Ever want something to show up in a sidebar for just one particular page?

We just installed a rather fun new feature for our newspaper site, a way for the public to report problems around town by pinpointing them on a Google map. We have a sponsor lined up for just this page, and want his ad to show up at the top of the right sidebar on just that page.

I installed the Custom Field plugin, http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/...-field-widget/, then created a custom field for the page in question. I called the field "newad" and gave it a value of the Javascript code for the ad. Then I added the Custom Field widget to the right sidebar, and gave it the same name as the custom field, "newad." It works! The ad shows up atop the sidebar only on that one page. Very easy! The custom field feature is very under-utilized in Wordpress, and I plan to learn more and think of more ways to use it.

Originally Posted by paulae

Ever want something to show up in a sidebar for just one particular page?
<snip>...
I called the field "newad" and gave it a value of the Javascript code for the ad. .....

Please explain: "gave it a value of the Javascript code" ... you lost me

BTW - you're good at this stuff!

Sorry, I should have 'splained better. :-)

For our ad banners, we use a Perl script called CS Banner. We've used this for years, and even though there are ad banner management plugins for Wordpress, I haven't found one that's as easy to use as CS Banner, so we'll stay with it for now. It produces javascript that calls the ads. I made a new banner "group" just for this test ad on this map page, and put that code in the Value field of the custom field.

I'll try to upload a PDF of what it looks like. I called the custom field "adright" instead of "newad," actually. You can see the resulting page here: http://www.larchmontgazette.com/?page_id=3388. Where you see "testing" in red in the right sidebar is actually a sample ad with a white background. This page might not be available for long; we're having "issues" with SeeclickFix and may have to remove it because we want more control over the output than they're giving us.

shhhhhh! Mum's the word. I don't want our Flynn to get wind of this plugin.

I've been hassling him to create the ability to designate multiple (read: "more than two") sidebars and then be able to spec which sidebars would be used on which pages. Ie. page "Blog" might have sidebars B and G (B on the right and G on the left 'cause that's the order they're mentioned), while page "About" would have sidebars F and A and page "Contact" might only have sidebar D.

Anyway, this plugin would seem to obviate the DESPERATE NEED for the multiple sidebars.

Should be easy to do once he's created the possibility of more sidebars, since you can already designate which pages will show the sidebars and which won't.

I think I saw a post here where Flynn showed somebody how to add code in index.php for a third sidebar.

Talking to myself again.

Turns out the javascript running the ad banners in the sidebar were making the map app break in MSIE7. So I removed that sidebar and put back the left one, and used the custom field trick to call for a static image ad, in this case a dummy ad, only in the left sidebar, only on that page. It works very nicely. This way, the sponsor of the page gets just his ad in the sidebar, but the other nav content in that sidebar is still there, just farther down.

Hi Paulae and that Shepherd Jim
I was looking into tables and fields as possible furniture for my site and came across your thread and yes... astounding is no exageration. Following your pointers i managed to grapple together something that i am sure will be a big help to me.
I can now seemingly add content-pertinent references for individual pages, which are spaced down the bar by means of a simple table formula i got courtesy of Flynn. I dont know if thats the best way of doing it but it seems to work, setting it up with a combination of the visual and HTML editors and then copy and pasting it into the custom field box.
You can see my test run at http://tothegarden.org/wp/?page_id=37 (the site i am linking to, a small farms library, should interest you Jim, if you dont know it already).You can compare it with the first page on the menu -Living in the Garden.
Many thanks Paulae for your exuberant sharing of your discovery.....I think it is just what i was needing...........This Jim

Hi, This Jim!

Glad that plugin is working for you. The custom field feature in Wordpress is already very powerful and under-utilized, so I was glad to find an easy way to use it. When I have more time, I want to delve into the wonderful world of custom fields even more.

By the way, if you click on the link to that page I was talking about, you no longer see the ad I was talking about. Long story, but we took down the ad.

Love your site colors! Is that a Labradoodle peering up at us from below? Cute dog! My grand-dog is Raleigh, a chocolate labradoodle, and we have another Doodle-dog, Grover, the bichon-poo. Great dogs.

To: paulae on using the custom field widget to create ads in sidebar.

Sometime has elapsed since you wrote these posts and i am lagging somewhat behind you.
I am now at a point in developing my website where i would like to start adding ads. In particular in the sidebars. I have some experience with custom fields, I have used them to add information in the Byline of posts.

I tried to get a better feel for what you are discussing by googling CD Banner, javascript, perl etc - to no avail, nothing worthwhile was found. I also assumed that using the custom fields widget would allow me to add ad code generation in the sidebar. Sort of like an expansion of ATO - I noticed that sidebars were not included in the add new widget areas section ot the ATO.
I installed the Custom Fields widget and note where I can define key and then probably value. So now I'm back to the CS Banner script - where can I find more info, your assistance would be appreciated.

Alfie

For lack of an answer to CS Banner in my last post I continued my search for information related to ad banner management script. I am now aware that i must provide more information before my last post can be answered intelligently. I am learning as i go along so please forgive any awkwardness in the way I am presenting my problem.
At the present time I simply need some sample adverstisements to include in the WEB site - it may also be convenient for them to include the necessary stats and bookeeping. (although they may not be customer specific i would like them to be well thought out) I will be presenting the website to prospective investors so at this stage it need not be the end result. Eventually the script will contain actual ads. Of course it would be nice if the script i am using provides a base framework to start from. In addition I will also try to use google adsense ads. If there are other sources you are aware of I would appreciate your input.

My most recent search came up with phpAdsNew from scriptdungeon.com in which I noted reference to many free banner scripts but I am still somewhat confused since i still don't see the script or any direction to where i can insert something in the value box in the custom field widget.

