sidebar configuration

[greenery]

I'm using Carrington on my author weblog: http://rosinalippi.com/weblog
and I've come across something and I have a question.

When I first looked at the theme I thought it was one wide column, and
below that side by side columns. After installing it I realized that
the area above the side-by-side columns is hard-coded, and not
widgetized. I've seen dozens of themes with a fully widgetied one
wide + two side-by-side sidebar arrangement. However, I really like
Carrington and I don't want to have to start from scratch. And I
really do need some full sidebar width widget boxes.

I'm okay with css and basic html, but I am pretty sure that if I try
to go in there and restructure the sidebar, chaos and confusion will
follow.

Can anybody point me to a tutorial or documentation on how to do
this?

Thank you.

[Todd Zebert]

in sidebar/sidebar-default.php add something like this above the other
sidebars:

<?php
$post = $orig_post;
if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('Top
Sidebar') ) {
?>
<div id="todd-topsidebar" class="widget">
<h2 class="widget-title">Top Sidebar</h2>
</div><!--.widget-->
<?php
}
?>

and in functions/sidebars.php add something like this
register_sidebar(
array(
'name' => 'Top Sidebar',
'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
'after_widget' => '<div class="clear"></div></div>',
'before_title' => '<h2 class="widget-title">',
'after_title' => '</h2>'
)
);

make sure you make backup copies before you modify code!

[greenery]

Todd -- thank you so much for providing this information. I got caught
up in putting out various fires, and just now got around to trying
it. If you look at the weblog:

http://rosinalippi.com/weblog/

You'll see that the new widget area shows up where it is supposed to
be, and is the right width. The area also shows up on the widget page.
But the two or three widgets I put into "top-sidebar" aren't showing
up. Could you suggest where I might have gone wrong? I believe I
added the two bits of code you provided in the right place, but then
I'm not comfortable enough to the code to know for sure.

Thanks again.

On Mar 18, 3:14 pm, Todd Zebert <todd3...@gmail.com> wrote:
> insidebar/sidebar-default.php add something like this above the other

> sidebars:
>
> <?php
> $post = $orig_post;

> if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('TopSidebar') ) {

> ?>
>                 <div id="todd-topsidebar" class="widget">

>                         <h2 class="widget-title">TopSidebar</h2>

>                 </div><!--.widget-->
> <?php}
>
> ?>
>
> and in functions/sidebars.php add something like this
>         register_sidebar(
>                 array(

>                         'name' => 'TopSidebar',

>                         'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
>                         'after_widget' => '<div class="clear"></div></div>',
>                         'before_title' => '<h2 class="widget-title">',
>                         'after_title' => '</h2>'
>                 )
>         );
>
> make sure you make backup copies before you modify code!
>
> On Mar 15, 5:36 pm, greenery <rosinali...@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm using Carrington on my author weblog:http://rosinalippi.com/weblog
> > and I've come across something and I have a question.
>
> > When I first looked at the theme I thought it was one wide column, and
> > below that side by side columns.  After installing it I realized that
> > the area above the side-by-side columns is hard-coded, and not
> > widgetized.  I've seen dozens of themes with a fully widgetied one

> > wide + two side-by-sidesidebararrangement. However, I really like

> > Carrington and I don't want to have to start from scratch. And I

> > really do need some fullsidebarwidth widget boxes.

>
> > I'm okay with css and basic html, but I am pretty sure that if I try

> > to go in there and restructure thesidebar, chaos and confusion will