Creating Dynamic Sidebars in WordPress Themes

Posted on 20th June 2023

WordPress themes usually have one or two sidebars. However, some themes have multiple sidebars. This can be very useful if you want to have different widgets in different areas of your website. In this article, we will show you how to create dynamic sidebars in WordPress themes.

What is a Sidebar in WordPress?

In WordPress, a sidebar is a widget-ready area where you can add your own custom widgets. widgets are small blocks of content that you can place in your sidebars. They can be used to display recent posts, recent comments, a calendar, social media buttons, and much more.

WordPress themes usually have one or two sidebars. However, some themes have multiple sidebars. This can be very useful if you want to have different widgets in different areas of your website. In this article, we will show you how to create dynamic sidebars in WordPress themes.

Creating Dynamic Sidebars in WordPress Themes

The first thing you need to do is create a new file in your WordPress theme and name it sidebar.php. Copy and paste the following code into your sidebar.php file:

<?php

if ( ! is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) {
	return;
}
?>

<div id="secondary" class="widget-area" role="complementary">
	<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ); ?>
</div><!-- #secondary -->

This code checks if the sidebar is active and if it is, it displays the sidebar. If not, it does nothing. The next thing you need to do is to edit your functions.php file and add the following code:

function my_theme_widgets_init() {
	register_sidebar( array(
		'name'          => 'Sidebar',
		'id'            => 'sidebar-1',
		'description'   => 'Add widgets here to appear in your sidebar.',
		'before_widget' => '<section id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
		'after_widget'  => '</section>',
		'before_title'  => '<h2 class="widget-title">',
		'after_title'   => '</h2>',
	) );

	register_sidebar( array(
		'name'          => 'Sidebar 2',
		'id'            => 'sidebar-2',
		'description'   => 'Add widgets here to appear in your sidebar.',
		'before_widget' => '<section id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
		'after_widget'  => '</section>',
		'before_title'  => '<h2 class="widget-title">',
		'after_title'   => '</h2>',
	) );
}
add_action( 'widgets_init', 'my_theme_widgets_init' );

This code registers two sidebars. You can register as many sidebars as you want. Once you have registered your sidebars, you can go to Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress admin area and add widgets to your sidebars.

If you want to display your sidebars in different places on your website, then you need to edit your theme files and add the following code in the places where you want to display your sidebars:

<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ); ?>

Replace sidebar-1 with the id of the sidebar that you want to display.

How to Create a Sticky Sidebar in WordPress

A sticky sidebar is a sidebar that is fixed to the side of the screen and does not scroll with the rest of the page. This can be very useful as it allows your users to access your sidebar content even when they are scrolling down the page.

There are two easy ways to create a sticky sidebar in WordPress. The first method is to use a plugin. There are a few plugins that allow you to create sticky sidebars. We recommend using the Q2W3 Fixed Widget (Sticky Widget) plugin. It is a free plugin and it is very easy to use.

Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you need to go to Appearance > Widgets and click on the widget that you want to make sticky. In the widget settings, you will see an option to make the widget sticky. Check the box and save your changes.

The second method is to add some code to your theme. This method is for advanced users and we recommend that you create a child theme before making any changes to your theme files.

To make a sidebar sticky using this method, you need to edit your theme’s sidebar.php file and add the following code:

<?php

if ( ! is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) {
	return;
}
?>

<div id="secondary" class="widget-area" role="complementary">
	<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ); ?>
</div><!-- #secondary -->

<?php if ( is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) : ?>
	<div id="secondary" class="widget-area" role="complementary">
		<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ); ?>
	</div><!-- #secondary -->
<?php endif; ?>

This code checks if the sidebar is active and if it is, it displays the sidebar. If not, it does nothing. The next thing you need to do is to edit your style.css file and add the following code:

#secondary {
   position: -webkit-sticky;
   position: sticky;
   top: 0;
}

This code makes your sidebar sticky. You can change the value of the top property to make your sidebar stick to a different part of the screen. For example, if you want your sidebar to stick to the bottom of the screen, you can change the code to this:

#secondary {
   position: -webkit-sticky;
   position: sticky;
   top: 100vh;
}

You can also add this code to your theme’s style.css file or you can add it to your child theme’s style.css file.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create dynamic sidebars in WordPress themes.

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