I hope from what i have said above you are now more aware of the obstacles that this newcomer at Wordpress and atahualpa is confronted with.

Thank you in advance for any assistance that you can provide. Have a nice July 4th holiday i hope to hear from you next week.

Alfie

Do you want a Wordpress plugin ad manager or a non-Wordpress plugin? Either one can go into a sidebar without having to use custom fields. The plugins will probably provide a widget ready to go, and the other PHP or Perl scripts can be called using a text widget. That's what I was doing with the CS Banner ads, calling the Javascript from the Perl script using a text widget. I don't use CS Banner now. Now I'm using a combination of the WP-Cycle plugin for ads in one area and several instances of the Sponsors Slideshow plugin widget in other areas.

If you want to use CS Banner, you can see it here: http://www.cgiscript.net/cgi-script/...=viewone&id=23

There is an ad management system called OIO Publisher which works with Wordpress. I have it and have tested it but have not started using it on the live site yet.

Try this plugin, it doesn't need any Custom Fields

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/widget-logic/

This plugin gives every widget an extra control field called "Widget logic" that lets you control the pages that the widget will appear on.

The text field lets you use WP's Conditional Tags, or any general PHP code.

Hi Paula

I would assume that it would be best to use a wordpress plugin for compatibility. I liked the way you had ads displayed in the larchmont gazette web site so I thought it might be worthwhile to follow in your footsteps which was the custom fields plugin and the CS banner scripts. However since then I have come across several other ad management plugins such as wp125 (requires input of zone and image but nothing appeared?) I have also found plugins wpad, wpinsert which I haven't tried as yet.
In wp125 I found a weakness because zone was not defined zone1 zone2 etc and the ad selection was merely ad1 ad2 etc ? When executed nothing appeared.

My ultimate objective is to find a ad management plugin with stats, ability to place (sometimes called zone) ads and provide the script or image. For script I need some source that i can use to generate --- images text etc. I thought that was what CS banner was.
I'm not making much progress here so any words of wisdom is appreciated.

Thanx Alfie


Hi aproxis

I saw your reply and I will review. Thanx

As of late Monday I have wp125 working. Am able to create ads in left sidebar and install an image in each.
It appears that now i must become an expert in creating ads using graphics, text etc in allocated size of 125x125 pixels. Placing ads in locations other than sidebars , Ad management and stats may not be exactly what i need. I'm trying to discuss with the plugin author. WP125 is a free plugin and OIOPublisher may be superior since I notice, there is a cost associated with it.
I would appreciate IF YOU CAN KEEP ME INFORMED OF YOUR PROGRESS WITH IT either here or at my email address bklyn48@yahoo.com
in the long term it may be a better solution.


Alfie.

It appears that this plugin WP125 does not include adding scrips to create ads as I've noticed is a requirement in other ads plugins. Is this correct?.

All I was required to do here was show a path pointing to an image file.

go ask the developer of the plugin

juggledad

very often you can get information and SOLUTIONS FROM OTHER USERS MUCH FASTER THAN waiting for the plugin author to respond. I have left a message for the plugin author of wp125. Sharing between members is an important feature of any forum and benefits all of us.

Alfie, I never wanted to use that plugin because it limits you to the very small 125x125px ads.

There are a lot of other ad management plugins in the repository, for free. OIO Publisher is more full-featured, but it does cost money.

At the moment, I'm using a combination of WP-Cycle and Sponsors Slideshow plugins to run the ads on my site. I no longer use the CS Banner Perl script.

I'm using those 2 because they both have a nice fade-in effect to cycle between slides.

In my experience, if a plugin developer has left off a major piece of coding such as a way to upload the ad images from within the plugin, he/she is not going to rewrite the code just for one user's needs. As I said, there are other ad management plugins out there, with all kinds of features.

Also more people are saying it is broken than working.

Alfie... It would be real helpful if we could see the see the site you are working on. It's kind of like flying blind for some of your questions. If we could see the way you are placing ads for example we might have more useful suggestions.

Larry and Paula

I appreciate your feedback and if and when I get to the appropriate stage of expertise I hope to do the same for anyone that needs help.

Larry I agree with your comment. Once I started working offline with xampplite it was difficult to determine at what stage I transfer to on-line. I also hesitated to do so thinking I would lose time until I was up and running. However I am making a lot of progress (you are only observing my problems) and I am now looking into selecting a host.

In addition, you may have heard this before but I think I have a tiger by the tail - something new in websites and I wanted to keep it confidential until I made substantial progress.

I thank you both for your comments on wp125 for ads.
This kind of feedback will save me time. Selecting the appropriate plugin is often a matter of experience - trial and error and I am trying to benefit from the experience of members of wordpress forums. That is why I selected wordpress and Atahualpa in the first place.

I have a number of outstanding tasks, ads are only one. For the purpose of pre-viewing my application I want to start by showing sample ads and knowing what to do when I am ready for the finishing touches. Then I can get to being an author and editor as well ( I am also spending substantial time here). In the long run I hope to find a collaborator to share the programming end.

In the meantime thnks again for your understanding and opportunity to benefit from your experience,

Sincerely,

Alfie

Paula

I did review wp_cycle and and the sponsor slideshow and found them to be useful tools, however they don't appear to have the ad manager and stats tasks that i would require. OIO Publisher would still be under consideration. Hoping that it encompasses all the needed aspects. Thanks for calling all these useful plugins to my attention.

The best plug in I have found is TS custom widget. It lets you choose which page(s) you want any widget to appear in - it is very easy to use.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/...ustom-widgets/