2 diff custom sidebar plugins Not functioning w/Tiny Framework child

  • kathyh7

    (@kathyh7)


    9 years, 9 months ago

    Hello.

    Thank you for your user friendly theme, Tiny Framework and its child theme, which I am using for my Blog: http://www.thisandthatinfo4you.com It’s a new site and I am new to WordPress and I don’t know anything about coding. Hoping you will please answer in a way that I can understand. Thanks!

    I have installed two different custom sidebar plugins (not at the same time – deactivated the 1st when I installed the 2nd), and both will not function properly – in the exact same way- within the Tiny Framework child theme.

    So the problem must be either the Tiny Framework theme or something I am doing wrong.
    Current setup: 4 pages. Static page choice – the 2 options: Front page and Blog page. Home is the Front page. I only created this page because I tried every option I could think of trying to get these sidebar plugins to work properly. This & That Blog page is the Blog page. The other two pages on the site are About and Contact.

    The custom sidebars I create are for my blog posts only, not the Blog page. Currently, I have only 1 post on the Blog page. The custom sidebar plugins are designed for this purpose. The sidebar shows up beautifully in the post PREVIEW, but does not show up on the post on the live site. However, it will show up on my About and Contact live pages – no idea why. This seems to suggest that at least part of the problem might be caused by something within the coding of the static page 2 options.

    I disabled the sidebar, but not the plugin. The site currently does not show any sidebars.

    I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • Theme Author Tomas Mackevicius

    (@tomasm)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    Hi, there are many plugins, so it’s hard to say, but most popular one I tried, work without any issues on my sites. Please see the list:

    http://mtomas.com/389/tiny-forge-framework-child-themes-comprehensive-guide#Sidebar

    Can you try for example this one:

    https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/display-widgets/

    Here you don’t have to disable sidebars, because if there is no widget for that page, sidebar would not load on its own.

    Thread Starter kathyh7

    (@kathyh7)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    Thank you for responding! I took a look at your plugin link, but it won’t work for my need of having a different sidebar for each post, not each page.

    One of the two plugins I tried is: content aware sidebars by Joachim Jensen. I believe I saw you recommend this one to someone else in a reply post to their problem. Since you recommended it for your theme I believe it’s more confirmation that the problem is not with the plugins.

    Your comment about disabling sidebars triggered my memory of the fact that I removed the sidebar you had built into the theme, when I first set up my Blog. However, although I removed the sidebar (or disabled it somehow) from the pages; Main sidebar, Front page sidebar, Footer sidebars – still show up in the widget area.

    So now I’m thinking that I might have done something I shouldn’t have done when I successfully prevented the theme sidebar from displaying on the pages. I don’t know what I did and I don’t know how to restore it…. if you think that might solve the problem.

    Do you think the removal of the theme sidebar or the unknown process in which it was done, from the pages, could be causing the problem, even though the plugins are supplying sidebars?

    Theme Author Tomas Mackevicius

    (@tomasm)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    You can always upload fresh child theme to try if it works, just change the theme name in style.css, so it will be listed in WP admin.

    Thread Starter kathyh7

    (@kathyh7)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    So the only way to possibly fix this is to start over? I’m assuming all my content will be lost, if I do as you suggest, requiring rebuilding from the beginning….without any confirmation that my having removed the built in theme sidebar is the actual cause of the problem for the custom sidebar plugins.

    Are there any prior cases of someone removing the built in theme sidebar causing some kind of negative effect as a result? Is there any obvious possibility that a negative outcome will result, if that theme sidebar is removed; by examining the coding connections that surround the coding of the theme sidebar – or the cause & effect on other theme components, in some other way, due to the removal of the theme sidebar?

    If I am given a Yes answer to either of these questions, I will have more assurance that starting over is worth a try.

    I can see that my ignorance of coding is a huge disadvantage. I apologize for taking so much of your time.

    Thread Starter kathyh7

    (@kathyh7)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    I deleted all of my work in the theme and every other preset changes that I did. I uploaded another theme so there would be something there or I would not be able to find my site when I deleted your themes to start over, per someone at my hosting site.

    I then deleted the Tiny Framework parent theme. I deleted the child theme.
    I uploaded from the zip files from my original download in my computer.

