Per Page Sidebars
Download
Latest version: Download Per Page Sidebars v2.0.3 [zip]
Installation
The installation process.
- Upload to the
/wp-content/plugins/
directory. Or directly upload from your Plugin management page. - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
FAQ
Q. Installation Instructions
A. The installation process.
- Upload to the
/wp-content/plugins/
directory. Or directly upload from your Plugin management page. - 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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It will very useful if you could hide sidebar in wordpress posts.
Thank you anyway.
Fco.
It would very useful if you could hide sidebar in wordpress posts.
Thank you anyway.
Fco.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work well for almost every theme out there. WordPress simply fills in the space the theme leaves open for the widgets. This plugin changes what it fills that space with. Even if this plugin filled it with nothing, the space would still be there.
Hello, i downloaded and installed the plug-in but I’m not sure how to use it, I dont see it in the widgets are.
nvm i found out, now my question is, does it only edit the sidebar on only one page?
Glad you got it to work for you. You can use the custom sidebar on that page or the children of the page on which it was created.
Hi Brian, this works well except I can’t get my Listwire autoresponder form to function properly. The text entry areas don’t show up.
Hi, I’m not sure where to locate the settings of the plugin. It’s not in my ‘settings’ section…
Hi Brian. Cool plugin but for some reason it has changed the menus on all pages, not just the one I want. Any idea why? Thanks
Hi Brian,
Thanks for this plugin , have used on a few site , a recent site I was trying to register widgets for 2 pages with the same name but different parents , however this wouldn’t work due to the way the wordpress widgets are registered using the page name. I modified the code to register the widgets with the parent name and the post name. Code for this is here if anyone else wants it : http://pariswells.com/blog/code/per-page-sidebars-does-not-work-with-duplicate-page-names
Thanks!
Paris
@paris Interesting… I’ll have to think whether to include that as a permanent fix.. I’d like to keep the name of the sidebar short and this fix may not be the ideal one as the parent names could be duplicated too. Putting the ID of the page in could work… I’ll think on this.
The link to edit per page sidebars has disappeared from my Settings menu, but the sidebars I’ve already created are still there. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but still nothing in the sidebar menu. Any ideas on how to fix this?
@michael it sounds like you turned off that section. You can go under display options as you are editing a post and make it visible again. If that’s not the problem, I may need to take a closer look.
I already installed per page sidebar. The problem is, why in the wordpress menu”Settings” … the “per page sidebar menu” does not appear? Thanks
Hello,
me too, I have been using this plugin for about 2 years for a client site, and it has been very good, however I upgraded WP and the plugin and now it has disappeared from the Settings menu..
I have used another plugin but would like to return to this one! Let me know if there is a fix, thankyou.
Yes, WP says it’s only supported up through WP 3.0.5. Current version is WP 3.3.2… Any updates? I don’t see this listed in the Settings area anywhere, having just installed & activated it. Thoughts? Fixes?
Best,
~MG
It does work through the current version. I need to update the read me file. There is no settings page, the options appear on the post editor page. Take a look for it there and marking checkboxes will make sidebars visible for you to add widgets to on the widgets page under the appearance menu.
Is there a way to delete a sidebar after creating it? I’m using them to make a sidebar for each registered user, but if a user and all his/her pages are deleted, the sidebar is still listed.
Hello,
Is it possible to assign custom sidebars to posts? I’m using 3.3.2 and the plug-in is working great! Thanks
Hi Jimmy Dean and everyone else.
I wanted to let you know that Version 2 of Per Page Sidebars has been released with a couple features you’ve asked about. These include support for custom Sidebars on Posts and the abilty to put custom sidebars on the page identified for listing “Posts”. I’ve updated the compatibility to 3.4 and I’ve added more documentation and even an instructional video.
I hope you like it!
I love this plugin because it is the only way I have been able to make a content navigator for my website. But now I have the problem of my widget page being over run with so many sidebars (one for each post/page). Is there any way to group all the custom sidebars together? I would like to make groups so i can put related sidebars that this plugin creates all together. Know of any way I can achieve that?
GIBMFY – That makes me smile – together we’ve created and taken advantage of this feature to a point where it’s outgrown the design of the UI. Unfortunately, that also means that there’s no easy way to solve your problem. We’d have to replace that screen in WordPress somehow. I don’t have an easy solution for you.. but I’ll think on it some!
Thanks for the reply. I have been searching all over for ways to make a solution. I am a noobie to WP so making edits on my own is a bit daunting. I was wondering if there is a way to reuse a sidebar that already exists. If I could just create one custom sidebar and reuse it on any page/post i needed, it would cut down on the # of custom sidebars in the widget pane. Eventually I would run into the same problem but I think it would cut down 10 fold. And again thank you for the awesome plugin.
