Per Page Sidebars

This plugin allows the creation and display of custom sidebars for any page (or post) on your site. On each page, you can choose which of your current theme’s sidebars will be replaced. The replacement works for all descendants of a replaced page.

In this fashion you can:
1. Easily create a CMS like site with unique sidebars for every page, even if your theme doesn’t support it.
2. Create a sidebar with a Cart widget that displays on store pages created by the WP-E-Commerce page, but not anywhere else on the site.
3. Use parent pages to create themed areas of your site, without creating custom page templates.

This plugin is compatible with every theme and all widgets because it hijacks your theme’s sidebars instead of replacing them.

Use

  1. Edit a page or create and save one. It must at least have a title.
  2. In the ?Custom Sidebar? section, check ?Activate a custom sidebar? and select the sidebar to replace.
  3. On the Appearance->Widgets screen, place the widgets on the newly created sidebar that matches your post.

That?s it. No code. No CSS changes. No custom templates.

This video describes the usage of the plugin:

Download

Latest version: Download Per Page Sidebars v2.0.3 [zip]

Installation

The installation process.

  1. Upload to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. Or directly upload from your Plugin management page.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

FAQ

Q. Installation Instructions
A. The installation process.

  1. Upload to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. Or directly upload from your Plugin management page.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

Q. Can I replace more than one sidebar per page?
A. Currently only one sidebar can be replaced per page. If you wish to replace multiple sidebars per page, leave a commment and I may add this feature.

Q. Can I replace sidebars on posts or custom post types?
A. YES! Version 2 and newer of the plugin allows sidebars on posts and I believe custom post types as well. This feature has not been heavily tested. If you encouter any issues, please let me know.

Q. Can my authors & contributors replace the sidebar on a page?
A. A user can only replace a sidebar on a page if their role has the edit_theme_options capability. A user can edit a page that has been assigned custom sidebar and that custom sidebar will not be dropped. A user without the edit_theme_options capability simply cannot turn that functionality on or off.

Q. My left sidebar was replaced on the parent but it not on the child, why?
A. Some themes allow you to chose different sidebar layouts on each page. Sometimes these themes rely on a Primary/Secondary Sidebar configuration rather than a Right/Left sidebar convention. This may lead to confusion when the parent displays two sidebars and the child only displays one. This plugin replaces the sidebar by name not by position. In a 2 column layout, the only sidebar is by definition the “Primary” sidebar. Replacing a “Secondary” sidebar in the parent page will not alter the appearance of 2 column child page if the “Secondary” sidebar is never displayed.

Changelog

2.0.3

  • Updated version for the current release
  • Added further bullet proofing
  • Fixed an issue with drafts not producing a properly named sidebar

2.0.2

  • Updated version for the current release

2.0.1

  • Updated for the current release
  • Added code to support sidebars on the home page

2.0.0

  • Added the ability to activate custom sidebars on posts
  • Fixed a bug that caused the wrong custom sidebar to be displayed on the page that was assigned as the Post page
  • Added screenshots and video to the documentation of the plugin

1.0.0

  • Initial release.

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