Declare Multiple Widgetized Areas in WordPress
Have a bunch of different areas you wish to declare as a widgetized area? Save repetative code by creating a quick array of their names, then loop through that array calling the register_sidebar() function on each one. Elementary PHP stuff here, but hey, it just saved me quite a few lines of code in a widget-heavy theme I am working on.
if ( function_exists('register_sidebar') ) {
$allWidgetizedAreas = array("Homepage Left", "Homepage Right", "Sidebar One", "Movies", "Admin");
foreach ($allWidgetizedAreas as $WidgetAreaName) {
register_sidebar(array(
'name'=> $WidgetAreaName,
'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s left half">',
'after_widget' => '</div>',
'before_title' => '<h3 class="widgettitle">',
'after_title' => '</h3>',
));
}
}About the author
Chris Coyier is a real-world web designer who has been reaching for WordPress to power client sites for many years. He subscribes to the theory that not only is WordPress capable of powering any website it is almost always the right choice. His other projects include CodePen and Quotes on Design.
7 responses
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You know that is a very simple script but a great idea. Nice work. The result is not just saving you lines of code but saving you time which is important.
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curtismchaleWhile this is pretty cool it doesn’t let you add descriptions to your widgetized areas (which we should all be doing). I personally don’t think it’s really functionally usable on a theme without being able to add descriptions to help the end user know what a sidebar is for.
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I use this type of trick all the time. I’ve wrapped the loop into a function and tucked in to my standard wp lib. I’ve always wondered why more people don’t use a iterative approach in php/wp development.
Thanks for sharing. :)
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ChrisOkay, I’ll apologize up front for the noob question, but…would I add this script to
index.php? Orsidebar.php? Or…? I’m leaning towardindex.phpbut just not sure. -
Chris
Oooh…think I found it…
functions.php? Now I just have to figure out how to edit widgets! -
Denis LeblancThanks Chris, saved me tons of time.
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Josh MonteiroSimply in love with all this.