Hi. Kind of new to WordPress, so still bumbling along… thankfully with positive results. PPS is ideal for me, but I’ve got to be able to add formatting to the sidebars and I’ve read posts to a fare-thee-well and am getting nowhere! Any assist on this one please?
GIBMFY – It sounds like what you want is a little different from what this plugin does, but not too far off. What you want isn’t really Per Page Sidebars but really Shared Sidebars. Essentially it would allow you to add a set number of sidebars and allow you to chose which sidebar to replace and what to replace it with. The user interface would be similar but it might get a little complicated. Let me think and get back with you. I’m doing security reviews all week long so I might want to take a break and clear my mind. I’m not promising anything, but I can see room for another plugin.
Andrew – Depending upon what you want to do, you probably just need to learn more about CSS. what I would recommend is to create the page you want to have formated and then post a link to it and what you want to do on the wordpress.org support forums and they can help you out. I don’t want to have a long conversation about it here as all the people who are subscribed to these comments will get an email for ever part of our conversation and I want to be respectful of there comment subscription.
Brian – Yes I do agree with you. Your plugin is so close to being a perfect fit for my needs :). I currently have a plugin that creates custom sidebars, now I just need a plugin that replaces a sidebar with another one. I have found one but it doesn’t work with WP 3.4 called Sidebar Generator. I will keep checking in here to see what your ideas are.
Brian, thanks for the quick reply. What I forgot to mention is that my main issue here is being able to insert a background image into a sidebar and run individual page menus from it. My html/CSS skills are fine (php coming along!), so I think that after all my searching and playing around yesterday what I’d like, if possible, is the base location for the new sidebars created under PPS. I’ve gotten around my present problem with the sidebars using the plugin ‘Easy Columns’ and setting the LH Panel up as a sidebar, but it’s a heck of a lot of work!!
Addendum for GIBMFY: I’ve found a couple of the sidebar plugins also don’t work with 3.4.1, though others do, just don’t do what I want!
Very Very VERY COOL update man. Thanks!
Hi Brian, thank you for your bright plugin, but:
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.
You are a genius! Why you don’t add the above feature for full customization, please please?
Love your plugin. Just what I needed. Thank you.
I am having trouble learning how to prevent theme updates from wiping out everything that I have customized and am in the process of learning how to make a child theme. Everytime I update the theme the customized sidebars I have set up are wiped away. I have the Companion plugin for making child themes installed but have no idea what code I should write in order to keep the theme update from wiping out my sidebars. Could you help, please?
Hello Brain,
I would like to replace more than 1 sidebar content of the post. Could you please send me a updated code for this.
Thanks
Hi,
Since the latest wordpress upgrade (3.4.1. ), everytime I update either the theme, or a widget, or a plugin, all my individual page widgets are reloaded as “inactive” widgets. Then of course, I have to put them back into the page that I had them. It wasn’t like that before the upgrade.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue, or whether it comes from WordPress’s end.
Thanks
EDIT: Ah! I just noticed two posts above someone else having the same problem.
Hmm they changed some things around widgets to make them stick around easier during theme changes, but I don’t know what they did. I wonder if they actually move all widgets assigned to a sidebar that isn’t defined in the theme into the inactive box. That would produce the behaviour you see. I’ll try to look at this when I get some spare time, but it might be a bit..
Yes, the sidebar widgets were put in the inactive box after I upgraded WordPress also.
Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it.
Dear Brian,
Sidebars worked fine except for:
Top Main Content on Index – The area above the main content on the index page. Perfect spot for a slideshow.
The menu had the sidebar and I included widgets into it but it didn’t show up in the Top Main Content. Can you please assist, much appreciated. Site to be launched in a month
Richard
Oops, The Appearance/Widgets admin area had the sidebar….
Perhaps better posted in the forums, but with a WP and theme update today I have lost all the content in 60+ PPS widgets. I’ve got backups but would like to know where the content for these sidebars lives so I don’t have to re-create it all. Any clues appreciated!
Brian,
I love this plugin but being the lazy person I am… Is there a way to create an alternate sidebar for one page and link it to multiple other pages.
I am creating a sidebar menu that will only show on produce pages and it seem i will have to go into 20- 50 pages and add this menu would like to be able to add it to a template that I can assign to those pages.
Either way I love this plugin
Thanks
Hi Brian, I am new to WordPress so forgive me if this is really obvious, but how do we rename the sidebars that are created using your plug-in?
Hi.
