Add A Widget Map To Your Theme

[Jeffro]

For aspiring theme developers, if your WordPress theme is going to have 5 or more widget spots, please provide an image that I can view either in the theme settings area or as part of the theme package which clearly illustrates where those widget spots are in coordination with how you've named the sidebars. I as an end user have no idea where widget spots such as Primary, Secondary, etc are located in the theme. Please refer to this example:

module-map.jpg

Call it Widget Map or something but notice how each widget space is clearly marked on this image. Those same names are used in the backend when selecting where a widget is to be displayed so it all makes sense.

*Dog Gonnit* I really have to figure out how to stop the attachments from being so small after you click on them.

[hallsofmontezuma]

One easy way as an end user is just to add a text widget to each one, and make the title or content of the text widget unique, or even the title of that sidebar (widget spot).

[Jeffro]

That's what I ended up doing to figure out what was which. I still think it would be better to have an image as a guide without needing to go through all that work to figure out where the sidebars are.

[Cais]

I agree with Jeff on this. I think a widget image/map should be mandatory for any theme that has more than one widget area, especially those themes that have been designed for widget placement out of the "standard" sidebar.

[dancole]

People shouldn't have to figure it out on there own... that's just annoying.

My theme has a Widget Panel (visual layout of all elements for each template), which has an edit button where each widget area is located. As for hooks, there is an option to display those visually too in the same location.

Thematic had a nice enough community member to create a widget area map for people, which can be found in that theme's forum.

[andrea_r]

I'm thinking if they had given the widget areas better names (entirely possible) then it woudl not have been so hard. Sidebar 1, sidebar2? How about sidebar left and sidebar right?

bottom footer, left middle right - that would make more sense than "user area".

[itsananderson]

I agree with andrea_r. Proper naming goes a long way.
A good programmer comments their code, but an excellent programmer's code documents itself (though they should still add comments).
On the other hand, providing an image, or at least something to indicate where each "sidebar" will go would also be nice.

[Jeffro]

Each theme author tends to have their own say in the matter in terms of what to name the sidebar, widget areas, etc. As it turns out, there was sufficient documentation regarding this particular themes widget area with examples and visual aids. But that information is not available to the public as it's part of the support package.

[HotSauceDaily]

I'm thinking if they had given the widget areas better names (entirely possible) then it woudl not have been so hard. Sidebar 1, sidebar2? How about sidebar left and sidebar right?

bottom footer, left middle right - that would make more sense than "user area".

Agree completely with Andrea. Ever see the Options Theme and try to figure the widget options out?

Jeff, you're onto something with maps or naming conventions. And you're the guy to get it done.

[Jeffro]

True, I think a lot of confusion could be cleared up if the widget containers were better named. However, my rant was caused by a theme I was using at the time and did not realize that all of the documentation for the use of widgets in the theme was provided in the paid support area. So there was an obvious reason why that information was left out of the free package.