Easy Custom Sidebars

About Easy Custom Sidebars

This new WordPress plugin allows you to easily replace any sidebar or widget area in your theme without any coding required. It also allows you to replace multiple sidebars on the same page and manage your custom sidebar replacements in the WordPress Admin area. Plus, it is compatible with any theme and automatically detects your theme's styles.

Screenshots

Frequently asked questions

What does this plugin do?

This plugin allows you to replace any sidebar/widget area in any WordPress theme without coding. You can replace multiple sidebars/widget areas on the same page. It also allows you to manage your custom sidebar replacements in the WordPress Admin area.

What are some key features of this plugin?

You can create unlimited custom sidebar replacements and activate/deactivate them with a click of a button. It works with any WordPress theme that has widget areas. The plugin also features a new admin screen powered by React and WordPress REST API.

Does this plugin require coding or styling?

No coding is required to use this plugin. It also automatically detects your theme's styles and styles any custom sidebar replacements to match, so no CSS styling is needed.

Changelog

2.0.1 – Newline Character bugfix

Remove unintentional newline character appearing in the widget output.

2.0.0 – Complete Plugin Rewrite and Optimisation

Important: You need to have php 7.0+ installed on your server to use this plugin.
Admin Screen Update: now rewritten in javascript/React and utilising the REST API.
Huge UX testing and update.
Huge improvement in query/data performance on the frontend.
Backwards compatibility for older versions.
Complete refactor/rewrite of the PHP codebase to simplify.
Created github repo to drive development going forward.
Using a TDD development process. Codebase has been tested for replacements and backwards compatibility.

1.0.9 – Update for WordPress Version 5.0

Last minor update before major plugin rewrite.

1.0.9 – Update for new WordPress Version

Updated CSS for the Admin UI.

1.0.8 – Update for new WordPress Version

Fixed compatibility issue with WordPress 4.7 and the save_posts action.

1.0.7 – Update for new WordPress Version

Fixed visual display issues on the settings page.

1.0.6 – Minor Bug Fix

Fixed issue where pages with ampersands in the title weren’t being added to a custom sidebar.

1.0.5 – Bug Fix

Fixed issue where sidebar was not displaying for post type archives.

1.0.4 – Feature Update and Bug Fix

New Feature: Can add sidebars for author archive pages.
The sidebar now persists on empty taxonomy pages.
The sidebar now persists when there are no posts in search results.
Fixed issue whereby taxonomy names with ampersands weren’t being added to the sidebar (had to manually esc_html for get_term_by function).
Removed dependancy for global $post object and use the get_queried_object() function when looking for a replacement.

1.0.3 – Admin Capability Check

Prevents an error from being triggered in admin when a non-admin user doesn’t have the required capability to use the plugin.

1.0.2 – Important Update

Addressed potential security issue on the plugin admin page – Hardened security and escaped any attributes passed via the URL throughout the plugin.

1.0.1

Updated translation method.

1.0

First plugin release.