Would it be possible to add the feature of changing multiple sidebars ? Up to now everything was working perfectly but I have two sidebars per page and this is essential to me… If you don’t do any update I’ll need to figure out something else than your plugin. Any tips on how to adapt the code the be able to change two or more sidebars ?
I’m sure it’s not that hard to do !
Thanks
Brian,
I moved my site to another subdomain and the Per Page Sidebar links are still linking to the old domain. How can I change those?
Thanks.
Hey Brian,
Great plugin. I just installed and think the functionality is perfect for what I need! Like you stated in your synopsis though it’s lacking support for custom posts types. I have a review post type that isn’t accepting the plugin. I tried to hack it myself, but since I’m no PHP expert I’m coming up just short. I got the options to display in the CMS, but can’t get them to post to the database on page update. Could you add this functionality or maybe walk me through what I need to do? Happy to throw a monetary gift your way.
Thanks!
Hey Brian,
Great plugin. I just installed and think the functionality is perfect for what I need! Like you stated in your synopsis though it’s lacking support for custom posts types. I have a review post type that isn’t accepting the plugin. I tried to hack it myself, but since I’m no PHP expert I’m coming up just short. I got the options to display in the CMS, but can’t get them to post to the database on page update. Could you add this functionality or maybe walk me through what I need to do? Happy to throw a monetary gift your way.
Thanks!
Hey Brian,Great plugin. I just installed and think the functionality is perfect for what I need! Like you stated in your synopsis though it’s lacking support for custom posts types. I have a review post type that isn’t accepting the plugin. I tried to hack it myself, but since I’m no PHP expert I’m coming up just short. I got the options to display in the CMS, but can’t get them to post to the database on page update. Could you add this functionality or maybe walk me through what I need to do? Happy to throw a monetary gift your way. Thanks!
My apologies for submitting my previous comment several times. I had the “notify me of follow-up comments by email” box checked and it was returning an error.
Hi
I would love if custom post types were supported
Your progamm is not compatible with WORDPRESS 3.5.x, right ??
I am noticing that somehow with 3.5, using different browsers, it is like they are being cached somewhere even though I clean the cache and I seem to get different versions. So I add a text box with call me and it shows up on safari, but not on chrome. So I add the same text widget to two different pages (PPS sidebars) and it shows up on one and not the other. Tried turning off all the other plugins, but no success. Just weird in consistencies, not sure why?
Thanks for the great plugin!
But I really need to replace more than one sidebar at the page.
Is there any progress about that?
I did install it, but nothing happens. Should I insert a code or something on the page I want a sidebar?
While the plugin is nice, the problem is it’s showing up on the category specific page. This doesn’t work for my purposes.
Hello,
Running 3.5.1, so perhaps it’s a compatibility issue, or perhaps I don’t understand how to configure the plugin. I want to turn off some of the side bar widgets for the static home page, but leave them in place for all the other pages of the site. I tried selecting “Activate Custom Sidebar” then selecting “Primary Widget Area” to remove the content from this page. I tried every permutation & combination I could think of, but the sidebar still appears, grinning evilly at me, daring me to try again.
I am trying to load several widgets on one sidebar but they only allow 1 to be on at one time. Is there something that I can do to add more than just 1 widget to my custom sidebar?
My categories are being taken over by random sidebars that I have created and I don’t know how to make them stick with the default sidebar, since there is no where to edit the category sidebars
I downloaded your plugin but the zip file shows up in my Media library. Why?
I am attempting to work with a theme that currently supports only one sidebar (left or right) and would like to add a left AND right. Is this possible?
Old site: http://ecsinsure.com/aboutUs.html
Example of site I am building: http://50.79.0.84/about-us/
Sorry Dave. The sidebar position is hard coded in the template. So I can’t turn them both on with this (or any) plugin.
Hello,
Does Per Page Sidebars work with WP 3.8.1? Once I’ve activated a Custom Sidebar, I can’t make it go away, even when I off-check it and resave the page.
Yes it works just fine for me. I’ve retested and disabling the sidebar and restarting it works great. I’ve updated the repo with the current code. So you may want to update and try again.
Hi,
I’m in the process of moving a site to a new URL. Unfortunately, all the text widgets I had set up for each page disappeared with the URL change. I suspect this is because the character value in a serialized string changed.
Could you please give me a hint as to where I might find where your plugin stores this in the SQL database so that I can correct it?
Thanks,
Heather
I recently discovered that my PPS Custom Sidebar menu item in the wordpress dashboard disappeared. I am running WP 4.7.3 I would like to create a new PPS sidebar but I don’t see that option anymore. Is this a known issue? Will you be updating this plugin?