[Plugin: Quicksand jQuery Post Filter]Sidebar missing

Hi all,

I was altering the code of the plugin Quicksand jQuery Post Filter to match my specific requirements. After finally getting the code to work I noticed that the sidebar had disappeared. Restoring to the original code makes the sidebar reappear, so it’s my code that’s causing the problem. However, I can’t find out where in my code the error lies. Is there a quick way to check where the fault exactly lies? I have posted the only code I touched below:

public function render() {
?>
        <div class="options-container">
			<?php
			$categories = get_categories();
			?>
			<ul id="filterOptions">
				<li><a href="#" class="all">All</a></li>
				<?php
				foreach ($categories as $category) {
					echo '<li><a href="#" class="' . $category->cat_ID . '">' . $category->name . "</a></li>";
				};
				?>
			</ul>
		</div>

		<?php
		// style options
			$imageheight = get_option('quicksandheight');
			$imagewidth = get_option('quicksandwidth');
			$itemheight = get_option('itemheight');
			$itemwidth = get_option('itemwidth');
			echo '<style>';
			if (!empty($imageheight)) {
				echo '.item img { height:' . $imageheight . 'px;}';
			}
			if (!empty($imagewidth)) {
				echo '.item img { width: ' . $imagewidth . 'px}';
			}
			if (!empty($itemheight)) {
				echo 'ul.ourHolder li.item { height:' . $itemheight . 'px;}';
			}
			if (!empty($itemwidth)) {
				echo 'ul.ourHolder li.item { width: ' . $itemwidth . 'px}';
			}
			echo '</style>';
		?>
		<ul class="ourHolder">
			<?php
			$args = array(
				'posts_per_page' => '10',
				'category__in' => $categories,
				);
			$posts = get_posts( );
			foreach ($posts as $post) {
				$permalink = esc_url(get_permalink($post->ID));
				$content = apply_filters('the_content', $post->post_content);
			?>
				<li id="item" class="item" data-id="id-<?php echo $post->ID ?>" data-type="<?php echo wp_get_post_categories($post->ID)[0]; ?>">
					<div class='quicksand-thumb'>
						<a href="<?php echo $permalink; ?>">
							<?php echo get_the_post_thumbnail( $post->ID, 'thumbnail' ); ?>
						</a>
					</div>
					<div class='quicksand-content'>
						<div class='quicksand-title'>
							<a href="<?php echo $permalink; ?>">
								<?php echo $post->post_title; ?>
							</a>
						</div>
						<div class='quicksand-excerpt'>
							<?php
							echo substr($content, 0, 400) . '<a href="' . $permalink . '">[...]</a>';
							?>
						</div>
					</div>
				</li>
				<?php
			};
			foreach ($posts as $post) {
			?>
				<li id="item" class="item" data-id="id-<?php echo $post->ID ?>" data-type="<?php foreach ($categories as $c) { echo $c . ' ';}?>" >
					<div class="quicksand-thumb">
						<a href="<?php echo get_permalink($post->ID); ?>">
							<?php
								echo get_the_post_thumbnail($post->ID);
							?>
						</a>
					</div>
					<div class="quicksand-title">
						<a href="<?php echo get_permalink($post->ID); ?>">
							<?php
								echo get_the_title($post->ID);
							?>
						</a>
					</div>
					<div class="quicksand-excerpt">
						<?php
						$content = get_post($post->ID)->post_content;
						$more - strpos($content, "<!--more-->");
						if($more) {
							$content = substr($content, 0, $more);
						}
						echo $content;
						?>
					</div>
				</li>

			<?php
			}; ?>
		</ul>
			<?php
	}