Hello.

I have searched through these forums looking for an answer to my question, but I am simply not following what's being said/cannot find what has been recommended--at this point, I feel like a complete idiot and very frustrated.

I would like to add a widget area to the left sidebar. I am using Montezuma theme. I have a very limited understanding of technical jargon. A question that seemed similar to mine suggested I search for "widgets" in the "limited PHP code" dropdown box but that was fruitless. I attempted to add something from the dynamic widget area into the CSS file but...I have no idea how to do any of this. I like the Montezuma theme more than any other I've found since using Wordpress but I am beginning to worry that maybe my skill level is just too low to use it. Please help! My blog is www.corynicastro.com

Where / how are you getting the left sidebar? As I understand it, it's as simple as adding one line of code in whichever template file you want it in - post, page, index etc. Code is ...

<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'Widget Area INDEX' ); ?>

... where "INDEX" is whatever name you want to call your widget area. It's working for me ... although I'm now struggling with getting that widget area exactly where I want it! That code both creates the widget area where you've specified it on the page and creates a widget area in the admin | widgets page for you to add the widgets you want to appear.

Originally Posted by corynicastro

I would like to add a widget area to the left sidebar.

Maybe this example will help. Here's the code that I'm using, for a left sidebar 3 columns wide, a content area 7 columns wide, and right sidebar 2 columns wide:

...
<div id="main" class="row">

	<div class="col3">

                [left sidebar]

	</div>
	
	<div class="col7">

                [content area]

	</div>
	
	<div class="col3">

                [right sidebar]

	</div>
	
</div>
...

You can see it live here.

You can do this however you want, as long as the column widths in each row add up to 12.

Originally Posted by corynicastro

I am beginning to worry that maybe my skill level is just too low to use it.

Please don't let that worry you. In fact, it'll probably HELP you in that you'll follow the very good instructions and not try to bring things you know from using other themes. The format of using MONTEZUMA seems quite a bit different to other themes, yet actually both simple and powerful if you don't get too hung up with 'how you used to do it'.

Also - from my limited experience - the members and moderators here are helpful, knowledgeable and quick! So if all else fails, you can always ask.

Thanks for help, both of you, but I'm clearly too stupid: neither of these suggestions worked, probably because I am not putting them in the right places and I dont know how to figure this out. Im really trying but feeling defeated. I just want to add another widget area to the left side of my site so that it appears everywhere

very simple the think to remember is the numur of columns must equal 12. By default the virtual template 'index.php' looks like this

<!--<div id="container">-->

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id="main" class="row">

	<div id="content" class="cf col8">
		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav1' ); ?>
		
		<?php bfa_loop( 'postformat' ); ?>
		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav2' ); ?>
		
	</div>
	
	<div id="widgetarea-one" class="col4">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'Widget Area ONE' ); ?>
	</div>

</div>
	
<?php get_footer(); ?>

<!--</div>-->

condensed and with the right widget area set off with '=====', it looks like this

<!--<div id="container">-->
<?php get_header(); ?>
<div id="main" class="row">
	<div id="content" class="cf col8">		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav1' ); ?>		
		<?php bfa_loop( 'postformat' ); ?>		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav2' ); ?>		
	</div>	
==========================================================
	<div id="widgetarea-one" class="col4">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'Widget Area ONE' ); ?>
	</div>
==========================================================
</div>	
<?php get_footer(); ?>
<!--</div>-->

notice that the div above it has 'col8' and this div has 'col4'. to make a left sidebar just copy that code, put it in front of the 'content' div and adjust all teh 'coln's so they equal 12. Here is an example and I renamed the widget areas

<!--<div id="container">-->
<?php get_header('three'); ?>
<div id="main" class="row">
	<div id="widgetarea-left" class="col3">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'leftsidebar' ); ?>
	</div> 
	<div id="content" class="cf col6">		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav1' ); ?>
		<?php bfa_loop( 'postformat' ); ?>		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav2' ); ?>		
	</div>	
	<div id="widgetarea-right" class="col3">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'rightsidebar' ); ?>
	</div>
</div>	
<?php get_footer(); ?>
<!--</div>-->

now you have a left and right sidebar and a center area.

Originally Posted by juggledad

very simple the thing to remember is the number of columns must equal 12. By default the virtual template 'index.php' looks like this:

Ok I think I understand the code you provided, and I've found 'the virtual template 'index.php' under MZ Option/Main Templates.

What I want to achieve is to have a third column on the left in which I can insert a category index.

Following your post's instructions I have changed (irritatingly I find there are no Copy/Paste options in the right-click popup menu so I have to resort to ctrl-c and ctrl-v) index.php to the following and saved the changes and added some content via Appearance/Widgets.

In the Widget area I now have Widget Area One, Widget Area Two which, as it isn't in the code below I presume is some sort of hangover from a previous attempt?

Could someone explain the significance of the div id='widgetareaone' and dydnamic_sidebar settings of 'leftsidebar'
and 'rightsidebar'?

Thanks

Will

<!--<div id="container">-->

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id="main" class="row">

<div id="widgetarea-one" class="col3">
<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'leftsidebar' ); ?>
</div>

<div id="content" class="cf col6">
<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav1' ); ?>
<?php bfa_loop( 'postformat' ); ?>
<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav2' ); ?>
</div>

<div id="widgetarea-one" class="col3">
<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'rightsidebar' ); ?>
</div>

</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

<!--</div>-->

The IDs are for CSS styling specific to that one sidebar. You can't have two IDs the same so in your case you might give an ID of left-sidebar to the left sidebar and right-sidebar to the right in case you ever want to style them differently.

Originally Posted by juggledad

notice that the div above it has 'col8' and this div has 'col4'. to make a left sidebar just copy that code, put it in front of the 'content' div and adjust all teh 'coln's so they equal 12. Here is an example and I renamed the widget areas

<!--<div id="container">-->
<?php get_header('three'); ?>
<div id="main" class="row">
	<div id="widgetarea-one" class="col3">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'leftsidebar' ); ?>
	</div> 
	<div id="content" class="cf col6">		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav1' ); ?>
		<?php bfa_loop( 'postformat' ); ?>		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav2' ); ?>		
	</div>	
	<div id="widgetarea-one" class="col3">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'rightsidebar' ); ?>
	</div>
</div>	
<?php get_footer(); ?>
<!--</div>-->

now you have a left and right sidebar and a center area.

I tried this code and thats the result -> see attached picture

the foto should bee in the left sidebar, the text in the middel and the right side disappeared and i dont know why!!

in what widget area did you put the widgets?
what is the url?

also change the ID's like this

<!--<div id="container">-->
<?php get_header('three'); ?>
<div id="main" class="row">
	<div id="widgetarea-left" class="col3">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'leftsidebar' ); ?>
	</div> 
	<div id="content" class="cf col6">		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav1' ); ?>
		<?php bfa_loop( 'postformat' ); ?>		
		<?php bfa_content_nav( 'multinav2' ); ?>		
	</div>	
	<div id="widgetarea-right" class="col3">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'rightsidebar' ); ?>
	</div>
</div>	
<?php get_footer(); ?>
<!--</div>-->