    But, for some reason, the child theme, after being uploaded from the zip file still showed some of the changes I made, like the background color on the site.

    Deleted both the parent theme and the child theme again from my dashboard.
    Deleted both zip files from my computer. Searched (the internet, not through my dashboard) for the parent theme again – downloaded it.

    Searched for the child theme zip file within the parent theme zip file, because that is where it was when I first downloaded it and this is what your website says about the parent theme download:

    This [child] theme comes preloaded with every Tiny Framework download and is located in inc/examples/tiny-framework-child.zip. Just unzip, upload it as a separate theme alongside with Tiny Framework parent theme (both themes should be uploaded for child theme to work), activate it and you’re ready to go!

    No, I’m not because there is no .zip extension within the parent theme inc/examples/tiny-framework-child on the 2.2 parent version, like there was when I first downloaded the 2.1 version.

    Now I’m stuck with no way to start over, after deleting everything!

    Theme Author Tomas Mackevicius

    (@tomasm)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    For some reason, WP.org not do not allow upload with the theme zip files, so inside inc/ folder I placed child theme as a folder \examples\tiny-framework-child

    You can upload it via FTP or if you want to do this via WP admin, then just use any archiving program to make a zip from it.

    The changes maybe present if you were using some kind of Custom CSS plugin, the changes are in WP database and that’s why even after reinstalling themes you may see them active again. I don’t know youe exact setup, so just guessing at this time.

    Thread Starter kathyh7

    (@kathyh7)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    Good news for you! I now know what has caused my problem all along…the WordPress jetpack plugin.

    When I created my Blog with your theme the first time, I deleted some things and added plugins right away, before I wrote my first post. The jetpack plugin was one I added in the beginning.

    At your suggestion, when I first contacted you, I did inactivate my plugins…even deleted some. But, nothing fixed the problem.

    Finally, frustrated about getting nowhere, no matter what I did, yesterday I asked my hosting provider to reset my site. Btw, I was able to find the theme’s child theme somewhere on the WordPress site with words stating that there was a problem including it in the parent zip file or something like that…anyway, I was able to download it.

    So I started all over again. Installed your parent and child themes, recreated my Blog post and installed the custom sidebar plugin and it worked perfectly!!!

    When I was all finished, I thought, I now need to install the jetpack plugin so my site will be protected and all else it says it does will be active. So I installed it. When I did, the custom sidebar stopped showing up on my site. I deleted jetpack. But, deleting it did not enable my custom sidebar to work again. I now know that when jetpack is installed, it is intrusive and makes irreversible changes to the site. Deleting it does not reverse the hidden changes it makes.

    So today, I asked my hosting provider to reset my site… again! And now I will start all over..again!…and I will tell everyone…BEWARE of the WordPress jetpack plugin!!

    Thank you for all your help! At least now you know when people come to you with problems…maybe it is the jetpack plugin causing them….But, once installed…the only way to fix it, is to reset the site and start all over….or the more fortunate might be able to reset their site back to a backup recording of their site before the installation of the jetpack plugin. My site had not yet backed up after I rebuilt it and before I reinstalled jetpack.

    Theme Author Tomas Mackevicius

    (@tomasm)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    Perhaps you just have to deactivate the Jetpack feature that deals with custom sidebars and perhaps conflicts with other plugin? I’m not using Jetpack for this, so cannot comment more.

    Thread Starter kathyh7

    (@kathyh7)

    9 years, 9 months ago

    No, trying to deactivate a part of jetpack and then keep the rest operational…I don’t think will work and the invasive nature of the plugin that causes irreversible changes to the site whether the plugin is deleted or not, is enough for me not to want to have anything to do with it.

    Problem: My site is now rebuilt for the 2nd time, jetpack is not installed and the custom sidebar that worked yesterday before jetpack was installed… is not working.

    Someone commented on the custom sidebar’s website and said the custom sidebar was not showing up on his site, which is also my problem. The creator responded with this link:
    https://blog.josephscott.org/2009/04/08/wordpress-theme-authors-dont-forget-the-wp_head-function/
    So may I ask, do you have the wp_head function in your theme? Evidently, if it is not in the theme, the custom sidebar and other things will not function properly.

    Theme Author Tomas Mackevicius

    (@tomasm)

    9 years, 8 months ago

    Yes, wp_head is in the header.php.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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