Download a new copy of your theme to your local computer – then using FTP, replace that file (sidebar.php) with the new one.
After you get this fixed, before you make changes to theme files, you should make a child theme – see: http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Child_Themes
Thank you kindly, WPyogi!!! It worked!!! Would you mind giving me a quick explanation of the reason to make a child theme?
YAY! Changes you make to theme files will be overwritten and lost when the theme is updated – and that’s obviously not a happy situation :(. And it’s really necessary to do updates to your theme – as they can involve security fixes and/or compatibility with WP Core. So you can’t really get around it by thinking “oh I just won’t update my theme…
So, making a child theme will keep the customized changes I make to my site? Is that considered a back-up? I was beginning to explore the need to back up my site in case it crashes. Is creating a child theme the only back up I need to perform other than what Host Gator automatically does from time to time?
Also, where do I begin to find the directions to create a child theme?
Thank you for your patience in explaining the basics for me (sheepish smile)!
No, it’s not a back-up at all – it’s your live site. Even if HostGator does back-ups, you should absolutely be doing your own complete back-ups regularly – just like any other computer:
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/WordPress_Backups
We get people here who had no backup of their own and thought their host was doing it – but either the host really didn’t, or messed up or had a server failure or whatever. Bad things happen…whether machine or human error and it’s really awful to even think about losing all the work you put into a site :)!
See my post above re: link to Child Theme instructions.
Thank you! You’ve been more than helpful with the info and the links I need. Thank you kindly!
