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1. jrendini
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   My Widget dashboard page is not functioning properly.

   I have set up my blog in three columns (currently using WordPress 2.8 and Thesis 1.5.1), i.e., with two sidebars. On the Widgets dashboard page, I originally dragged the Categories and Links widgets from "Available Widgets" to Sidebar 2, which worked OK for a while. Then I moved the Categories widget to Sidebar 1 (I think I had to park it in "Inactive Widgets" first) and dragged and dropped the Search widget from "Available Widgets" to Sidebar 2.

   At this point, I started to have trouble with dragging and dropping. (In fact, it was about this time that I upgraded to WordPress 2.8 and Thesis 1.5.1 from their previous versions.) I tried to add the "Tag Cloud" widget to Sidebar 1. When I clicked on the widget in "Available Widgets," instead of moving with the cursor, the grey rectangle beneath the words "Tag Cloud" extended all the way across the screen and, instead of having a small grey rectangle following the cursor into a outlined empty space on Sidebar 1, I had that screen-wide grey band moving vertically up and down the screen. When I attempted to drop the widget into Sidebar 1, it simply disappeared and re-appeared under "Available Widgets."

   I could not figure out why this was happening, so I tried it several more times, with the same result. I eventually managed to drop the "Tag Cloud" Widget into the "Inactive Widgets" area and, from there, into Sidebar 1. (This only worked after logging out and returning to the Dashboard the next day.) Then I tried to alter the order of widgets in Sidebar 1, inserting a Text Widget in the top position, followed by Categories and Tags.

   The result has been more of the same. I managed to remove Tag Cloud from Sidebar 1 and park it in "Inactive Widgets," from which it promptly disappeared. (It seems to be in "Available Widgets" now, but I can't move it.) I succeeded after several tries in dropping the Text widget into Sidebar 1 (it behaved like "Tag Cloud did through several, repeated drag-and-drop attempts), but it lacks all functionality. I have tried to insert titles and text, but the widget is not visible on the webpage. And every time I return to the dashboard and look into it, the title and text I inserted has disappeared, even though I saved it.

   Also, on the Widgets Dashboard, the Sidebar 1 and 2 drop downs don't work properly. The Sidebar 1 drop-down is always open; I can neither open nor close it. The Sidebar 2 drop-down is closed when you first open the Widget Dashboard page, but after you expand it, you can no longer close it.

   Please excuse the length of this post. If I knew more about WordPress and themes, I could probably describe the problem more succinctly. But I am a rank beginner at this stuff. I know virtually nothing about coding, HTML, php, etc. If anyone can give me some advice on how to get this to work, I'd greatly appreciate it.

   Thanks in advance.

   JER

2. esmi
   Theme Diva & Mod
   Posted 2 years ago #

   Try deactivating all plugins and check to see if this resolves the problem. If it does, re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s).

3. jrendini
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   Finally, I tried all that. No luck.

   I deactivated both my two plugins (Akismet and Thesis Open Hook)from the Dashboard-Plugins page and deactivated all my widgets from the Dashboard-Widgets page by dragging them back from the drop-down Sidebar boxes into either the Available Widgets or Inactive Widgets area. Some of them mysteriously multiplied while I was dragging them, so at one point I had five "Search" widgets in the Inactive Widgets area. I hit the "Remove" button on some of the excess widgets and more disappeared than I had anticipated (e.g., ALL the "Search" widgets disappeared from the Inactive Widget area after I removed two of them).

   Currently, I have only a Meta widget in the Inactive Widget area; in Available Widgets, I have Categories, Archives, Google Custom Search and Calendar widgets (all of which I can move at least some of the time; but most of the time, even when I can move them, they will not stay in place in the chosen Sidebar box) and Meta, Killer Recent Entries, Links, Pages, Recent Comments, Recent Posts, RSS, Search, Subscriptions, Tag Cloud and Text widgets (none of which I can move and all of which spread clear across the page when I try to click on them with the cursor, as I described in my last post).

   The drop-down Sidebar 1 drop-down box in the right-hand column is still perpetually stuck in the open position; the Sidebar 2 drop-down initially appears closed, but once opened stays opened despite attempts to close it. Neither box reliably accepts widgets (by displaying an empty outlined box). Sometimes they do; sometimes they don't.

   So the bottom line is that I cannot install the widgets I want on the sidebar I want in the order I want. For example, I can, on occasion, place the Category Widget on Sidebar 1, but I can never both install the Text Widget there and get it to work. And if I try to remove the Category widget in order to try to install the Text widget in the first position in its place, I may be able to remove the Category widget on the first try, or maybe on the second try, or maybe after trying to remove it unsuccessfully and logging out, I'll log back in and find that it has disappeared after all. There are many permutations, but mostly its failure to work.

   Any ideas what I might try next? I noticed you posted in response to another member's query that plugins can be a problem even when deactivated. Could that be going on here?

   Thanks again.

4. esmi
   Theme Diva & Mod
   Posted 2 years ago #

   Possibly but there's one more thing you could try first - temporarily activate the default theme and see if that helps. If it does, it's a confirmed theme issue.

5. jrendini
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   We seem to be getting somewhere.

   I activated the default theme. On the website home page, five widgets appeared in the Sidebar - Pages, Archives, Categories, Links and Meta - although I had removed them from the page prior to switching from Thesis 1.5.1 to the default theme. I went to the Dashboard and could not see any of the five widgets in the Sidebar column, so I inserted another one, i.e., Calendar.

   When I returned to the home page, the five widgets had disappeared and Calendar was visible all by itself. So I went back to the dashboard, removed Calendar, and inserted the widgets Search, Categories, Tag Cloud, Archives and Links in that order. Back on the homepage, they all appeared just fine. So I switched them around on the Dashboard just to see what would happen. They all moved predictably on the homepage, without any trouble. Also, the Sidebar dropdown on the Dashboard worked fine.

   So I switched the theme back to Thesis 1.5.1. All the widgets appeared in Sidebar 1 except Search, which had disappeared. Back at the Dashboard, I then tried to move Categories to Sidebar 2. When I did, several open spaces appeared in the Sidebar 1 dropdown and, as I moved Categories over the Sidebar 2, several open spaces appeared there also. The Categories widget dropped into Sidebar 2 without any problem, but when I returned to the homepage, I saw that I had three Categories widgets installed, two in Sidebar 1 and one in Sidebar 2.

   Any further suggestions? Or should I just take this up with the Thesis people?

   Thanks.

6. esmi
   Theme Diva & Mod
   Posted 2 years ago #

   It does sound like an issue with the Thesis theme. The theme author should be able to help.

7. jrendini
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   Just to bring closure, I stopped by Thesis' User Forums and found a thread started by someone with a similar widget problem. The recommended solution was to got to WP Dashboard-Widgets, click on "Screen Options" in the upper right-hand corner, and select "Accessibility Mode" from the box that drops down.

   So, I did it and, though I cannot drag and drop widgets, I can follow the instructions in the widget boxes and select their positions in sidebars and select other custom features. (It's pretty intuitive once you select Accessibility Mode.) So it all works now.

   Thanks for leading me to this solution.

8. esmi
   Theme Diva & Mod
   Posted 2 years ago #

   I can only hope that the Thesis theme is updated shortly. Using the Accessibility Mode is really just a quick fix.

9. webmystery
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #

   I had a very similar problem that I was finally able to solve - but not sure I posted solution in the right place - take a look at this - http://wordpress.org/support/topic/266661?replies=4#post-1414247

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