Hello there.

Is there a simple way to add widget areas to the center column? If possible I would like to add up to 6 or 8 and change the size and appearance of each one.

Thanks
gary

Yup, check out ATO->Add new WIDGET AREAS

Hi Juggledad

Yep, done that but I'm not sure where to start. Is the example code given in "Add new WIDGET AREAS" the correct code to use in the "Style and Edit Centre Column". As I mentioned, I would like to add 6 or 8 widget areas and tweak the appearance and size of each one.

Thanks
Gary

Well do you want to add 6-8 widgets, or 6-8 widget areas in which you can put multiple widgets?
the sample will work

<div id="my_new_widget_area" class="my_widget_area"> Widgets will go here </div>

this will create one widget area and you will see it in 'dashboard->apearances-widgets' called 'my_new_widget_area' and it will have a class you can use in any CSS Selectors you want to setup

What kind of widgets are you going to make? Creating the widget area just means you're creating a widget-enabled placeholder. It's when you are in the Appearance/Widgets part of admin that you'll insert the widget into your new widget area. I have several Text widgets which contain not text but images. You could use the Text widget to create a table of a certain size, containing something else. The width of the widget will be constrained by how wide your center column is, which is itself constrained by the width of your sidebars, padding, etc.

Many plugins that have their own widgets let you set dimensions and other properties. You can use Widget Logic to set where the widget will appear (i.e., on which pages or categories).

Hi Paulae/Juggledad

Thanks for the advice. Yes, it's widget areas I want to add first, probably 6-8. Then I will use the widgets installed, text and image to fill each area.

I currently have a left, inner left and right side bar. If adding these widget areas works, I will probably dump the right side bar as the width of the center will increase.

Fingers crossed it looks great when finished,

Cheers
Gary

Hi Juggledad

Well I've failed. I have put this <div id="my_new_widget_area" class="my_widget_area"> Widgets will go here </div>
into the style and edit center column page where it says The Loop. Is this correct?

I can't see a my new widgets in the dashboard and I have just the words "widgets will go here" in my site in the center coloumn

Thanks
Gary

Hi Paulae

Thank you for the advice. I have tried to add that example in the above the loop section on the edit center column page, saved it and get an error message on my site. Do I have to delete the standard code already in the above the loop area? Do I put the new widget php code at the start or the finish of that code if I leave it there? I checked my widgets and the new area also hasn't been created.

Thank again,
Gary

1) what is the error you get?
2) copy and paste the entire 'Above the LOOP' into your reply and surround it with

..the code here...

(or use the little HTML button above) so I can see the code

Normally something like this is a type or it's out in the wrong place, inside another piece pf PHP code

Hi

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: str_ireplace() in "my site" on line 321

This is the code thats in the "above the loop section" As you can see the add widget code is at the bottom.
<?php /* For MULTI post pages if activated at ATO -> Next/Previous Navigation: */
bfa_next_previous_page_links('Top'); ?>

<?php /* For SINGLE post pages if activated at ATO -> Next/Previous Navigation: */
bfa_next_previous_post_links('Top'); ?>

<?php /* For the plugin Page2Cat http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/page2cat/ */
if( is_category() AND function_exists('page2cat_output')) { page2cat_output($cat); } ?>

<?php bfa_widget_area('name=My new widget area'); ?>

Thanks
Gary

Ahhh that error, you are running php4 on your site, you should go to php5 - check with your host. Some hosts allow you to add a line to the htaccess file to change this

Meanwhile what version of Atahalpa are you running? This should have been fixed in ver 3.4.2. If you are not on 3.4.4 please upgrade to it and see if the error still exists

Hi

Upgraded to 3.4.4 and wordpress to the latest version. Error now gone and my new widget area has appeared in the widget section. Great thanks Juggledad. I now want to add a few more areas and resize and style these individually so get a number of these in my center column.Can you advise me on this please.

Thanks
Gary