[Theme: Oenology] page templates, layouts, and widgets

hey Chip

I found this link on your site about creating page templates. Is it still valid info, being that it’s a year old, pre 3.2?
https://www.chipbennett.net/2010/11/01/oenology-how-to-create-a-child-theme-and-a-custom-page-template/

Could I create a page template that would give me the static page, 2 column layout with sidebar on the left and content on the right?

Could I create a page template that would give me the static page, 2 column layout with sidebar on the left and content on the right?

You can certainly create custom page templates in your Child Theme, but I would recommend against using that approach to add layouts. The Theme dynamically determines content width and other things, based on the pre-defined layouts.

Yes I was concerned about that, given that oenology has it’s own layout area.

Arrgh! This problem is driving me crazy. I added a new page with exactly the same layout as my home page and I cannot get the widgets to show up there even though the page type is the same (static page) the column layout is the same (2 column with sidebar on right) with same layout in Oenology layout options too, and no posting on either page.

Any idea what I’m doing wrong? here’s the website temp link if that helps ..
https://74.86.235.128/~jwhit/

As a clue if I adjust the about us page to 3 column all kinds of widgets show up that are not in the widgets settings. Confusing to me.

Sorry I forgot to tell you which pages .. home page and about us ..

I added a new page with exactly the same layout as my home page and I cannot get the widgets to show up there even though the page type is the same (static page) the column layout is the same (2 column with sidebar on right)…

I’m slightly confused. Oenology doesn’t have a static Page “2 column with sidebar on right” layout. These are the static Page layout options:

1-Column One column (full-width content)
2-Column Two columns (menu on left, content on right)
3-Column Three columns (menu on left, sidebar on right, content in the center)

So, which one are you using?

The Front Page template uses the blog posts 2-column layout, with content on the left, and full-width column on the right.

I was referring to the Oenology Options|Layout setting in the theme options, though the settings for the pages are the same setting too. Does Oenology vary the layout depending on whether the page is the home page or not? I set the contact us to the “front page” layut but it didn’t change anything.

Would an image make a difference? I don’t remember the page layout changing when I added an image to the home page.

My widgets are in “sidebar column top”

Does Oenology vary the layout depending on whether the page is the home page or not?

Yes; currently, the Front Page layout is not configurable (though that’s not a bad idea for a future option…)

My widgets are in “sidebar column top”

And it does appear that they display on the Front Page. All good so far?

I added a new page with exactly the same layout as my home page and I cannot get the widgets to show up there even though the page type is the same (static page)

Looking at the “About Us” page, I can tell that you’re using the Two columns (menu on left, content on right layout, which does not have a Widgetized sidebar.

Currently, if you want to display Widgets on a static Page, you need to be using the Three columns (menu on left, sidebar on right, content in the center) layout.

Note that this layout has half-width sidebars: Sidebar Left and Sidebar Right. The Sidebar Column Top and Sidebar Column Bottom sidebars are full-width sidebars that only appear on pages that use the blog post-style layouts, i.e. single blog posts, blog post index pages, and the front page.

“The Sidebar Column Top and Sidebar Column Bottom sidebars are full-width sidebars that only appear on pages that use the blog post-style layouts, i.e. single blog posts, blog post index pages, and the front page. “

What can I do to make the system see my contact us page (and others yet to be added) single blog posts then to get the same layout as my home page?

What can I do to make the system see my contact us page (and others yet to be added) single blog posts then to get the same layout as my home page?

Currently, you can’t.

Do you think I should add those two blog-page, two-column layouts to Pages? I can certainly do that.

Keep in mind that I’m no WordPress expert so this might not make sense to others but since you asked ..

I would have ..
2 column, sidebar left
2 column, sidebar right
3 column with halfbars
3 column with halfbar left and full sidebar right

The whole idea that pages have to be laid out based on a site wide or theme wide specification doesn’t make sense to me. Why not just allow the designer to lay out each page as they see fit and really define widgets (apparently there are half and full width widgets too) by the page, rather than by page type. They could name the layout and use it as needed.

But that’s just how I see it. I understand WP started as a blog system, but like it or not it’s morphed (at least partly) into a website builder package, so that’s how these conflicts are created. Maybe in the future WP will handle widgets by the page instead of by page type. Maybe that would require too much to change.

Keep in mind that I’m no WordPress expert so this might not make sense to others but since you asked ..

I would have ..
2 column, sidebar left
2 column, sidebar right
3 column with halfbars
3 column with halfbar left and full sidebar right

The first two, I think I can implement for Pages pretty easily. The third one already exists. The fourth one (3 column with halfbar left and full sidebar right) I could also do, but it would involve a new (and even narrower, width for the content area.

To give you an idea of why it’s more difficult: if you’ll notice, the content area has the same width in the blog-page, two-column layout as in the static-page, three-column layout. In the blog-page layout, the “full-width” sidebar is exactly the width of two “half-width”sidebars – and those two “half-width” sidebars are the same width as the sidebars in the static-page, three-column layout.

As a corollary: the content-width is the same for the static-page, one-column layout, the static-page two-column layout, and the blog-post one-column layout. In all three, the content-width is basically the full width, minus a “half-width” sidebar. The only difference is that, with the static-page two-column layout, the “half-width” sidebar is on the left and the content area is on the right, while in the one-column layouts, the same-width content area is simply centered.

But, I’ll play around with it, and see how it will look to have an even-narrower content area, to accommodate your suggested layout.

Oh no, the only reason I suggested that last layout is because some users might someday want to create a wider website than is the standard today. Then again ideally you would also be changing the width of the headers and footers so just scarp this idea. and forget the last option.

More than you changing your theme, which I hate to make you do, it’s more about how you use themes in WP to predetermine a “standard” page layout which defines pages by site. WP, IMO, will someday have to make layouts page editable instead of site editable.

More than you changing your theme, which I hate to make you do, it’s more about how you use themes in WP to predetermine a “standard” page layout which defines pages by site. WP, IMO, will someday have to make layouts page editable instead of site editable.

But, it’s really not a WordPress (i.e. core) issue, since layout/presentation is controlled entirely by Themes. In this regard, the presentation layer is entirely abstracted away from core.

WordPress actually does provide everything that the Theme needs to define layouts on a per-page basis; in fact, you can do so in Oenology. It provides both a “global” (i.e. “per-site”) option, and a per-page option, via the “Page Layout” meta box in the post-edit screen.

The limiting factor, however, is that such options by nature are finite. The Theme has to define the available layouts (it would be impossible for WordPress core to do so).