Title: $content_width ??
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# $content_width ??

 *  [almcr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/almcr/)
 * (@almcr)
 * [13 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/)
 * I am looking at the Able theme on wp.com and d/led the source code for the theme
   from [https://wpcom-themes.svn.automattic.com/](https://wpcom-themes.svn.automattic.com/).
   in this theme, the $content_width is set to 1176 if there are no sidebars, 869
   if there is one sidebar, and to 562 if there are 2 sidebars and the width of 
   the content does seem to match the value in $content_width depending on the presence
   of sidebars or not.
 * how does wordpress make the connection between this value and the width of the
   content area? I just don’t see where and how it is connected.
 * Al

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

 *  [Amy Hendrix (sabreuse)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sabreuse/)
 * (@sabreuse)
 * [13 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101177)
 * $content_width isn’t the width of the content area — it’s a constant used to 
   set the maximum width of embedded content like videos. It’s a standard part of
   just about any well-coded theme.
 * The width of the content area itself is generally set in style.css
 *  Thread Starter [almcr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/almcr/)
 * (@almcr)
 * [13 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101181)
 * but, as I said above, this theme sets the width of the content area ($content_width)
   depending on 0, 1, or 2 sidebars and seems to use the values set by the specification
   of $content_width in functions.php (1176, 869, or 562). because it is varaible
   depending on the # of sidebars, it cannot be set in css or so it would appear
   to me.
 * so that is why I am asking the question? how does this work? just trying to figure
   out how it works so that if I want to use it, I can understand it. right now 
   I don’t understand how the page shows full page width if there are no sidebars,
   displays 3/4 page if there is one sidebar, and half the page if there are 2 sidebars.
   it is a neat process that may be usable if I can figure out how it works.
 * Al
 *  [Amy Hendrix (sabreuse)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sabreuse/)
 * (@sabreuse)
 * [13 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101188)
 * Ah, I got distracted by $content_width and misunderstood your real question, 
   in that case!
 * Take a look at the able/inc/tweaks.php file — there’s a function in there that
   adds extra css classes (.one-column, .two-column, .three-column) to the body 
   depending on which sidebars are present; those classes are styled in the page
   structure section of style.css
 *  Thread Starter [almcr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/almcr/)
 * (@almcr)
 * [13 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101203)
 * OK that may explain it, will look at that. so in the end, it is done only with
   CSS, and the fact that content_width is set to some values that seem to relate
   to the content width size only throws you off, especially when they used a name
   like content_width.
 * thanks Amy
 * Thanksgiving Day here in Canada (we celebrate in October)
 * Al
 *  [Amy Hendrix (sabreuse)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sabreuse/)
 * (@sabreuse)
 * [13 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101215)
 * Yeah, content_width is… accurate in that it’s the width of some content, it’s
   just not the kind that seems most obvious 😉 You’re not the first person to stumble
   on that, or even close to it.
 * Happy Thanksgiving!
 *  [auastyle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/auastyle/)
 * (@auastyle)
 * [13 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101526)
 * Hi… I interested to build a WordPress Theme. I follow the instruction to build
   the themes on wordpress.or.id. But, when i check my theme, there are some problems,
   and one of the problems are :
 * > REQUIRED: No content width has been defined. Example:
   > if ( ! isset( $content_width ) ) $content_width = 900;
 * So, where i must add the $content_width ?
 * I’m still newbie here…
    Thanks for helps…
 *  [auastyle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/auastyle/)
 * (@auastyle)
 * [13 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101527)
 * Ahaaa…. I’ve figured out now. I just see the example from twentytwelve theme,
   and read from codex.wordpress.org/Content_Width

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

The topic ‘$content_width ??’ is closed to new replies.

 * 7 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [auastyle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/auastyle/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/content_width/#post-3101527)
 * Status: not resolved

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