Adding a Sidebar

Updated on January 11, 2018

Sidebars/Widget Areas are containers to hold widgets. They are usually used to display information other than the main content of a web page or to add widgets into mega and side menus.

Note that there is no difference between a sidebar and a widget area. Sometimes, when talking about pages for example, we call it sidebar, but other times, like when talking about mega menus, we call it a widget area. The Ken theme provides 16 default sidebar areas. Each sidebar area belongs to a specific page or section.

In this article, we’ll explain the process of adding a sidebar to a page and selecting a widget area for the mega menu. It does not matter if the page is a blog post or portfolio item, the process is the same.


Adding a Sidebar into Posts

You can add a Sidebar to the posts globally or individually.

Adding a Sidebar Globally

ken_blog_sidebar

To add a Sidebar globally into Posts, please go to Theme Settings -> Blog and choose Right or Left value for Blog Single Layout option. Choosing Right or Left will add the Sidebar either to the Right or Left side of the blog. The auto assigned Sidebar for the Blog is the Blog Single sidebar present in Appearance -> Widgets.

 

Adding a Sidebar Individually

For the individual posts, this setting is available in the Ken Page Layout box present at the right side of the title box. Using this setting you can override the default sidebar by adding a specific sidebar to the post. You can also override the layout of the page by changing the sides of the sidebar or by simply disabling the sidebar on the specific post.

To add a sidebar:

1Add a new post or edit an existing one.

Adding a sidebar - new post

2Scroll down to the Ken Page Layout box.

ken_page_layout

3From the Choose A Sidebar setting, select one of the sidebar options.
4Update or publish the page.

Adding a Sidebar into Pages

There are two ways to add a sidebar to a page. The two ways are Choose A Sidebar option and the widgetized sidebar shortcode element.

Choose A Sidebar

This setting is available in Posts, Pages and Portfolios in the Ken Page Layout box. This setting adds the sidebar area to the page.

To add a sidebar:

1Add a new page or edit an existing page.

Adding a sidebar - new page

2Scroll down to the Ken Page Layout box.

ken_page_layout

3From the Page Layout option, choose the sidebar layout which will be Right or Left. Then from the Choose A Sidebar setting, select one of the sidebar.
4Click on Update.

Adding a Sidebar via Shortcodes

Widgetized Sidebar Shortcode

This shortcode allows you to choose a sidebar and display it inside a page section or row shortcode. In this example, we’ll explain the process for the row shortcode.

To add the widgetized sidebar shortcode inside the row shortcode:

1Add the row shortcode, then select one of the column layouts.

Adding a sidebar - row layout

2Click on the + button in one of the columns, search for Widgetized Sidebar and click on it.

Adding a sidebar - shortcode search

3From the Sidebar settings in the Widgetized Sidebar Settings pop-up, select one of the sidebars.

Adding a sidebar - widgetized sidebar settings

4Click on Save changes and update the page.

Choosing a Widget Area/Sidebar for the Mega Menu

You can set a widget area/sidebar as a column in your menu by selecting it from the Mega Menu Widget Area option for second level menu items.

To add a widget area to the mega menu, follow the steps described below:

1Go to Appearance > Menus, and select the existing menu or create a new one.
2In the parent menu item settings, tick the Make this Item Mega Menu? option.

Adding a sidebar - parent menu settings

3Then open the settings of the second level menu item, find the option Mega Menu Widget Area, and select widget area from the dropdown list.

Adding a sidebar - child menu settings

4Click on Save Menu.
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