onclick='this.value="";' onBlur='this.value="Search..."' />
						</form>

        </div>

<div class="box">
                <h4>NGOPC <em>Info</em></h4>
<b>Pastor:</b> <a href="">David 

Bass</a><p>
<b>New Geneva OPC</b>
101 4th St.
Idaho Falls, ID 83401<p>

<b>Phone:</b> 208-523-0196<p>

<b>Service Times
Sunday Worship:</b> 10 am
<b>Sunday School/Fellowship Meal:</b> 12 noon
<b>Wednesday Night Bible Study:</b> 7 pm
        </div>

<div class="box">
		<h4>Recent <em>Postings</em></h4>
			<ul class="postList">
						<?php
						$posts = get_posts('numberposts=10&offset=0');
						foreach($posts as $post) :
						?>

<li><a>"><?php the_title() ?>
						<span class="listMeta"><?php the_time('g:i a') ?>, <?php the_time('F') ?> 

<?php the_time('j') ?>, <?php the_time('Y') ?></span></a></li>
						<?php endforeach; ?>

	</div>

<div class="box">
		<h4>Recent <em>Comments</em></h4>
			<?php mdv_recent_comments(); ?>
	</div>

<div class="box">
                <h4>Reformed <em>Links</em></h4>
<a href="https://www.opc.org/">Orthodox Presbyterian Church</a>

<a href="https://opc.org/committee_wwo.html">OPC Worldwide Outreach</a>

<a href="https://opc.org/wcf.html">The Westminster Confession of 

Faith</a>

<a href="https://www.gnpcb.org/esv/">Searchable Bible (ESV)</a>

<a href="https://canonpress.org/shop">Canon Press</a>

<a href="https://www.castlechurch.org/">Castle Church</a>

<a href="https://reformedliterature.com/">Reformed Theology 

Literature</a>

<a href="https://whitehorseinn.org/">The White Horse Inn</a>

<a href="https://www.credenda.org/">Credenda Agenda Magazine</a>

<a href="https://theschoolofhardknox.wordpress.com/">The School of Hard Knox 

Blog</a>

<h4>Not-So-Reformed <em>Links</em></h4>

<a href="https://loveacceptforgive.wordpress.com/">Love, Acceptance, Forgiveness 

Blog</a>
</div>

<div class="box">
<p width="100%" align="center"><embed pluginspage="https://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" 

src="https://www.yourminis.com/Dir/GetContainer.api?uri=yourminis/yourminis/mini:rsscontainer"  wmode="transparent" 

width="230" height="170" 

FlashVars="appparam=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egnpcb%2Eorg%2Fesv%2Fshare%2Frss2%2E0%2Fdaily%2F&auth=&numberlines=9&subtext=1&inlin

e=0&tooltips=0&newwindow=1&fontsize=12&color=13621243&uri=yourminis%2Fyourminis%2Fmini%3Arsscontainer&swfurl=%2Fwidget%5Fr

sscontainer%2Eswf&width=200&xwidth=210&height=160&xheight=170&title=Daily%20Verse%20%28ESV%29&" 

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></p>
</div>

<div class="box">
<p width="100%" align="center"><embed pluginspage="https://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" 

src="https://www.yourminis.com/Dir/GetContainer.api?uri=yourminis/yourminis/mini:rsscontainer"  wmode="transparent" 

width="230" height="170" 

FlashVars="inlineview=true&fontsize=12&color=13621243&appparam=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eligonier%2Eorg%2Frss%2Flisten%2Erss&auth

=&numberlines=9&subtext=1&inline=0&tooltips=0&newwindow=1&uri=yourminis%2Fyourminis%2Fmini%3Arsscontainer&swfurl=%2Fwidget

%5Frsscontainer%2Eswf&width=200&xwidth=210&height=160&xheight=170&title=Ligoniers%20Ministries&" 

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></p>
</div>

<?php endif; ?>
</div>

When you look at my site all that you see are the active widgets and nothing that is in the code above. I like that I can use widgets now but I would also like to do a little editing for appearances sake. Sorry that I am so dense but what EXACTY should my functions.php and sidebar.php files look like so that the widgets are active and yet I can add stuff (like a <div class=”box”> so there is a box around objects)?

Once again, sorry that I am dense but if you could help me out with this I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Ok, I got it working. Thanks