WordPress.org

1. lomist
   Member
   Posted 4 months ago #

   I just downloaded the latest version of Simple Sidebar Nav.

   Everyone raves about its simplicity but I can't get it to work.

   These are my questions and problems-

   On my Widgets Page

   1. Many instructions say scroll to the bottom and set number of widgets to 5 or 10. However, I can't find this on my page anywhere --- not that it matters much!!

   2. On the right side of my Widgets page it has a grey rectangular box labeled "SIDEBAR 1". I can't get rid of this no matter what I do. Can't even move it back off the right side of the page to the deactivated area.

   3. Then I have a grey box saying SIMPLE TOP NAVIGATION. This has a drop down menu which takes me to the SSN menu. I edited it to show only CONTACT PAGE and PRIVACY POLICY.

   BUT when I go to view page, it doesn't have these two pages. It has SEARCH IT and RECENT ENTRIES. It (the SSN) just doesn't seem to be taking effect.

   4. I even edited the sidebar.php to remove the RECENT ENTRIES and SEARCH BAR, and then nothing shows up in the Sidebar - not even the PRIVACY PAGE or CONTACT PAGE.

   So something somewhere must be blocking its use.

   I am at a loss, Can you please offer any suggestions?

   Thank you for your help.

   http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-sidebar-navigation/

2. maxchirkov
   Member
   Posted 4 months ago #

   Hi Lomist,

   sorry about your experience with the plugin. I guess "simplicity" has a biased meaning - it's like riding a bike - it's simple if you know how to do it.

   Let me address your questions:

   1. The multi-widget selector (at the bottom of the page) is available for versions 2.0.9 and earlier since they are not compatible with the WP 2.8. In WP 2.8 there is no need to create a separate multi-widget selector since the new WP version does it automatically.

   2. "Sidebar 1"? Does it say Simple Sidebar Navigation 1 or just Sidebar 1? Because if it's the last, you might be confusing widgets with the actual sidebars. You have to drag widgets inside the sidebars of your theme.

   3. Simple Top Navigation is a TOP Navigation widget. In order for it to appear, you need to make some adjustment to your header template - it's documented in the instructions for the plugin. You can read it here as well http://www.ibsteam.net/blog/web-development/simple-sidebar-navigation-plugin-wordpress - (scroll down to subtitle Top Navigation Management functionality)

   4. Again, top navigation widget will not appear in the sidebar - you need to add a snippet of code into your header template for the top navigation to appear. See item 3.

   I'm using the plugin on multiple blogs of my own (including WP versions 2.7 and 2.8) and have no problems. If you still can't figure it out, I would appreciate some details:
   - version of your WP installation;
   - version of the Simple Sidebar plugin you're using;
   - have you upgraded from previous version of the plugin or you have a fresh install;
   - a screenshot of your widgets admin page would be helpful as well.

3. lomist
   Member
   Posted 4 months ago #

   Thank you for your reply. It helped a lot.

   After reading through your explanations, I found out what I was doing wrong. I wasn't dragging the widgets inside the gray rectangle called SIDEBAR 1. Once I did that everything was fine.

   Now my next question

   My side bar is something like this:

   home
   privacy
   contact
   sitemap
   product 1
   product 2
   product 3

   How do I (or can I) split these up and add these headings to make it look like this:

   MAIN

   home
   privacy
   contact
   sitemap

   PRODUCTS

   product 1
   product 2
   product 3

   Thanks again for your help

   Bruce

4. lomist
   Member
   Posted 4 months ago #

   Okay I figured out one way to put the headings in. (this is in regards to my above comment)

   I used the text widget. But now I have a big space between the heading and the actual pages. Looks something like this

   MAIN
   ------

   Home
   privacy
   etc,

   So how can I get rid of that blank line between the ---- and Home.

   I can't find anything to edit to remove them or I would have.

   Thanks again

   BRuce

5. maxchirkov
   Member
   Posted 4 months ago #

   Bruce,

   I'm glad you figured out what you were doing wrong. From your posts I understood you're still very new to WordPress. Each widget appears within your theme as a block of content. Each block has design elements with it's padding and margins. You can't simply break a block. When you added a text widget for the sakes of creating a subtitle for your navigation, it also added it's margins to it - that's the reason you have the big space. If you want to separate sections of your navigation, it would be better to create separate simple sidenav widgets and title each widget the way you need it and add only those links that you want to appear in that section.

   On the other hand, you can crate a hierarchy - you can have a Product link that leads to the main products page, and then add child links to it (they should appear indented).

   Hope this helps.

6. lauramac
   Member
   Posted 1 month ago #

   hi, I'm also having trouble getting it to work properly. I'm a total newbie too...so that doesn't help.
   Basically the only time I see that it works is if I actually click on the page (in the top navigation) and then once I'm there, it looks all funny, not the way it should I don't think.

   what is the exact code I'm supposed to put in the header.php file?
   I don't really understand these instructions:

   <?php
   if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('Simple Top Nav') ) : ?>
   <!--YOUR OLD NAVIGATION -->
   <?php
   endif;
   ?>

   thanks!

   Laura

7. lauramac
   Member
   Posted 1 month ago #

   My site is http://www.positivewordsonwater.com

8. maxchirkov
   Member
   Posted 4 weeks ago #

   Hi Laura,

   I just looked at your site and I don't see where you using the plugin.

   As for the code - the exact code you published here should be pasted in the header.php file of your theme. You have to identify the logical place (in the HTML code of your header) where the navigation should go, and paste the code there. The line that contains <!--YOUR OLD NAVIGATION --> can stay unchanged, but if you have some kind of code for your current navigation, you could place it instead of that note. This way if, at some point, you decide you turn off the Simple Sidebar Navigation plugin, your old navigation will be used instead, so you don't have to re-create it again.

   Hope this helps.

Reply

You must log in to post.