Can't make new sidebars

Hi Bart.

not sure why you would remove the option tree when it was functioning flawlessly.

Because wp.org has mandated that all new and revised themes move the theme options to the Customizer or else the theme cannot be included in the theme repository.

When you select “Add New” it should create the widget giving it a default name, with a default location of “Primary Sidebar” and default Context of “Home”. If you’re not using the primary sidebar, select another location to display your widget. Add or change the context(s) as needed. Then, if you look at the live preview, in the Location you selected, you should see a green dotted box with “Add widgets to the zone: Zone Name”. Your new widget zone should also appear in the list of Dynamic Sidebars and WIdgets. Open the new widget zone and add widgets to it. The live preview should update to display the new widget. Click Save & Publish.

Is there a way to revert to the old version of hueman and still be up to date?

You can revert back to an older version but they are not being maintained or updated. They are available here: https://github.com/presscustomizr/hueman/releases

Hi bdbrown,

Thanks for getting back to me. I must be an idiot, because I have 21 sidebars/widget-areas defined. After clicking Add New, I still have 21 sidebars/widget-areas defined.

I can click it a couple more times, but that doesn’t give me a single sidebar or widget-areas more than I already had.

Nothing happens for me.

Don’t get me wrong, but what is the point of building a child-theme when this can happen without prior notice?

Best,

Bart

Not sure what’s happening there. I just added 30 widgets, plus 6 of the default theme widgets, on a test site I have and they were all created and showed up in Appearance > Widgets.

what is the point of building a child-theme when this can happen without prior notice?

Not sure I understand your question here. The dynamic sidebars that you had in the previous version should have been retained in the new version.

Hi brown,

What I mean is that when there was an option tree, I could add any number of sidebars (widget areas) as I desired. No hassle. Just click add, give it a name and the job was done.

Now with the customizer, i cannot add a single sidebar/widget area. I do see the big blue button that says “Add” and I have pressed it about a 100 times. But nothing happens for me. No sidebars/widget areas are added, not in default, not without a description, not as primary or secondary or whatever. It’s just that absolutely nothing happens when I press the big blue “Add” button.

The reason why I made a child-theme out of hueman theme, is to prevent things like this from happening. For example, when something changes in the code of the main theme, my alterations and adjustments in my child-theme are not affected by that. But when an entire core-aspect of the theme (the option tree) gets removed (isn’t it possible to have both? the option tree and the customizer?) and is replaced with something that doesn’t work for me, no matter what I do, then I feel a little cheated. Especially after I have spend countless hours on altering the theme and perfecting it according to my wishes and that of our company. And don’t get me wrong, I think the theme is wonderful!

I just added 30 widgets, plus 6 of the default theme widgets, on a test site I have and they were all created and showed up in Appearance > Widgets

With the sidebars that I have, I can at an infinite amount of widgets. I just can’t add another single widgetAREA/sidebar.

The dynamic sidebars that you had in the previous version should have been retained in the new version.

And they have been retained and transferred to the customizer, It’s just that I cannot add a single other widgetarea or sidebar. Note that I am talking about widgetareas, not individual widgets. I mean the actual sidebars, the places where your widgets will eventually sit.

I’ll try another example:

I build a page-template for a specific purpose and want a unique sidebar with a unique description for that particular template. After putting the appropriate code into my html and uploading the template with FTP, I then would like to activate the sidebar that I want to use specifically for that template. So I hop on over to the customizer and attempt to add that specific sidebar with its unique description. And that is where the trouble starts.. nothing happens after I click the big blue “Add” button.

Now I am just going to have to get over the fact that the customizer is the way to go, mandated by wordpress. So I don’t want there to be a discussion on the option tree vs. the customizer and which one was more user friendly or better functioning. I just really wish the theme will behave as I was accustomed to. So my main focus is on getting it back to work again. And your help is very much appreciated.

At this time, I am not sure how to proceed. Perhaps I have to abandon the work of the last couple of years and start from scratch again.

Hope to hear from you.

Best,

Bart

Hi,

Please refer to this documentation.
https://docs.presscustomizr.com/article/240-how-to-display-widget-zones-with-the-hueman-theme

Hueman Theme uses widget zone and not custom sidebars.

There are also a number of other documentations to help you understand the latest Hueman theme.
https://docs.presscustomizr.com/collection/224-hueman-theme

If you are using a highly customized child theme, you may have to update some customization.

Thank you

Thanks for your reply!

It is nice to see that what I was doing is exactly what was explained in the documentation that you mentioned. The fact remains, that this course of action doesn’t produce any results for me.

To that extend, your documentation did not help me further.

I honestly haven’t got a clue how to proceed. Hence my search for advice.

This is how I add widget areas in my templates:

<div class="sidebar-wrapper home-sidebar">
	<?php if (!function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('leisure')) : ?><?php endif; ?>
</div>

If you are using a highly customized child theme, you may have to update some customization.

What customization are you referring to and how would I go about doing that?

Best,

Bart

Hi,

The ability of creating sidebars in Theme Options ( Hueman 2+ versions )
has been removed. The current Theme author introduces the idea of Widget zones. Totally different concept, which is why I refer you to read the documentation.

https://docs.presscustomizr.com/article/240-how-to-display-widget-zones-with-the-hueman-theme

Currently, if you want to have custom sidebars, you need to write register sidebar code in child theme functions.php before using it in a template.

Thank you.

Hi @rockitman,

What is possible in the customizer for the Hueman Widget Zones
The Hueman theme allows you to add custom widget zones in pre-defined locations :

• header,
• footer ( 1 full width zone and up to 4 additional zones depending on the footer layout )
• primary sidebar,
• secondary sidebar

You can also select pre-defined contexts like pages, posts, archives, etc… where those zones will be displayed.

If those locations and / or contexts are enough for your customization needs, then you can do everything from the customizer.

However, if you need to display a widget zone in another location or a specific context not listed, then you’ll need to register a widget zone manually in your child theme functions and include a WP function in your template to display it.

In WordPress : Sidebars == Widget Areas == Widget Zones…
@denzel_chia the concept of sidebars and widget zones and widget areas are similar in WordPress but the name can be misleading I agree.

WordPress, (even in the codex) usually refers to a widget zone as a “sidebar”, and define it as an area in which you can drag and drop Widgets.
This “sidebar” terminology is very misleading because you can have widget zones in other locations than the sidebars of your website.

That’s why I prefer to make a clear difference between :

• “Widget Zones” (or “Widget Areas” ) : a place where you can display an unlimited number of widgets and order them as you want
• “Sidebar” : a block of your website located on the left or on the right of your main content.

So, getting back to Hueman, the previous feature was described as a “Custom Sidebar” creation. Which was not the case, from a design point of view. This is in fact a “Custom Widget zone” creation feature.
But the old one and the new one are achieving pretty much the same thing. The only difference is that you can pick several locations and contexts in the updated version of the theme.

@rockitman, about your initial issue : the fact that nothing happens when you click on Add New is clearly not the wanted behaviour. So I would suggest the usual debug worflow :
– Deactivating plugins
– Clearing the cache
– If needed enable the debug mode and if you work on a child theme, check your custom functions

Thanks for your patience ??

Thank you Nikeo for your professional anwser!
However.. the issue has resolved itself during the last update.

The “Add new” button now works and fortunately I know how to manually add sidebars/widgetareas. So I currently am a happy camper again.

Thanks,

Bart

cool. Thanks for the feedback !